Agilent | How Do I Troubleshoot VXI Mainframe Problems?

How Do I Troubleshoot VXI Mainframe Problems?

Section-by-Section Description
Information on the Optional Second VXI Mainframe (at address 128)
Information on the Optional third VXI Mainframe (at address 128)
Complete Device Information
VME Device Table
Common Problems

Question:
How do I Troubleshoot VXI Mainframe Problems?

Answer:
Often when VXI instrument fail to respond, the real problem is not always obvious. When troubleshooting VXI related problems, your best tool is a service program called "ivxisc". This program prints a wealth of VXI configuration data, and can quickly show the causes of VXI problems.

File Location: /opt/sicl/bin
Command: ivxisc

If you do not enter any options, the command prints out a very comprehensive listing of configuration information. A partial sample is shown below. Only the really useful first pages are shown here. A section-by-section description follows this listing.

VXI Current Configuration:

MXI Bus: 0

Device Logical Addresses: 0 1 128 192

VXI Bus: 1

Device Logical Addresses:

1 65 80 85 95 100

Slots:  0  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 10 11 12
       -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Empty      O  O  O           O  O  O        O
Single  X           X  X  X           X  X 
 Device

Multiple Devices
VME
Failed

VXI Bus: 128

Device Logical Addresses:

128 130 150 160 161 171 172 189 190 191

Slots:  0  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 10 11 12
       -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Empty         O                       O     O
Single  X  X     X  X  X  X  X  X  X     X 
 Device

Multiple Devices
VME
Failed

VXI Bus: 192

Device Logical Addresses:

192 194 195 200 201 202 203 209 211 215 220

Slots:  0  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 10 11 12
       -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Empty                           O  O     O
Single  X  X  X  X  X  X  X  X        X     X
 Device

Multiple Devices
VME
Failed

VXI Device Table
Name	LADD	Slot	Bus	Manufacturer	Model	Description
hpmxictlr	0	*	0	Hewlett-Packard	E1489	MXI Controller Interface
hpvximxi	1	*	0	Hewlett-Packard	E1482	VXI-MXI Extender
pwrmeter	65	10	1	Hewlett-Packard	E1416	Power Meter
LA_80	80	4	1	Hewlett-Packard	E1430A	4 MHz Bandwidth A/D
LA_85	85	5	1	Hewlett-Packard	E1430A	4 MHz Bandwidth A/D
vhfmux	95	11	1	Hewlett-Packard	E1472	50 ohm VHF mux hex 4:1
LA_100	100	6	1	Hewlett-Packard	E1485A	Godzilla DSP Module
hpvximxi2	128	*	0	Hewlett-Packard	E1482	VXI-MXI Extender
LA_130	130	1	128	Hewlett-Packard	E1458A	96 Ch. Non-isolated Digital I/O
LA_150	150	3	128	Hewlett-Packard	E1463	32 Ch. Form C Relay Switch
LA_160	160	7	128	Hewlett-Packard	E1413A/B/C	64 Ch. 100 kHz Scanning A/D
LA_161	161	5	128	Hewlett-Packard	E1413 A/B/C	64 Ch. 100 kHz Scanning A/D
LA_171	171	6	128	Hewlett-Packard	E1418A	8/16 Channel DAC
LA_172	172	4	128	Hewlett-Packard	E1418A	8/16 Channel DAC
vhfmux2	189	8	128	Hewlett-Packard	E1472	50 ohm VHF mux hex 4:1
vhfmux3	190	9	128	Hewlett-Packard	E1472	50 ohm VHF mux hex 4:1
vhfmux4	191	11	128	Hewlett-Packard	E1472	50 ohm VHF mux hex 4:1
hpvximxi3	192	*	0	Hewlett-Packard	E1482	VXI-MXI Extender
LA_194	194	1	192	Hewlett-Packard	E1430A	4 MHz Bandwidth A/D
LA_195	195	2	192	Hewlett-Packard	E1429A	20 MHz, 12 bit Digitizer
LA_200	200	3	192	Hewlett-Packard	E1445	42 Ms/s 13 bit ARB
LA_201	210	4	192	Hewlett-Packard	E1445	42 Ms/s 13 bit ARB
LA_202	202	5	192	Hewlett-Packard	E1445	42 Ms/s 13 bit ARB
LA_203	203	6	192	Hewlett-Packard	E1445	42 Ms/s 13 bit ARB
LA_209	209	7	192	Hewlett-Packard	E1451	Digital I/O
LA_211	211	10	192	Hewlett-Packard	E1452	Digital I/O Terminated
LA_215	215	?	192	C&H Engineering	0xfffd	Scope
	220	12	192	Hewlett-Packard	E1428A	1 GS/s, 2 Ch scope
* - MXI device ? - slot number unknown

VME Device Table:

Name          Bus   Slot   Space   Size
----          ---   ----   -----   ----
No VME cards configured.

Failed Devices:

Name          Bus   Slot   Manufacturer   Model
----          ---   ----   ------------   -----
No FAILED devices detected.


Section-by-Section Description

Address of Computer MXI Controller

The following line shows the address of the computer MXI card that communicates with all the mainframes:

MXI Bus: 0

Address of Computer MXI Controller, and All VXI Controller Cards

The next line shows not only the MXI controller address, but this is followed by the addresses of each VXI controller board. There is one controller board in each mainframe:

Device Logical Addresses: 0 1 128 192

You can see that:

Again, the MXI controller is at address 0
The first VXI mainframe controller is at address 1
The second VXI mainframe controller is at address 128
The first VXI mainframe controller is at address 192

Information on the First VXI Mainframe (at address 1)

The following information describes important information about the modules in the first mainframe. Usually this is at address 1.

VXI Bus: 1

Device Logical Addresses:

1 65 80 85 95 100

Slots:  0  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 10 11 12
       -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Empty   O  O  O              O  O  O        O
Single           X  X  X  X           X  X
 Device

Multiple Devices
VME
Failed

Line-by-Line Description

VXI Bus: 1

This shows that the VXI controller card is at address 1

Device Logical Addresses: 1 65 80 85 95 100

Lists the addresses of the mainframe controller (1) and each VXI module in the mainframe. The addresses do not reflect the relative positions of the modules! This is confusing, but remember that these addresses are listed in numerical order, and does not indicate physical position of modules at these addresses.

The Device Logical addresses for the address 1 mainframe must be between 1 and 127! If you see any other number range here, you probably have the VXI controller card set to the wrong address. If two cards have the wrong number range, it's likely they have been swapped accidentally.

Slots:    0  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 10 11 12
         -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Empty        O  O  O           O  O  O        O
Single    X           X  X  X           X  X
 Device

These lines show which mainframe slots have modules in them:

The top row shows the slot positions (0 through 12).
The "empty" row of zeroes shows empty slots.
The "Single Device" row shows slots that have cars in them.

Multiple Devices
This row is empty in this printout. Any compound or "multiple" devices would have an X here.

VME
This row would show the position of any VME device.

Failed
This row would denote a failed module

Information on the Optional Second VXI Mainframe (at address 128)

Now you can interpret the basic information for the second mainframe. You say you want to know what kinds of modules are in each slot? Don’t worry, this is clearly shown later in the ivxisc file! Remember, the device addresses listed in the device logical address row are in pure numerical order. They are not listed according to module slot position. The Device Logical addresses for the address 128 mainframe must be between 128 and 191! If you see any other number range here, you probably have the VXI controller card set to the wrong address. If two cards have the wrong number range, it’s likely they have been swapped accidentally.

VXI Bus: 128

Device Logical Addresses:

128 130 150 160 161 171 172 189 190 191

Slots:    0  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 10 11 12
         -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Empty           O                       O     O
Single    X  X     X  X  X  X  X  X  X     X 
 Device

Multiple Devices
VME
Failed

Information on the Optional Third VXI Mainframe (at address 192)

The Device Logical addresses for the address 192 mainframe must be between 192 and 215! If you see any other number range here, you probably have the VXI controller card set to the wrong address. If two cards have the wrong number range, it's likely they have been swapped accidentally.

VXI Bus: 192

Device Logical Addresses:

192 194 195 200 201 202 203 209 211 215 220

Slots:    0  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 10 11 12
         -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Empty                             O  O     O
Single    X  X  X  X  X  X  X  X        X     X
 Device

Multiple Devices
VME
Failed

Complete Device Information

The next section of the file shows more very helpful information.

Column Name	Information
Name	A rather terse so-called "name" for the device. For a better description, look in the far right-hand column.
LADD	The Logical Address of the VXI card
Slot	The slot location of that card
Bus	The bus address. For example, this is the same as the VXI controller card address. For example, the first VXI mainframe is at address 1. All cards in that mainframe have a bus address of 1 as well.
Manufacturer	If Agilent made the card, "Hewlett-Packard" will be displayed here. If someone else made the card, you probobly will see some gibberish number here. For example, the C&H pulse generator shows 0xfffd here.
Model	The model number of the device
	The last column is a human-readable description of the device's function.

Notice that the first device is the "VXI-MXI extender" (the VXI controller card). In this case the card is at logical address 1 (see the LADD column). The next lines show all of the cards on bus 1, which are all in that mainframe.

VXI Device Table
Name	LADD	Slot	Bus	Manufacturer	Model	Description
MXI Controller Interface
hpmxictlr	0	*	0	Hewlett-Packard	E1489	MXI Controller Interface
Devices in the First VXI Mainframe
hpvximxi	1	*	0	Hewlett-Packard	E1482	VXI-MXI Extender
pwrmeter	65	10	1	Hewlett-Packard	E1416	Power Meter
LA_80	80	4	1	Hewlett-Packard	E1430A	4 MHz Bandwidth A/D
LA_85	85	5	1	Hewlett-Packard	E1430A	4 MHz Bandwidth A/D
vhfmux	95	11	1	Hewlett-Packard	E1472	50 ohm VHF mux hex 4:1
LA_100	100	6	1	Hewlett-Packard	E1485A	Godzilla DSP Module
Devices in Mainframe 2 (Address 128)
hpvximxi2	128	*	0	Hewlett-Packard	E1482	VXI-MXI Extender
LA_130	130	1	128	Hewlett-Packard	E1458A	96 Ch. Non-isolated Digital I/O
LA_150	150	3	128	Hewlett-Packard	E1463	32 Ch. Form C Relay Switch
LA_160	160	7	128	Hewlett-Packard	E1413A/B/C	64 Ch. 100 kHz Scanning A/D
LA_161	161	5	128	Hewlett-Packard	E1413A/B/C	64 Ch. 100 kHz Scanning A/D
LA_171	171	6	128	Hewlett-Packard	E1418A	8/16 Channel DAC
LA_172	172	4	128	Hewlett-Packard	E1418A	8/16 Channel DAC
vhfmux2	189	8	128	Hewlett-Packard	E1472	50 ohm VHF mux hex 4:1
vhfmux3	190	9	128	Hewlett-Packard	E1472	50 ohm VHF mux hex 4:1
vhfmux4	191	11	128	Hewlett-Packard	E1472	50 ohm VHF mux hex 4:1
Devices in Mainframe 3 (address 192)
hpvximxi3	192	*	0	Hewlett-Packard	E1482	VXI-MXI Extender
LA_194	194	1	192	Hewlett-Packard	E1430A	4 MHz Bandwidth A/D
LA_195	195	2	192	Hewlett-Packard	E1429A	20 MHz, 12 bit Digitizer
LA_200	200	3	192	Hewlett-Packard	E1445	42 Ms/s 13 bit ARB
LA_201	210	4	192	Hewlett-Packard	E1445	42 Ms/s 13 bit ARB
LA_202	202	5	192	Hewlett-Packard	E1445	42 Ms/s 13 bit ARB
LA_203	203	6	192	Hewlett-Packard	E1445	42 Ms/s 13 bit ARB
LA_209	209	7	192	Hewlett-Packard	E1451	Digital I/O
LA_211	211	10	192	Hewlett-Packard	E1452	Digital I/O Terminated
LA_215	215	?	192	C&H Engineering	0xfffd	Scope
	220	12	192	Hewlett-Packard	E1428A	1 GS/s, 2 Ch scope
* - MXI device ? - slot number unknown

The VME Device Table

Any VME devices would be shown in the next section:

VME Device Table:

   Name     Bus    Slot    Space    Size
   ----     ---    ----    -----    ----
   No VME cards configured.

Failed Devices

The next section would list any cards that have failed.

Failed Devices:

   Name     Bus    Slot    Manufacturer    Model
   ----     ---    ----    ------------    ----- 
   No FAILED devices detected.