GPIB-USB-HS does not appear / is not recognized by Measurement and Automation Explorer, LabView 2012

[WaffleHaus]

Hi. 

I'm trying to get a NI GPIB-USB-HS working to interface my computer with a Keithley 2400 sourcemeter. I am running Windows 7 64 bit (on some arbitrary very new HP desktop station) and Labview 2012 with VISA 5.3 and Ni 488-3.11 installed. 

When I first plugged in the GPIB after installing just VISA, the "Active" light was lit green, while the "Ready" light was dark, it showed up in device manager with an exclamation point/no driver, and no GPIB devices appeared in MAX.  I solved some of this by installing the NI488 driver, and now device manager properly recognizes the cable as a NI GPIB device and the Ready light has gone from dark to solid orange while the Active light has gone dark. 

However, MAX still does NOT see the device, and I really have kind of run out of ideas as to how to get MAX to see it. Attached are pictures of what does appear under devices and instruments in MAX, and its system info text file. 

I haven't tried really communicating with the device yet, although I will now. But I kind of assume that the GPIB cannot be communicated with if MAX doesn't see it. 

Thanks. 

[WaffleHaus]

K update: 

I went into the NI VISA folder in the start menu and tried the Driver Wizard. It recognized the GPIB and I went through the driver installation and, lo and behold, the GPIB appeared in MAX. However, it appeared as a USB, NOT as a GPIB, a la the following: http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/allkb/0F6177D3EF24DCA4862578F7000036CC. The solution there is, well, useless, as I have already installed the NI488 driver. 

Further, the GPIB went from being recognized as a NI instrument in device manager to a general USB device (picture attached). 

So far I am still unable to properly communicate with the GPIB device, although I need to test it further to be certain. 

[Dennis_Knutson]

The worst thing you could have done is to use the VISA wizard. So, the first thing you need to do is to undo everything associated with that. Then I would recommend that you uninstall VISA, NI-488, and MAX. When the system is clean, with the device disconnected, install NI-488. This should also install MAX. Then plug in the device.

[WaffleHaus]

No I feel like I already did  like the worst thing I could have done which is to use Labview+GPIB, like I'm from the 80's or something. 

In any case, I somehow managed to get it kinda working. I just went into device manager and like uninstalled it from there then literally just unplugged it and plugged it back in and it worked. I think. Now the Keithley 2400 I'm using is being stupid but MAX seems to properly be recognizing the GPIB as GPIB and not USB. 

Anyway thanks for the help. 

[nyc_(is_out_of_here)]

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@WaffleHaus wrote:

No I feel like I already did  like the worst thing I could have done which is to use Labview+GPIB, like I'm from the 80's or something. 

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Nobody is forcing you to use LabVIEW.

However unless the instrument has a LAN or RS232, you are stuck with GPIB.

And if the instrument does have LAN or RS232, then I am not sure why you felt it necessary to use GPIB since you dislike it so much.

[WaffleHaus]

Lol yeah I have a pretty strong aversion to labview but I also don't have the time to learn how to control equipment with script languages (even matlab), and the GPIB is all I have to work with. 

The keithley 2400 actually has an RS232 port on it. I'll have to look into that. 

[gbaby]

If all else fails, I would check to make sure that the GPIB reciever on your computer isn't loose. About two weeks ago I spent an entire day messing around in MAX, unplugging and replugging GPIB cables, and scouring the forums trying to find out what was wrong with the GPIB cable or device when in reality the port within my computer had somehow become loose. As soon as I nudged it back into place, everything began to work perfectly.

[m11xiao]

Hello, I am facing the same problem. I am using Keithley 2602A to connect with PC by GPIB cable. After plugging in the GPIB-USB-HS cable, the ready LED turns orange and the active LED remains dark. And the software could not open the instrument. Could you tell me how you solved this problem? Thank you very much.

[Dennis_Knutson]

Please start at the beginning and explain exactly what you've done. Include the versions of Windows, NI-488, NI-VISA. How does the device appear in device manager? What driver does it say it is using.

[m11xiao]

Thanks, I am using GPIB cable to connect the Keithley 2602. I installed to software NI488.2 14.0 in Win7 system. NI VISA 14.0. The software can detect the GPIB cable sucessfully. But when I used VISA to search the instrument, I could not find my instrument (which should show GPIB::26::INSTR). I also used the software TSB from Keithley website to search for the instrument. But still nothing happened. Could anyone tell me how to solve this problem? Thank you very much.