E8491 Troubleshooting Guide

There are two known Windows 2000 IEEE 1394 problems which affect the E8491.

Block write and I-SCPI performance on the E8491 on Windows 2000 are significantly reduced due to the workaround for a memory leak in the 1394 driver.
Performance problems and missed interrupts on Windows 2000 are possible due to a busy-acknowledge defect in the 1394 driver. This is known to affect some E8491 firmware downloads and some I-SCPI and VXIplug&play drivers.
Microsoft has implemented a hotfix which should solve both of these problems. You can find out more about this hotfix by going to http://www.microsoft.com. and searching for Q262814 to find the Knowledge Base information on obtaining the hotfix . If you have difficulty, contact Agilent Support for more information.
The hotfix must be obtained from Microsoft. Microsoft does not allow Agilent to distribute Windows 2000 hotfixes.
Microsoft has stated that this fix will be included in the Windows 2000 Service Pack 2 when it becomes available.
The E8491 driver will sense the presence of the hotfix or Service Pack 2 and automatically switch to a higher performance mode if either is installed.

There is a known Windows 98/Me IEEE 1394 problem which affects the E8491

Performance problems and missed interrupts 2000 are possible due to a busy-acknowledge defect in the 1394 driver. This is known to affect some E8491 firmware downloads and some I-SCPI and VXIplug&play drivers.
Microsoft has implemented a hotfix which should solve this problem. You can find out more about this hotfix by going to http://www.microsoft.com. and searching for Q252185 to find the Knowledge Base information on obtaining the hotfix . If you have difficulty, contact Agilent Support for more information.
The hotfix must be obtained from Microsoft. Microsoft does not allow Agilent to distribute Windows hotfixes.

When three or more E8491's are connected to a single IEEE 1394 interface card, certain topologies may not work.

In certain topologies the E8491 hardware is not properly identified on the 1394 bus. This will result in inconsistent behavior when the VXI resource manager tries to configure instruments in the VXI card cages.
Behavior may include timeout errors while attempting to communicate with a particular instrument, and / or instruments appearing in cages where they are not actually located .
Try reversing the cable connections to the ports on the host interface card In general, cable connections with longer chains of E8491's should be on lower host ports.

If the E8491 is very busy and an IEEE 1394 bus reset occurs, it may become unresponsive and require a reset of the E8491 and/or a reboot of the computer.

This problem can occur when another 1394 device is added or removed while the E8491 is busy.

If IO Config cannot find your E8491:

First make sure that all your VXI mainframes are powered on and that your 1394 cables are connected to both the Host Adapter and the E8491 before running IO Config since IO Config will only search for new interfaces when it starts up.

Windows 98:

Install the driver for the OHCI compliant IEEE 1394 Host Controller using the Windows 98 CD that came with your computer. After installing the driver, reboot to make sure the driver is working properly so the system will be able to find the HP E8491A card.

Launch the Windows Device manager by running 'Start, Settings, Control Panel, System'. Choose the 'Device Manager' tab.

Look under 'Other Devices' for the 'Hewlett-Packard HP8491A'

Right click the 'Hewlett-Packard HP8491A' and choose 'Properties'.

Click the 'Reinstall Driver' button to bring up the 'Update Device Driver Wizard' and reinstall the driver using the IO Libraries CD specifying the 'Windows 2000' directory as the location of the driver files.

When you are finished, you should see an 'Agilent E8491 1394 VXI controller' listed under 'Test & Measurement devices'.

At this point, IO Config should be able to find the E8491.

Windows 2000:

Launch the Windows Device manager by running 'Start, Settings, Control Panel, System'. Choose the 'Hardware, Device Manager Tab'.

Look under 'Other Devices' for a 'Hewlett-Packard HP8491A'

Replace the driver the HP 8491A.

Right click on the 'Hewlett-Packard HP8491A' driver and choose 'Properties'.

Click the 'Reinstall Driver' button to bring up the 'Upgrade Device Driver Wizard' and reinstall the driver using the IO Libraries CD as the source of the driver files.

When you are finished, you should see an 'Agilent E8491 1394 VXI controller' listed under 'Test & Measurement devices'.

At this point, IO Config should be able to find the E8491.

Windows 95 and NT 4.0:

If the E8491 doesn't show up on the left-side window, check the following (Note that the file locations are the default for Windows NT on IO Libraries revision H.01.03 or earlier. The directory names may be different if you are running a different OS, have a later version of the IO Libraries, or if you overrode the setup defaults).
Make sure the file c:\siclnt\intfcfg\cfg49132.dll file exists. If it does not, re-run the setup utility, and make sure you are installing E8491 support.

Make sure the file c:\winnt\system32\wnpapi32.dll exists (Windows NT 4.0) or c:\windows\system\wnpapi32.dll exists (Windows 95). file exists. If it does not, re-run the setup utility, and make sure you are installing E8491 support.

Run Explorer, and find the file c:\siclnt\intfcfg\cfg49132.dll. Right-click the filename, and select Properties. The property box that shows up should have a Version tab on it. If it does not, or if the version information on that tab appears corrupt, then the file is probably corrupt. Delete it, and re-run the setup utility.

Run Explorer, and find the file c:\winnt\system32\wnpapi32.dll. Right-click the filename, and select Properties. The property box that shows up should have a Version tab on it. If it does not, or if the version information on that tab appears corrupt, then the file is probably corrupt. Delete it, and re-run the setup utility.

Windows NT: Run "Start", "Settings", "Control Panel", "Devices". Find the "wn1394" Device. Make sure it is started. If it is not, try starting it by selecting the "Start" button. It is normally set to startup "Automatic", and the "HW Profiles..." selection should indicate that it is "Enabled".
Windows 95: Check the device manager to ensure that the driver for the IEEE 1391 PCI card was installed correctly. To do this, click the Start menu, and select "Settings", then "Control Panel". In Control Panel, double-click the "System" icon. When the "System Properties dialog box appears, select the "Device Manager" tab. You should see an item called "1394 Bus Controller". If you do, double-click it to expand it. You should see a 1394 controller listed from HP with no exclamation points on it. If you see an exclamation point, try selecting it, press "Remove", then press "Refresh". After a moment, Windows 95 should ask for a driver. You can use the I/O Libraries CD or floppy disk #1 as the installation disk when it asks for a disk. If you do not even see the "1394 Bus Controller" icon, the 1394 card may be listed under "Other devices". You should find the 1394 card there, remove it, and Refresh.

If your computer locks up or freezes after installing:

Make sure the power cable is connected to your PCI card!
If you have installed the operating system using a disk copy or imaging utility instead of the standard install, make sure that the operating system image is compatible with your computer. We have seen instances where these images are not compatible, and can cause hangs on boot or driver software not loading properly.
Upgrade your system BIOS (NOTE: even new computers may have a newer BIOS available!)
Upgrade your video drivers
Upgrade your LAN drivers
Upgrade your IDE and/or SCSI drivers
Upgrade your Sound drivers
Make sure the PCI BIOS is set correctly:
- If you are running Windows 95, set to either Running Windows 95 or Plug&Play OS.
- If you are running Windows NT, set to either Running Windows NT or Not Plug&Play OS.
Make sure the PCI host adapter card is installed in a PCI bus-mastering PCI slot.
Configure your PC so as to not share IRQ lines. Many PCI cards have bugs when sharing IRQ lines. You may or may not be able to do this on all PC's, many can be configured using the setup option when the PC is first booting.

If you are having performance problems on Windows '95:

Disable power management (Control Panel, Power-icon)
Remove USB supplement (use Control Panel, Add/Remove programs)

Want to use the E8491 with a laptop computer? Here's what we recommend:

We've tested with the Gateway Solo 9300 series
We've qualified Windows NT 4.0 and Windows 2000
You need to purchase a special 6-pin to 4-pin 1394 cable. The 6-pin to 6-pin cable shipped with the E8491 will not plug in to the 4-pin connector on the laptop. These cables are available at most discount computer stores, such as Best Buy or Circuit City.
Before installing the I/O Libraries, do the following:
1. If you are running Windows NT 4.0, you will need to install the latest service pack for NT 4.0, at least Service Pack 5.
2. Some of the earlier Gateway laptops had some driver problems. If you computer freezes when running the I/O Libraries Setup utility, do the following:
  1. Reboot your laptop, and enter the BIOS setup (press F2 on boot) and verify that "Installed O/S" is not "Other".
  2. Install the I/O Libraries. They won't work yet, because the BIOS isn't set correctly. But this is good, because if they did work, your machine would crash.
  3. Run Control Panel, Devices. Find "wn1394". Click on "Settings", and change to "System".
  4. Reboot the machine, and enter the BIOS setup screen by pressing F2 as it's booting. Go to the "Advanced" menu, and change the "Installed O/S" field to be "Other".
That's it! At this point, do the usual things -- connect the mainframe, run I/O Config, configure the E8491 module, and start controlling instruments!