USB-6501 driver issues with NiDAQmx

[Leeima]

I have 2 NI USB-6501-OEM modules. Neither of which get recognised by MAX correctly.
This seems to be an Ni-DAQmx driver related issue.

PC is running Windows 11 - Ni-DAQmx Driver 2023-Q2. No previous NI software was installed on this machine

Symptoms

• LED on USB-6501 does nothing (turned off)
• MAX showed an inactive connection for each USB-6501 unit (Dev1/Dev2 disconnected)
• Device Manager lists USB-6501 as "NI Data Acquisition Device -> USB Firmware Loader"

I have gone trhough the troubleshooting steps listed on the NI site, and had some assistance from an NI Tech (who wants me to return 1 unit for an RMA - I bought the second unit to get going whilst the first is "fixed")

Now after those steps as directed by the NI forums/NI tech

• I have NiDAQmx- base version 15.0 installed in addition to NiDAQmx
• The devices now show up in device manager as "NI-VISA USB Devices -> NI USB Flash Loader"
  • Attempting to force this driver to USB-6501 doesn't work - the system reverts straight back to NI USB Flash Loader
• The devices now show up as an active connection in MAX as 'Unknown "USB0::0x3923::0x716E::NI-VISA-10002::RAW" '
  • amusingly the vendor and model are "unknown"

I have tried completely uninstalling NI & all the drivers but reinstalling ends with the same result - and wastes about 2-3 hours of my time.

Any ideas would be appreciated

[Manuel-NVision]

I have exactly the same problem with 3 USB 6501 units. Could you fix it?

[Leeima]

No I couldn't get it to work even with assistance from the NI repairs team.

It looks like it does some firmware update which bricks the device. I had to give up on it.

[Manuel-NVision]

Thanks for the reply! We've ordered 4 devices and only one is working. 

[Leeima]

I ended up purchasing an Acces USB-DIO-32I instead. Might be worth checking them out.

[avotad]

My team is currently having the same issue with 3 USB-6501 OEM units purchased from Farnell, connect it to a PC and get three flashes from the LED and then it's dead so we're reluctant to connect the 4th device just purchased.

This has been attempted using NI-MAX versions 19.5 and 23.3, on my particular PC I don't get a flashing LED on the 6501 but NI-MAX semi-detects it with a yellow exclamation mark beside it and states that I don't have the correct drivers despite another 6501 being connected at the same time and functioning perfectly.

[Leeima]

As I said in a previous post I have given up on trying to solve this.

In my troubleshooting, it would connect successfully for a moment before an NI Service appeared to change the driver/firmware for the unit.

I suspect whether your unit works or not depends on which firmware was installed on the unit, before you plug it in.

[syl49]

I hope that NI Teams will be treated quickly the problem, cause I am exactly the same symptom and problem

Impossible to reactive 2 modules N6501

[Leeima]

It's worth contacting the NI, to see if the service engineers have better luck getting your units working

[Yu2019]

Though I saw you give up, I still want to post some info here. Hope it can help others in some way.

I also bought one USB 6501 last week, and I met the same condition as you. USB 6501 is detected as "USB firmware loader" in my device manager, and other symptoms are very similar.

However, in my case, sometimes when I connected USB 6501, for a few seconds it was displayed as "USB 6501" in device manager, but very soon it changed to "USB firmware loader". Then I tried to change the driver manually by choosing from the drivers available on pc. The driver is changed to USB 6501, which is said to be incompatible with my USB 6501 device. This time, the device can be detected correctly, but errors soon shows up, saying the software entered unknown condition. Anyway, I cannot do any test on USB 6501 in this condition. Then I tried to pull out and re-plug USB 6501, and then dev1, dev2, dev3....are created in NI MAX (none of them worked). After that I tried to uninstall the driver again, and then re-plug USB 6501 back. This time one of the dev listed in NI MAX can work, and re-plugging will not cause any trouble.

And somehow it is working now...... I have no idea about why it started to work......

But anyway I want to post this "solution" here, hope it can also work for others case...

My pc is DELL laptop with win 11 pro, NI MAX is 2023 Q3, NI DAQm is 20.0.