NATIONAL INSTRUMENTS NI PXI-8110 (01) PDF DOCUMENT

This section contains general installation instructions for the NATIONAL INSTRUMENTS NI PXI-8110.

1. Plug in the chassis before installing the NI PXI-8110. The power cord grounds the chassis and protects it from electrical damage while you install the module. (Make sure the power switch is turned off.)

Caution: To protect both yourself and the chassis from electrical hazards, leave the chassis off until you finish installing the NI PXI-8110 module.

2. Remove any panels blocking access to the system controller slot (slot 1) in the chassis.

3. Touch the metal part of the case to discharge any static electricity that might be on your clothes or body.

4. Remove the protective plastic covers from the four bracket-retaining screws.

5. Make sure the injector/ejector handle is in its downward position. Align the NI PXI-8110 with the card guides on the top and bottom of the system controller slot.

Caution: Do not raise the injector/ejector handle as you insert the NI PXI-8110. The module will not insert properly unless the handle is in its downward position so that it does not interfere with the injector rail on the chassis.

6. Hold the handle as you slowly slide the module into the chassis until the handle catches on the injector/ejector rail.

7. Raise the injector/ejector handle until the module firmly seats into the backplane receptacle connectors. The front panel of the NI PXI-8110 should be even with the front of the chassis.

8. Tighten the four bracket-retaining screws on the top and bottom of the front panel to secure the NI PXI-8110 to the chassis.

9. Check the installation.

10. Connect the keyboard and mouse to the USB connectors. If you are using a PS/2 keyboard and a PS/2 mouse, use USB-to-PS/2 adapters to connect both to the USB connectors on the front panel. You may use a Y-splitter adapter to connect both keyboard and mouse to one USB port, leaving the other USB ports free for other peripherals, such as a CD-ROM drive, or secondary hard drive. National Instruments offers a Y-splitter adapter cable, part number 778713-02.

11. Connect the DVI monitor video cable to the DVI connector. If you are using a VGA monitor, use the DVI-to-VGA adapter included with your kit. To use both DVI and VGA, you can purchase a DVI to DVI and VGA splitter cable through National Instruments (part number 780868-01). Refer to KnowledgeBase 497ERQ7N for more information.

12. Connect peripherals to ports as required by your system configuration.

13. Power on the display. Refer to the NI PXI-8110 User Manual for details.

14. Power on the chassis.

15. Verify that the controller boots. If it does not boot, refer to the troubleshooting sections.

The NATIONAL INSTRUMENTS NI PXI-8110 controllers are designed for easy handling. To remove the unit from the PXI chassis:

1. Turn off power.

2. Remove cables from the controller front panel.

3. Unscrew the bracket-retaining screws in the front panel.

4. Press the injector/ejector handle down.

5. Slide the unit out of the chassis.

Several problems can cause a controller not to boot. Here are some things to notice and possible solutions.

• Which LEDs come on? The Power OK LED should stay lit. The Drive LED should blink during boot as the disk is accessed.

• What appears on the display? Does it hang at some particular point (BIOS, Operating System, etc.)? If nothing appears on the screen, try a different monitor. Does your monitor work with a different PC? If it hangs, note the last screen output that you saw for reference when consulting National Instruments technical support.

• What has changed about the system? Did you recently move the system? Was there electrical storm activity? Did you recently add a new module, memory chip, or piece of software?

• Make sure the chassis is plugged in to a working power source.

• Check any fuses or circuit breakers in the chassis or other power supply (possibly an uninterruptible power supply).

• Make sure the controller module is firmly seated in the chassis.

• Remove all other modules from the chassis.

• Remove any nonessential cables or devices.

• Try the controller in a different chassis or a similar controller in this same chassis.

• Clear the CMOS. (Refer to the System CMOS section of the NI PXI-8110 User Manual.)

• Recover the hard drive on the controller. (Refer to the Hard Drive Recovery section of the NI PXI-8110 User Manual.)

This problem usually results from having the video card output set past the limits of the monitor. You will need to boot Windows in Safe Mode. To do this, reboot the controller. As Windows begins to boot, hold down <F8>. You should now be able to reset the video driver to lower settings. Try setting the resolution to 640 × 480 and the refresh rate to 60 Hz. Once you reboot, you can raise these values again, using the test option in Windows. These settings are accessible through the Advanced tab of the Display item in the Control Panel. Alternately, you can try a different monitor, preferably a newer and larger one.

If the system has been booted to Windows without a monitor attached, the driver may have defaulted to the video output connector being disabled. Press <Ctrl-Alt-F1> to re-enable a VGA video display in Windows. Press <Ctrl-Alt-F4> to re-enable a DVI display. For more information, refer to KnowledgeBase 3OHCFRD8.