Setting up LabVIEW 7.1 and old PCI cards on another computer, cannot get components to talk to each other

[lmk813]

The old system: LabVIEW 7.1 on Windows XP with NI PCI cards 6036e and 6703, connected to cutom-made electronics with CB-68LP cards in the electronics box. Used with a specific VI. System has remained operating this way for years.

What happened: the computer died, apparently a problem with the motherboard.

What we've tried: installed the old hard drive and the PCI cards into a "new" old computer chassis. Computer starts up fine, LabVIEW and the original VI open and run. Had to install drivers for the cards. NIDAQ recognizes the cards; they are present and appear to be operating normally. Noted the CB-68LP accessories in the card configurations.

Situation: can't get the LabVIEW  VI talking with the custom electronics. Recurring errors include "Specified resource is reserved". (Others relate to subVIs.)

I suspect something was lost when having to install the cards as if they were new cards -- maybe settings or tasks in NIDAQ? (Traditional and mx both present.) The VI has pick lists for the devices: "Dev1/ai0" etc, for ai0-10. Nothing has been changed in the VI, and the PCI cards are connected to the correct CB-68LP cards as before.  (Note: Ultimately, this set-up is supposed to be upgraded to newer computer/LabVIEW, but we need to get the equipment running again ASAP until then.)

Surely someone has had an experience similar to this, yet I could not find a similar post on the NI forums. Any ideas exactly where the problem lies and what to do to solve it?

[Dennis_Knutson]

If you just moved the hard drive, the drivers would have already been installed so I don't understand what you have done. What did you install? What driver is the old program using? If it's traditional DAQ, then installing DAQmx would have made it the current driver. The error that you mention of from DAQmx. In MAX, are the device names the same and can you ruin the test panels?

[David22JRA]

Hi lmk813

Actually you can try with this software:   http://www.ni.com/download/daq-diagnostic-utility-2.1/2244/en/ (DAQ Diagnostic Utility 2.1)

You can verify if everything is fine. I hope that this software will be useful for you.

[Dennis_Knutson]

Note that the above utility is for DAQmx.

It should take only seconds to look at your source code and see if it is using the obsolete driver or DAQmx.

[lmk813]

Dennis,

There were some other NI cards already installed in that PC, so we tried them first -- another 6036e and a 6713. (The VI talks to the 6703 (or 6713) card first, so that's where we first get the errors.) When those didn't work, we put in the original cards, and Windows recognized them as new hardware, demanded drivers. In hindsight, we probably should have just put in the orginal cards first. Device numbers were checked and corrected. I don't have much experience with the test panels, but there wasn't anything I could find that was obviously wrong. Self-tests were fine.

[lmk813]

David,

Thanks for the link -- I'll give it a go and see what happens...

[Dennis_Knutson]

Why can't you answer the question as to what driver the program is using? Have you lost the source code so you can't look?

[lmk813]

The source code of...?

WinXP device manager shows both cards using nipalk.sys (NI-PAL 2.512.3.0).

Measurement & Automation Explorer lists both cards under traditional NI-DAQ (7.2) and NI-DAQmx (8.7), as well as PXI System (marked unidentified).

The DAQ Diagnostic utility shows the 6036e card is working fine, but does not even list the 6703 card as an option to analyze.

[Dennis_Knutson]

You don't have the source code to your program? What MAX shows or what the diagnostic utility shows is irrelevant. What you need to know is what driver your program is using. That would seem a pretty obvious first step in understanding why the program is not working.

[lmk813]

You mean the VI, then? As far as I can tell, the VI does not reference any drivers -- there are 11 physical channels it is trying to read individually from the 6703 card. (Data then goes into an array.)