© National Instruments Corporation 7-1 GPIB-1014 User Manual
Chapter 7Diagnostic and Troubleshooting TestProcedures
This chapter contains test procedures for determining if the GPIB-1014 is installed and operating
correctly. The tests are similar to those used by National Instruments to verify correct hardware
functioning. The method used is to program specific internal functions by writing to one or more
registers, then reading other registers to confirm that the functions were implemented. A user
must have available an appropriate mechanism for writing to and reading from I/O and memory
locations. A program such as an interactive control program, console emulator, monitor, or
program debugger is ideal for this purpose. DMA tests 11 through 14 can be done without using
an external GPIB device.
Note: Most operations in the test are 8-bits read and write. Some registers inside the DMAC
are 8 and 16 bits. To access these, users can use 8- or 16-bit R/W operations to
consecutive memory accesses.

Interpreting Test Procedures

The following test procedures are written in the form of simple equations. The left side of the
equation contains the hexadecimal address offset (from the GPIB-1014 base address) and
mnemonic for the register. The right side of the equation contains a hexadecimal value.
Converting the hex value to binary results in a representation of the bit pattern in the register.
For example, a hex value of FF corresponds to a bit pattern of 11111111, 40 (hex) corresponds to
a bit pattern of 01000000.
Equations not followed by a question mark are instructions to the user to load the value shown
into the designated register. Equations followed by a question mark are instructions to the user
to read the register and verify that the value in the register is the one indicated.
The column to the left of each test step contains the relative register address. Comments written
to the right of each test step briefly describe the action taken, and sometimes suggest the purpose.
The test procedures are designed to check the most elemental levels of functioning first, and then
progress to tests of higher complexity. For this reason, users are advised to perform the tests in
the order given.
If the GPIB-1014 does not perform as described in the test procedures, users are advised to
carefully perform the following steps.
1. Verify that the test instructions have been followed correctly.