Update driver configuration settings after card replacement

If it is necessary to 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 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").

Replace a CIFX card with an identical card

In case of using a CIFX card containing a "Slot number" switch, the new card must only be set to the same "Slot number" than the old card.
After the next system re-start the new card should be initialized and working like the old one.

If the CIFX card does not have a Slot number switch, the serial number of the card changes and a manual intervention is necessary to get the new card into work,
therefore the following steps can be used:

  1. Use one of the configuration modes described under Setting-up CIFX card with a firmware and configuration file to create a configuration for the new card.
  2. User the Windows Registry-Editor and rename the CIFX driver configuration settings with the new serial number and the Windows Explorer to rename
    the file directory where the files are stored
  3. Use the attached command line application cifXUpdateDevicNumber to update the entries

After the change and the re-start of the system the card should be initialized and working.

Download Link: cifX Update Device Number for Windows