PCI-1422 Windows7 32bit Problems

[HyperB]

I have a legacy program that I am trying to port from WindowsXP to 32bit version of Windows7.  This program is based on the PCI-1422 frame grabber.

For historical purposes, I have to use NI-IMAQ version 2.5.3, which installs version 2.0.3.17 of NI-MAX

From a clean build of Win7 x32, I can install NI software, and the old application which creates correct camera definition files.

When I add the frame grabber card, Windows device manager is happy... the card is correctly identified and seems to use driver files which match the old WinXP install.

When I look at the card with NI-MAX, the camera correctly appears in the configuration list.  If I highlight Channel 0 device and run 'Diagnostic' all tests seem to pass correctly.  (Again the displayed output matches the results from the same operation on the old WinXP box)

However if I try to 'Snap' or  'Grab' a frame, I get the following error box:  Title = 'Acquisition Error'   and there is NO TEXT in the error description, only a yellow ! warning icon.

(The legacy program performs all controlling functions via two other PCI cards, but halts when trying to grab a frame as well.  The above behavior can be seen with or without these additional PCI cards)

I have tried both installing and executing the EXE files with or without 'Run as Admin'  and/or 'WinXP SP3 compatibility mode'.  In some cases, the available camera list disappears, but nothing I have done has been succesful at grabbing a frame from the camera.

Any suggestions about compatibility and/or why the error box is missing all text?

Thanks in advance,

Jim

[MoviJOHN]

I must prefice this by noting that there is a recommended replacement for this frame grabber.  Granted, If I could avoid buy more hardware$, I would too.

I also must ask why you are tied to an old version of IMAQ, but are not tied to using Windows XP?  If you are going to port legacy (as opposed to maintain legacy), you might as well go full on migration.

It might be worthwhile to first verify the camera and frame grabber on an XP system, if you have not done so already.  It could be that it has a problem. Or not.

[HyperB]

Good questions...

I have been asked to 'upgrade' a commercial system that was developed 10 years ago.  The system works currently... an XP based system with old frame grabber.   I was asked if I could upgrade the PC, because of concerns of PC failure with a 10 yr old box.  We found a new motherboard that supports the necesary 3 PCI slots for frame grabber, and newer CPU of course.

The question remains however, can we migrate to Win7, or...   do we try to install WinXP on the new PC hardware, with the older interface cards.  To add to the difficulties, the original company than produced the software is no longer in business.  Fortunately I have remained in contact with some of the developers that are giving me some support, but they haven't supported the product for years either.

The basic issue remains...  hardware and software that worked on XP, has been migrated. The devices appear in some sense to be detected correctly.  But the critical important issue, grabbing a frame from the camear, fails.  What can be done?

[MoviJOHN]

Well, if the source of the problem can be narrowed down to the frame grabber, then there is an upgrade path to a NI-1424.

The trick is really to have some certainty about this, of course.

Is it possible to upgrade the IMAQ software to a newer version?  Even if you cannot go to the latest version, it may be that there is improved support for newer OSes somewhere between.

I don't know if this is the case for IMAQ, but I have seen in the past, that when newer LabVIEW versions are installed, the installer will also include legacy drivers, as needed.

[BlueCheese]

Most certainly the issue is due to running such an old version of IMAQ on Windows 7. That version was never intended or tested on Windows 7 and likely is running into a host of issues. The migration from Windows XP to Vista broke lots of things in the software world and most companies (including NI) shipped new versions that explicitly added support for the OS.

I would probably first see if you can run it with a newer version of the IMAQ driver. It is desgned to keep the API backwards compatible with old applications that were developed against older versions. Now, certainly there has been many updates since then so it is possible if your application is relying on some more exotic behavior it may still run into some problems. If you have the source it may be trivial to fix them.

Eric