Agilent IO Libraries Suite 14.2 Read Me
Table of Contents
What Is Agilent IO Libraries Suite?
Agilent IO Libraries Suite is a collection of libraries that give you the ability to use your instruments from a test and measurement program, and utilities that help you quickly and easily connect your instruments to your PC.
To quickly and easily establish communication between your instruments and your PC, follow these three steps:
1. Install the IO Libraries Suite: Get all the software you need to connect via GPIB, USB, LAN, and other standard interfaces.
2. Connect Your Instrument: Connect cables & apply power.
3. Run Agilent Connection Expert to Configure Your Connection: See your system graphically and send commands to your instruments.
If you received two CD-ROMs with your Agilent product, install the IO Libraries Suite first. Then browse the second CD to find instrument drivers, documentation, and other application software, depending on the product you have purchased.
Note on Version Numbering: Agilent IO Libraries Suite is an enhanced, improved successor to the Agilent IO Libraries product. Agilent IO Libraries versions began with A.01.00 and ended with M.01.01. Agilent IO Libraries Suite versions began with 14.0, which is a higher version than M.01.01 for purposes of determining compatibility with other software and hardware products.
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System Requirements for Agilent IO Libraries Suite 14.2 |
The system requirements for Agilent IO Libraries Suite 14.2 are as follows:
Processor: 450 MHz Pentium II or higher required, 800 MHz recommended
Operating system: One of the following Microsoft® Windows® versions:Windows XP Professional or Home Edition, Service Pack 1 or later
Windows 2000 Professional, Service Pack 4 or later
Browser: Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.01 or greater (Internet Explorer can be obtained at http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/default.mspx.)
Available memory: 128 MB required, 256 MB or greater recommended
Available disk space:225 MB required for installation: 160 MB for Microsoft .NET Framework + 65 MB for Agilent IO Libraries Suite
175 MB required for operation: 110 MB for Microsoft .NET Framework + 65 MB for Agilent IO Libraries SuiteVideo: Super VGA (800x600) 256 colors or more
You may want the Adobe Reader, which will allow you to read Agilent IO Libraries Suite manuals in PDF format. It can be obtained at http://www.adobe.com.
Who is licensed to install IO Libraries Suite 14.2?
See the License Grant at the end of this file to determine whether you are licensed to install this software.
What if I need support for an older operating system?
It is generally best to use the current version of the Agilent IO Libraries Suite. This version will support the newest interfaces and operating systems, and will have the most advanced features. However, you may need to install an earlier version of the IO Libraries Suite to support an older interface or operating system.
Agilent IO Libraries Suite 14.0 supported Windows 98 SE and Windows Me. If you have the Automation-Ready CD with Agilent IO Libraries Suite 14.2, you can install version 14.0, if needed, directly from the CD-ROM. In Windows Explorer, navigate to the folder called Previous Versions on the CD-ROM. Double-click the file IOLibSuite14_0.exe to install version 14.0. If you need a version earlier than 14.0, or if you do not have the Automation-Ready CD, go to http://www.agilent.com/find/iolib to locate the version you need.
To install Agilent IO Libraries Suite 14.2:
First, disconnect any USB instruments, USB/GPIB converters, and FireWire® (IEEE 1394)-VXI interfaces that are connected to your PC.
1. Download the IO Libraries Suite self-extracting zip file (*.exe) to any location on your hard disk.
2. Double-click the .exe file to extract all files and start the installation process.
After the installation is complete, re-connect any devices that you disconnected prior to installing.
For detailed discussion of installation options, refer to the Agilent IO Libraries Suite Getting Started Guide. You can find the Getting Started Guide at http://www.agilent.com/find/iolib.
Agilent IO Libraries Suite 14.2 includes defect fixes and makes two changes to improve the compatibility of Agilent 488 with recent releases of third-party software:
On rare occasions, you may see the following error during installation of the Agilent IO Libraries Suite:
IDriver.exe - Application Error
The instruction at "0x77511029" referenced memory at "0x0000005c". The memory could not be "read".(The instruction and memory locations may vary.) If you see this error, click OK in the error dialog box, and the installation will continue. No further action is necessary; the IO Libraries Suite will be correctly installed.
If your Windows
application and system event log options are set to "Do not overwrite
events" or to "Overwrite events older than X days", and your log files
are filled to the configured maximum log size, a console window may
appear during your IO Libraries Suite installation. The title of the
console window will be of the form "C:\Windows\Installer\MSIxxxx.tmp".
You may also see the IDriver.exe application error dialog box described
in issue #1 above. You must close the console window and click OK in the
error dialog box to continue the installation. No other action is
necessary.
You can change event log properties or clear the event logs by clicking
Start > All Programs > Adminstrative Tools > Event Viewer, or
(with the IO Libraries Suite installed) by clicking the IO Control and
then Event Viewer.
The Agilent IO Libraries Suite requires the IVI Shared Components; if these components are not already installed on your PC, the IO Libraries Suite installation process will attempt to install them. If you have previously installed a Microsoft .NET Framework Version 2.0 Beta version or a Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Beta version, you may see an "Error 2908" message indicating a failure of the IVI Shared Components installation. In this case, you must uninstall the Microsoft beta software and re-start the Agilent IO Libraries Suite installation.
The Agilent IO Libraries Suite utilities require the Microsoft .NET Framework; if the .NET Framework is not already installed on your PC, the IO Libraries Suite installation process will attempt to install it. There is a known .NET Framework issue that can cause you to receive an "Error 1935" error message, and/or a "Fatal Error during Installation" message, during this installation. If you see either or both of these errors, follow these steps to complete your installation:
Temporarily turn off any virus-detection and spyware-detection software on your PC.
Clean your Temp directory, as follows:
In an MS-DOS window, type set and press Enter.
Note (write down) the TEMP directory value displayed.
Use Windows Explorer to navigate to this Temp directory. Delete all files and subdirectories in the Temp directory.
Now try the Agilent IO Libraries Suite installation again.
If the installation
still fails, note the error messages displayed. If you see "Fatal
Error during Installation" or if you see both "Error 1935" and
"Fatal Error during Installation", go to
http://consumer.installshield.com and search on "Error
1603". Follow
the instructions given by InstallShield to resolve the error.
If you see only "Error 1935",
go to
http://www.microsoft.com and search on "Error 1935". Follow
the instructions given by Microsoft to resolve the error.
The Agilent IO Libraries Suite utilities require the Microsoft .NET Framework 1.1 Service Pack 1; if the service pack is not already installed on your PC, the IO Libraries Suite installation process will attempt to install it. There is a known Microsoft issue that can cause you to receive the following error during this installation:
Microsoft .NET Framework 1.1 Service Pack 1 (KB867460) cannot be installed because you have one or more hot fixes installed. Remove them and try again
If you see this error, refer to http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=899619 for further information and to correct the error.
The IO Libraries Suite
installation process normally installs version 1.2.1.0 of the IVI Shared
Components. If you have already installed an earlier version of the IVI
Shared Components, the IO Libraries Suite installation will not
overwrite your version of the IVI Shared Components, because you may
have instrument drivers that depend on a specific version.
However, Agilent VEE Pro and Agilent T&M Toolkit require IVI Shared
Components version 1.2.1.0 or later, and require that the Microsoft .NET
Framework be installed prior to the installation of the IVI Shared
Components. If you are using either of these products with an older
version of the IVI Shared Components, or with a version that was
installed prior to the installation of the .NET Framework, you may see
an "Error 758" message when you attempt certain VEE operations, "Could
not load the configuration file" or "File or assembly name
Ivi.ConfigServer.Interop was not found" when starting T&M Toolkit, or
other errors.
If you are in this situation, you should check the documentation for any
IVI drivers you are using to determine the correct version of IVI Shared
Components for your needs. Determine your installed version by
navigating to the IVI Components Path (by default, C:\Program
Files\IVI), then to the Bin directory. Right-click on IviSharedComponentVersion.dll and select
Properties, then Version.
You can upgrade your IVI Shared Components as follows:
Close Agilent Connection Expert, if it is running.
Close all Agilent VEE Pro, Agilent T&M Toolkit, and Visual Studio .NET windows.
Remove your current installation of IVI Shared Components as follows:
Go to Start > Control Panel > Add or Remove Programs, select IVI Shared Components and then Remove. Choose the Partial removal option to retain configuration information.
Some older versions of IVI Shared Components may not appear in the Add or Remove Programs dialog. In this case, go to http://www.ivifoundation.org, follow the links to Downloads, then to Shared Components. Download the IVI Cleanup Utility and run it.
Install a newer version of IVI Shared Components in either of the following ways:
Repair your IO Libraries Suite installation by clicking Start > Control Panel > Add or Remove Programs, select Agilent IO Libraries Suite and then Repair. This will install the version of IVI Shared Components that is shipped with Agilent IO Libraries Suite 14.2, or:
Go to the IVI Foundation Web site, http://www.ivifoundation.org. Follow the links to Downloads, then to Shared Components. Follow the instructions on this page to download the latest version of the components. This page always contains the latest available version.
If you connect (plug in) devices to your PC while the Connection Expert is starting up (i.e. while the auto-configuration and discovery process is occurring, and the small Connection Expert splash screen is displayed), Connection Expert may show incorrect states of some devices and interfaces in the explorer view. For example, devices may display Communication Failure states when they are actually operating correctly. Close Connection Expert and restart it to resolve this problem.
If you change the properties of the Remote IO Server software while it is running, or if you change the properties of a shared interface on the remote I/O server PC, the changes will not take effect until you stop and restart the Remote IO Server software.
If the SICL interface ID and/or logical unit of a shared GPIB, USB, or serial interface is changed on a remote I/O server (a PC running the Agilent Remote IO Server software), that interface cannot be accessed remotely until the Remote IO Server software is stopped and re-started on the server PC.
If you upgrade from Agilent IO Libraries G.02.02 to IO Libraries Suite 14.2, some LAN devices may be deleted from your I/O configuration even if you have selected the option to save your configuration. If this happens, you will need to use the Connection Expert utility to add these devices manually.
Do not attempt to install Agilent IO Libraries version H.01.02 or G.02.02 (or other versions beginning with "H" or "G") after you have installed Agilent IO Libraries Suite 14.2. The software will not warn you that you are installing an older version of the software over a newer version, and the resulting system configuration is unsupported.
In some cases, you may experience PC performance problems if you put your PC into Windows Standby mode while the IO Control process is running. If this occurs, you will see very slow PC operation and high CPU utilization after exiting Standby mode. To prevent this problem, exit the IO Control (click on the IO Control icon in the taskbar notification area and click Exit) before going into Standby mode. After you leave Standby mode, restart the IO Control by clicking Start > Programs > Agilent IO Libraries Suite > Utilities > IO Control.
The following defect may be seen if you are using USBTMC instruments on a hyperthreaded or dual-CPU PC, and if multiple processes on the PC are receiving VISA events. If, after receiving the events, two processes attempt to disable events simultaneously (or almost simultaneously), memory corruption can occur. This will cause an exception in the affected process. To work around this problem, boot the PC in single-processor (non-hyperthreaded) mode, or synchronize the processes so that they disable events sequentially.
Use the Windows Control Panel (Add or Remove Programs) to remove the Agilent IO Libraries Suite. It is inadvisable to delete files directly.
Removing the IO Libraries Suite does not delete the standard VISA directory, standard VISA COM files, standard IVI (Interchangeable Virtual Instrument Foundation) files, and IVI Shared Components. There is no reliable way for the IO Libraries Suite uninstaller to be sure that no other installed product (whether from Agilent or another vendor) is using these files and directories.
The following software issues existing in Agilent IO Libraries Suite 14.1 have been resolved in Agilent IO Libraries Suite 14.2. This version includes all fixes that were included in IO Libraries Suite 14.1 Patch 1 and Patch 2.
A communication failure message was sometimes displayed when a USBTMC device was connected, if both Agilent and National Instruments I/O software were installed.
In some cases when both Agilent and National Instruments I/O software were installed, a call to viReadSTB on a USBTMC device could fail.
In some cases when both Agilent and National Instruments I/O software were installed, USBTMC device communication was disrupted after a viReadSTB call on a USBTMC device.
In some cases, an attempt to send a standard USB control request could cause a call to viUsbControlIn to fail.
In some cases when both Agilent and National Instruments I/O software were installed, interrupts relating to USBTMC devices are not delivered. This could cause failure of various operations on USBTMC devices.
In some cases when both Agilent and National Instruments I/O software were installed, a Device Clear operation on a USBTMC device could cause a device communication failure.
In some cases, a Device Clear operation on a non-Agilent USBTMC device could time out, leaving the device in an unknown state.
Connection Expert was unable to find certain non-Agilent GPIB instruments on the LAN. These instruments were therefore not displayed in Connection Expert's Search for Instruments on the LAN dialog box.
Fatal exception errors were displayed by Agilent Interactive IO in some cases.
The viFindRsrc function did not support specification of global attributes. That support has been added.
Agilent VEE programs are unable to access Agilent GPIB cards that are assigned a logical unit of 14, 15, 17, or 18. Connection Expert has been modified so that it no longer assigns those logical unit values.
After the operating system resumed from the “Hibernate” state, 82350A/B PCI-GPIB cards were sometimes unable to communicate with attached instruments.
The END status bit was not set correctly on return from the Agilent 488 Receive and RcvRespMsg functions.
Devices which do not support termination characters were shown in "failed" state in Agilent Connection Expert, although no failure existed.
An unhandled exception error ("Cannot control AgilentGpib32RenamerService") was displayed every six seconds for users running IO Libraries Suite without Administrator privileges and with certain Option settings.
Task guide information in Connection Expert was blank for some optionally-installed interfaces.
In some cases involving remote GPIB interfaces, the SICL function igeterrno returned an error although no error had occurred.
Some VXI-11.2 devices returned errors when accessed by Agilent Connection Expert or by VISA or SICL programs.
The SICL function igetlulist returned logical units for interfaces that were in the ignored state (set in Connection Expert). With this fix, igetlulist will not return those interface's LUs.
Performance was suboptimal when a program called the Agilent 488 ibwait function with a mask parameter of zero.
For every individual Agilent instrument, Agilent hardware I/O product (including Agilent GPIB cards and Agilent I/O converters), and development copy of Agilent T&M Toolkit or Agilent VEE Pro that you legally own or have a valid, legal license from Agilent to use, Agilent grants you one non-exclusive license of the Software at no charge pursuant to the terms of the License Agreement. The License Agreement is displayed when you install the software and is available in the IO Libraries Suite Online Help. You may download one copy of the Software, and store or run that copy of the Software for internal use and purposes in accordance with this Agreement and the documentation provided with the Software. Such documentation may include license terms provided by Agilent's third party suppliers, which will apply to the use of the Software and take precedence over these license terms. In the absence of documentation specifying the applicable license, you may store or run one copy of the Software on one machine or instrument. If the Software is otherwise licensed for concurrent or network use, you may not allow more than the maximum number of authorized users to access and use the Software concurrently.
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