Power-Up Options for PXIe Chassis From PC With MXI Express

I have a PCIe-MXIe remote controller. What automatic power-up options are available for my PXI Express Chassis?

Method 1

PXI Express chassis have a power supply that can be controlled by the PXI Express system controller. The PXIe MXI Express x1/x4/x8/x16 board can use this functionality to automatically power-on downstream PXIe chassis when the host PC is turned on, or even power-on the host PC when the chassis power is turned on.  

You can use the attached program to configure your MXI Express system for upstream/downstream power-up functionality. 

To utilize the attached program, follow the steps outlined below:

1. With a Command Prompt window (or terminal for Linux) open, change the working directory to the location containing the utility nidpocfg.exe file by entering the command cd <Path to the directory containing installation file>.
2. Enter command nidpocfg.exe. Since no arguments are supplied, this utility ENABLES downstream power-on for all supported controllers. To disable all downstream power-on for all supported controllers, enter command nidpocfg.exe -d.
3. Restart your system and verify the desired functionality. 

Note: 

• This utility only works with NI PXI Platform Services 20.0 or later. This utility supports NI PXIe-8360, NI PXIe-8370, NI PXIe-8381 and NI-PXIe-1073. Enter command nidpocfg.exe -h to print help documentation. 
• If you cannot upgrade the NI PXI Platform Services driver, you can use the attached NIPXIRemoteConfig.exe. This legacy utility is written in LabVIEW 2012, and requires the LabVIEW 2012 Runtime Engine and any version of NI-VISA between 5.2 and 15.5 (PXI Platform Services will also install NI-VISA).
  1. Verify that your remote controller is identified under the Controller Model heading.
  2. Use the check boxes under the Settings heading to specify either a Downstream power-on configuration (PXIe chassis powers-on when host PC powers-on) or an Upstream power-on configuration (host PC powers-on when PXIe chassis powers-on.)
  3. Restart your system and verify the desired functionality. 
• The utility only needs to be ran once per PXI/MXI configuration. Therefore, once this program has been run on the MXI card and the settings are changed accordingly, you can install the card in a separate chassis that is connected to another computer. The configured power on and off functionality persists.

 

Method 2

For 3rd Gen MXIe controllers, the remote power-up option is already enabled by default. This means that there is no need to use the executable to achieve the desired functionality. The wake signal will be automatically sent, and the PXIe MXI card will automatically turn on the chassis when the PC is turned on or vice versa.

Note: The PXIe-8301 does not support a remote power-up option. However, it also has no requirement for the order in which the chassis vs computer is powered up. An alternative is to generally leave the chassis on and plug/unplug the Thunderbolt connection before powering on the computer. NI does not support hot-plugging the Thunderbolt connection.

 

Inhibit Mode Switch Position

Some NI PXIe chassis have an inhibit mode switch as an alternative to remotely power-on the chassis. Ensure the the inhibit mode switch is set to the off/default position to allow the controller slot to turn on the chassis. Please also note that when you shut down your computer this will automatically power off your chassis.
 

Additional Information

The upstream/downstream power-up functionality is supported on the following controllers: 
PXIe-8360, PXIe-8370, PXIe-8381, PXIe-8388, and PXIe-8389, as well as the PXIe-1073 chassis with integrated controller. This program will not work for chassis like the PXI-1033 (the functionality is hardwired in these devices). Additionally, due to the differences in power requirements between copper and fiber optic MXI Express systems, setups using fiber optic MXI Express cables will not support this power-up option (This limitation also applies to Fiber Optic Cables for Gen 3 MXI).  

Note: On older models, the upstream/downstream power-up functionality was disabled by default to ensure that downstream chassis are powered up before the host. If after enabling this functionality your system does not work properly, you may need to disable these features.