need help with a IOTech Personal Daq 56

[BradC]

Hi,

Please forgive my ignorance; I am not very knowledgeable about this stuff.  My institution purchased a PumpLab apparatus many years ago that uses a IOTech Personal Daq 56 to capture performance data (inlet and outlet pressures, flow rate, torque, etc.) for a centrifugal pump that is circulating water around in closed loop.  After more than 15 years of use, the laptop computer that the data acquisition software (Personal DaqView Plus) was loaded on has finally died.  I've replaced the laptop with a much newer model and have loaded the same software onto it, but when I connect the laptop to the PumpLab apparatus via USB, it doesn't seem to recognize any of the indicators.  When I connect the laptop, the green light on top of the daq lights up, but stays lit steadily, and doesn't blink like it should when active.  Tech Support from the PumpLab apparatus tried to help me for a while, but ultimately referred me here.  I can provide more details if anyone thinks they might be able to help.  Thanks a lot.

[JRys]

 

Hello,

If you've installed a 15 year old copy of Personal DaqView it's not going to work unless you have Windows XP or a 32-bit version of Windows 7.  Ten years ago we updated the software to include 64-bit driver support. The version you need is 2.2.1 and can be downloaded with the following:

https://www.mccdaq.com/downloads/iotech_software/PersonalDaq50_Series/pdaqviewsetup_x86_x64.exe

It was never officialy supported on Windows 10, but there are many customers that have made it work. If the laptop was purchased as a Windows 10 Laptop it should work, but if it is older and was upgraded to Windows 10 it most likely won't. I recommend uninstalling the existing version and unplugging the device before installation. After the installation has completed, plug it in and try it. Make sure to start the program with the Run as administrator option to enable the Meters.

if you need help using the software, the following is the user manual:

https://www.mccdaq.com/pdfs/manuals/personal_daq50_series.pdf

 

Best regards,

John

[BradC]

John,

Thanks for the response.  Sorry, I should have been more specific in my original post.  The new laptop (which runs Windows 10) does have the newer software (Personal DaqView Plus 2.2.1) installed and I'm still having these issues.  I Run as Administrator, go to File > Open and navigate to the .cfg file that the PumpLab vendor provided, but when I attempt to "Update All Indicators", I get a popup window with the message "No indicators are currently open."  Thanks a lot for any more suggestions or thoughts you can offer.

[BradC]

Sorry, just re-read your reply and realized that I should have also specified that the new laptop was purchased with Windows 10, not upgraded.

[BradC]

When I open the Personal DaqView Plus software (in Run as Administrator mode) and open the .cfg file from the equipment vendor, I get a message that says "A device from the saved configuration is not present and no replacement devices of the same type are currently available.  Starting with a new configuration."  And then a Channel Configuration window pops up.  I close that and try to "Update All Indicators" and I get the message I mentioned earlier, "No indicators are currently open".  When I view active devices, it only seems to show simulated devices (see attached screenshots).  It appears that the software is not communicating with the daq box, but I don't know what I'm missing.  I'm trying to read through the manual, but I haven't found anything I recognize as potentially helpful yet.  Any ideas or suggestions are welcome and encouraged.  Thanks a lot.

[JRys]

Hello,

Check the power LED indicator next to USB plug - it should be on. if it is, restart Personal DaqView and check View Active Devices again. Your device will have a six digit Serial Number. If it is not listed, send me the serial number and I'll try to determine it age. If it turns out to be from the early 2000's, its firmware won't support the newer driver and OS. 

If the LED is off, the computer's USB support should be update. Check with the manufacturer or try a different computer.

Best regards,
John

[BradC]

Hi John,

Thanks for your help.  The green LED next to the USB plug does light light up when I connect to the laptop (just steady, not blinking).  When I View Active Devices, no serial numbers appear, as it only lists two simulated devices (Simulated Personal Daq/56 and Simulated Personal Daq/55).  The serial number for our Personal Daq 56 is 319356.  The Certificate of Calibration is dated August 29, 2007.  Thanks a lot for your help and suggestions.

Best regards,

Brad

[JRys]

Hello,

Your device was manufactured in 2007 and should work. However,  I cannot explain why the software fails to find it. Usually this problem is caused when the device plugged in while Personal DaqView is running. That's why I asked to restart the program. 

Look in C:\Windows\System32\

There should be two DLL: pday.dll and pdaqx.dll. Both should have Date Modified of 2011.

Look in C:\Windows\System32\Drivers\

There should be pdaq.sys file with a Date Modified of 2011

The other thing to check is if your system uses virtualization for security. Our product don't play well with virtualization. 

Best regards,
John

[BradC]

Hi John,

Thanks for your help.  I looked in the folders you suggested and found all 3 files where they should be (I'm assuming you meant pdaq.dll for the first one), all with a Date Modified of 2011.  I'm asking our Computing Center for guidance on your virtualization question.  I know that the software is stored locally on the laptop, and I don't believe I'm logging into a virtual machine, but the laptop is outfitted so that I have to log in with my credentials, and others can log in with theirs, and each user has different restrictions/permissions.  I'm not exactly sure what you mean in this context.  Thanks for your help and patience with me.

Best,

Brad

[BradC]

Hi John,

I tried again today with an identical Windows 10 laptop that I have full administrator rights on, and I made it a little further.  The program seemed to recognize the daq box.  When I viewed active devices, it finally listed the actual PDaq box with its 6-digit serial number, which felt like progress, except that when I went to update all indicators, I still got the error message that "No indicators are currently open."  Any thoughts on what might be preventing the software from communicating with the sensors?

Our computing center is currently trying to salvage the hard drive from our old dying/dead computer and put it into a new XP machine to see if it will work.  I'm not sure why I'm not able to get it to work with the newer machines though.

Thanks again for your thoughts and input,

Brad

[JRys]

Hi Brad,

Assuming you have channels enabled, it could be that the program itself needs more permission. Using File Explorer, find C:\Program Files (x86)\Personal DaqView\Applications\pdaqview.exe. Get the properies and on the Compatibility page, set Run this program as administrator. 

Also, the top title bar of the program should show something like PDAQxxxxxx, where xxxxxx is the serial number. This indicates it's talking to the device.

John

 

 

[BradC]

Hi John,

Thanks for another suggestion.  I tried this and unfortunately it didn't seem to help.  As a shorter-term fix, our computing center was able to copy the hard drive from the dying/dead laptop and put it on a healthier Windows XP machine, and when I use it, the program seems to be communicating with all the sensors properly and working smoothly, which is big relief.  This will help get through our more urgent need for data collection with our students this semester.  I'd still feel better if we could use more modern operating systems and the updated software, so I'd like to continue to try to troubleshoot these issues we've been having.  I really appreciate your time and responses so far.

Thanks,

Brad