Academic Company Events NI Developer Zone Support Solutions Products & Services Contact NI MyNI
1 ratings:
 3 out of 5     Rate this Document

Parallel Port Does Not Appear in Measurement and Automation Explorer

Hardware: Legacy DAQ Devices>>Multifunction DAQ>>DAQPad-MIO-16XE-50

Problem:
I am setting up my parallel port device (DAQPad-MIO-16XE-50, DAQPad 1200, or SCXI 1200) in Measurement and Automation Explorer (MAX), but when I try to choose a port all I can select is Not Assigned. I can see that my parallel port is enabled in Device Manager. How can I make the parallel port available in MAX?

Solution:
MAX does not read device availability directly from Device Manager, but rather from the Windows registry. Under some rare circumstances, the parallel port may not show up in the legacy region of the registry, preventing MAX from seeing it. You may be able to change the BIOS settings for your parallel port to get around this issue. However, the variety of BIOS setup utilities is too great to go into much detail. Try changing the plug-and-play operating system (PnP OS) setting to "No" or "Disabled." Many BIOS's may leave detection of the parallel port to the OS, while Windows assumes the BIOS has already done it.

The type of parallel port may also cause problems. Again, the variety of BIOS utilities may have different names, but the recommended mode is EPP. If this is not an available option, try SPP, then Bidirectional, and lastly ECP. Refer to the Related Links below for information on the different parallel port settings available, and their compatibility with National Instruments devices.

After modifying the BIOS settings, boot normally into Windows and ensure that the parallel port is operating normally:
  1. Check the parallel port settings in Device Manager. Go to Start » Run and type  mmc.exe %systemroot%\system32\devmgmt.msc in the "Open:" field.

  2. Right-click the parallel port you are trying to use under Ports (COM & LPT) and select "Properties".

  3. On the "Port Settings" tab ensure that the "Filter Resource Method" is set to Use any interrupt assigned to the port.

  4. On the "Resources" tab, ensure that an interrupt (typically IRQ 7 or 5) is assigned to the port.

  5. Close Device Manager and open MAX. Go to Devices and Interfaces and right-click on your device.

  6. Select "Properties" and click the Modify button under the "System" tab. Your parallel port should now be available.


Related Links:
KnowledgeBase 0G6DSS8Q: Windows 95 Parallel Port Issues with the DAQPad-MIO-16XE-50, DAQPad-1200, and SCXI-1200

KnowledgeBase 0X7AD5BB: Problems Getting a DAQPad to Work in EPP Mode in Windows NT

KnowledgeBase 0GA7BD4N: Using Parallel Port to Recognize DAQPad in EPP Mode

Support: Data Acquisition (DAQ) Installation/Configuration Troubleshooter

Attachments:





Report Date: 11/24/2004
Last Updated: 11/24/2004
Document ID: 3FN9IPS9

Your Feedback! poor Poor  |  Excellent excellent   Yes No
 Document Quality? 
 Answered Your Question? 
  1 2 3 4 5
Please Contact NI for all product and support inquiries.submit