Darren,
The only PXI modules that show up under the PXI System option in MAX are those cards that are registered with NI-PAL or NI-VISA. For 3rd party cards, it depends on how their particular driver functions. If the vendor creates their drivers based on NI-VISA, then the device will show up in MAX.
If the vendor created a Windows-specific driver, then there is no way that NI-VISA can find any information on the device, nor can it communicate with it. An example of this is a CompactPCI SCSI or Ethernet card, which is supported by a driver that is native to Windows. NI-VISA does not detect such devices.
It is important that you contact the manufacturer of your 3rd party modules and find out if they are NI-VISA complient devices.
Regards,
Andrew Mier
au
Applications Engineer
National Instruments