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Can I Use NI-VISA to Communicate with My Third-Party Serial Card?

Primary Software: LabVIEW Development Systems>>Full Development System
Primary Software Version: 6.1
Primary Software Fixed Version: N/A
Secondary Software: Driver Software>>NI-VISA
Hardware: Serial>>RS-232>>PCI-232/2

Problem: I purchased a third-party serial card. After installation, the device is showed working properly under device manager in Windows 98 but it was not listed under MAX, does that mean I can not use NI-VISA to control that device?

Solution: For most cases, MAX only list National Instrument's serial boards. Third-party serial boards have their own drivers which might have a different installation path. NI-VISA can only communicate with serial devices listed under a designated Windows Registry, if the serial device you have is listed elsewhere other than that Registry, NI-VISA will not be able to communicate with it.

Follow these instructions to check if your serial device is listed under this Windows Registry:
  1. Click on "Start" in Windows and select "Run"
  2. Type in "Regedit" and hit "OK"
  3. The Windows Registry Editor window will pop up
  4. Under "My Computer", go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE>HARDWARE>DEVICEMAP>SERIALCOMM
  5. Look for the serial port where your device is installed

Note: NI serial devices are installed under that Registry by default, there is no need to check if you have a NI serial device.

After you confirm that the serial device is listed under the Registry, you can edit the VISA resource name by editing its aliases from visaconf.ini. Follow the realted linkfor more information on editing VISA resourses names.

Related Links: KnowledgeBase [3DEI1LNQ]: Removing Resource Names From The "VISA Resource Name Constant"]

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Report Date: 10/08/2004
Last Updated: 10/21/2004
Document ID: 3E79Q7IT

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