IMACS Software Documentation

Location of this document: http://www.ociw.edu/~birk/IMACS/trouble.html

Trouble Shooting

Common Error Codes
Dos and Don'ts
Starting Over
Linmot Controller Setup

1.0 : Common Error Codes

The information in this chapter is probably obsolete

50 : Communication with motor-controller DOS-PC failed.: Check if PC is powered.; Warning: After power-cyling the electronics rack you have to turn-on the PC using the little black switch.
76 : Connecting to the TCP/IP terminal server failed.: Another program is blocking the TCP/IP port. Most likely enggui is running, as it blocks the serial port to speed up I/O.

2.0 : Dos and Don'ts

Always re-start all GUIs after power-cycling the electronics rack.
Always close all ??test GUIs and enggui before you start mechgui.
Always initialize an encoder/mechanism if you are not sure about its status. May be somebody has moved it manually or the power has been cycled.
Always use the File->Exit menu entry (top-left) to quit a GUI.

Do Not

Never start any two GUIs at the same time. Always wait until the firest GUI has finished its configuration before starting another GUI.
Never use the close-button (x) in the upper right corner to quit a GUI.

3.0 : Starting Over

You might not able to start any GUI when you always get an error like:

"cannot lock "200.28.147.xxx:300x"

The most likely reason is that some other GUI crashed while blocking the TCP/IP port to the motor-controller PC. When that happens the port stays locked until you either remove the lock "by hand" or re-boot the Linux-computer (llama or max).

reboot:
Select the menu on the bottom-left of your screen and choose Log out and then Reboot.

remove lock semaphore:
Close all IMACS programs.
Type ipcs to display all inter-process communication resources.
Look for Semaphore Arrays. If there is more than one owned by imacs you better do a 'reboot'.
If there is only one array, type ipcrm sem `semid` where `semid` must be replaced by the number in the second column.

4.0 : Linmot Controller Setup

To configure a new Linmot controller please follow these steps:

Connect the IMACS-laptop's serial port to the new controller
boot the laptop in Win2000 mode
start the Linmot-Talk software
Select the File->login menu
Press [STOP] button in the control window
Open the PARA(meter edit) window

All changes are immediately stored in the non-volatilve memory of the controller. The .txt files below only show the differences from the factory defaults.
Note: A '!' (exclamation point) means 'not set'.

For more detailed information please refer to the Linmot User Manual.

4.1 : Shutter Linmot Controller Setup

shutter_linmot.txt (the complete setup as PDF or .cfg file)

The drive configurations are identical EXCEPT that drives 'B' and 'D' are moving (clearance checking) during initialization:
'A' and 'C' have check=0
'B' and 'D' have check=300

If the drives fail to initialize due to stickiness you may try a larger value for the 'Maximal-Init-Current' (eg. 75%).

4.2 : GISMO Linmot Controller Setup

gismo_linmot.txt

Drive 'A' (external position sensor ) is currently not used.

2002-12-09, Christoph C. Birk, Carnegie Observatories (last updated: 2008-10-28)