Suggestions for Instrument Errors with Measure
Primary Software: Other NI Software>>Measure
Primary Software Version: 2.0
Primary Software Fixed Version: N/A
Secondary Software: N/A
Problem: I am communicating with my Serial or GPIB instrument with Measure for Windows. Whenever I send a command to my instrument I receive an error on the instrument. I have already verified communication with the instrument through another interface (like IBIC). What are some possible solutions to this problem?
Solution: Here are some things you should try if you can communicate successfully with your instrument outside of Measure, but are receiving errors when using Measure. Make sure you have verified communication with the instrument through an independent tool like IBIC before going through these steps. You can visit the
Related Link below for more information about IBIC:
- Make sure you are configuring a "Transmit" task (as opposed to a "Capture" task) for 'no-response' commands. Some examples of no-response commands are "reset" or "clear" commands, where the instrument does not send a response back to the computer.
- Make sure you are sending commands in all capital letters (*RST instead of *rst, e.g.). Some instruments only accept commands in all capital letters.
- Try various iterations of selecting the "Clear Instrument", "Trigger Instrument", and "Wait for Instrument to Assert SRQ" options in the configuration of your Transmit task. Since all instruments are different, your instrument may respond to these options differently than would another instrument.
- Your instrument may be expecting a specific EOL character for 'no-response' commands. Try various EOL characters (like /010, /013, etc.) in the "EOL string" input of your Transmit task...the User Manual of your instrument may specify a certain EOL character to use.
- The "test" option in Measure handles commands differently than do the actual Capture and Transmit tasks. If you are finding that your instrument is behaving incorrectly in the "test" window in Measure, you may want to go ahead and configure the Capture or Transmit task and see if the instrument behaves properly with a task configured (as opposed to sending simple commands through the test window).
Related Links: GPIB Troubleshooting Resources: Introduction to the Interactive Control (IBIC)
Measure Support
Attachments:
Report Date: 04/03/2001
Last Updated: 12/02/2004
Document ID: 282CBRDM
