GPIB Card hangs-up

IgorTarasov · Post by **IgorTarasov** » January 5th, 2011, 4:46 am

Hello,
I have such problem. I have in the lab two PC, one PC has KPCI-488LPA card installed, the other PC has KUSB-488A. Each PC has Keithley compatible driver installed, the latest version. On both PC I run the same program written in C++ MFC, which continiously perform set oscillator output frequency and read signal, I use command SNAP? 1,2. My problem is after a couple thousands of the measurement the program just hangs-up. And the only solution is to restart the program.
After each set frequency command I check the status for non-zero value, after reading value also. I have couple try - catch blocks, and non of them catch any error or time out. I am already out of idea.
Could you please help me?
Thank you in advance

Igor

Tom Sw · Post by **Tom Sw** » January 5th, 2011, 5:07 am

I think SNAP? must be one of your instrument commands. I believe the two GPIB cards you are using have different drivers, so it seems somewhat unlikely that they would both have exactly the same problem.

If the problem existed with either the instrument or the GPIB controller I think you would be more likely to see a GPIB timeout than the program hanging.

Based on your description I'm afraid I don't have any great advice other than to continue working with your software to see if you can determine what line of code causes the program to hang.

IgorTarasov · Post by **IgorTarasov** » January 5th, 2011, 5:14 am

Seems to me the problem come from enter command. Because very ocasionaly I get the message about time out FREQ command or spolling.

Tom Sw · Post by **Tom Sw** » January 5th, 2011, 6:28 am

We have not had any other reports of this type of problem. Also, the fact that two different drivers are involved still seems to indicate the problem is somewhere else.

IgorTarasov · Post by **IgorTarasov** » January 5th, 2011, 6:51 am

Thanks. Will try to find the problem in my program. But it is strange, it's measure so many times, before failing.

malansk · Post by **malansk** » April 29th, 2011, 7:19 am

I use two inspection machines (AOI#1 & AOI#2) in 24h/7d production using Keithley equipment.
Since upgrading to faster CPU's on the PC's controlling the machines, I get intermittent timeouts on both machines during communication with the Keithley equipment.
The software has to be shut down and restarted, then it will run again for some time before the timeout error comes up again.

What might cause this behaviour which started after the CPU upgrade (from 1.5GHz singlecore Pentium-m to 2.2GHZ dualcore Core2Duo) ?

AOI#1 (Year 2008)
Motherboard IBASE IB-930 (Chipsatz Intel 945GMEE + ICH7M)
CPU Intel T7200 (2x2GHz Core2Duo)
Keithley Interface KPCI-488LPA Driver 1.14, 2.0 & 3.06
Keithley Messgerät 3706 Main 1.31a DMM 1.30i mit Multiplex-Switches 3723 1.22b
Kabel 5m double shielded
Windows XP SP3
Software Fa.Microcontact AG / Schweiz (programmiert in Borland Delphi 6)

AOI#2 (Year 2009)
Motherboard IEI PCISA 9652 (Chipsatz GME965+ICH8M-E)
CPU Intel T7500 (2x2,2GHz Core2Duo)
Keithley Interface KPCI-488LPA Driver 2.0
Keithley Messgerät 3706 Main 1.21d DMM 1.21d mit Multiplex-Switches 3723 1.22b (Slot1 & Slot2) bzw. 1.20i (Slot3 & Slot6)
currently running for testing purpose (MAZE Ersatzgerät):
Keithley Messgerät 3706 Main 1.40k DMM 1.40k mit Multiplex-Switches 3723 1.40j (Slot1 & Slot2)
Kabel 5m double shielded
Windows XP SP3
Software Fa.Microcontact AG / Schweiz (programmiert in Borland Delphi 6)

malansk · Post by **malansk** » May 4th, 2011, 6:12 am

Yesterday I found out that the occassional timeouts disappeared after I swapped the KPCI-488LPA card for an older version KPCI-488LP (using driver 1.14).
It looks like the KPCI-488LPA cards have some issues with the hardware/software of our machines.
I will try to use the KUSB-488B GPIB adapter and see if this will work.

Jeremy G · Post by **Jeremy G** » May 6th, 2011, 3:26 am

Hello,
When you upgraded the CPU, did you un-install the GPIB drivers, then re-install them with the new CPU?

If not, I would recommend un-installing the drivers and re-installing them now. Also please let us know what happens with the USB adapter.

malansk · Post by **malansk** » May 11th, 2011, 6:37 am

Yes, I did uninstall the drivers (Control Panel - Software & Device Manager) and reinstalled them.
Also, I tried different driver versions (2.00 and 3.06).

I went to the KPCI-488LP version of the card on both machines, this solved the problem on both machines (using driver v1.14 from driver cd 1.10).
Sorry that I can't say anything about the USB version.

Jeremy G · Post by **Jeremy G** » May 11th, 2011, 8:09 am

Thank you for the update, and good to hear that the problem is solved.

malansk · Post by **malansk** » May 30th, 2011, 5:49 am

Well, sort of - approx. once a week I still get that dreaded timoeout with the bus hanging...

Tektronix and Keithley

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