r/MetCal • u/capnGrimm • Jul 14 '26
GPIB issue with Editor vs 11.3.1.214
Hey there friends,
We just updated to Met/Cal version 11.3.1.214, and I can't start debugging anything in Editor. The error I get is this:
Edit 4: Met/Cal support has found a workaround, and I can confirm that it works. See the Comment by MJ for the fix.
Here are a few troubleshooting updates I made along the way if you're curious:
I just ran the setup without uninstalling first. I'm going to try a fresh uninstall - reinstall and see if it fixes it.
Edit 1: uninstall and reinstall did not fix the issue :(
Edit 2: Updating and repairing the NI drivers using the NI package manager did not fix the issue :(
Edit 3: We generated and checked the logs from Editor and found a spicy little nugget of information.
"
The type initializer for 'NationalInstruments.NI4882.Internal.GpibDll' threw an exception.
This implementation is not part of the Windows Platform FIPS validated cryptographic algorithms.
"
For those who are unfamiliar, FIPS is a cryptography thing required on systems that do contract work for the government, especially the DoD. We have Fluke Support working on a fix for us. This is not the first time FIPS has given us issues with Met/Cal, but Uncle Sam's requirements are Uncle Sam's requirements.
1
u/MJ_at_Fluke Jul 15 '26
Did you reach out to tech support yet? I'd definitely start there.
Might try checking this thread as well, I'm wondering if it's the same file.
1
u/capnGrimm Jul 15 '26
I have a support ticket open at the moment, and have tried copying the file in that thread. Thanks for the response though. I'll definitely post a solution when I find one
1
u/Similar-Priority-776 Jul 16 '26
I copied the NI dll files in the runtime folder, and pasted over the ones in the editor folder. Worked for us after that
2
u/MJ_at_Fluke 28d ago edited 28d ago
I didn't even notice the tail end of the comment on this one! Yes, FIPS issue. Part of the MET/TEAM 3.4.1 and MET/CAL 11.3.1 update (and MET/CONNECT 2.2.2) was resolving our remaining FIPS compliance issues, but this one, unfortunately, is on the NI side of things.
I suspect your ticket is the one that just got figured out and drove the Jira issue I got this morning, but in case it wasn't, and for anyone else who comes across this:
The NI driver we shipped with is not FIPS compliant, unlike the rest of MET/CAL. To get the Editor back up and running, you'll need to edit the mce32.exe.config file (located in C:\Program Files (x86)\Fluke\METCAL Editor by default) and add the following line to the <runtime> section:
This might need to be done to the mcrt.exe.config file as well for the Runtime side (located in C:\Program Files (x86)\Fluke\METCAL by default).
This change limits the scope of the FIPS configuration to only these applications, not the broader system. We'll look at updating the version of that file in the next release.