MXI-3 with PXI-7344 etc blue screens

Question

Dear support folk,
This is a follow-on from unsolved problem discussed below. I have this problem on multiple computers now with varying severities. One machine is unuseable due to the frequency of blue screens. Is it our C-code perhaps? Please help - this problem is going to be the death of me!
Old question:
"Okay, this is driving me crazy! I've asked this question before and really didn't resolve the problem fully so here we go again. I have an MXI-3 card with PXI-6052E, 6508 and 7344 in cPCI chassis. Trouble is I get random bluescreen errors (especially towards the end of boot process but they can be anytime). This happens on just about every machine I install this hardware configuartion on. Disabling stuff like the c
om ports and killing background processes such as virus scanners seem to help a little but have never solved the problem. The latest installation won't go at all and bluescreens every time. I tried a Win 2000 installation and the boot-up blue screens disappeared but our software would not work properly (this could well be our fault though so I will restrict my question to the boot-up bluescreens). Any help would be very much appreciated!"
Old answer
"Hi,
There was a bug in the MXI-3 software that could cause a Windows page fault exception (0xE) on Windows 98. It is very rare, but there is a patch to fix it. I attached it below. If this does not solve the problem, please email us so that we can help you further. Go to http:\\www.ni.com\ask and select Email an Engineer. You will want to select PXI/VXI for the product.
Thank you,
Katie Shiels

Answer 1

Marcus,
The most common cause of problems with MXI-3 systems is simply not using the correct boot order. I would first verify the proper boot order (chassis first, then computer). Verify that the LINK LED comes on right after the computer boots, and that the LINK LED never, ever, blinks or strobes during operation. If the LINK LED goes out, strobes, blinks, etc, then a hardware problem with the link (PCI-MXI-3 board, PXI-MXI-3 board, or cable) is indicated.
If you continue to have blue-screens at boot, then the next step is to "divide-and-conquor" the system. What we want to do is make sure that none of the cards in the PXI (or CompactPCI) chassis are themselves causing the problem (for example, if a card has a resource conflict). For troubleshooting purposes, remove all cards from the PXI chassis, shutdown, and then power-up again with the proper boot sequence (chassis first, computer second). If the problems disappear, then a problem or resource conflict with one of the PXI / cPCI cards is indicated.
If the blue-screens continue, even with the hardware removed, then the next step would be to uninstall the MXI-3 Optimization software. What we are going after here is if it is during the run (every time at boot) of the MXI-3 optimization software that the blue screen occurs.
If none of these indicate the problem, then the "divide-and-conquor" approach requires us to determine if the problem is with the MXI-3 kit itself, or something specific to that computer. Two things to try. The first is to try the MXI-3 kit on a different machine. The second is to try another MXI-3 kit (if available) with that machine.
Through these steps, you should be able to isolate a single piece of hardware (a PXI card, the MXI-3 kit, the PC, etc) that is common to the problem.
(note, the bug referred to by Katie was specific to running the MXI-3 optimization software, not the MXI-3 hardware in general - so if you are seeing the problem she referred to, you should see the blue-screens disappear when the MXI-3 Optimization software is uninstalled).
As always, National Instruments Technical Support is only a phone-call away (7am - 7pm CST) if you want to work with a NI engineer on this procedure.
Regards,
Greg Caesar
Applications Engineer