Agilent U8903A and NI MAX

[mkossmann]

I've connected a Agilent U8903A using a NI GPIB-USB-HS to my PC. Now there is the strange behaviour that this device doesn't repond to the *IDN? query when scanning for instruments. But it responds when sending an *IDN? query using the communicator ( IO-Trace log attached) .

Looking at that log I've found two possible problems there. First the scan for instruments doesn't seem to respect the IO timeout setting in MAX. IN the general settings for the USB Adapter it is set to 13(10s). But there is a ibdev(...T1s(11)..) call in the log. The other problem might be, that the device is not yet ready after the ibclr() call.

So what's the reason for that behaviour ?

[M_LeFeu]

hi,

it's a normal behaviour, that you can't really connect your Agilent U8903 in MAX. In MAX you can scan for NI products like your NI GPIB-USB.

If you want to use your Analyzer in LabView you have to install the instument drivers for LabView.

The best way is, you search the specific driver in LV: Tools -> Instrumentation -> Find Instrument Driver

The driver are installed directly into LV and you can use them right after the installation finished.

You can download the driver also from the NI Driver Network on ni.com -> Downloads -> Instrument Driver Network

regards

Michael F.

[jjp377]

Did you try using a different interface?  When we were working with the instrument we tried all supported interfaces and didn't see any issues in MAX.

The driver is also available on IDNet

[Dennis_Knutson]

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@michael.F wrote:

hi,

it's a normal behaviour, that you can't really connect your Agilent U8903 in MAX. In MAX you can scan for NI products like your NI GPIB-USB.

If you want to use your Analyzer in LabView you have to install the instument drivers for LabView.

The best way is, you search the specific driver in LV: Tools -> Instrumentation -> Find Instrument Driver

The driver are installed directly into LV and you can use them right after the installation finished.

You can download the driver also from the NI Driver Network on ni.com -> Downloads -> Instrument Driver Network

regards

Michael F.

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That answer does not make any sense. You can scan for any connected GPIB instrument and it should appear. There is no LabVIEW driver required.

[mkossmann]

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@jjp377 wrote:

Did you try using a different interface?  When we were working with the instrument we tried all supported interfaces and didn't see any issues in MAX.

The driver is also available on IDNet

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I've seen this behaviour now with different GPIB Interfaces ( a PCI-GPIB and another USB-GPIB) connected to different PCs and using different version of NI-Visa/MAX. And I've seen no problems so far other than this failing *IDN?  query during the "Scan for Instruments".

Might it be that this "feature" is depending on the devices firmware version ? We are using 3.10.3 which is available only since March.

[jjp377]

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@mkossmann wrote:

I've seen this behaviour now with different GPIB Interfaces ( a PCI-GPIB and another USB-GPIB) connected to different PCs and using different version of NI-Visa/MAX. And I've seen no problems so far other than this failing *IDN?  query during the "Scan for Instruments".

Might it be that this "feature" is depending on the devices firmware version ? We are using 3.10.3 which is available only since March.

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I don't believe so, I checked the latest manual and it still supports *IDN? command and the firmware list of changes in the U8903A (Audio Analyzer Revision Information) doesn't mention any changes to *IDN?. 

We did our testing with the 2.10.1.0, so I'm not sure if there are any issues with the 2.10.3 .0 version of the firmware. 

When you select Scan for Instruments and the instrument is configured for GPIB, connected correctly (cables), and supports *IDN? -  the Identification for the instrument (under Connected Instruments) should be displayed.
If the Identification message displayed after you select Scan for Instruments is "The device did not respond to *IDN? query", the issue may be that something is not configured correctly.  You might try to check if the General Settings for the GPIB Interface Properties in MAX matches the ones on the instrument (GPIB Interface ID and Primary Address).   

[mkossmann]

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@jjp377 wrote:

If the Identification message displayed after you select Scan for Instruments is "The device did not respond to *IDN? query", the issue may be that something is not configured correctly. 

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It shows indeed  "The device did not respond to *IDN? query" . But the strange thing is that , if I choose "Communicate with Instrument" after that failure ( without changing anything) and send a command to the device using the Communicator; I've seen no  problem  for every command I've sent so far. Even for another *IDN? query.  And other GPIB devices than a U8903A on the same interface don't show problems ,too.

So I don't believe that there is a basic misconfiguration.