Error -200371 When Using Counters on Multiple NI-9474

Updated Aug 29, 2025

Reported In

Hardware

  • NI-9474

Driver

  • NI-DAQ™mx

Issue Details

I have two NI-9474 which show me 4 configurable counters. I want to use all 8 counters simultaneously.
 

2021-09-30_09h30_29.png

However, when creating a task in NI-MAX for both of the modules, I am getting the error below : 
 
Error -200371 occurred at DAQ Assistant
 
Possible Reason(s):

Requested multiple virtual channels that correspond to the same physical channel within a task. A task cannot contain multiple physical channels of a specified type. Use different physical channels for each virtual channel.

 

Channel Name: PulseOutput_0

Physical Channel: ctr0

Channel Name: PulseOutput_4

Physical Channel: _ctr0


2021-09-30_09h31_05.png
 
Why is this happening, and how do I get around this error?

Solution

Most C-Series modules do not contain their own counters. Instead, they access the counters that are contained within the chassis. The modern cDAQ chassis have 4 counters within them, and this is what the DIO modules need to access.

When we try to access ctr0 through any DIO module that supports this access, we are not accessing the module counter, we are accessing the chassis counter. We thus cannot have both modules using "ctr0" as this cannot be shared between the modules.
 

Additional Information

Read more about accessing counters through C-Series modules here - cDAQ Module Support for Accessing On-board Counters.

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