Cannot See Frame Grabber in NI MAX

Issue Details

• I have an NI PCI(e) Frame Grabber which does not show up in NI Measurement and Automation Explorer. How do I fix this?
• I have a frame grabber that appears in NI MAX as a PCI(e) card, but does not seem to be recognized as a frame grabber.  How can I get it to be recognized properly?
• I can't see my camera or PCIe-1433 in NI MAX. I don't have a camera file either. How do I fix this?

Solution

In order to determine what is preventing your frame grabber from appearing in NI MAX, you should first confirm if the card is appearing in Windows Device Manager.

If your frame grabber is appearing in Windows Device Manager:
If you can see your frame grabber correctly in Windows Device Manager, the issue likely lies with your device drivers.

1. First, confirm that the NI Vision drivers installed on your machine are compatible with your frame grabber card. 
   • NI Vision drivers (NI-IMAQ, NI-IMAQdx, and NI-IMAQ I/O ) are bundled into Vision Acquisition Software (VAS). To determine what driver you need, consult the following links:
     1. Hardware user manual
     2. Supported Cameras guide  - search by Vision protocol
     3. Differences Between NI-IMAQ, NI-IMAQdx, and NI-IMAQ I/O document
2. Because these drivers install with VAS, check which version of VAS installs the driver version that you need.
3. If you still cannot see the Frame Grabber after installing VAS, the installation may not have gone through successfully. Try to uninstall, reinstall or repair the driver.

If your frame grabber is not appearing in Windows Device Manager:
If your frame grabber is not appearing in NI MAX or Windows Device Manager, then the problem most likely lies with your computer physically detecting the frame grabber hardware rather than any issues in software.

1. If you are using any third-party hardware, such as a PCI(e) expansion chassis, eliminate as much extra hardware as possible from your system and detect the card when it is installed directly in the computer you plan on using it with.
2. Test the card in a different PCI(e) slot and/or computer. If you have additional PCI(e) hardware, especially additional frame grabbers that have been confirmed as functional, try to detect them in the PCI(e) slot being used to detect your affected frame grabber.

If your frame grabber cannot be detected in a different PCI(e) slot, and its original slot has been confirmed as functional, it is likely that your frame grabber is damaged and will need to be sent in for repair.

Additional Information

Support for some Camera Link frame grabbers was not added for NI-IMAQdx until version 18.0 and later.