VirtualBench has encountered a problem and needs to close.

[Morris118]

I can run the VirtualBench software off the device and it works fine.  I want to upgrade the firmware but it tells me I have to install the software on my computer first.  I installed the VirtualBench software on my desktop.  But when I run that version of the software I get the error "VirtualBench has encountered a problem and needs to close."  I click "OK"  and the error pops up again but closes when I hit "OK" the second time without the desktop window ever opening.  I have LabView 17 installed and it is working just fine.  Has anyone else run into this issue?

[JoeFriedchicken]

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Morris118 wrote:

I can run the VirtualBench software off the device and it works fine.  I want to upgrade the firmware but it tells me I have to install the software on my computer first.

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To confirm, it sounds like you connect to your VirtrualBench device over the network (and not with USB).

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But when I run that version of the software I get the error "VirtualBench has encountered a problem and needs to close."

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Please attach any crash log text files found here:

C:\Users\___YOU___\AppData\Local\National Instruments\NI-VirtualBench

and R&D will take a look 🙂

If there are no files there, please try deleting that folder and re-starting the application.

[Morris118]

I have it connected up on USB not through wireless.  I have attached the last two crash logs.

Thanks,

Morris.

[JoeFriedchicken]

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Morris118 wrote:

I have it connected up on USB not through wireless.  I have attached the last two crash logs.

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Thanks! I'm surprised the device's application asked you to install the software on your PC. Only firmware updates over a network connection should prompt that message.

The crash logs were helpful, thank you for attaching them. The -53.log file is a known problem with a known workaround, and explains the second crash dialog. The -47.log file is a new problem and explains the first crash dialog, but I believe there is a workaround for it as well in the mean time.

Please do both of these before starting the application, and let me know what happens:

• Delete the NI-VirtualBench cache folder to make the application behave as if it were launched for the first time.
• Disable FIPS on the PC to let the application initialize itself.

If you are unable to disable FIPS on that PC (perhaps your network or system administrators control that setting), use a PC that doesn't have FIPS enabled to apply the firmware update. If you don't have access to a non-FIPS PC, I'm sorry to say that you are likely blocked until we can fix that problem 😞

Or, if we can determine why the device's application cannot update firmware over USB and resolve that problem, you shouldn't need to worry about FIPS.

[Morris118]

OK, I am trying to get this running over USB.  I can run the program on the VirtualBench no problem.  But when I install the latest application and driver I get the previous error.  I deleted the directory as you said but I only have a wired network connection and that is not how I am connecting to the VirtualBench.  So, FIPS should have nothing to do with the issue since I am running this solely on USB. 

Out of frustration I turned on the wireless as an AP and connected to it with my laptop.  The older version of the VirtualBench software found it and connected no problem.  I then checked the username and password and it was the default "admin" no password. so I disconnected from wireless, hooked it up USB and reconnected the laptop to the internet.  This time it let me check for updates and installed 1.1.  I checked again and it found version 15.something.  One more time and I am on version 16.10f0.  It works on the laptop.  Now, the new version on the VirtualBench wont start on the desktop with the same error.  So here are the last error logs.

[JoeFriedchicken]

Thanks for these updates and your patience.

To check my understanding, here is what I think you've done and observed since you first encountered this problem. I am uncertain about a few details, so I've marked them with "?".

There are two PCs, a desktop and a laptop. There is one VirtualBench, and you use USB to connect to it.

1. The PC can run the on-device application without any problem.
2. When you decided to update the device's firmware, the application asked you to install VirtualBench on the PC's hard drive.
3. When you launched the on-PC application, the application "double-crashed" with two dialogs.
4. You can use the device from LabVIEW to control the instruments and read their data.
5. When you deleted the cache directory, the behavior was unchanged: the on-device application would launch while the on-PC application would crash.

Then you switched to the laptop PC.

6. You enabled the device's AP and connected to it wirelessly from the laptop, disconnecting the laptop from the internet.
7? At some point in the past, you installed the VirtualBench application on the laptop's hard drive.
8. This old version of the on-laptop application detected and attached to the device.
9. From this older on-laptop application, you confirmed the login credentials were what you expected.
10. You then switched to a USB connection with the laptop, disconnecting from the device's AP and reconnecting the latptop to the internet.
11? From this older on-laptop application (or was it the on-device application), you were able to update to firmware version 1.1, then 15.2, and finally to 16.1.
12? You can launch this older on-laptop application (or was it the on-device application) and use the device.

Then you switched back to the desktop PC.

13. When you launch the on-device application, you still observe the double-crash.

14. When you launch the on-PC application, you still observe the double-crash.

What version(s) of the application did you use on the laptop? Which version is installed on its hard drive?

Analysis

Both the -14.log and -52.log files indicate the same problem as the -53.log file from your first upload -- this is usually fixed by deleting the cache folder. If you still see crashes on launch, then the nuclear option is to factory reset the device and delete the cache folder while the application is closed.

[Morris118]

1) version 1.0.0f0 of the VB application runs fine on the desktop

2) trying to update the firmware it asks for a user name and password but wont accept the default password.  The recommended method to reset this was to install the app to the desktop and sign in.  

3) the version 17 of the VB app downloaded from the NI website double crashed on the desktop

4) correct

5) Deleting the cache and doing a factory reset did not change the behavior

On the Laptop

6)-10) are correct

11)  Using the VB app installed on the laptop, I was able to make the incremental upgrades to the current version of the firmware and app 

12) the firmware is now version 17 (the latest version on the NI website) and runs just fine on the laptop from both the installed app on the laptop and the app installed in the firmware on the VirtualBench.

So back on the problematic desktop

13) I reconnect using the USB cable and try to run the app that is now on the VirtualBench and it double crashes.

14)  I run the version installed on the desktop and get the same double crash.

So, with the VB app closed, I unplugged the VB from the USB and did the factory reset (rest button held for 5 seconds).  While it was unplugged from the PC. I deleted the C:\Users\.....\AppData\Local\National Instruments\NI-VirtualBench directory.  Plugged the VB back into the PC and ran the VirtualBenchLauncher program from the VirtualBench.  Attached are the double crash error logs from that try.  It looks like version 1.0.0f0 worked on this PC but versions 16 and 17 wont run.  

[JoeFriedchicken]

Thanks for the extra details, I think my understanding matches what happened to you 🙂

Morris118 wrote:

2) trying to update the firmware it asks for a user name and password but wont accept the default password.  The recommended method to reset this was to install the app to the desktop and sign in. 

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Strange: the application tries the default password automatically and only shows the authentication dialog when those credentials fail. How did you learn about the "recommended method"? If it was from an NI source, I need to double-check with the author.

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5) Deleting the cache and doing a factory reset did not change the behavior.

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This also reset your firmware update credentials to the default.

Analysis

The -29.log file shows that FIPS is still preventing the application from initializing, and the -31.log file is the follow-up failure-to-initialize crash.

What happens when you disable FIPS and relaunch the application?

[DavidMundie]

Where is the cache folder to delete it?

I can use the application via USB but would rather use the iPAD app over wifi

[JoeFriedchicken]

Both use the OS-native location for the cache folder.

• Windows is C:\Users\___YOU___\AppData\Local\National Instruments\NI-VirtualBench\ . Delete it to remove the cache.
• iOS is inside the application bundle. Delete the app and re-install it from the App Store to remove the cache.