Espelkamper

Hi Grey, Assume that on the 230V supply side it is protective earth rather than ground. Got in mind that inside the computer the "AI GROUND" is connected to protective earth. You have to make sure that your DC power supply is completely isolated from mains, including protective earth. When there are no other connections (i. e. surprises) you can go ahead. Regards, Espelkamper

... and warranty periode, i. e. some years vs. a couple of months only ... and kind of service, i. e. on-site vs. bring-in

Hi, Could be this involves some more like - type and number of interfaces, i. e. RS232 - type and number of slots, i. e. ISA - better power supply, i. e. more output power to drive additional cards - thermal management optimized for rack fitting - stability and reliability Hope this helps. Espelkamper

Hi Grey, Strange thing. Maybe you could have tried using a different PCI slot First, but I See you tried in a different PC. Is there still any warranty from NI? Can you make sure that you keep the limits from the specs for the I/O side? Is the Power supply strong enough to power the additional card? Could there be any ground loop between DGND and earth potential through your actors and Sensors? Espelkamper

Hi folks, if the log files are stored locally then you could try to lock the operator. So this is how to (assuming Windows XP as operating system). 1. The computer of a test system is configured in a way like that after booting the test software is launched automatically. The window appearance of the test program is set to "modal", which means it will always stay in the front and thus blocking or hiding other windows in the background (except for other windows with setting “modal”, which were initiated by test program as well). Additionally following these steps will eliminate the appearance of other windows so there will be no other windows, only the test program itself. 2. The desktop remains blank. There are no shortcuts to My computer, Network environment, My documents, Trash, Windows-Explorer. A shortcut to manually start the test program might be an option. But when using special option from within Registry no symbols at all will be displayed on the desktop. 3. The taskbar and the start menu will still be available (they could also be cancelled) but limited to: Start test software Shut down computer Log-off current user 4. The start menu is only accessible when the test software is not running. This is due to the “modal“ behaviour of the test software. 5. To prevent the user from changing all these settings, the control buttons to adjust window settings will be disabled, there will be no option “settings” available when right-clicking on “My computer”, Desktop and task bar. 6. When quitting the test software the window will be closed. The computer will not be shut down at this moment. Shut down has to be initiated manually. It is possible to restart the test software (via start menu, desktop) or to log-off the current user. There is a disadvantage when shutting down the computer on exit of the test software. One could open the taskmanager and stop the test software. But here the computer will not be shut down. If we would rely only on this option and the computer configured as per standard Windows configuration then all these options would become accessible: My computer, Windows-Explorer, start menu (all programs available), run, control panel, … 7. Deactivate autorun for external medias (CD, USB stick). Like this no other program can be started except for the test software. There will be no run option, no command prompt, no regedit. It will also not be possible to create shortcuts to other programs. Good luck! Espelkamper