Driver488/sub – Measurement Computing Personal488 rev.3.0 For DOS & Windows 3.Xi User Manual

Page 374

IV. TROUBLESHOOTING - 18. Troubleshooting Checklists

18A. Introduction, 18B. Driver488/DRV

Personal488 User’s Manual, Rev. 3.0

IV-359

not be related to an external instrument unless you are configuring an external device and not the
interface itself.

To configure an external device, press

. Note that it is not necessary to communicate with

instruments, an address number (

) can be used instead.

The IEEE bus address should be set to any address between

and

(preferably

) and should

not conflict with any addresses on the bus. This is not the address of your instrument and should
not be, unless you are configuring an external device and not the interface itself.

To configure an external device, press

. Note that it is not necessary to configure a device in

order to communicate with it, an address number (

) can be used instead.

SYS CONTROLLER

and

LIGHT PEN

typically should be checked unless you are using the interface

in Peripheral mode.

Press

to get a picture of the configured board and verify jumper settings.

Press

to save the

DRVR488.INI

file and exit.

10.

If the

DRVR488.EXE

is already loaded in memory, remove it or simply reboot your computer and

reload it again because the

DRVR488.EXE

reads the

DRVR488.INI

file only at loading time.

11.

Before starting to program in a high-level language, run the

KBC.EXE

program from the

\UTILS

directory and make sure you can read and write, and communicate properly with your instrument
by using the

OUTPUT

and

ENTER

commands. For information on the use of the KBC.EXE

program, refer to the Sub-Chapter “Getting Started” in Chapter 8 “Driver488/DRV.”

12.

If you can write properly to your instrument but you cannot read anything from it, refer to the

TERM

command in “Section III: Command References” in this manual, to match up the terminators

sent by the instrument with the terminators expected by the Driver488. Refer to your instrument
manual to find the types of terminators appended to its response. Typically, these terminators are

and

If problems still persist, consult your service representative for assistance. Once Driver488/DRV is
properly installed and configured, you are ready to start programming.

18C. Driver488/SUB

Remove the card from the computer and note the selected switch and jumper settings, such as those
for: I/O address, DMA channel, and interrupt level. For switch and jumper definitions, refer to
“Section I: Hardware Guides” in this manual. If you have an NB488, which is the parallel to
IEEE 488 controller interface, verify the interrupt level of your LPT port or run the

NBTEST

program.

Run the

CONFIG

program which acts as an editor of the

DRVR488.INI

initialization file. This

DRVR488.INI

file is referred to by the

DRVE488.EXE TSR

program when loading in memory. If

this initialization file is not edited properly, the

DRVR488.EXE

program will fail during loading or

when communicating on the bus.

In the

CONFIG

program, first select the

DEVICE TYPE

which can be: MP488CT, MP488, AT488,

GP488 or NB488. These are 5 different hardware interfaces that are supported by the same
Driver488 software. You should select the interface that you are using. To identify your interface,
refer to “Section I: Hardware Guides.”

Note: For GP488 users (which is an 8-bit IEEE 488 controller plug-in card), make sure you have
a recent and compatible version of the hardware.

Once the

DEVICE TYPE

is selected, start selecting the I/O address, DMA channel and interrupt

level according to the switch settings determined in Step 1 above. Make sure none of these
parameters are used concurrently somewhere else in the computer, otherwise a system crash is
probable. In the case of an NB488, the DMA channel is not applicable.