gpib-enet 1000: Can ping IP but cannot communicate with GPIB instrument connect to it

[EricEng]

Hi,

Our lab normally use Agilent GPIBLAN gateways (sorry for mentioning this) and I have used those to communicate with GPIB instruments without problems before.   I have  had to a NI GPIB-ENET 1000 gateway recently (new to our lab)  and I thought it would be more or less a 'drop-in' replacement but I can't seem to be able to communicate with GPIB instruments with it.    I have followed the hook up instructions (as per online pdf), installed the NI software (NIVISA1501full.exe) from ni.com and although I can ping the gateway device, I cannot communicate with GPIB instruments connected to it (a simple Agilent 34401A DMM).  For the record, again, I can do this in a snap with the other vendor product.   I have used the NI MAX tool to try and troubleshoot but it won't let me add a GPIB ENET 1000 interface. The end goal is to use in conjunction with Matlab as all of our lab test scripts are Matlab).  

What am I missing?   Can you help me troubleshoot this so I can use your device?

Regards,

EricEng

[JustJohn]

Hello EricEng,

I have a few quick questions for you that might get us pointed in the right direction. What specifically is MAX doing that is not allowing you to add an ENET1000 Interface? Is it not allowing you to add the ENET 1000 itself? Or is it preventing you from adding the Agilent 34401A DMM? Are there any messages associated with this issue you are seeing? The NI-VISA driver is correct but I want to make sure it is compatible with the other software you might have installed. What version of NI-MAX are you working with? 

Also according to the NI 488.2 driver readme, 488.2 is a required driver to interface with the ENET 1000 device. This readme link can be found below. 

http://download.ni.com/support/softlib//gpib/Windows/14.0/ReadMe.html

Here is the link to download the 488.2 driver 

http://www.ni.com/download/ni-488.2-15.5/5859/en/

Install this software and you should be able to see the ENET 1000 device. If needed, you can also install the device driver to see what commands can be sent to the device located here. This driver is for LabVIEW, but you will see the commands in the VIs. 

http://sine.ni.com/apps/utf8/niid_web_display.download_page?p_id_guid=014E7F05D12C6F8BE0440003BA7CCD...

[EricEng]

Thanks John.

The NI MAX issue has been resolved by installing NI 488.2.  I was able to install the GPIB-ENET1000 driver and also I am now able to communicate with the 34401A connected to it via the VISA test panel Basic I/O.  So, that is a good start. As I mentioned, the end goal is to use in conjunction with Matlab and unfortunately I am still unable to do that.  Where I try to access the 34401A device via the GPIB-ENET 1000, I get the following message:

 Unsuccessful open: Could not open VISA object. Use INSTRHWINFO for a list of available configurations.

>> instrhwinfo

ans =

  HardwareInfo with properties:

          MATLABVersion: '8.6 (R2015b)'
    SupportedInterfaces: {'gpib'  'serial'  'tcpip'  'udp'  'visa'  'Bluetooth'  'i2c'  'spi'}
       SupportedDrivers: {'matlab'  'ivi'  'vxipnp'}
            ToolboxName: 'Instrument Control Toolbox'
         ToolboxVersion: '3.8 (R2015b)'

Access to your hardware may be provided by a support package. Go to the Support Package Installer to learn more.

>> instrhwinfo('visa')

ans =

  HardwareInfo with properties:

    InstalledAdaptors: {'agilent'  'ni'}
       JarFileVersion: 'Version 3.8'

Access to your hardware may be provided by a support package. Go to the Support Package Installer to learn more.

I had already attempted to install the VISA & ICP package and I tried re-installing but without success.

EricEng

[JustJohn]

Hello EricEng,

It might be that you need to install a specific driver (in addition to the VISA & ICP package) for the device you are working with in order to work with it in the 3rd party software. The error mentioning the "Support Package" is what I believe you are looking for. The specific "Support Package" will allow you to interface with your hardware. I know that the Instrument Control Toolbox is not a NI supported package, but you might have better luck from this point forward looking into the other companies support fourms to complete the setup you are working with. We do not typically know the specific drivers needed to use the 3rd party software with our hardware but they might be able to point you in the right direction!