USB-1208FS-Plus as a replacement for USB-1208FS

[Rhodes]

I've been using USB-1208FS since around 2007. It is part of a device we manufacture, with a couple hundred units around the world. Our device contains a single board computer running Windows XP Embedded, Instacal 5.72, and our custom software created using LabVIEW.

Now that USB-1208FS is no longer available, I had hoped USB-1208FS-Plus would work as an exact replacement. But Instacal 5.72 doesn't find the -Plus board. Instacal 6.35 and 6.73 get mostly installed but then report that the installation is "interrupted". The icalsetup installers for Instacal 6.55 thru 6.72 don't run at all. Only Instacal 6.27 gets fully installed and sees the -Plus board. I can then set the "Identifier" (is this the same as "Custom Serial No." in Instacal 5.72?) and configure for 8 Single Ended channels.

But my software freezes when it calls UL-LabVIEW commands with the -Plus board.

Is it possible to configure a USB-1208FS-Plus such that UL LabVIEW treats it exactly like a USB-1208FS?

[Jeffrey]

Measurement Computing is no longer providing active support for Windows XP embedded.  Microsoft terminated support for that OS on January 12, 2016.

It is unfortunate. 

InstaCal 5.72 (2007) was released many years before there was a USB-1208FS-PLUS (2012).  It was first released in InstaCal 6.24.  That version is available for you to try:

https://mcc.download.ni.com/Archive/InstaCal/Archive_6.24/icalsetup.exe

2 hours ago, Rhodes said:

Is it possible to configure a USB-1208FS-Plus such that UL LabVIEW treats it exactly like a USB-1208FS?

Sorry no, though they are very similar, there is no way to configure the USB-1208FS-PLUS to be a USB-1208FS.

 

[Rhodes]

13 hours ago, Jeffrey said:

Sorry no, though they are very similar, there is no way to configure the USB-1208FS-PLUS to be a USB-1208FS.

I may not need it to be USB-1208FS exactly, but I do need the -Plus board to respond to the same UL commands. The first UL LabVIEW vi that is called is DCFGPORT.VI, which worked with the USB-1208FS but freezes the program with the USB-1208FS-Plus. 

Is the attached picture not valid LabVIEW code to use with the -Plus?

[Jeffrey]

Both devices have the same 2 digital IO "PORTs"  FirstPortA and FirstPortB, so it should work.

I say should because we no longer offer support UL for LabVIEW.  I cannot install it to test this for you because it would require 32 bit LV and I only have 64 bit.

Perhaps you have more than one copy of cbw32.dll on your system?  there should be only one, and it should be found in c:\Program files\Measurement Computing\DAQ for a 32 bit windows OS, or c:\Program files\Measurement Computing (x86)\DAQ for 64 bit Windows OS.

Start your search at C:\ so that you are searching the ENTIRE hard drive.

if you find more than one copy of cbw32.DLL, not found in the locations listed above, I recommend you delete them or at least rename them to something like cbw32.OLD.

 

[Rhodes]

There's only one copy of cbw32.dll and it's in the appropriate folder.

I installed Instacal 6.24, but Windows started complaining about lost driver files. I had to restore the OS from a backup clone to get it to accept the -Plus board again. Instacal 6.24 and 6.27 now have similar behavior. They find the -Plus board, assign it as Board 0, and allow me to select 8 single-ended inputs. But my LabVIEW-generated .exe still freezes when it tries to communicate with the -Plus board. It may not actually be the DCfgPort.vi that's freezing. I'm creating some test code to see whether AOut.vi, DOut.vi, AInScFg.vi, or ToEng.vi might be the culprit. Am I correct in assuming that those should behave the same with USB-1208FS-Plus as they had with USB-1208FS? 

[Jeffrey]

Yes they should but I've recently seen when they do not.

This particular customer was not using LabVIEW, he was running an analog input scan using the default options, it was the sample count that was the problem.  Once that was corrected, the PLUS version operated without any problems.

I agree with your diagnostics, running some very simplified vis to find the offending function.