============================================================ ===============<< National Instruments >>================= ===============<< Important Information >>================= ====<< (c) Copyright 2001 National Instruments Corp. >>===== ================<< All rights reserved. >>================== ============================================================ This file explains some of the basic things you should know about your PXI-8185 (TM) Series controller. This file has three sections: 1) Section 1 explains the procedure for recreating the hard drive image should the operating system crash. 2) Section 2 explains how to install the software drivers for the various peripherals on your PXI-8185 Series controller. 3) Section 3 describes how to install NI-DAQ (R) for use with systems including National Instruments' PXI data acquisition boards. This text file is named "Drivers.txt" and is located in the "c:\images" directory on your hard disk. ============================================================= Section 1: Recreating the Hard Drive ============================================================= Recovery from a CD-ROM These steps apply to a USB CD-ROM, IDE CD-ROM (when using a PXI-1020 or PXI-1025 chassis), or SCSI CD-ROM drive (when a SCSI adapter is installed). To recover the hard disk from a CD-ROM: 1. Load the recovery CD into the CD-ROM drive. 2. Press during the BIOS post. After post, a boot menu is displayed. Select the CD-ROM drive. 3. The BIOS boots from CD-ROM drive. Follow the prompts to recover the hard drive. Note: Not all CD-ROMs are bootable with the NI 8185 series controllers. In general, devices that are not recognized in BIOS as a USB CD-ROM devices and require special device drivers to operate under Windows 2000, would not be bootable. For more information see Knowledge Base under Technical Support section of ni.com. ============================================================= Section 2: Installation of Drivers ============================================================= This section contains information about installing the software drivers on the PXI-8185 Series controller. How to Install Peripheral Drivers --------------------------------- Find the c:\images directory in the root directory of your internal hard drive. Here you will find subdirectories that contain images of the installation diskettes for the peripheral drivers. For most of the drivers, installation simply requires you to change to the appropriate subdirectory and run the install or setup program. Because some drivers require extra steps, we recommend that you read the installation instructions before installing the driver. Most of the information you will need can be found in the documentation that came with your operating system. This file contains important supplementary information such as resource settings, path names to retrieve the drivers, and the names of the adapters. Video ----- The PXI-8185 Series controllers use the Intel(R) 82815 Graphics Controller (built into Intel(R) 815 chipset). Caution: If you are using a Super VGA monitor, make sure it has a horizontal scan rate of at least 50 kHz and a vertical scan rate of 60 Hz. Using the Super VGA option with a monitor that does not meet these criteria will damage your monitor. You do not need to install the video drivers. The Intel(R) 82815 Graphics Controller driver software comes installed on your hard disk with a default configuration 640x480 resolution at 16 million colors. This setting was chosen to accommodate all VGA monitors; however, you may want to increase the resolution, colors, and refresh rate according to the capabilities of your monitor. For archival purposes, you can find an image of the Intel(R) 82815 installation files in c:\images\Graphics. Software Installation --------------------- The following installation instructions are operating-system specific. Please refer to the section appropriate for your system. Windows 2000 To Install the Windows 2000 Intel 82815 driver, follow the instructions in the Readme.txt file located at C:\images\Graphics\ Ethernet -------- The PXI-8185 Series controllers use the Intel(R) PRO/100 VM Network Connection. You do not need to install the ethernet adapter; it comes preinstalled on your system. If you need to reinstall the Ethernet drivers you will find the driver files in c:\images\Lan Software Installation --------------------- The following installation instructions are operating system specific. Please refer to the section appropriate for your system. Windows 2000 To Install the Windows 2000 Intel(R) PRO/100 VM Network Connection driver, follow the instructions in the Readme.txt file located at C:\images\Lan\ IDE --- The PXI-8185 Series uses the IDE controller that is built into the Intel 815 chipset. Software Installation --------------------- The following installation instructions are operating system specific. Please refer to the section appropriate for your system. Windows 2000 You do not need to install the IDE driver; it comes preinstalled on your system. If you need to reinstall the IDE drivers you will find the driver files in c:\images\UltraATA Chipset ------- The PXI-8185 Series uses the Intel 815 chipset. Software Installation --------------------- The following installation instructions are operating system specific. Please refer to the section appropriate for your system. Windows 2000 You do not need to install the Chipset driver; it comes preinstalled on your system. If you need to reinstall the Chipset drivers you will find the driver files in c:\images\Chipset GPIB (IEEE 488.2) ----------------- The PXI-8185 Series controllers use National Instruments TNT4882C (TM) ASIC, which gives you full GPIB Talker/Listener/Controller functionality as well as complete compatibility with the National Instruments PCI-GPIB. Because the GPIB port on PXI-8185 is compatible with the PCI-GPIB, your kit includes the same manuals usually sent with a PCI-GPIB kit. Use the NI-488.2 user manual and function reference set for application development and function description information. Software Installation --------------------- The following installation instructions are operating system specific. Please refer to the section appropriate for your system. Also refer to your PCI-GPIB getting started manual for installation. Windows 2000 Run c:\images\gpib\setup.exe ============================================================= Section 3: NI-DAQ ============================================================= This section contains information about installing the National Instruments Data Acquisition software. If your system came with LabVIEW or LabWindows/CVI preinstalled, NI-DAQ for that application is already installed so you don't need to install it again. The NI-DAQ software resides in c:\images\nidaq. Simply change to c:\images\nidaq... run setup.exe, and follow the instructions.