Third Party GPIB-USB Device Does Not Show in MAX

Updated Oct 23, 2023

Reported In

Software

  • Measurement and Automation Explorer (MAX)

Driver

  • NI-VISA
  • NI-488.2

Other

Third Party USB-GPIB Cable

Issue Details

I have a third party USB to GPIB cable that I am trying to use in LabVIEW. It does not show up, does not appear, or is not recognised as a GPIB device in Measurement and Automation Explorer (MAX) and I cannot open VISA Test Panels.

Solution

Note: The interface will not be visible under "Devices and Interfaces" in MAX. The device will only show up under "VISA Interactive Control" (Tools>>NI-VISA>>VISA Interactive Control).

If the device isn't visible in Visa Interactive Control:
  1. Ensure that the appropriate IEEE 488 driver is installed for your device. Contact the manufacturer of your specific USB-GPIB cable for these drivers.
  2. If you are using Keysight GPIB hardware, enable the GPIB device for 488 programs in Keysight Connection Expert and enable the NiVisaTulip.dll in MAX.
  3. Reset the MAX Database.
  4. Check there is only one version of NI VISA installed on the computer. You can do this by creating an NI MAX Report zip file, opening the document "ni_max_report" and looking at the software listed under the heading"MAX Summary".
  5. Update NI VISA and the third party VISA to the latest version.
If the device is visible in Visa Interactive Control but gives an error in LabVIEW:
Ensure the version of NI VISA you are using is compatible with the version of LabVIEW installed on your PC. If you change version, please ensure you are still following the correct installation order for the software.

Additional Information

The NI-488.2 driver only supports National Instruments GPIB hardware, but is required to interface third party GPIB devices with MAX and LabVIEW.