NI 6025 GPIO device under XPe - anyone done this?

[Bernie Fowler]

Hi
I am having difficulty installing device drivers for National Instruments
6025E hardware under XPe.
Has anyone out there tackled this or a similar problem using NI hardware?

Bernie

 

[James Beau Cseri]

Have you tried installing the driver under XPPro? If so, did you have the
same issues? And what sort of error or warning messages are you getting?

 

[KM]

Bernie,

I saw some NI stuff componentized on www.xpefiles.com.

If you let us know what exactly problems you are experiencing, NG may be able to help you more.

 

[Bernie Fowler]

The following is an e-mail I submitted to the NI support group to summarise
what I am trying to achieve - hope this helps (?)

I have developed a PC console application using Visual Studio.NET which
makes use of the NI 'Traditional DAQ' interface supplied as part of the NI
CVI included in the NI Measurement Studio Package. This interface is used to
interface to an NI 6025E GPIO board (Compact PCI version). The initial
development has been carried out using XP Professional on a Kontron CP304
based 'standard' cPCI PC system (Hard disk, Network, CD etc. etc.).

My target system is (again) Kontron CP304 cPCI but configured as an embedded
system with the following attributes,

256MB Compact Flash

No Hard Disk or CD

Ethernet link

512MB RAM

XP Embedded operating system

My design assumes that we have a mapped drive to a file server and all files
(as far as possible) are stored on the server (this includes applications
and DLLs). The only files required on the target system (in my opinion) are
the Kernel Device driver files (e.g. NIDAQ.SYS and XXXX.INF). I include
these files into the XPe Target Designer system which builds a
pre-configured O/S image with the drivers in place. I have used this method
(with success) with another hardware cPCI card and associated drivers.

I consider our requirements for the NI system are as follows,

i) A list of the Device driver files (*.SYS) required for the NI6025E

ii) A list of the Device driver information files (*.INF) required for the
NI6025E

iii) Any registry settings for the drivers/hardware

iv) Confirmation that we do not need to run NIs Measurement Explorer to
setup the hardware

v) A list of the DLLs required (on the server system) - we can probably

establish this by

trial and error if the information is not readily to hand.

Regards,

Bernie Fowler

 

[Slobodan Brcin \(eMVP\)]

Hi Bernie,

I can't understand why do you want to keep some files on server. Why not all XPe files or no files at all scenario.
Also I have never seen this card, so I can only speak theoretically based on other hardware and driver experience.

Ai)
From Device Manager on your XP Prof you can see all files associated with driver itself.
Also same info you can read from inf file. There is a section that list all required files and where they should be put.

Aii) How many inf files is provided by this package?
Anyhow if they are pure hardware drivers then you can safely make component that will copy them to inf folder on XPe image.
If there are software drivers than you will have to preinstall them from your component.
Type of driver can be determined easily by examining enum branches in registry or by look from Device Manager.
Same thing can be determined by examining inf file itself and checking PnPID (VID/PID) numbers presence.

Aiii,Aiv) Depending on what setup/wizard app configure you could be required to put some config values in registry from your
component.
Use regmon, and regedit to determine what values are used exactly by installation.
Depending on config values used you might be required to write either your application or to modify inf file to set hardware device
specific defaults.

Av) For start try making it work locally. Or on XPP that pull files remotely.

Best regards,
Slobodan

PS:
Do not use CD inf file auto import option. But do things manually.

 

[Massimiliano Castelletto]

Hi Bernie,

I'm experimenting the same difficulties for a 6023E.

I try to obtain some informations from the NI support but they told me that
nobody (???) knows which are the files for a minimal installation, so I'm
trying step by step, but I'm just a rookie of XPE and I find difficult to
develope my application.

I hope that someone could help you and me too.

Max

 

[Slobodan Brcin \(eMVP\)]

Hi Massimiliano,

Could you be more specific about the "same difficulties".
Just stating that something is not working usually is not enough for us to help you. Although crystal ball and divination could do
the trick of answering questions before they are asked

Could you send us setupapi.log from \Windows folder?
What can you see from "Device Manager" install it for test purposes.

Best regards,
Slobodan

 

[Bernie Fowler]

The reason why files are on server is because this is 'defence application'
and the files must not persist on the target - i.e. they are classified and
reside on a removeable disk.

There are many inf files, many .sys files and many drivers - if I install
the 'minimal' device drivers on XPP , initially there is 60MB of files - a
lot of this is documentation and developer support. The card also requires
an application NI call Measurement Explorer which initiates the registry and
possible other things(?)

If I use NI installation routines I get a message 'Wrong OS Version' - do
you know a way of getting XPe to report a version similar/the same as XP
Pro?

Thanks for your suggestions I will follow these up tomorrow.

Bernie

 

[Bernie Fowler]

Everything OK on XP Pro.

Bernie

Have you tried installing the driver under XPPro? If so, did you have the
same issues? And what sort of error or warning messages are you getting?

 

[Bernie Fowler]

More info...

The 'drivers' installation supplied by NI support a wide range of hardware -
NI tend to have a 'one solution for all' way of doing things - this further
complicates the issue. NI do not seem to be able to advise me of the minimal
h/w requirements for my card - I am amazed at how many DLLs (approx. 20) are
required to talk to the NI 6025. This card offers 32 dig I/O ports, 16 Anag.
In and 2 Anag Out.

Regards,

Bernie

 

[KM]

Bernie,

The reason why files are on server is because this is 'defence application'
and the files must not persist on the target - i.e. they are classified and
reside on a removeable disk.

There are many inf files, many .sys files and many drivers - if I install
the 'minimal' device drivers on XPP , initially there is 60MB of files - a
lot of this is documentation and developer support. The card also requires
an application NI call Measurement Explorer which initiates the registry and
possible other things(?)

If I use NI installation routines I get a message 'Wrong OS Version' - do
you know a way of getting XPe to report a version similar/the same as XP
Pro?

Search this NG archive by the word "CSDVersion" to get the fix info.

KM

 

[Slobodan Brcin \(eMVP\)]

Hi Bernie,

Following is not related to your problem:
Have you thought about remote network RAM boot from SDI image that is stored on server?

Window XP Embedded is identified by separate flag when using functions like GetVersionEx.
If it require SP1, SP2 this can be solved easily, but if it prevent use of Embedded oses, you would need to do serious hacking that
is beyond of this NG.

Best regards,
Slobodan

 

[Bernie Fowler]

How do I search the NG Archive?
I am using Outlook Express to interface to NG

Bernie

 

[KM]

Bernie,

Save this link if you would like to continue working with XPe:
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&group=microsoft.public.windowsxp.embedded

And particulary : http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&c2coff=1&[email protected]

KM

 

[Slobodan Brcin \(eMVP\)]

Hi Bernie,

You are in the phase that "you can't see a tree because of a forest".

Driver is usually one sys file. If there are more sys files then you have more drivers that you will have to install separately.
Using dependency walker you can see dll files that are used by that driver.
If you know how to read inf file (Use DDK it is described there) you will find out that you can cut out all "junk" from what you
call as "driver".

Best regards,
Slobodan

PS:
Keep in mind that most of things from this package are useless for you and that you can remove them. First useless thing is install
application.

 

[Massimiliano Castelletto]

I had the same problem, the WRONG OS VERSION is because in your image you
haven't inserted the "microsoft installer package" (I don't remember the
exact name but if you use the filter for "installer" you can find it) that
is able to open the .MSI files of the NI installation.

Missing this component the setup try to install its own version of installer
and you receive this message.

After the update to my image I could install the software, but in this way
there too much components unusefull even if I try to reduce to the minimum
the installation. (My today problem).

Bye
Max

 

[Massimiliano Castelletto]

You're right!

I have to install a NI PCI6023E DAQcard and the required software in order
to let the system run a LabView application that I have developed.

But here I found the same problem the Bernie has encountered even during the
installation of the NI Drivers (and software) CD and dued to the space
required for this installation.

So I tried to solve the problem in another way: in the windows\inf folder I
found all (I hope) the NIxxxx.inf files and opened them in order tosearch in
which file was my hardaware description and then trying to create components
in Component designer in order to install my hardware in XPE.
Doing so now XPE recognize the PCI6023, but in a folder called "unknown
device", where when not recognized it was under "NI ...." and I'm trying to
understand if it functions but, now, I have software problem: which software
I must install to do so?

Bye
Max

Hi Massimiliano,

Could you be more specific about the "same difficulties".
Just stating that something is not working usually is not enough for us to

help you. Although crystal ball and divination could do

 

[KM]

I had the same problem, the WRONG OS VERSION is because in your image you

haven't inserted the "microsoft installer package" (I don't remember the
exact name but if you use the filter for "installer" you can find it) that
is able to open the .MSI files of the NI installation.

The "Windows Installer Service" component.
You may also need "Dos Windows on Windows Support" component (some installers like Install Shield require it).

KM

 

[Slobodan Brcin \(eMVP\)]

Massimiliano,

I did not understand following could you ask your question(s) again?

Doing so now XPE recognize the PCI6023, but in a folder called "unknown
device", where when not recognized it was under "NI ...." and I'm trying to
understand if it functions but, now, I have software problem: which software
I must install to do so?

What is the location of this folder?

Regards,
Slobodan

 

[Massimiliano Castelletto]

Sorry,

it's not a directory but a folder in device manager.

Bye
Max