Blue Screen of Death when process is running using NI DAQmx. IRQL_LESS_THAN_OR_EQUAL_TO

[Shewit]

I am running a laminator that uses the USB6008 driver from National Instruments for their DAQmx. I have the 8.9.5 CD which has the required drivers. I get a BSOD in the middle of the process. This is running on Windows XP. I believe the IRQL_LESS_THAN_OR_EQUAL_TO BSOD happens when there is a driver error. Is there any way I can get rid of this problem? Will updating the drivers help? I was not getting the error before and the process was running smoothly. I have been getting these errors recently and they are repeatable.

[muks]

See whether this will give you an idea

[Shewit]

Does this mean that if I uninstall all the drivers and then install the NI drivers again it will help?

[Mr.F]

Hi Shewit,

Can you elaborate on what you mean by using the USB 6009 driver to control a laminator?  Are you using a USB 6009? Or are you modify the DAQmx driver to interface directly with a device?

[Shewit]

So here goes.

There is a laminator that has the USB 6009 that goes into a laptop that runs a program to control the laminator. I was not here when the programming was done but now I am getting this Blue Screen with the IRQL message. With some search I found out that it means the IRQ for windows has a conflict.

When I go to the device manager and check the IRQ resource I see that the PCI to USB controller is on an independent IRQ (19) and is not sharing the IRQ. One of my colleagues believe that this could be because the laminator is not well grounded and is sending a spike back through the USB port. 

This happens consistently at a certain process step in the laminator recipe. When I checked what software is required to run the Laminator Control it showed me that the NI DAQmx is also installed so I assumed that it is its driver. But, I now see that it is only using USB 6009.

[Mr.F]

I take it from that description that there is a USB-6009 that you have connected to your laminator and are using the AI, AO and DIO of the USB 6009 to control the Laminator. If that is the case, an improperly grounded Laminator should not send any sort of pulse back through the USB 6009 to the host computer. The USB 6009 should keep pulses like that from reaching the USB Controller. Can you use the USB 6009 with Test Panels in Measurement and Automation Explorer? 

If I’m mistaken about how the USB 6009 and Laminator are related can you clarify a bit more? Can you attach a picture?

[Shewit]

The USB 6008 is connected to a USB hub which is connected to a Win XP laptop. The DAQ communicates with the laminator (custom built) to control pressure and temperature. The recipe is written in a program called Laminator Control which is written in LabView.

[Mr.F]

Ah, much clearer, thank you. This brings me back to my other question; can you use the USB 6009 in Test Panels in Measurement and Automation Explorer? Is there a particular step in your LabVIEW that causes the BSOD? When you get the BSOD is there a dll or driver that is referenced as causing the exception? Uninstalling and reinstalling may very well fix this behavior but it would be good to get a bit more information.

[Shewit]

Yes. The USB 6009 is only recognized by one Slot in the Laminator Control program. I tried to uninstall all drivers and reinstall them too. But the problem persists. Also the laminator control program starts with lowering pressure and increasing temperature. At a certain step it is supposed to recognize a certain temperature level and jump to the next step. This is where I get the BSOD. This has happened about 7 times now so I am sure that this is exactly the step where it does that.

We have another laminator with another laptop with the same settings which runs fine. 

[Shewit]

There you go... there is an image of the USB being recognized.