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How Do I Change the Board ID for My Motion Controller?

Hardware: Motion Control

Problem:
My motion controller shows up in MAX as board ID 2. I would like to change the board ID to 1 to maintain compatibility with my deployed systems.

Solution:
The Flexmotion driver assigns board IDs in the order that the boards are inserted in to the computer. This first board installed will be ID 1, the second ID 2, and so on. If a board is subsequently removed, all other boards will maintain their initial board IDs.

With NI Motion 7.0 and later, it is fairly easy to change board IDs in MAX. Simply right click on the board you would like to change the ID and select "Change Board ID..." This will pop up a message box (similar to the attached image), and you can then select the board ID from the list provided.

Note: After you select the new board ID, you will be prompted to reboot the computer where the controller is installed. The ID change will not be completed until the system is rebooted, even though the ID in MAX says it is the new ID.

If the board ID that you would like to set to your specific controller is not provided in the drop down list, then there is another motion controller that already occupies that board ID. You can change the other board ID first, and then change the one you want to have the specific ID. For example, if you have 2 motion controllers, and they have ID's 1 and 2 (board A has ID 1 and board B has ID 2), but you want to swap the board ID's, you can perform the following steps:
  • First change board A to have an ID of 3.
  • Then change board B to have an ID of 1.
  • Finally, change board A's ID again, now to have an ID of 2.


If you are using a version of NI-Motion 6.1.5 and earlier, the next section of this KB applies to you.

Prior to NI Motion 7.0 there was not a direct way to change the ID of a motion board through MAX, however there is a workaround. To explicitly set the board IDs for one or more motion boards, follow the procedure listed below.

  1. Go into the Windows registry and delete the hardware keys corresponding to each of the motion boards. You can determine which entries refer to motion boards by expanding each key that has the 1093 vendor code and selecting the subfolder. The device description should be listed in the right-hand pane.

  2. Power down the computer and remove all of the motion control cards.

  3. Boot the computer once and verify that no motion controllers are listed under "Devices and Interfaces" in MAX.

  4. Power down the computer and insert the board that you wish to have ID 1.

  5. Boot the computer and verify that the board is listed in MAX with the desired board ID.

  6. Repeat steps 4 and 5 above, inserting all boards in the desired order, one at a time.


Make sure to reboot between each board installed. If two boards are installed at the same time, there is no way to guarantee which ID will be assigned to each board.

Related Links:
Drivers and Updates: Motion Control Software
Products & Services: Motion Control Home
KnowledgeBase 2MADB16W: How Can I Remove PCI Boards from the Registry in Windows?


Attachments:


Change_Motion_Board_ID.GIF

Report Date: 06/11/2002
Last Updated: 05/14/2006
Document ID: 2MADB16W

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