Windows 11 GPIB0 no communication with KE5FX GPIB Toolkit

[Tomorokoshi]

There is a lot of history here using the KE5FX GPIB Toolkit. I use it just fine with a serial connection to my HP 54542A oscilloscope. However, in order to modernize my system I got an HP E2050A LAN/HP-IB Gateway. As practical work with anything GPIB is new again to me, I wasn't quite sure where to start. I'll save the entire history of what I did and list the state of things now:

Windows 11 Computer:
1. Installed the latest Keysight IO Libraries Suite (18.2.27313.1).
2. Installed the latest National Instruments Measurement and Automation Explorer (NI MAX 21.5.0f239).
3. Installed the KE5FX GPIB Toolkit.

Windows Vista Computer:
1. Installed an older version of the Keysight IO Libraries Suite (17.1.20011.4).
2. No NI software was installed.
3. Installed the KE5FX GPIB Toolkit.

I can use the Keysight Interactive IO and NI VISA Test Panel tools to get the *IDN? response from both computers. The E2050A gateway shows the sessions from both computers.

Keysight Interactive IO:

Code: [Select]

-> *IDN?
<- HEWLETT-PACKARD,54542A,US36060143,00.13,01.14,03.10,01.01
NI VISA Test Panel:

Code: [Select]

1: Write Operation (*IDN?\n)

Return Count: 6 bytes

2: Read Operation
Return Count: 58 bytes
HEWLETT-PACKARD,54542A,US36060143,00.13,01.14,03.10,01.01\n
I can then switch from Listen to Talk on the HP 54542A and with the HP 7470A Emulator I can get a screen shot using GPIB->No assigned plotter... and Acquire->Wait for device-initiated plot on the Windows Vista computer only.

On the Windows 11 computer I get this error when running the query command in PowerShell. I get the same text in the popup window when the error happens in 7470.exe:

Code: [Select]

PS C:\HewlettPackard\GPIB\KE5FX\GPIB> .\query.exe 6 "*IDN?"

National Instruments board (GPIB0) not found

Are you using a Prologix adapter?  If so, you must run the
GPIB Configurator application first.  Select "Update CONNECT.INI"
after selecting your adapter's COM port or IP address.

Otherwise, you must either configure your NI488.2-compatible
GPIB adapter as GPIB0, or use the GPIB Configurator to select the
correct board.

Users of Agilent or Keysight GPIB adapters must enable NI488.2
compatibility.  Otherwise, the adapter will be unavailable for
selection in the GPIB Configurator.

ibsta=&H8000  < ERR >
iberr=0  EDVR <DOS Error>
ibcntl=-535560155

connect.ini is the same on both computers, with these pertinent settings:

Code: [Select]

interface_settings  GPIB0
is_Prologix          0
write_delay_ms       10
reset_to_local       0
force_auto_read      1
restore_auto_read    0
enable_lon           0
Also, the KE5FX programs are set to Windows XP SP2 compatibility mode. I run 7470.exe in Administrator mode.

What can I do on the Windows 11 computer to make this work:
1. Why do the Keysight and NI suites see GPIB0 but not the GPIB Toolkit?
2. Is there a firewall setting somewhere?
3. Is there some other security setting?
4. Is this a 32-bit / 64-bit problem?
5. Is there another test that would help narrow down the problem?

[alm]

However, in order to modernize my system I got an HP E2050A LAN/HP-IB Gateway.

I would expect this to be a fairly easy route since the E2050A does not rely on any OS drivers, unlike a similar era PCI or USB interface.

2. Installed the latest National Instruments Measurement and Automation Explorer (NI MAX 21.5.0f239).

Did you install just the NI configuration tools or did it include NI-488.2? If so, how did you set things up between Agilent IO Libraries and NI-488.2?

NI VISA Test Panel:

Code: [Select]

1: Write Operation (*IDN?\n)

Return Count: 6 bytes

2: Read Operation
Return Count: 58 bytes
HEWLETT-PACKARD,54542A,US36060143,00.13,01.14,03.10,01.01\n

Did you enable NI-488.2 compatibility in the Agilent IO Libraries, or is NI MAX working through the NI-488.2 stack? Maybe the steps on page 1 of this checklist help?

What can I do on the Windows 11 computer to make this work:
1. Why do the Keysight and NI suites see GPIB0 but not the GPIB Toolkit?
4. Is this a 32-bit / 64-bit problem?

My guess is that they use a different interface, for example a 32-bit and 64-bit version of gpib32.dll. One of which might be the Agilent version and one of them might be the NI version. Or one us using VISA and the other gpib32.dll (I'm pretty sure the GPIB Toolkit uses gpib32.dll).

2. Is there a firewall setting somewhere?
3. Is there some other security setting?

I would probably expect a different error then.

5. Is there another test that would help narrow down the problem?

I would install Process Monitor and filter on the query.exe process. Using this is always about generating large haystacks and finding needles in this. I would for starters look for anything gpib32.dll related. I don't remember if this tool can show you which version of the DLL it is loading. If you can get one of the tools from the Toolkit to prompt for input, you could use Proces Explorer or ListDLLs to figure out where it's loading the GPIB libraries from.

[coromonadalix]

Before jumping to this win 11 thing, have you tried on win 7  and windows 10 ??    Win10 can run tons of old win 9x, xp ...   stuff, not all  but many

Ditched win 11 recently   got tons of problems with it,  go to a more stable OS for a start

Many people did not run into problems with Win 10 ??  Normally the compatibility mode  should help a lot, try the lowest windows version  going up a little at the time

On a win10 x64,  with the help of an leaked /reworked / ntvdm,    i can even run  very old 16 bits apps


A firewall : for com lpt  gpib  ports uses  should not block them, but could block an software if it's specifically configured to do so

Some 64 bit systems can have bugs for i/o interfacing, a 64bit kernel doesn't run like an 32 bit,    as some asked you,  have you tried on 32 bit os'es

and lastly   WINDOWS 11 is more ''secure'' in a way, it could interfere with some drivers,  remember windows 8 to 8.1,  windows 8 was fun to use, but MS  with the driver signature enforcement stuff in 8.1   scrapped tons of efforts to make things work

Start on a Win10 32 bit   ....

[Tomorokoshi]

Before jumping to this win 11 thing, have you tried on win 7  and windows 10 ??    Win10 can run tons of old win 9x, xp ...   stuff, not all  but many

Ditched win 11 recently   got tons of problems with it,  go to a more stable OS for a start

Many people did not run into problems with Win 10 ??  Normally the compatibility mode  should help a lot, try the lowest windows version  going up a little at the time

On a win10 x64,  with the help of an leaked /reworked / ntvdm,    i can even run  very old 16 bits apps


A firewall : for com lpt  gpib  ports uses  should not block them, but could block an software if it's specifically configured to do so

Some 64 bit systems can have bugs for i/o interfacing, a 64bit kernel doesn't run like an 32 bit,    as some asked you,  have you tried on 32 bit os'es

and lastly   WINDOWS 11 is more ''secure'' in a way, it could interfere with some drivers,  remember windows 8 to 8.1,  windows 8 was fun to use, but MS  with the driver signature enforcement stuff in 8.1   scrapped tons of efforts to make things work

Start on a Win10 32 bit   ....

Unfortunately, I don't have Windows 7 or Windows 10 computers to switch to. That said, I agree that Windows 11 is disappointing and frustrating. For my immediate need, I can use the Vista computer to capture the data and copy it over.

I am comparing the transactions between Windows Vista and Windows 11 now.

[Tomorokoshi]

... many useful suggestions...

Thanks! I am working through these hints and suggestions now. I've been working through comparing "SICL" and "SICL Detail" messages in the Keysight IO Monitor between the systems. On Windows 11, the first divergence when sending talk 6 "*IDN?" 100 is with SICL:igpibsett1delay, which returns error code 8. According to the SICL Library Reference, igpibsett1delay is not supported when using the TCP/IP Instrument Protocol. Then things really start to diverge. Unfortunately, the only way to export the messages is to .XML, which is difficult to parse and doesn't properly convert to .CSV.

Anyway, it will take the rest of the week to work through the suggestions. I will probably uninstall all GPIB software from the Windows 11 computer and install the same version that works on Vista. Then I will have a better comparison.

[Tomorokoshi]

In the process of trying to answer the questions from above I encountered several problems. I didn't get the time to thoroughly check all of them.

As it turned out, I uninstalled the NI and Keysight software in order to start over. I then installed the IOLibSuite_17_1_20011.exe version that worked on Windows Vista.

There was one curiosity that I recalled from the first installation that I ignored at the time: the Keysight installer found "another vendor's" copy of a VISA library. The first time through I installed the Keysight library as "secondary", so this time I installed it as "primary". I found, configured, and tested the gateway and *IDN? to the oscilloscope without any problems.

However, 7470.exe would still not work. In fact, instead of failing after a few seconds, now it would fail immediately. I dabbled with this an that setting with no change. Finally I unchecked "Keysight VISA" as the enabled installation, I got a message about it switching to the other VISA library, and it worked! The strange thing is that it still shows Keysight VISA as the library.

So there are still some remaining mysteries to be solved later:
1. Does it work now because I used an older version?
2. Does it work now because of the extraneous VISA library that was around?
3. Does it work now because I didn't install any NI software this time?
4. Does it work now because I installed Keysight VISA as primary?
5. Does it work now because I installed Keysight VISA in Administrator mode?
6. ?

[KE5FX]

The toolkit doesn't use VISA, SICL, or any other higher-level protocols -- it just uses the original NI488 API.  Based on the error message ("GPIB0 not found"), it sounds like you just need to enable NI488.2 compatibility in the Keysight utility.

[Tomorokoshi]

The toolkit doesn't use VISA, SICL, or any other higher-level protocols -- it just uses the original NI488 API.  Based on the error message ("GPIB0 not found"), it sounds like you just need to enable NI488.2 compatibility in the Keysight utility.

I had selected "Enable Keysight GPIB cards for 488 programs" in all the various configurations I tried.

However, with the library change appearing to make it work, I followed up with alm's earlier suggestion about tracking down the .dll's.

Here is what I have:

In C:\Windows\System32 I have "Gpib-32.dll" and "gpib-32.orig.dll". These have sizes of 127,296 and 51,008 bytes, respectively. I attached the Properties->Details about each file.

Perhaps the "Hook Library" was selected instead of the "488 Router" initially, and it switched over when I changed the "Keysight VISA" selection. Anyway, I will leave it as-is for now, until I decide to spend another 4 hours uninstalling and re-installing the various versions of the Keysight libraries. Thanks!