Vxi11Exception: 15 IOTimeout with Keysight E5810B connected devices only

[M4tt-]

When my instruments are connected directly to my PC, either by USB or by GPIB-USB converter, I can communicate with them without issue. However, when I connect to them through the Keysight E5810B bridge via GPIB, I get the IO timeout in the subject line.

The IO timeout occurs for roughly 75% of all commands -- at times, the very same commands are successful.

I can see that the E5810B gateway has the LAN and GPIB LEDs flash green during communication, indicating that it is receiving the command. But, alas, the timeout error usually plagues communication.

Is there a particular set of configuration commands that need to be sent for using the gateway?

Steps to debug:

• increase timeout
• Preset E5810B gateway and reconfigure
• secured HW connections
• verified issue does not occur with direct connection to PC. only connection to gateway

Here are specific details of the setup:

• Keysight E5810B fresh out of the box, configured with a static IP on a corporate LAN FW B.01.07 (latest)
• Keysight N7752A Power Meter + VOA connected to the E5810B via GPIB (also used Tektronix TDS744, Agilent 86142 OSA, etc.)
• Windows 10 host OS
• using VXI11 version 0.9

Code:

import vxi11
inst = vxi11.Instrument("138.120.217.76", "gpib0,5") 
inst.ask("*IDN?")       # Fails with vxi11Exception
inst.timeout = 10000
inst.ask("*IDN?")      # Fails with vxi11Exception