specific niScopeDAQ or niScopeDMF dll could not be loaded

[MSUM]

Hello,

I recently transferred NI hardware (PCI 5102 board)  from an older computer to a newer computer.  The operating systems are the same (Windows XP Professional 2002).  Though the board seems to have correctly installed  on the newer computer (it shows up in the Measurment and Automatin Explorer and the test panel works), when I tried to call it using NIscope VIs, I get the error message "Specific niScopeDAQ or niScopeDMF dll could not be loaded." 

Since the hardware and software functioned on another computer with the same operating system the issue seems not to be compatibility with the operating system.

I checked the versions of all the NI software installed on the machines, and a few versions were slightly different on the newer system: 

                                                                 LabVIEW 8.2.1 versus 8.2 on older computer

                                                                 Measurement and Automation Explorer 4.2 versus 4.1 on older computer

                                                                 NIscope 3.2 versus 3.1.1 on older computer

The LabVIEW 8.2 disk from which the older system was set up no longer seems to be in the lab.  I did not think the 8.2.1 disk would be so different as to cause any problems.

1)  Any suggestions for getting the system to find the needed dll at this point?

2)  Any suggestions on where to find Niscope 3.1.1.  A web search turned up other versions, but not 3.1.1.  Installing higher versions caused other problems.

Any suggestions are appreciated.

[Aaron O]

HI MSUM,

I'm sorry to see that you are running into this error. It sounds like you have tried installing newer drivers on the system. If you have, could explain what versions you tried installing?

Also, have you tried uninstalling NI-SCOPE, NI-DAQmx, and Measurement and Automation through [Control Panel >> Add/Remove Programs >> National Instruments Software] and then reinstalling a newer versions from scratch? I would suggest that this be tried. After uninstallation, I would install NI-DAQmx 9.1.1, and NI-SCOPE 3.6 for LabVIEW 8.2.1 and Windows XP.

After looking through past Corrective Action Requests (CARs), there was one filed related to the error that you are seeing. The culprit ended up being the computer system rather than the software versions.

Regarding NI-SCOPE 3.1.1: I do not see that we ever released a standalone version of 3.1.1. If you would like the closest version that we released, I would suggest that you download and install NI-SCOPE 3.1.

I hope that provides some help. Please post your additional thoughts or questions.

Regards,

Aaron

[MSUM]

Hello, and thanks for the reply.

1)  I tried doing what you suggested.  I downloaded the versions of niScope and niDAQmx you suggested.

     I uninstalled the older versions, then installed niDAQ, and rebooted.  I then installed niScope and rebooted.

     MAX found the hardware (PCI-5102), and the test panel worked fine.

     Now when I try to run the LabVIEW application three VIs are flagged as having errors:

                       * niScope LabVIEW Error.vi

                                Error="Block diagram errors: Call Library Function 'GetErrorMessage': function not found in library

                      * niScope Fetch WDT.vi

                                Error="Call Library Function Node:  function not found in library"

                      * niScope Multi Fetch WDT.vi                               

                                Error="Call Library Function Node:  function not found in library"

    Under "Details" it says to right click on Call Library Function node and select Configure, then

    choose correct function name, but the "correct" function name does not always show up, so I stopped.

2)  You asked what versions of niScope I tried.  Here is what I have tried so far:

                       niScope 3.6 (described above)

                       niScope 3.4 (problems same as above)

                       niScope 3.2 (problems described in original post:  cannot find dll)

                       niScope 3.1 (when application loads, there are many missing VIs, so I just stopped it)

      My approach to intalling:  first uninstall the old niScope version using the Add/Remove programs in the Start menu, select

      National Instruments Software in the list, then select the niScope program.  After this I rebooted.  Then I installed

      the new version using the Autorun executable in the niScope folder.

Thanks for your help.

[Aaron O]

MSUM,

It looks like LabVIEW is having a hard time find the VIs in the NI-SCOPE library and LabVIEW libraries.

First, I would check and see if the VIs that your program needs are on the computer. Check this directory: C:\Program Files\National Instruments\LabVIEW 8.2.1\instr.lib\niScope\Acquire\Fetch to see if niScope Fetch WDT.vi and niScope Multi Fetch WDT.vi are there.

If the VIs are on your machine, I would suggest that you do a mass compile of your LabVIEW program. What this will do is fix any broken links to VI's and make sure that each VI is up-to-date with the current version of LabVIEW. Take a look at the KnowledgeBase What Does Mass Compile Do in LabVIEW for information on how to do this and what it does.  Let me know how this goes.

Regards,

Aaron 

[MSUM]

Aaron,

1)  I checked to see if the files existed in the folder you indicated.  The files do exist.  The only difference

     is the file  is under a LabVIEW 8.2 folder, rather than a 8.2.1 folder as you indicated.  The labVIEW version

     indicated under the Add/Remove programs window is 8.2.1, however, so I am not sure why this difference

    arises.  All other parts of the file path are as you indicated, except for that one thing, and both the

    Fetch and Multi Fetch programs are present.

2)  When I try a mass compile I get errors like the ones below.  There were many more, but I have selected

a few.  The nature of the errors seemed to be the same.

 ### Bad VI:    "niScope LabVIEW Error.vi"    Path="C:\Program Files\National Instruments\LabVIEW 8.2\instr.lib\NISCOPE\Utility\niScope LabVIEW Error.vi"
  ### Bad subVI: "niScope Multi Fetch Cluster.vi"    Path="C:\Program Files\National Instruments\LabVIEW 8.2\instr.lib\niScope\Acquire\Fetch\niScope Multi Fetch Cluster.vi"
  ### Bad subVI: "niScope Initiate Acquisition.vi"    Path="C:\Program Files\National Instruments\LabVIEW 8.2\instr.lib\niScope\Acquire\Fetch\niScope Initiate Acquisition.vi"

Thanks for your help.

[Aaron O]

MSUM,

Can you copy the VIs that are missing from the 8.2.1 folder to the 8.2 folder so that they reside in the same location, just with 8.2.1 replacing 8.2? I think this would be a good step to try from here. 

Another possibility is that we might not have gone back far enough and you actually need to do a repair on the LabVIEW installation or possibly an uninstall and reinstall of LabVIEW. If moving the instrument library files fails, I would suggest that you try a LabVIEW repair or if you want to go for a fresh install, that typically has better results with fixing problems. You will have to reinstall the drivers again after a LabVIEW reinstall ( I know it takes time, I apologize for that).

Let me know if you're still getting errors after trying any of these steps.

Regards,

Aaron 

[MSUM]

Hello,

1)  Attached is a screen shot of the National Instruments directory.  There is no LabVIEW 8.2.1

     subdirectory, but there is a LabVIEW 8.2 folder, as you can see in the first slide. 

     However, the LabVIEW executable inside the folder is  8.2.1, as you can see in the second slide.

2)  I tried renaming the folder from

      LabVIEW 8.2 to LabVIEW 8.2.1, and LabVIEW would not open automatically when I double clicked on the

      icon for my VI.  At this point I stopped this approach and put things back the way they were.

3)  I then tried copying the entire contents of the LabVIEW 8.2 folder and pasting it into a folder called LabVIEW 8.2.1,

     as shown in the third slide attached.  I then tried running my program (I did not reboot the computer), and

     the error messages were the same as before, and shown in the fourth slide.

4)  I may have misunderstood how the directory should be structured.  Let me know if I did it

     wrong or you have further suggestions.

Thanks for your help.

[Aaron O]

MSUM,

It looks like you followed the instructions as I was thinking. I'm sorry to see that this didn't help. I think from here you are going to have to try a reinstall of LabVIEW. I think to be on the safe side, go ahead and remove all of the National Instruments products from Add/Remove Programs. After removing all of our software, delete the National Instruments folder from Program Files. After this, proceed with a normal install of LabVIEW from your disc and the drivers installation after that. Let me know if you have any questions about this. Again, I apologize for the inconvenience.

Regards,
Aaron 

[MSUM]

Aaron,

1)  I removed all the National Instruments programs, then reinstalled the programs.

2)  Unfortunately, when I try to use niScope programs (I tried the demo on the Help website
     for niScope) I am back to the error "The specific niScopeDAQ or niScopeDMF dll could not be loaded."
     This happens in the niScope Initialize.vi even though the board checks out in MAX (the test panel runs).

3)  Are there drivers that I need to install for the PCI 5102 board, or do those get installed
     automatically?  I noticed that on the old computer under the instr.lib folder there is a
     PCI 5102 folder, but there is not one on the new computer.  Since the board was
     recognized by MAX, I assumed all the necessary drivers were loaded on the new
     computer. 

     Anyway, I copied this PCI 5102 folder from the old computer to the new,

     unistalled the 5102 board, restarted the computer, watched the board automatically reinstall,

     checked and ran the 5102 test panel in MAX successfully, and tried the niScope demo program again,

     but the error was the same. 

Let me know if you have any other ideas., and thanks for you help.

[Aaron O]

MSUM,

After an install of LabVIEW, you should install NI-DAQmx 9.1.1, and NI-SCOPE 3.6 for LabVIEW 8.2.1 and Windows XP. Did you install those drivers?

The process should go as follows:

1. Uninstall all National Instruments products through Add/Remove Programs » National Instrument Software.

2. Install LabVIEW 8.2.1 from the disk or from the download, here.

3. Install NI-DAQmx 9.1.1, and NI-SCOPE 3.6.

Was this the process that you took? It looks like you're computer is still confused about the location of the NI-SCOPE VI library functions.

Regards,

Aaron 

http://digital.ni.com/src.nsf/websearch/8ED014AC90B55324862578800051418F?OpenDocument&node=node=2030...