NI Max: No "Scan for instruments" button

[johndoe89]

Before I start let me say that I've been using the NI GPIB-USB-HS devices for years with relatively few issues. I've also already visited several forums posted by people with a similar issue.  Basically my issue is as the title suggests: When I open NI max and browse to the GPIB-USB-HS device there is no "scan for instruments" button that I am used to seeing on the top bar.

This is the first time I've used ni max v. 16.0 and it is quite frustrating.  I believe my ni488 driver is up to date and I've included all the driver details in the screenshot below.  I can't figure out what is wrong here but my LabView program cannot communicate to the GPIB instrument.  

A couple more things to note:

-The same GPIB-USB-HS device that isn't working here works on another computer with an older version of NI Max.

-The LabView program that I'm using to communicate to the GPIB instrument that isn't working here works on another computer

-When I browse to the GPIB-USB-HS in 'device manager' and select 'update driver' windows tells me that the driver is up to date

-I am using windows 8

Please help me.

[KathrynTheGreat · Accepted solution]

Hi JohnDoe89,

This sounds like it would be a very frustrating situation to run into- let's see if we can narrow down what might be causing the problem, so we can determine the best way to resolve it.

You mentioned that things are working properly on another computer with different software versions- can you let us know what versions of software are running on that computer? It would be helpful to compare against the list in the image you posted.

From the list you posted (I'm assuming that's the software on the computer that isn't working, rather than the one that is), I noticed that you're using the 16.0 versions of many of your drivers. From the readme for the 488.2 drivers, it looks like the 16.0 version is only backwards compatible to LabVIEW 2013, rather than the 2012 I see on your list. If the working computer is using an earlier version of the drivers/MAX, but the same version of LabVIEW, this may be at least part of what's causing the issue.

If you can post the software list for the working computer, that will give us more information to work from.

[johndoe89]

Thanks for the reply, Kathryn

As you suspected the other computer is also running LabView 2012.  What surprised me was how old all of the other software was as well.  I guess I will just have to downgrade the newest software.  I will let you know if that works.

GPIB-USB-HS driver: 3.0.0.49153

Ni-488.2 software:      3.0.2

Automation Explorer:  5.1.0f0

LabView:                     2012

Thanks,

Kyle

[johndoe89 · Accepted solution]

After uninstalling all NI-related software and reinstalling LabView 2012 the problem was resolved.  This time around I declined all the updates recommended by the NI update manager.  Although I still don't know why the update manager would update me to driver versions that are incompatible with my LabView version.

Kyle

[KathrynTheGreat]

Hi Kyle,

I think the main reason you were running into difficulty with the update manager is that your systems are running a legacy version of LabVIEW. The update manager assumes that you want to work with the newest version of all of the software, which ends up being the case for most of our customers, but in situations where you can't upgrade LabVIEW due to system requirements, it can cause issues. 

That being said, I'm glad to hear things are working for you after reverting to older versions of the software! Let us know if there's anything else we can do to help.