If you are experiencing remote communication problems with GPIB devices in MET/CAL, please follow this guide to ensure that all requirements are in place before attempting to communicate with your hardware using MET/CAL. The National Instruments GPIB/488.2 drivers and interfaces must be installed and configured separately from MET/CAL, as they are not required components for MET/CAL use.
This guide is based on Windows 7, but the steps should be similar for other supported operating systems. It is recommended that you follow these steps in order.
Confirm that the NI 488.2 drivers are installed
Click the Start menu, then All Programs, and then look for NI MAX or a National Instruments folder.
Note: NI MAX is an abbreviation for NI Measurement & Automation Explorer.
Confirm that your GPIB interface is detected
Open NI MAX, then open the following portions of the tree view on the left: My System > Devices and Interfaces.
Look for your GPIB interface in the list (e.g. GPIB-USB-HS). If your interface is not detected, there may be a problem with the NI 488.2 driver installation.
Confirm that your instrument is detected
For this step, it is highly recommended that you disconnect all other GPIB instruments from the bus. Connect your controller directly to the instrument you are having trouble with to also minimize problems due to GPIB address conflicts and bad GPIB cables.
From NI MAX, select your GPIB interface in the tree view, then click Scan for Instruments.
Your instrument should appear in the list. If it responds to the standard identification query, it will be identified by its model number:
Configure and use your device in MET/CAL
Once all of the above steps have been confirmed, your instrument is ready to use in MET/CAL.
If you are getting low-level errors, like DOS errors follow these instructions:
If you are getting timeout errors you may find more help here: