GPIB Installation/Configuration Troubleshooter

All GPIB boards can make use of three different kinds of resources in your computer: base I/O address (a.k.a. input/output range), interrupt request (IRQ), and direct memory access (DMA). The base I/O address is always required, because your computer keeps track of "where your board is" with this address. The other two resources, IRQ and DMA, are used to transfer data into system memory. DMA is not required by a GPIB board to work, but your GPIB board must have an IRQ in order to work in Windows 2000.


Windows 2000: System Information

Windows 2000 provides a convenient utility called System Information to determine which devices and drivers are using which resources:

1. Go to Start » Programs » Accessories » System Tools » System Information to launch this utility.
   
   
2. Click on the "+" next to the Hardware Resources folder to get to a screen like this:
   
   
   
   In this window you can examine a number of different system resources, but the most useful ones for GPIB installations are:
   
   
   IRQs to view which interrupt resources are already in use
   I/O to view which base I/O addresses are already in use
   DMA to view which DMA channels are already in use
   
   
   
   
3. If a resource is listed, then it is in use. Look for resources that are NOT listed to see if they are available.
   
   
   For example, in the above image IRQs 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 13, 14, and 15 are listed, so they are in use. IRQs 2, 11, and 12 are not listed, so they are potentially available.
   
   
   
4. Copy down several alternatives for each hardware resource, because even though a resource setting is shown as NOT being in use by the Windows 2000 System Information utility, there still exists the possibility that Windows 2000 is not reporting its usage correctly.
   
   
   Some devices (such as network cards) use more resources than they admit to using. If your GPIB Troubleshooting Wizard told you that your GPIB board has a resource conflict, then the device your board is in conflict with may not be listed here. See below.
   
   
   
5. You can use the Device Manager to change the resource settings of your GPIB hardware.

• The NI-488.2 Troubleshooting Wizard is usually accurate in alerting you to the nature of any resource conflicts in your system. The first thing to do is to change the offending resource value to one that does not conflict with any other devices. (Setting the DMA to none is also very helpful, if the problem is an IRQ conflict.) If that doesn't work, then try removing other boards from your computer, until the resource conflict is resolved.
  
  
• The Windows 2000 System Information utility indicates that the resource in conflict is available.
  
  
  If the NI-488.2 Troubleshooting Wizard told you that you had a base I/O address conflict, but the Windows 2000 System Information utility says the resource is available, then you have either configured your base I/O address incorrectly, or Windows 2000 may be unable to detect other, legacy (i.e., non-plug and play) hardware in your computer that may be causing the resource conflict with your GPIB board. Change the base I/O address of your GPIB board to the next available address.

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