PXIe System Initialization Failure over PCIe-8371 ↔ PXIe-8370 (Multiple Enumeration, Invalid Handle, LED Issue)

[Richard2025]

💻 System Setup:

 

• PC Host: Alienware R13 with PCIe Gen4 slot

• MXI Connection: PCIe‑8371 (in PC) ↔ PXIe‑8370 (in PXIe‑1095 chassis)

• Chassis: PXIe‑1095

• Modules Installed:

  • PXIe-5441 

  • PXIe-5654 

  • PXIe-5663E
    
• Driver Installed:
  • VISA, PXI Platform Services, RFSG, RFSA, FGEN
  • 

• Software Tried:

  • LabVIEW 2025 64-bit + Drivers 2025 Q3

  • LabVIEW 2023 Q1 32-bit + Drivers 2023 Q2

  • LabVIEW 2022 Q3 + Drivers 2020 

• OS: Windows 11

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❓ Main Issues:

1. MAX Double Enumeration:

   • Every module shows two instances in NI MAX.

   • One shows with red X and supports Self-Test (but fails); the other has no self-test option.

   • Removing/reinserting/rebooting does not fix the double-enumeration issue.

   • I have performed "Reset Configuration Data" multiple times – it does not resolve the enumeration issue.
   • 
     

      

2. Driver or API Errors in LabVIEW:

   • niRFSA Abort.vi: Error -1074130544, IVI: 0xBFFA1190 (Invalid Session Handle)

   • niFgen Initialize With Channels.vi: Error -1074135040, IVI: 0xBFFA0000 (Unrecoverable Error)

   • 

      

     

      

3. LED Status on Modules:

   • PXIe-5654: All LEDs ON (Front Panel)

   • PXIe-5441: All LEDs OFF (All Cases)

   • Others (5601, 5622): Only one green LED ON

     

      

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✅ Known Working Reference:

• Same PXIe system works perfectly when using PXIe‑8133 as embedded controller 

• In that setup: only single device enumeration in MAX, and all LabVIEW sessions initialize properly

• 

   

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🧪 What I Have Tried:

• Verified driver installation includes LabVIEW ADE support in NIPM

• Uninstalled and reinstalled NI MAX and all drivers

• Tried all combinations of:

  • LabVIEW 2025, 2023, and 2020

  • NI-RFSA and NI-FGEN drivers of matching versions

Reset devices in MAX, removed duplicates

🙏 Questions:

1. How can I eliminate double enumeration and get stable device sessions through PCIe‑8371 ↔ PXIe‑8370?

2. Do I need a specific firmware version for PCIe-8371 / PXIe-8370 to work correctly under Win11 + new drivers?

3. Is it possible that 5441 is faulty, or is the issue purely driver/bridge related?

4. Any reliable method to force clean recognition of PXI modules (e.g., low-level enumeration reset)?

Any guidance would be highly appreciated. I'm open to downgrading further (e.g. to LabVIEW 2018), and I’m happy to provide NI-MAX export if needed.

Thank you!

 

[ZYOng]

PCIe enumeration is handled by BIOS and may differ on different vendors. 

NI designs and validates their PXI controller BIOS and that's the guaranteed way of PCIe enumeration. It comes with a higher price tag though, unfortunately since NI R&D needs to invest time and effort.

Please go through all the steps in:

MXI-Express Compatibility and Connectivity Troubleshooting Guide

Mitigating MXI-Express PC Incompatibility

There is no single hack or tips to resolve this issue. Each situation is different when you use a different host PC, different modules and even different slots. You just have to do the trial-and-error.

[Richard2025]

Thanks for the clarification. I was actually considering whether the MXI-Express BIOS Compatibility tool from this document could help me resolve the enumeration issue.

I already downloaded the tool, but when I open it, the window shows up completely empty (no content or options displayed). Do you know if this is expected behavior on Windows 11?

Also, since my current host is running Windows 11, I’m wondering if rolling back to Windows 10 would make the compatibility tool work properly as a “one-click” solution, instead of going through multiple trial-and-error BIOS settings. Has anyone here tried that approach?

Any advice would be appreciated.

[Richard2025]

As a follow-up to my last post:

In Device Manager I can only see a generic PCI-to-PCI Bridge entry under System Devices. I don’t see any device explicitly named NI PCIe-8371, and in NI MAX there is no Self-Test option for the 8371.

Is this normal? From my understanding the PXIe-8370 (chassis side) will not appear in Device Manager, but the PCIe-8371 (host card) should normally be listed with the NI name. If it only shows up as a PCI Bridge, does that mean the NI driver isn’t loading, or could it also indicate a BIOS resource allocation problem?

[Robert__R]

Hi Richard2025,

The 8370 + 8371 is mostly system devices. They will show up as a bunch of bridges or switch ports (the latter in your case) plus one "NI SMBus Controller".  Chassis/backplanes will also have bridges or switch ports. The subsystem IDs of the switch ports will typically have NI IDs (subsystem vendor ID = 0x1093), but they're inherently system devices so they get generic drivers from the OS instead of NI drivers.

What you're seeing, where there are a bunch of PXI boards in device manager, means that the MXI kit is working at a HW level. Typically that means the system will work.

I'd certainly try the BIOS Compatibility SW. It works with 2 types of MXI boards. One type uses the utility to enable/disable the compatibility mode, the other uses a physical DIP switch on the PCIe card. The PCIe-8371 has a DIP switch. If you set the top switch without the SW installed you won't see much in Device Manager (1 or 2 switch ports), and when the SW is installed device manager should look the same as what you're seeing (but the enumeration will have been done differently). Note that NI MAX may think the boards are different because of the difference in enumeration.

- Robert