PXI 5620 not linking

[sabe]

I have Labview 2011 and I am using PXI 5600 downconverter with PXI 5620 as the digitizer..First I had the problem that PXI 5620 was not compatible with DAQmx so the device did not have a self  test in MAX 5.0.. Also due to PXI 5600 failed the test.. Then to check the basic functionality by   RFSA from Start>>All Programs>>National Instruments>>NI-RFSA.. But when I ran the test I got the error "The down converter is busy.Internal state machine may be locked up" .I cant figure out where the problem is.....   Also can someone tell me how to link PXI 5620 with PXI 5600.. Thanks

[Timothy_S]

Hello,

To begin with, the error you're getting, 27004 is usually associated with heating issues with the cards of the 5660 itself. Have you been able to reproduce getting the error message after letting the chassis cool off at all? Take a look at the knowledgebase found at http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/allkb/4A4112C771EDE47786256D2500186FC4 for more information regarding that error code.

When you ask how the cards are linked, are you referencing the physical connections, or linking them in MAX or other software? Take a look through the getting started guide (particularly starting around page 7) for some detailed steps for both of those processes in how the boards are linked together. That document can be found at http://www.ni.com/pdf/manuals/375483a.pdf.

Also, could you get me a bit more information to work from? I'm curious as to the version of the NI-RFSA/NI-Tuner drivers and the Traditional NI-DAQ drivers that you currently have installed? Let me know what you can, especially once you can let the chassis cool down and retry everything from a fresh working environment. Thanks.

Regards,

Timothy S.

Applications Engineer

[sabe]

Thanks for your time.. As for my system..I have Labview 2011,MAX 5.0,RFSA 2.45 and NI Scope 3.88 and all the device drivers installed and I have Daq-mx 9.3.5...My point in linking was that NI 5620 is not compatible with DAQmx .Its a traditional DAQ device so its self test does not work in MAX 5.0.. So I cant link 5600 with 5620 as "5620 does not show in the properties of 5600" ... So then I go to 5660 demo test panel to check the basic functionality of the device where I get this error "The downconverter status may be locked."  ...Also the 5660 shows  "the device is working properly".

So I want to make sure that the "The downconverter status may be locked" is only due to hardware and no software or drivers problem before I proceed .

[Timothy_S]

Sabe,

Thank you for the follow up with the information and image of the connections. The software should all be compatible to work together with the PXI 5660 system that you have, and the physical connections are correct for using the 5600 and 5620 together. We shouldn't have to 'link' the two of them together at any given point in time beyond the normal cabled connections as the 5600 and 5620 are referenced individually by the ni5660 VIs when starting a session. We should only need to check the Digitizer Resource Name and the Device Number for the Downconvertor. Using the proper entries with the devices should link them for that particular 5660 session. Are you continuing to continuously get that error whenever you try to use the 5660? As noted before, that error is usually a sporadic one involved with hardware state or heat levels. Let me know if you have any other information about when the error started coming up or if it is easily recreatable. There shouldn't be software problems based on what I've seen here.

[sabe]

Thanks for the help.. I have not tested the PXI 5660 with Labview VIs . I only tested the Demo panel because I read somewhere that it gives the basic functionality of the device and if Demo test panel of PXI 5660 is giving an error then there is no use of using the device with NI Labview's-5660 VI's or creating a session...Please correct me if i am wrong on that and whether I can use PXI 5660 from Labview VI's even when Demo test panels are givn error or not...

Secondly I dont understand the heating problem .Since the equipment is in the lab of our university and is only used by us for may be one hour per day. So how can the device get heated up with such a less ammount of usage .and  can it be any problem other than the heating of the hardware which is responsible for the error? 

[Joel Khan]

Sabe,

I am Joel and I will help while Tim is out today. I want to first start off by saying that Demo panels are not 100% the same as running NI VIs. Demo panels are compiled .exe applications running in the LV Run Time Environment while LV VIs run in the development environemnt. While demo panels are inherently similar to VIs they are not exactly the same. Running example programs can lead to further investigation into issues and will allow us to troubleshoot and go further with debuging capabilites.

When you say the equipment is only used one hour a day do you mean the hardware is on for only one hour a day? If this is the case it seems odd that the hardare would be heating up enough to yield errors unless the hardware is physically damaged or cooling is damaged on the system. Have you checked fans, air vents, filters? Has this issue only recently been occuring, if so, when did this start occuring? Can you be specific about when this issue occurs? Does it occur upon first starting up the system, or after additional time has passed? Thanks.

<Joel Khan | Applications Engineering | National Instruments | Rice University BSEE>

[sabe]

Ok I ll run RFSA from Labview and then tell you the results as soon as possible..But as for the question of usage.Yes, the hardware is only ON for one hour or may be less. Otherwise it is plugged off..I get the error everytime I try to use it..Basically I started working on PXI hardware in our university only about 3 weeks ago. before that I only worked on Labview...esince I have been using it, the hardware its giving the same error..a month before that another guy used the hardware and it was running fine BUT he was using labview 8.6 and older drivers..When I wanted to use it, I installed Labview 2011 and new drivers and since then the device is givin this error. Thanks for your time...

[sabe]

Ok I ll run RFSA from Labview and then tell you the results as soon as possible..But as for the question of usage.Yes, the hardware is only ON for one hour or may be less. Otherwise it is plugged off..I get the error everytime I try to use it..Basically I started working on PXI hardware in our university only about 3 weeks ago. before that I only worked on Labview...esince I have been using it, the hardware its giving the same error..a month before that another guy used the hardware and it was running fine BUT he was using labview 8.6 and older drivers..When I wanted to use it, I installed Labview 2011 and new drivers and since then the device is givin this error. Thanks for your time...

[Timothy_S]

Sabe,

Thank you for the follow up. There are still a number of things that could be going on with the system. There could be an issue with software/drivers (I still doubt this side of things), or an issue with the hardware itself. With the issue happening every time you try to use the equipment, in particular after it has been out of use for a length of time (long enough to cool down), then the problem is more than likely with the board itself or the chassis setup in general. To properly move forward from that point we'll need to try and narrow down the cause of the problems some.

• Is any other hardware in this PXI chassis giving errors, or is this the only setup not working?
• Have you been able, or are able to try this PXI 5660 in a different chassis or in a different slot to see if the behavior is consistent?
• Are you at all able to try this with a different controlling system (or with different software)?
• Have  you tried to run any of the LabVIEW examples for using the 5660? With that usage, we'll know a bit more about the driver status.
• Are there any other known differences in hardware or software from the last time the system was known to work?

Let me know what you can. Thanks.

[sabe]

all the other hardware on the PXI chasis is working fine...more specifically I have 5600 and 5620 as RFSA  and  5610 and 5421 are RFSG..RFSG is working perfectly fine .It passes the self tests and also runs examples..Problem is with RFSA.5600 does not pass the self test.5620 digitizer passes the self test in traditional NI-DAQ devices.  pic # 1

I havent tried 5660 with any other software or any other slot..

As for examples.I tried to initialize the 5660 with Labview VIs.I got the error "the down converter is busy its internal state machine may be locked up" pic # 2

And when I ran the example I got the error" the attribute is not supported when using NI RFSA with an external digitizer module"pic # 3

and while running NI RFSA soft panel it gives the error that "RF downconverter was detected but it has a missing digitzer or LO "...

Can there be any problem with the connecting cables?