Trouble Shooting

Here’s a short guide to solve the problems you might encounter while doing an experiment at ID10B. In general, the floor coordinator (phone 25-25) will help you with technical problems any time. However, you might save some time by looking here.

There are several SPEC applications that can be run at ID10B UNIX WorkStation. Main applications are "id10b", "sixc", ... For simplicity in the following examples we will mention only the "id10b" application.

List of known problems:

1)

? The terminal window running "id10b" (the SPEC applications) is dead (not responding).

! Open another terminal window and write in the unix prompt ps -u id10 From the list of jobs, identify the dead "id10b" process and type kill -9 pid where pid is the process id of the dead job in the list. After this, start a new "id10b" by typing id10b in the unix prompt.

2)

? A lot of error messages are given as "id10b" is started. The detector count is always 0 when ct is typed in id10b and/or the motor position listed by typing wa are bizarre.

! The computer may have lost the connection to the VCT6 card and/or another card in the vme crate This is a serious, but well known error that sometimes can be cured by exiting SPEC (type quit in the "id10b" prompt) and then reboot the VME crate. Call the floor coordinator (25-25) if you are not sure which one is the VME crate. After the reboot, restart id10b (type id10b in the unix prompt). If the problem persists inform the beamline staff asap.

3)

? A motor will not move. An error message is given in id10b.

! Probably the soft limits are reached. In general, these limits must not be changed since they prevent the motors to hit a hard limit (end of spindle, limited stroke etc.). If it is obvious that no such hard limits are present, the soft limits can be changed by typing set_lm motorname 0 360 that will set the soft limits of the motor to 0 (min) and 360(max).

! Maybe you switched off the DPAP rack and forgot to turn it on again.

! Try to type reconfig

4)

? A motor seems to move (the positon listed by typing wm motorname has changed) but physically it doesn’t move.

! Identify the motor in the experimental hutch. Is the cable connected? If not find the right cable and plug it in (REMEMBER TO SWITCH OFF THE DPAP RACK BEFORE CONNECTING OR DISCONNECTING ANY MOTOR CABLE !) If everything looks normal but the motor still doesn’t move inform the beamline staff asap.

5)

? I cannot open the ID10B shutter by typing shopen.

! The search procedure is not completed.

! Otherwise, call the floor coordinator (25-25)

6)

? The ID10B beamshutter is open but there appears to be no beam in the hutch.

! The front end is closed. This is the case if the light panel "FRONTEND" is out. This means that the machine is refilling or that your "automatic mode" setting in "idappli" expired (after 16hrs). Reopen it by clicking the "OPEN FRONTEND" button in "idappli"

7)

? I cannot open the front end.

! See 6). Otherwise call the machine control room (24-90) or the floor coordinator 24-24 and ask them to open it.

8)

? The beam didn’t return after a refill or an intervention on the machine side.

! Check if the undulator gaps are closed in "idappli". If not, look under Undulators in the machine and optics hutch section of this user guide. If the undulators are not moving call the machine control room at 24-90.

9)

? All light panels are on but there’s no beam.

! Check both the oscilloscope signal and try ct. Maybe the oscilloscope was disconnected or the connection to the vct6 is lost. In this case follow the instructions in 2).

! Make sure that the detector is connected in the right way.

(more to follow)

Things I shouldn't do at ID10B

:-( Disconnect or connect any motors without authorization from the staff

:-( Change undulator settings (will affect ID10A)

:-( Install or un-install software on the computers without authorization

:-( Leave the Chemistry lab in a mess