Unable To Establish Communication Between LabVIEW and Arduino

Issue Details

I cannot establish communication between my Arduino board and LabVIEW. I have installed multiple drivers and toolkits, including LabVIEW Hacker, LabVIEW Interface for Arduino (LIFA), and LINX by Digilent/LabVIEW MakerHub. When I attempt to run my LabVIEW program, I receive the following error message:

LabVIEW was unable to connect to the LINX device using the following settings:

Interface: Serial

COM Port: COM3

Why is this happening, and how can I resolve this issue?

Solution

This connection issue occurs when multiple conflicting Arduino interface drivers are installed on the same computer. To establish a stable connection, you must clean up duplicate software and use the LabVIEW Hobbyist Toolkit for LabVIEW versions 2021 and higher. If you are using previous versions of LabVIEW then follow the instructions below.

Follow these steps to resolve the driver conflict and establish communication:

1. Uninstall conflicting toolkits: Uninstall all previous Arduino-related software from your system, including LabVIEW Hacker, LabVIEW Interface for Arduino (LIFA), and any older versions of LINX by Digilent/LabVIEW MakerHub.
2. Reinstall the package manager: Reinstall the latest version of JKI VI Package Manager (VIPM) to ensure clean package installation.
3. Install the Digilent LINX toolkit: Open VIPM and install the Digilent LINX package.
4. Flash the firmware: Connect your Arduino board via USB. Open LabVIEW, navigate to Tools>>MakerHub>>LINX>>Firmware Wizard, and follow the on-screen steps to install the correct LINX firmware onto your Arduino board.

Additional Information

For Support on using LINX, you would need to contact LabVIEW MakerHub forums.