I cant find my GPIB device in the VISA resources list

[wiki]

Hi,

I am using Labview 8.5.1. I am trying to program my Agilent multimeter with Labview. I have downloaded the drivers for the model. HOwever, I dont see the device on the VISA resources list. All I see is COM, LPT1 and refresh. Is there a solution for this?

Regards,

Wiki

[Cory_K]

Did you install MAX (measurement and automation explorer).

This is the program LabVIEW uses for hardware communication.

Check if you see the GPIB device in MAX.

Message Edited by Cory K on 07-28-2009 10:43 AM

[Dennis_Knutson]

What happens when you do a scan for instruments? Does it show up in MAX? Are you using an NI GPIB controller?

[wiki]

I dont see the device on DAQ, but however when I go to tools and then soft front panels i see VA - Agilent Visa Assistant Utility, I can use that to communicate with the device. BUt i dont see the GPIB address on the VISA resource drop down menu in labview.

[Dennis_Knutson]

Of course you don't see anything under DAQ because you are not using a DAQ device.

You did not answer my question about the vendor of your GPIB board. That's important information if you are not using an NI controller since you have to perform some special operations for a non-NI controller.

I also asked if you did a scan for instruments and you did not answer that question either. If you are using Measurement & Automation Explorer (MAX) and if you are using an NI card and if you installed everything, in MAX you can see the controller (GPIB0), right click on it and select scan for instruments. Do that and report what happens.

[wiki]

Hi,

Actually I am using a USB to GPIB cable. One end of the cable is connected to multimeter, the other end is USB. I dont have GPIB controller or board. Its a GPIB to USB cable.

Regarding your question about scanning for an instrument - I am not sure how to scan for devices however if you read my reply above I am able to communicate with the device. I am using MAX but I dont have the NI card but I have installed everything but I still dont see the GPIB in the VISA resource drop down lost.

Regards,

Waqar Iqbal

[Dennis_Knutson]

A USB->GPIB IS a controller. If you don't know the difference between a plain cable and a controller, then you might want to find a tutorial on GPIB.

Why is it so hard to answer the question about who makes the controller? You've now said it's not NI. WHO's IS IT?

As I already said, if you are not using an NI controller, then you have to do some special things to make everything work in MAX and LabVIEW. Since you are apparently unwilling to provide that information, I don't know what further help you can get.

[Conor_mcL]

if I understand your problem correctly then tip 2 in the following document might help

http://cp.literature.agilent.com/litweb/pdf/5990-3731EN.pdf

[r31415smith]

Hello, I am running Labview 2010 Service Pack 1 (64-bit) and Labview run-time engine 7.1.1. 

I'm experiencing a strange problem.  I'm using a Keithley 2400 device, connected to my PC via GPIB USB HS.  The "Measurement and Automation Wizard" sees the device, and under "VISA Properties" shows that the device is working properly and has address GPIB0::24::INSTR (and I can communicate fine using the NI-488.2 Communicator).  However, when I try to communicate with the device in Labview (e.g., using Basic Serial Write and Read.vi), it does not show up in the drop down menu for the VISA resource menu.  I've never encountered a problem like this before.  If I try to type in the address GPIB0::24::INSTR  manually, I get an error:

Error -1073807202 occurred at Property Node (arg 1) in VISA Configure Serial Port (Instr).vi-

Any thoughts on how to establish communication with the device in Labview?  This issue began when I installed Labview 2010 (was using 8.5).  perhaps wiping the system clean of all labview things and reinstalling from scratch is necessary?  I feel like there must be a more straightforward way to solve this issue.  Thank you for considering my situation.

[MAltmann]

Hi r31415smith,

There maybe a little of confusion here but, I believe when communicating with a GPIB device you would want to use VISA commands and when you are looking to communicate over the serial port you use the VISA-Serial commands.  The Basic Serial Write and Read.vi is looking specifically for a serial port.  

If you downloaded the keithley drivers from here and installed them using the directions from here.  Then there should be Keithley examples installed on your computer.  If you open Labview 2010 and navigate to Help > Find Instrument Drivers.  A dialog will open up and show you the installed instruments.  Then, if you click on Keithley 24xx it will show you example files for communicating with your instrument.

I think that if the Basic Serial Read Write had worked in the 8.5 the example file may have been change to only work with a visa serial instead of general VISA.  

Hopefully this has helped you out and shed some light on what is going on.