Chapter 2 Measurement & Automation Explorer
NI-488.2 User Manual for Windows 2-6 www.natinst.com

Instruments Not Found

If the Instruments not Found message appears in the right window
pane, Measurement & Automation Explorer did not find any instruments.
To solve this problem, make sure that your GPIB instruments are powered
on and properly connected to the GPIB interface with a GPIB cable. Then,
scan for instruments again, as described in the previous section, Scan for
GPIB Instruments.

Instruments Enumeration Failed

If the Instruments Enumeration Failed message appears in the right
window pane, Measurement & Automation Explorer found too many
Listeners on the GPIB. To solve this problem, refer to the following
possible solutions:
•If you have a running GPIB Analyzer with the GPIB handshake option
enabled, disable the GPIB handshake option in the GPIB Analyzer.
•If you have a GPIB extender in your system, Measurement &
Automation Explorer cannot detect any instruments connected to
your GPIB interface. Instead, you can verify communication with
your instruments using the Interactive Control utility. To do so,
selectTools»NI-4 88.2 Utilities»Interactive Control. For more
information about verifying instrument communication, type help
"Interactive Control:getting started" at the Interactive
Control command prompt.
Communicate with Your Instrument
To establish basic or advanced communication with your instruments, refer
to the following sections.
For more information about instrument communication and a list of the
commands that your instrument understands, refer to the documentation
that came with your GPIB instrument. Most instruments respond to the
*IDN? command by returning an identification string.

Basic Communication (Query/Write/Read)

To establish basic communication with your instrument, use the NI-488.2
Communicator, as follows:
1. If you have not already done so, scan for connected instruments as
described in the previous section, Scan for GPIB Instruments.
2. Select Start»Programs»National Instruments NI-488 .2»Explore
GPIB to start Measurement & Automation Explorer.