Chapter3 PXISerial Hardware Installation, Verification, and Configuration
©NationalInstruments Corporation 3-11 SerialHardware and Software for Windows
6. Screwthe PXI serial board front panel to the front panel mounting rail
ofthe PXI or CompactPCI chassis.
7. Turnon your PXI or CompactPCI chassis and start Windows Me/9x.
8. WindowsMe/9xshould automatically detect your hardware and
displayon e or more New HardwareFound dialog boxes. Make sure
thatWindows Default Driver is selected and click on the OK button.
Ifno N ew HardwareFound dialog box appears, refer to the Forcing
Windows to Detect Your Hardware sectioninAppendixD,
Troubleshooting and Common Questions.
The serial hardware installation is complete. Continue to the next section,
Verify the Installation.
Verify the Installation
Before you verify the installation, keep in mind that the serial ports
built into your computer are typically named from COM1 to COM4.
Windows Me/9xtypically issues port names to the ports on NI serial
hardwarestarting with COM5 ,COM6 , and soo n.If n ot enough resources
are available to assign to all the NI serial ports, the port with the higher
COMxname is not configured.
Toverify the hardware and software installation, complete the following
steps:
1. Select Start»Settings»Control Panel and double-click on the
System icon.
2. ClickontheDevice ManagertabandclickontheView devices by
type button.
3. Double-click on the Ports (COM & LPT) icon to display all of
the ports.
4. Double-click on the Multi-function adapters icon.
The PXI serial boards are configured as devicesbelonging to the
multi-function adapters class. The multi-function parent device is
listedun der the Multi-function adapters icon, and each child device
is listed as ap ortu nder the Ports (COM & LPT)icon.