Cannot find target PC in xPC

Hi all,

I'm having trouble setting up my laptop and a desktop to run xPC. The host seems to be having trouble finding the target. I'm using an HP tx1000 laptop as the host computer, and connecting via ethernet to a Dell intel desktop as the target. When I use the boot CD to boot into xPC on the desktop, it says "No supported pci ethernet board." I'm plugging into the built in ethernet on the target: do I need to use a separate PCI ethernet card?

When I try to compile my simulink model, it stops at "looking for target: TargetPC1."

I've assigned static IP addresses and entered those in for both the host and the target. (198.168.1.3 and 198.168.1.50 respectively.) The subnet mask is 255.255.255.0 and the TCP/IP is left blank.

The HP host laptop has a nforce motherboard with built in ethernet. The Target desktop has a Broadcom NetXtreme 57xx gigabit controller as the network adapter.

Does anyone have any ideas for troubleshooting these connections? Think there is an incompatibility issue? How would I get around that using a laptop with built in ethernet? (external card?)

All help much appreciated

Answer 1

[Gordon Weast]

Adam,

Yes, Walter has it correct. The Broadcom card isn't supported on the target. We don't have a driver for it.

The laptop should be just fine, it's the target adapter that is the problem.

We're constantly adding support for more Ethernet adapters, but unfortunately, the Broadcom ones aren't on the list. We get these from the vendor for the real time kernel we're using and we can only offer what they make available to us.

We've got good support for many Intel GigaBit Ethernet boards. Take a look at: http://www.mathworks.com/products/xpctarget/xPC_Target_Supported_Ethernet_Chipsets.pdf for a discussion of what is supported.

Answer 2

[Walter Roberson]

xPC only knows how to handle some kinds of ethernet cards. It appears the Broadcom NetXtreme 57xx is not one of them. You will probably have to look in the documentation to find a supported card and install that, and you will probably have to disable the built-in ethernet card in your BIOS.

[Arnaud Miege]

Walter's probably right. Have a look at the list of supported Ethernet chipsets:

http://www.mathworks.co.uk/products/xpctarget/supported-hardware/xPC_Target_Supported_Ethernet_Chipsets.pdf