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If it is necessary to exchange replace a CIFX card, because of a hardware defect, the new card will not work until it is added to the
driver configuration by selecting a firmware and a configuration which should be downloaded to the hardware.

It is the task of the CIFX Windows driver to re-load a CIFX card with their specified firmware and configuration after a hardware reset
or power-up sequence. Therefore the driver has to know which cards are are available, which files must be loaded to the hardware and
the files must be available (stored) in the file system.

Driver Configuration Settings

The driver has to make sure to always load the correct firmware and configuration files to the hardware.
Therefore he has to be able to uniqueliy identify the CIFX cards. This can be don in 2 ways.

  1. CIFX card identification by ist Device Number / Serial Number
    Each CIFX hardware has a device number, specfiying the type of hardware, and a serial number (e.g. 1250400 / 20087).
    This information is also printed on the sticker located on the hardware.
  2. CIFX card identification by Slotnumber switch
    Standard PCI / PCIe CIFX50 cards are offereing a so-called Slotnumber switch. If the switch is set to a number unequal to 0,
    the switch number is used to identify the hardware (o is identical to switch not available and the Device/Serial number is use).

Driver card configuration entries

  1. Using the Device / Serial number identification
    The driver stores the card configuration in the registry under: HKLM\CurrentControlSet\Services\CifxDrv\DeviceConfig\<Device Number>\<Serial Number>
    and the files are expected in the installation directory under:   .\Program Files\CIFX Device Driver\<Device Number>_<Serial number>
  2. Using the Slotnumber switch identification
    The driver stores the card configuration in the registry under: HKLM\CurrentControlSet\Services\CifxDrv\DeviceConfig\<Slot n>
    and the files are expected in the installation directory under:   .\Program Files\CIFX Device Driver\<Slot n>

Setting-up CIFX card with a firmware and configuration file

This can be done in different ways.

  1. CIFX Setup Program
    This program comes with the CIFX driver (installed in the control panel of WIndows) and allows to asigne a the firmware file and configuration files for the hardware
  2. SYCON.net
    Offers a firmware and configuration download to a specific CIFX card

In both cases, the necessary entries for the driver are generated in the registry entries of the driver and the files are automatically stored in the installation directory
of the driver (".\Program Files\cifX Device Driver").

 

 

 

 

This can be done by either using the "cifX Driver Setup.exe" or one of the available MSI files.

Info

MSI files are intended to be integrated into customer specific installation programs.
The prefered methode to install the Windows driver is to always use the "cifX Driver Setup.exe" program.

 

Note: MSI files are intended to be integrated into customer specific installation programs.
          The prefered methode to install the Windows driver is to always use the "cifX Driver Setup.exe" program.

Calling "cifX Driver Setup.exe" for unattended installation:

  • "cifX Driver Setup.exe" / quiet

Calling "cifX Device Driver X64.msi" or "cifX Device Driver X32.msi" for unattended installation

  • msiexec /i <MSI file name>.msi /quiet

 

Info

Windows may show an UAC (User Account Controll) dialog when installing a driver.
This can not be prevented by the installation program, because it is a Windows functionality.

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It is possible to temporarily deactivate the UAC but must be done somewhere else.

Replace a CIFX card with an identical