Real Time Target Setup Error "No PCI Bios Present"

[arvin_labrat]

We are trying to us a PC as a real time target to perform data acquisition with an E series DAQ board.

The PC we are using is from Superlogics, model: SL-4U-CL-965G-HA.

The motherboard is an Intel DG965RY. The NI system evaluation routine gives the error: “No PCI BIOS present”.

 Labview version is 8.2

Does anyone know how we might get around this error?

Thanks

 

[Steven_C]

Hi Arvin,

As a preliminary step, could you please confirm that the system you are using conforms to the specifications in the following document:

Requirements for a Desktop PC as a Real-Time Target

http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/allkb/440BAF128AA75F95862572580081EB3D?OpenDocument

Thanks!

Best regards,

Steven C
Distributed Controls Product Expert
Applications Engineering
National Instruments

[arvin_labrat]

Hi Steven

Thanks for your reply.  For the short term we have switched to using an old Dell computer that seem to work.  I'm new to the real time environment and I would like to know more about the error that was stated in my previous post.  The specs from the manufactures website did not give all the details about the computer we initially selected, but i did have an NI- PCI-8232 ethernet card availible so the ethernet chipset was not an issue.

The major problem seemed to be that the Computers BIOS would not let us communicate with the PCI slots for the data acquisition.

I've attached the link to the computer in question and there does not seem to be anything that states that it should not work the the RTOS.

I take that back, the hard drive is serial ATA not parallel.  I will look at the BIOS to see if it has a parallel mode.  Can you please provide more information on the error from the stated in my first post.

Thanks for your time

Eric

http://www.superlogics.com/industrial-computers/rack-mount-pc-computer/SL-4U-CL-965G-HA/267-2178.htm

Message Edited by arvin labrat on 08-21-2007 10:24 AM

[Steven_C]

Hi Eric,

Thank you for your post. Please find an explanation of the "No PCI Bios Present" error below from one of our LabVIEW Real-Time R&D engineers:

"Hello,

The removal of PCI BIOS support has been an increasingly common trend amongst Intel's chipsets/motherboards. This limits the capabilities of operating systems that rely on the legacy PC architecture for operations such as finding PCI and storage devices.

We are currently working on adding support for these new chipset-specific interfaces, and we hope to be supporting the most common ones in a future release of LabVIEW Real-Time. This trend might continue until the industry converges back on standard interfaces such EFI and AHCI, moving away from vendor-specific ones.

In the meantime, the only option is to find another motherboard/chipset that still supports the PCI Bios interface that LabVIEW Real-Time requires. More information about compatible systems is being compiled in this forum thread:

Desktop ETS System Compatibility - Discussion Thread

Regards,

Alejandro Asenjo
LabVIEW Real-Time R&D
National Instruments"

The entire thread may be found at the following link: http://forums.ni.com/ni/board/message?board.id=280&message.id=2513&requireLogin=False

I hope this helps clarify the nature of this error code. Have a great day!

Best regards,

Steven C
Distributed Controls Product Expert
Applications Engineering
National Instruments

[arvin_labrat]

Steven

Thanks for the explanation.  It's what I thought but it's always nice to have confirmation.

Eric

[aasenjo]

Eric, Arvin,

I wanted to let you know that with LabVIEW Real-Time 8.5 we have gotten rid of the PCI-BIOS support requirement. In the past we relied on the BIOS to perform the PCI device  enumeration, but since BIOS manufacturers have been taking functionality out of their code (therefore dropping support for several legacy operating systems) we decided to perform the PCI device enumeration ourselves. We have tested this on several machines, including PXI and desktops known not to have the PCI-BIOS support.

Additionally, we have added support for AHCI-compliant SATA hard-disk controllers, so if your  BIOS supports setting up your SATA drive in AHCI mode, you should be able to use it. Otherwise you would need to look for a SATA Legacy or Compatibility mode in your BIOS, and if that is not there either, you'll have to fall back to a PATA drive.

We also increased CPU support, covering most of the currently available x86 processors, including multi-core ones. As you might already know, one of the key features of LabVIEW Real-Time 8.5 is Symmetric Multi-Processor (SMP) support, which allows you to make the most out of all processors on the system while still guaranteeing the determinism of a Real-Time OS.

We now support an additional set of Ethernet chipsets, based on the Intel Tekoa family of gigabit adapters (8257X). Not all of the 8257X variants are supported, so we'll try to update the KnowledgeBase with the details.

Most of this information could not be disclosed until a couple of weeks ago, so we are currently in the process of updating the respective web documentation.

I hope this helps,

Alejandro

[arvin_labrat]

Alejandro

That's great to hear.  I looking forward to reseving my service update to try it out.

Thanks again

Eric