National Instruments MXI Series User Manual

Also see for MXI Series: Getting started

Contents

National Instruments MXI Series User Manual Manual pdf 16 page image

Chapter 2 Hardware Installation© National Instruments Corporation 2-5 NI ExpressCard MXI Series User ManualNotes For more information about cables, refer to the NI ExpressCard MXI Cable Optionssection of Chapter 3, Hardware Overview.You cannot use two NI PXI-8360 or NI PXIe-8360 boards for chassis expansion as withMXI-4. You can connect only an NI PCIe-8361/8362 or an NI ExpressCard-8360 hostdevice to an NI PXI-8360 or NI PXIe-8360.Powering Up the NI ExpressCard MXI SystemTo power up the NI ExpressCard MXI system, follow these steps:1. Power on the expansion chassis.2. Power on the host.Typical PCI-PCI bridges are used to add PCI devices to a PCI hierarchy inwhich all the bridges and devices are contained within a single chassis.Because of this, BIOSes and operating systems make the assumption thatall PCI devices in the entire hierarchy will be available as soon as codeexecution begins at power-up. This assumption means that all of theexpansion chassis must be turned on before the host PC for the BIOS andOS to correctly configure an NI ExpressCard MXI system.Note You may add additional chassis using MXI-3 or MXI-4. When using MXI-4, thereare no restrictions on chassis power-on order, except that the host must be powered on last.When using MXI-3, you must power up the chassis in order, beginning furthest from thehost and ending with the host. Refer to the MXI-3 or MXI-4 documentation for furtherdetails.Powering Down the NI ExpressCard MXI SystemBecause operating systems and drivers commonly make the assumptionthat PCI devices will be present in the system from power-up topower-down, it is important not to power off the expansion chassis untilafter the host PC is powered off. Powering off the expansion chassis whilethe host is still on can cause crashes or hangs. The order in which expansionchassis are powered off, relative to each other, is not important.