NI PCMCIA-FBUS User manual

©2002–2003 National Instruments Corp. All rights reserved.
NI-FBUS™, National Instruments™, NI™, and ni.com™ are trademarks of National Instruments Corporation. Product and
company names mentioned herein are trademarks or trade names of their respective companies. For patents covering
National Instruments products, refer to the appropriate location: Help»Patents in your software, the patents.txt file
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May 2003
323303B-01
Foundation Fieldbus Hardware and
NI-FBUS Software for Windows 2000/XP
Contents
Install the NI-FBUS Software................................................................. 1
Install the PCMCIA-FBUS Board .......................................................... 2
Install the AT-FBUS Board .................................................................... 6
Install the PCI-FBUS Board ................................................................... 9
Install the NI-FBUS Software
Note To install Foundation Fieldbus Hardware and NI-FBUS Software on Windows NT,
refer to the respective getting started manual for your particular hardware on the
Windows NT platform. This installation guide applies only to Windows 2000/XP.
Complete the following steps to install your NI-FBUS software.
Caution If you are reinstalling the NI-FBUS software over an existing version, write down
your card configuration and any port configuration parameters you changed from their
defaults. Reinstalling may cause you to lose any existing card and port configuration
information.
1. Log in as Administrator or as a user that has Administrator
privileges.
2. Insert the NI-FBUS Communications Manager 3.0 or NI-FBUS
Configurator 3.0 (or later version) CD-ROM.
3. Select Start»Run.
4. In the Run dialog box, type the following:
x :\setup
where x is the letter of the drive containing the CD-ROM for
the NI-FBUS Communications Manager 3.0 or the NI-FBUS
Configurator 3.0 (or later) version.
™
ni.com

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5. The interactive setup program takes you through the necessary steps to
install the software. A dialog will prompt you to select the board type.
Select AT if you want to install the AT-FBUS board, otherwise select
Others for any other board types.
The installation program copies nifb.dll and drvintf.dll into your
\System32 directory, and it copies the nifb.sys driver into the
\drivers directory. The installation program also adds information to the
Windows 2000/XP Registry.
Install the PCMCIA-FBUS Board
Caution Before you remove the card from the package, touch the antistatic plastic package
to a metal part of your system chassis to discharge electrostatic energy, which can damage
several components on your PCMCIA-FBUS card.
Complete the following steps to install the PCMCIA-FBUS card.
1. Shut down your operating system and power off your system.
2. Insert the card into a free PC Card (PCMCIA) socket. The card has
no jumpers or switches to set. Figure 1 shows how to insert the
PCMCIA-FBUS and how to connect the PCMCIA-FBUS cable
and connector to the PCMCIA-FBUS card. However, the
PCMCIA-FBUS/2 card has two connectors. Refer to Appendix B,
Pinout Information, of the Getting Started with Your PCMCIA-FBUS
and the NI-FBUS Software manual for more information about these
two connectors.

©National Instruments Corporation 3 NI-FBUS Installation Guide for Windows 2000/XP
Figure 1. Inserting the PCMCIA-FBUS
3. Connect the PCMCIA-FBUS to the Fieldbus network.
Your kit contains one PCMCIA-FBUS cable. Refer to Appendix B,
Pinout Information, of the Getting Started with Your PCMCIA-FBUS
and the NI-FBUS Software manual if you need to make a longer cable
than the PCMCIA-FBUS cable provided.
Note Although very similar, the installation processes for Windows 2000 and
Windows XP differ slightly. Where those differences occur in the following, you see
the step for your operating system labeled as either Windows 2000 or Windows XP.
4. Power on your computer.
5. In Windows 2000,the Found New Hardware wizard appears.
Click Next to continue.
In Windows XP,a slightly different screen appears. Click the selection
Install from a list or specific location (Advanced) then click Next to
continue.
1 Portable Computer 2 PCMCIA Socket 3 PCMCIA-FBUS Cable
1
2
3

NI-FBUS Installation Guide for Windows 2000/XP 4 ni.com
6. Windows 2000 users select Display a list of the known drivers for this
device so that I can choose a specific driver and click Next.
Windows XP users select Don’t Search. I will choose the driver to
install and click Next.
Figure 2. Hardware Type
7. Windows 2000 users select National Instruments FieldBus Interfaces
as shown in Figure 2 and click Next. If you do not find this hardware
type, refer to step 10.
Windows XP users see a slightly different screen than what is shown in
Figure 2, but make the same selection.
8. Choose the appropriate type. PCMCIA-Fbus is for the one-port card
and PCMCIA-Fbus/2 is for the two-port card. Click Next.
9. To determine if your card is working, in the Windows System Tray
click the PCMCIA adaptor icon, shown inside a box in Figure 3.
Figure 3. System Tray with PCMCIA Icon
10. Launch the Interface Configuration Utility, locate the PCMCIA-FBUS
board and right-click to Enable.
11. Close Interface Configuration Utility and start NI-FBUS
Communications Manager or NI-FBUS Configurator.

©National Instruments Corporation 5 NI-FBUS Installation Guide for Windows 2000/XP
Caution To prevent possible damage, always stop a PCMCIA card before you unplug it.
12. Windows 2000—If you could not find the hardware type National
Instruments FieldBus Interfaces in step 7, select Other devices
as shown in Figure 4 and click Next.
Windows XP—If you could not find the hardware type National
Instruments FieldBus Interfaces in step 7, select Show All Devices
in the Hardware Type screen and click Next.
Figure 4. Finding Other Devices
13. Click Have Disk. Click Browse. Locate the installation file nifb.inf
in C:\WINNT\inf as shown in Figure 5.
Note Depending upon how you have configured your computer, Figure 5 may or may not
show the path for locating the Nifb.inf file in your system. This path is given as one
possibility.

NI-FBUS Installation Guide for Windows 2000/XP 6 ni.com
Figure 5. Installing from Disk
14. A message from Windows, Update Driver Warning, appears.
Click Yes to continue.
15. Start Device Driver Installation appears. Click Next.
16. Once the driver is installed, click Finish.
17. Launch the Interface Configuration Utility, locate the PCMCIA-FBUS
board and right-click to Enable.
18. Close the Interface Configuration Utility and start the NI-FBUS
Communications Manager or NI-FBUS Configurator.
Install the AT-FBUS Board
Note Before you install your board, double-check to make sure the settings on your board
match the resources you have chosen.
1. Shut down your operating system and power off your computer. Keep
the computer plugged in so that it remains grounded while you install
the AT-FBUS board.
2. Remove the top cover or access port of the I/O channel.
3. Remove the expansion slot cover on the back panel of the computer.

©National Instruments Corporation 7 NI-FBUS Installation Guide for Windows 2000/XP
4. As shown in Figure 6, insert the AT-FBUS board into any unused
16-bit ISA slot with the Fieldbus connector sticking out of the opening
on the back panel. Make sure all pins are equally far into the connector.
Although it might be a tight fit, do not force the board into place.
Figure 6. Installing the AT-FBUS Board
5. Screw the mounting bracket of the AT-FBUS board to the back panel
rail of the computer.
6. Keep the top cover or access port off until you have verified that your
resources are non-conflicting. This is described in the Set the NI-FBUS
Software to Use Your NI-FBUS Board section of Chapter 2,
Installation and Configuration, of the Getting Started with Your
AT-FBUS and the NI-FBUS Software manual.
7. Power on your computer.
8. From the Start menu, invoke the Device Manager. Select Settings»
Control Panel»System»Hardware»Device Manager. Select the
menu item Show hidden devices as shown in Figure 7.

NI-FBUS Installation Guide for Windows 2000/XP 8 ni.com
Figure 7. Selecting Hidden Devices
You now see the non-Plug & Play device information. Locate the
kernel-mode device driver nifb, as shown in Figure 8.
Figure 8. Non-Plug & Play Devices
Double-click or right-click on Nifb and select Properties. Select Driver
from the properties page. Clicking the Start button starts the driver.
You can now set up the driver to start automatically at system start-up by
setting the Startup Type to Automatic as shown in Figure 9.

©National Instruments Corporation 9 NI-FBUS Installation Guide for Windows 2000/XP
Figure 9. Setting Nifb to Automatic
To view or troubleshoot the hardware resources being used by the
AT-FBUS boards, select Nifb»Properties»Resources.
Note You also can start the kernel-mode driver by entering net start nifb at the
command prompt. This method is especially helpful if you are unable to find nifb on the
Show hidden devices list.
If you receive the message System error 31 has occurred, the cause is most likely
an interrupt or memory address conflict. Set the device to poll mode or change the memory
address value.
Install the PCI-FBUS Board
Note Before you install your board, double-check to make sure the settings on your board
match the resources you have chosen.
1. Shut down your operating system and power off your computer. Keep
the computer plugged in so that it remains grounded while you install
the PCI-FBUS board.
2. Remove the top cover or access port of the I/O channel.
3. Remove the expansion slot cover on the back panel of the computer.
4. As shown in Figure 10, insert the PCI-FBUS board into any unused
PCI slot with the Fieldbus connector sticking out of the opening on the
back panel. Make sure all pins are equally far into the connector.
Although it might be a tight fit, do not force the board into place.

NI-FBUS Installation Guide for Windows 2000/XP 10 ni.com
Figure 10. Installing the PCI-FBUS Board
5. Screw the mounting bracket of the PCI-FBUS board to the back panel
rail of the computer.
6. Keep the top cover or access port off until you have verified that your
resources are non-conflicting. This is described in the Set the NI-FBUS
Software to Use Your PCI-FBUS Board section of Chapter 2,
Installation and Configuration, of the Getting Started with Your
PCI-FBUS and the NI-FBUS Software manual.
7. Power on your computer.
8. Launch the Interface Configuration Utility. Find the PCI-FBUS board
and right-click to Enable.
9. Close the Interface Configuration Utility and start the NI-FBUS
Communications Manager or NI-FBUS Configurator.
Personal
Computer
PCI/ISA Slot
PCI-FBUS