Archived: NI-Motion 8.4 Known Issues

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Overview

This document has been archived and is no longer updated by National Instruments.

This document contains the NI-Motion 8.4 known issues that were discovered before and since the release of NI-Motion 8.4. Not every issue known to NI will appear on this list; it is intended to only show the severe and more common issues that can be encountered.

Each Issue appears as a row in the table and includes these fields:

Issue ID—Contains the number in at the top of each of the cells in the first column. When you report an issue to NI, you may be given this ID, you can also find IDs posted by NI on the discussion forums or in Knowledge Base articles.

Legacy ID (optional)—Contains the legacy CAR ID, if an issue has a legacy ID from NI's legacy/deprecated bug reporting database. This ID appears on a separate line directly below the Issue ID in the table, or to the right of the Issue ID in the table of contents (separated by a space).

Issue Title (in italics)—Describes the issue in one sentence or less.

Problem Description—Describes the problem in further detail. The brief description given does not necessarily describe the problem in full detail, and it is expected that you might want more information on an issue. If you would like more information on an issue feel free to contact NI (contact information below) and reference the ID number given in the document.

Workaround—Provides possible ways to work around the problem. The workarounds that appear in the document are not always tested by NI and are not guaranteed to resolve the issue. If a workaround refers you to the NI KnowledgeBase, please visit www.ni.com/kb/ and enter that KB number in the search field to locate the specific document.

Reported Version—Contains the earliest version of NI-Motion the issue was reported in. If you discover the issue appears in an earlier version of NI-Motion than is reported in this field, you can report that to NI (contact information below) to have the field updated.

Resolved Version—Contains the version the issue was resolved or was no longer applicable. If an issue has not been resolved "N/A" will be reported.

Date Added—Contains the date the issue was added to the document (not the reported date).

Contacting NI

Feel free to contact NI regarding this document or issues in the document. If you are contacting NI in regards to a specific issue, be sure to reference the ID number given in the document to the NI representative. The ID number contains the current issue ID number as well as the legacy ID number (use the current ID number when contacting National Instruments). You can contact us through any of the normal support channels including phone, email, or the discussion forums. Visit the NI Website to contact us. Also consider contacting us if you find a workaround for an issue that is not listed in the document so that we can add the workaround to the document.

Known Issues by Category

The following items are known issues in NI-Motion 8.4 sorted by Category.

Configuration
147986MAX hangs if a previously mapped motion controller on a remote target can no longer be found on the network.
176545Error -70208 on PCI-7390 motion controllers after mapping the Shutdown signal in MAX.
184721Deceleration incorrectly greyed out on axis 2 of the PCI-7390 in MAX.
197081Torque offset incorrectly applied when using onboard commutation.
197526Incorrect encoder used for the phase commutation of the motor when using dual-loop feedback with onboard commutation.
33205 Rebooting an RT PXI controller containing a PXI-73xx motion controller causes the mapped devices to show a red X, even after fully booting up.
282060Using pasted initialization settings causes the motion controller to become inaccessible.
337206NI-Motion VIs containing Motion Error Handler.flx cannot be saved for previous versions of LabVIEW.
339243Velocity on NI 733x and NI 734x boards are always calculated based on the encoder counts per revolution of Axis 1.
Installation
181794Updating from NI-Motion 7.2.1 using Portable Configuration Files doesn't work correctly for NI 7344 motion controllers.
195823Upgrading from NI-Motion 8.0 to NI-Motion 8.1 does not work automatically for the NI PCI-7390.
Runtime
118667Back to back finite buffered contour moves do not work.
121634Unable to use one onboard program to stop a second onboard program.
152350Cannot read encoder position after enabling the encoder in MAX.
34139Using Configure Axis Resources to switch feedback on the fly results in the PID parameters switching even if the feedback is not changed.
187677Building a LabVIEW executable from a VI containing "Load Accel/Decel in RPS/sec.flx" will fail.
33296 Blending with blend factors greater than 10 may result in move complete being asserted at the wrong time.
225507The Read Motion I/O Data VI/function returns error -70037 (NIMC_irrelevantAttributeError) with NI 7330 and NI 7340 motion controllers.
280226Successively executing read velocity on a vector space returns error -70035.
172412Activating the shutdown input on an NI 7350 controller does not stop the step output.
316327Arc move trajectories are incorrect with certain move constraints.



IDKnown Issue
Configuration
147986

Return
MAX hangs if a previously mapped motion controller on a remote target can no longer be found on the network.

Workaround: None.

Reported Version: 7.6  Resolved Version: N/A  Added: 08/03/2009
176545

Return
Error -70208 on PCI-7390 motion controllers after mapping the Shutdown signal in MAX.
When you map the shutdown signal (E-Stop) to an available digital input on the IO Mapping tab in MAX, you will get error -70208 (I/O Resource Configuration Error) in MAX after trying to initialize the controller more than once.

Workaround: Go into MAX and change the initialization preferences so that "IO Mapping" is not part of the initialization process.

Reported Version: 8.0  Resolved Version: N/A  Added: 08/03/2009
184721

Return
Deceleration incorrectly greyed out on axis 2 of the PCI-7390 in MAX.
You cannot configure the axis 2 deceleration when the Units setting on the Trajectory Settings tab is set for revolutions.

Workaround: Change your units from revolutions to counts or set your deceleration value from your programming environment instead of from MAX.

Reported Version: 8.0  Resolved Version: N/A  Added: 12/15/2009
197081

Return
Torque offset incorrectly applied when using onboard commutation.
Applying a torque offset while using onboard commutation causes both analog outputs to offset by the same amount when an offset is configured for the first analog output. For example, if Axis 1 is set for onboard commutation and you configure Axis 1 to have a torque offset of 1 V, both analog output 1 and analog output 3 have a torque offset of 1 V. Since torque offsets are commonly used to compensate for a DC offset in an amplifier, you should be able to apply the torque offset on each analog output separately.

Workaround: None.

Reported Version: 8.1  Resolved Version: N/A  Added: 12/15/2009
197526

Return
Incorrect encoder used for the phase commutation of the motor when using dual-loop feedback with onboard commutation.
When commutating a brushless servo motor using an encoder, the encoder mounted to the shaft of the motor should be used for commutation. If you are using dual encoders, the secondary encoder is the encoder that is typically mounted to the shaft of the motor. However, the NI 7350 boards always use the primary encoder for commutation (even when the system is configured to use dual encoders).

Workaround: None.

Reported Version: 8.0  Resolved Version: N/A  Added: 12/15/2009
33205

Return
Rebooting an RT PXI controller containing a PXI-73xx motion controller causes the mapped devices to show a red X, even after fully booting up.
If you are using a PXI-73xx motion controller in a PXI system and reboot the controller, the boards show a red X on them, even after the controller has finished rebooting and the PXI-73xx motion controllers are working normally.

Workaround: Click the PXI-73xx motion controller in MAX and the red X disappears.

Reported Version: 7.3  Resolved Version: N/A  Added: 12/15/2009
282060

Return
Using pasted initialization settings causes the motion controller to become inaccessible.
Switching motion controller settings by copying and pasting the settings file within the Initialization Settings dialog box causes the controller to become unusable after rebooting the computer.

Workaround: Export the settings to a .nce file by selecting File>>Export, copy the exported file, and reimport the copied file. Alternatively, you can export the settings to an XML file by right-clicking the settings and selecting Initialization Settings>>Export Settings from the shortcut menu.

Reported Version: 8.0  Resolved Version: N/A  Added: 07/29/2011
337206

Return
NI-Motion VIs containing Motion Error Handler.flx cannot be saved for previous versions of LabVIEW.

Workaround: Remove Motion Error Handler.flx from the VI, save for previous, and then add back Motion Error Handler.flx in the previous version of LabVIEW.

Reported Version: 8.3  Resolved Version: N/A  Added: 09/05/2012
339243

Return
Velocity on NI 733x and NI 734x boards are always calculated based on the encoder counts per revolution of Axis 1.
When monitoring velocity in MAX or using the Read Velocity VI or function, the returned velocity is always scaled by the encoder counts per revolution of Axis 1.

Workaround: Take the axis X reported velocity and divide it by (axis X encoder counts per revolution / axis 1 encoder counts per revolution) to get the actual velocity.

Reported Version: 8.3  Resolved Version: N/A  Added: 09/05/2012
Installation
181794

Return
Updating from NI-Motion 7.2.1 using Portable Configuration Files doesn't work correctly for NI 7344 motion controllers.
When updating to NI-Motion 7.7 or later from NI-Motion 7.2.1, if you have previously imported settings for the NI 7344 controller using NI Portable Configuration files (.nce files), you must reimport the NI 7344 controller settings after you update NI-Motion. Symptoms of this issue that appear after updating NI-Motion are receiving error -70038 (NIMC_internalSoftwareError) when you initialize the controller and the Control Loop Settings tab not appearing in MAX.

Workaround: None.

Reported Version: 7.3  Resolved Version: N/A  Added: 08/03/2009
195823

Return
Upgrading from NI-Motion 8.0 to NI-Motion 8.1 does not work automatically for the NI PCI-7390.
When upgrading from NI-Motion 8.0 to NI-Motion 8.1 on a PCI-7390, the motion controller is unusable in MAX because the NI-Motion driver is not automatically updated.

Workaround: Update the NI-Motion driver software for the PCI-7390 manually using the Windows Device Manager.

Reported Version: 8.1  Resolved Version: N/A  Added: 12/15/2009
Runtime
118667

Return
Back to back finite buffered contour moves do not work.

Workaround: Call Stop Motion with Stop Type set for Halt between each finite buffered contour move.

Reported Version: 7.6  Resolved Version: N/A  Added: 08/03/2009
121634

Return
Unable to use one onboard program to stop a second onboard program.

Workaround: Share a variable between the two onboard programs and use that variable as a way to inform the second onboard program that it needs to stop execution.

Reported Version: 7.6  Resolved Version: N/A  Added: 08/03/2009
152350

Return
Cannot read encoder position after enabling the encoder in MAX.
When you disable the axis and enable the encoder in MAX, Read Encoder Position incorrectly returns error -70122 (Encoder Disabled Error).

Workaround: Enable the encoder programmatically using the Enable Encoder VI/function after calling Initialize Controller.

Reported Version: 7.7  Resolved Version: N/A  Added: 08/03/2009
34139

Return
Using Configure Axis Resources to switch feedback on the fly results in the PID parameters switching even if the feedback is not changed.
On the NI 7350, if you have configured a second set of PID parameters for use when the feedback switches, calling Configure Axis Resources switches the PID parameters, regardless of whether or not the feedback input is different from one call to the next.

Workaround: Put Configure Axis Resources into a subVI and use a functional global to keep track of which feedback is being using by the NI 7350.

Reported Version: 7.6  Resolved Version: N/A  Added: 08/03/2009
187677

Return
Building a LabVIEW executable from a VI containing "Load Accel/Decel in RPS/sec.flx" will fail.

Workaround: Use "Load Accel/Decel.flx" instead of "Load Accel/Decel in RPS/sec.flx" and convert from counts/steps per second to revolutions per second programmatically.

Reported Version: 8.0  Resolved Version: N/A  Added: 12/15/2009
33296


Return
Blending with blend factors greater than 10 may result in move complete being asserted at the wrong time.

Workaround: Only use blend factors that are less than 10 or ignore the move complete parameter if the actual position of the axis is not equal to the target position of the axis.

Reported Version: 7.5  Resolved Version: N/A  Added: 12/15/2009
225507

Return
The Read Motion I/O Data VI/function returns error -70037 (NIMC_irrelevantAttributeError) with NI 7330 and NI 7340 motion controllers.
Calling the Read Motion I/O Data VI with an NI 7340 (but not an NI 7344) returns error -70037 on first call. If this VI or function is used with an NI 7330, the error is returned after setting the attribute parameter to home input active.

Workaround: Use the Read Home Input Status VI or function instead.

Reported Version: 8.1  Resolved Version: N/A  Added: 08/02/2010
280226

Return
Successively executing read velocity on a vector space returns error -70035.
Calling Read Velocity on a vector space multiple times in a row from two separate VIs causes the motion controller to return error -70035 (NIMC_watchdogTimeoutError).

Workaround: Add a delay between successive Read Velocity calls.

Reported Version: 8.2  Resolved Version: N/A  Added: 07/29/2011
172412

Return
Activating the shutdown input on an NI 7350 controller does not stop the step output.
If you are using the step/direction outputs and activate the shutdown input, step signals can still be generated. The inhibit line is set correctly, so the drive should not respond to the step signals.

Workaround: Make sure that your drive's enable/inhibit signal is wired to the inhibit output of the NI 7350.

Reported Version: 8.0  Resolved Version: N/A  Added: 09/05/2012
316327

Return
Arc move trajectories are incorrect with certain move constraints.
Near the end of an arc move, the trajectory seems to pause, but is actually moving very slowly. The only currently known set of move constraints this occurs with is with velocity of 1800, acceleration of 500, and radius of 10,748.

Workaround: Increasing or decreasing any of the parameters by 1 generates the correct trajectory.

Reported Version: 8.3  Resolved Version: N/A  Added: 09/05/2012

Document last updated on 9/5/2012

Glossary of Terms

 

  • Bug ID - When an issue is reported to NI, you may be given this ID or find it on ni.com.  You may also find IDs posted by NI on the discussion forums or in KnowledgeBase articles.
  • Legacy ID – An older issue ID that refers to the same issue.  You may instead find this issue ID in older known issues documents.
  • Description - A few sentences which describe the problem. The brief description given does not necessarily describe the problem in full detail.
  • Workaround - Possible ways to work around the problem.
  • Reported Version - The earliest version in which the issue was reported.
  • Resolved Version - Version in which the issue was resolved or was no longer applicable. "N/A" indicates that the issue has not been resolved.
  • Date Added - The date the issue was added to the document (not the reported date).