09-18-2013 12:48 PM
I am unable to control my instruments using my known good software and a known good GPIB-USB-HS controller. I am using Teststand to call VB6 and VB.NET code which is working on other PCs. I am running Windows 7 and using NI 488.2 version 2.8.
NI MAX identifies the controller and my instruments. I am able to communicate with my instruments through NI MAX. However, the Troubleshooting Utility shows that the software is failing.
The "Help" button provides the following:
Unknown NI-488.2 Software Error
An unknown NI-488.2 software problem has occurred. Try the following to resolve the problem before calling National Instruments:
Restart your system.
Run the NI-488.2 Troubleshooting Utility again.
If you still have the problem, try the following:
Repair the NI-488.2 for Windows software.
Restart your system.
Run the NI-488.2 Troubleshooting Utility again.
Obviously, these steps did not solve the problem.
My software is unable to get a handle to the controller and my function calls do not populate anything in NI-SPY.
I tried installing the latest 488.2 version (3.1.1) which did not help. I tried uninstalling all NI software and then re-installing only the 488.2 software. That did not help either.
Any thoughts?
Solved! Go to Solution.
09-19-2013 10:39 PM
Hi,
The best place to start would be to follow this KnowledgeBase article:
http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/allkb/8311FFF18B5308ED86256C0200653B3B?OpenDocument
Specifically verifying that the key "GPIB-32
.dll" is present. Once this is ruled out, additional issues can be investigated. If this does not work could you also show a test which fails with NI-488.2 (3.1.1)?
09-20-2013 11:41 AM
Hi Evan
Here is the NI-488.2 version 3.1.1 result.
I verified that gpib-32.dll is contained within the C:\Windows\System32 folder.
Today we swapped out the PC and have the system up and running. I feel like wiping the hard drive on this affected PC and starting over will probably get it going. I was hoping someone had run accross this failure and had a known fix.
thx
Steve
09-24-2013 11:05 AM - edited 09-24-2013 11:09 AM
I found the solution to this problem.
We are using an ICS Electronics modbus to GPIB converter to talk to a Watlow F4 thermal chamber controller. The ICS module comes with a utility and drivers. We don't need that software but our technician installed it anyway. Part of that install includes a file called "gpib-32.dll". The NI software also uses a file called "gpib-32.dll". Our NI software was failing because it was accessing this library and finding something completely unexpected. I replaced the .dll with one from a working install and that corrected the problem.
Interesting that neither the "Repair" nor "Uninstall/Re-Install" could correct this problem.
By the way, gpib-32.dll is not in C:\Windows\System32 on my Windows7 installs. It is in C:\Windows\SysWOW64\.
Steve