[RASMB] endless error messages

[John Philo]

Dmitry, I am doubtful the "dope slap" (my term) will resolve your problems,
but it can't hurt. What this does is to force the main CPU board back to a
normal state when it gets hopelessly confused and won't obey normal commands
(i.e. it thinks the instrument is running when it is not), confusion which
persists even after powering off. To do the "dope slap" you can either (1)
tell the instrument to run (from its panel) when the door is open
(triggering a high-priority error condition that seems to reset the CPU), or
(2) you can temporarily pull the white connector that has about a 3 cm loop
of white wire located on the back panel (next to the serial cable), which
similarly triggers an error condition. 

 

One thing that can get the CPU overloaded is trying to collect both
absorbance and interference scans at high rotor speeds (typically above
45-50K, but it depends on the firmware version). Is that what you were doing
when these error messages started? I haven't seen that particular set of
symptoms arise from CPU overload, but I don't run the newest versions of the
firmware (the code in the EPROMS that Ronald mentioned), so that might make
a difference in symptoms. In my experience though CPU overload is cured by
simply turning the power off and back on.

 

FYI it's generally a good idea to turn the power off and back on between
successive runs to be sure the CPU clears out any backed-up tasks and
messages.

 

John

 

From: RASMB [mailto:rasmb-bounces at list.rasmb.org] On Behalf Of Toth IV,
Ronald T
Sent: Tuesday, July 01, 2014 2:13 PM
To: dmitry.veprintsev at psi.ch; rasmb at list.rasmb.org
Subject: Re: [RASMB] Fwd: endless error messages

 

Hi Dr. Veprintsev, 

 

We had a drive malfunction error on our machine not too long ago. It was
accompanied by looping error messages as you describe, and also would lock
the door out, requiring us to take off the panels and loosen the vacuum
manually to retrieve samples.

 

There are several things you could try, but in our case we needed our tech
to visit to fully resolve the issue. There's a component called the "Eproms"
that could be the culprit, so they wouldn't necessarily need to replace the
whole board. I've heard the error can happen if the oil level is low as
well. I was also directed to search the archives for a post with the phrase
"dope slap," it involves unplugging some wires in the back to clear the
error messages, but I can't seem to locate the post at the moment.    

 

- Ronald Toth

 

Post Doctoral Researcher

Macromolecule and Vaccine Stabilization Center

University of Kansas

  _____  

From: RASMB [rasmb-bounces at list.rasmb.org] on behalf of Dmitry Veprintsev
[dmitry.veprintsev at psi.ch]
Sent: Tuesday, July 01, 2014 3:52 PM
To: rasmb at list.rasmb.org <mailto:rasmb at list.rasmb.org> 
Subject: [RASMB] Fwd: endless error messages

Dear All,  

I was wondering if some of you have already experienced the endless error
messages and hopefully found a cure to the problem. Our instrument functions
for several runs after the repair which involves  computer boards
replacement or reset. After that it comes up with an error message (drive
malfunction is the most common, but several others are also present), and
shuts itself off, possible as a consequence of too many error messages in
the log. 

Is it a buggy firmware version  or something more serious? 

Nearly every board has been replaced, and the power supply has also been
looked into. 

Any suggestions are welcome as the level of desperation is raising
exponentially :)

best regards, Dmitry

 

 

-- 
Dr. Dmitry Veprintsev
Group Leader
Conformational Dynamics of GPCRs
Laboratory of Biomolecular Research, OFLC/103
Paul Scherrer Institut
5232 Villigen PSI
Switzerland
dmitry.veprintsev at psi.ch <mailto:dmitry.veprintsev at psi.ch> 
Tel +41 (0) 56 310 5246; Fax +41 (0)56 310 5288
Secretary Mrs. Stefanie Whale +41 (0)56 310 4252 stefanie.whale at psi.ch
<mailto:stefanie.whale at psi.ch> 
http://www.psi.ch/~veprintsev_d 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://list.rasmb.org/pipermail/rasmb-rasmb.org/attachments/20140701/2678d610/attachment-0001.htm>