Gige camera disappears in MAX

[jerryk]

I downloaded the latest image acquisition software from ni.com.  I installed an Intel Pro 1000 PT PCIe network board and connected a Prosilica GC1290 Gige camera.  I opened MAX and the camera showed up under IMAQdx devices.  When I clicked on the camera in the device tree, the camera setup window opened and displayed one frame from the camera.  The mouse icon showed the hour glass for several seconds and then the window disappeared and the camera also disappeared from the MAX devices tree.  After several more seconds, the camera returned to the MAX devices tree and the whole sequence can be repeated.  Does anyone know what the problem is?

[esmaham]

Hi Jerryk,

You might want to go over those documents to troubleshoot this camera, and make sure you have all the settings in place.

Troubleshooting GigE Vision Cameras
Acquiring from GigE Vision Cameras with Vision Acquisition Software - Part I
Acquiring from GigE Vision Cameras with Vision Acquisition Software - Part II

Hope this help.

Thanks and have a great day.

[jerryk]

I looked over those documents, no solution.  I tried the Labview IMAQdx examples.  My camera comes up as cam0.  The examples work as long as the link to cam0 remains (about 10 seconds).  When the link goes away, after a minute or so the link returns, and then the example starts working again for about 10 seconds.  Very periodic.  Looks like something is kicking the camera off the network and then the camera returns.  I tried 2 different cameras, 2 network boards, and 2 different computers (Dell & IBM), same result.

[pkozik]

Try the following:

1.  Disable all adapters except the one you are using to connect to the camera

2.  Fix the network adapter IP address to 169.254.100.1, subnet: 255.255.0.0. 

3.  Plug the camera directly to the host adapter (bypass any switch)

3.  Test the camera using the Prosilica sample viewer:

http://www.alliedvisiontec.com/us/products/software/windows/gige-sdk-pvapi.html

4.  Replace the ethernet cable with a new Cat5E (crossover NOT required)

5.  Disable the network firewall and other network security features

These actions should help you ensure the issue is not related to the network setup or a camera failure.  Replacing the ethernet cable and disabling security may not be necessary but should be eliminated as potential causes.

If the steps above result in a working system using the sample viewer, try the NI software.  If you are again having problems, focus on your NI driver installation, ie check for the latest updates or do a reinstall.  If the system does NOT work using the sample viewer, please contact AVT support at support@alliedvisiontec.com for a potentail RMA to repair the camera.  It may be helpful to refer to this thread in your initial email to speed up the process. 

Hope that helps,

[jerryk]

The trouble comes from the McAfee Host Intrusion Prevention firewall.  It blocks incoming UDP traffic from the camera.  Evidently the troubleshooting statement below does NOT apply to this firewall (why?).  My company policy won't allow me to change firewall parameters.  Does the High Performance driver need a fix?

Troubleshooting GigE Vision Cameras

Note that this limitation only applies to the Universal Driver. Firewall settings do NOT affect image data if you use the High Performance driver with an Intel PRO/1000 network card. Since the High Performance driver is implemented closer to hardware, the incoming image data is redirected to the driver before it reaches the firewall.

[ScottSmith]

While IT policies such as firewalls and anti-virus make tremendous sense for PCs on the corporate LAN/WAN, for obvious reasons...

... machine vision makes claims upon PC resources that may not be consistent with machines in such a multi-use, locked-down state.  Especially for GigE Vision applications, one does not want to be competing with printing, web-apps, etc. for a high-performance vision application.

It is often wise to have a dedicated vision network/PC, that is not administered by IT.  Since all it is doing is vision, and not on a shared LAN, there is no risk to the LAN by running without a firewall or antivirus, the application gets max resources for performance.

Scott