There appears to be a bug with NI MAX where a network instrument which was previously configured suddently dissappears and when we attempt to re-establish the instrument, MAX claims that it cannot find the instrument.
This was seen on 4 different stations, all sharing the similar behavior. This was also seen at a completely different customer where the configuration was setup by a fourth person. At client # 1 there are 4 stations. They were setup by 3 different people using the same instructions. Everything was fine on all 4 stations. All of a sudden, the information dissappears from the network instrument list and it is not possible to re-configure the network instrument within MAX. A similar behavior was reported by another client which is totally different than the first client. NI MAX was configured by a different person than at client 1, possibly using different steps (although it is quite simple to setup a network device within NI MAX).
NI MAX at client #1 are versions 5.40f0 and 14.0.0a2.
NI MAX at client # 2 is version at least 14.0.0a2.
If we copy an exported settings file from another station, the network devices are restored and it is possible to use the network instrument. However, if you attempt to setup the instrument manually, because MAX cannot find it automatically, it is not possible to validate the instrument and complete the setup. Even if you cheat and complete the setup, the PC will not communicate with the instrument via VISA. However, it is possible to communicate with the instrument outside NI MAX. The instrument is seen by the PC and does respond to ping requests.
See image below.
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When trying to validate the instrument, NI MAX responds with the fact that it could not open a VISA session via TCPIP.
My first question is: why does the instrument dissappear in the first place?
Rebooting the PC did not help. Basic troubleshooting did not resolve the issue. This is not the first time I work with NI MAX and with network instruments; however, this is the first time I see them dissappear fromNI MAX.
I did not find anything while searching for posts for similar issues, so I do not know if anyone else has seen this. I did encounter a similar description for a bug that was supposidly fixed in MAX 5.4
Does anyone at NI have a clue at how to make NI MAX more solid with respect to network instruments?
Thanks,
RayR