Trouble shooting

ALIGNMENT GUI

• ALIGNMENT GUI hangs:
  - does not respond
  - or rotation does not work
  
  Solution: restart alignment
  OR, it might be a problem of the ABR (rotation axis control), see there (or call your local support).

ABR

• ABR (air bearing), goniometer rotation:
  - does not respond (i.e., rotation does not work)
  - even if "home omega" has been done
  
  Solution: open ABR control panel and switch mode from "measuring" to "direct"
  - then do a "home omega"
  (if that does not do the trick, call your local support).

ALARMS

• Problem with the GAS ALARM:
  - in the crystallisation lab, e.g., when filling the dewars, or in the experimental hutch when liquid nitrogen is automatically refilled: red lamp flashing (O₂ level below 19 %) or acoustic signal (O₂ level below 18 %) -
  
  Solution: Open the doors to provide fresh air. Once the oxygen level reaches 20 %, you may stop the alarm sound by resetting the control box. The latter is located outside the controls hutch on the left hand side in the first rack, labelled WSLA 47.0.53. Open the glass door and press the reset button. (Red triangle button.) If the alarm does not stop, the oxygen level might still be dangerously low. Please try again later (or call your local support).


• Info sheet on alarms at the MX beamlines (in german).

BEAM

• No BEAM:
  - no beam in exposure box (empty images) AND beam current = 0 A. -
  
  Solution: Interrupt (pause) your measurements.
  Make sure, that the beam is really down, i.e., check the Beamline Display panel.
  Check for messages from the control room.
  (Either on the webpage --> SLS contact, or from the "Machine Status" messages window on the control pc.)
  If no messages available (very improbable case), call the SLS control room for info.
  Resume your measurements from the angle where you lost the data.


• BEAM ALIGNMENT
  - beam alignment appears to be incorrect (i.e., diffraction only at a certain crystal orientation).
  
  Solution: Call your local contact! He/she will check and correct the alignment if neccessary.

DATA COLLECTION

• Problems with the DATA COLLECTION PROGRAMS:
  - might hang or crash -
  
  Solution: Check the following:
  
  • Are more than one program of the same sort running?
  • Check with 'top' or 'ps -ef'.
  Make sure that you do close the programs correctly where possible,
  in order to prevent the generation of stray, hanging 'zombie' processes!
  You might kill the server process with < CTRL > + 'c'.
  Kill all potential double programs,
  and restart all the programs.
  You might have to press the 'Enable Buttons' option (from the File menue on the UserPanel).
  If the UserPanel is no longer on your screen, it can be restarted from the launcher.

DETECTOR

• EMPTY DETECTOR IMAGES:
  - just detector pattern, no image on the detector -
  
  Solution: Check the following:
  
  • Is the detector cover off?
  • Is there beam available? 350 A?
  • Is an x-tal in the beam?
  • Too strong filters?
  • Direct beam shot in progress at the beginning of a measurement?
  If nothing of the latter applies, try a restart of the MAR detector. Call your local contact, if this does not help.


• CORRUPT DETECTOR IMAGES:
  - detector images show stripes, due to wrong synchronisation-
  
  Solution: Interrupt (pause) your measurements,
  click on the "home omega" button in the gclient GUI in order to update the synchronisation of the
  fast shutter and the rotation axis s/w.
  IF THIS DOES NOT HELP, OR HAPPENS REPEATEDLY: call your local contact.
  (The ABR might have to be rebooted. Do not forget to "home omega" afterwards.)
  Resume your measurements from the angle where you lost the data.


• DETECTOR DOES NOT RESPOND:
  - detector does not respond or is unusually slow-
  
  Solution: Login to the detector with ssh and check whether there are already detector programs running:
  • ssh e-account@marccd3
  • enter 'ps -ef' or 'top' --> check whether other detector programs running
  • if the process is under your own account, you can kill it: 'kill -9 <PROCESS NUMBER>'
  • if the process is somebody else's, you need superuser access to stop it: call your local contact
  
  Possibly, the MAR controller has to be rebooted:
  Booting instructions for the MAR detector and controller can be found here (X06SA: marccd3, X10SA: marccd4).

DISK SPACE

• Problem with DISK SPACE:
  - no space left on Data4 or Data5, detector cannot save your images -
  
  Solution: Remove as much of your old data as possible.
  Call your local contact.

E-ACCOUNTS

• Problem with the E-ACCOUNTS:
  - when temporarily no new accounts can be generated -
  
  Solution: Use some other (spare) e-account, password is the default one.
  Login problem: see LOGIN.

FEEDBACK STOPS

• Problem with the FEEDBACK:
  - feedback stops due to high pressure in the exposure box -
  
  Solution: Ask your local contact, the Kapton window in front of the exposure box might have to be exchanged.

FILTERS

• Problem with the FILTER POSITIONS:
  - filters do not move to the correct position, no beam after setting filters -
  
  Solution: In the GUI, press NONE in the filter panel (possibly several times).

IDL

• The IDL session might have been closed:
  - no IDL window available on the control pc (pc4983) where to change the energy, run feedback etc. -
  
  Solution: First make sure, that really no IDL process is running!
  • open a terminal window
  • cd IDL
  • type StartIDL
  • in IDL, execute the setup script: IDL> @IDL_STARTUP
  • now you can change the energy in IDL, start the feedback, ...
  • basic IDL programs at the beamlines

LAUNCHER

• The Launcher window
  - might have been closed accidentally or has vanished somehow... -
  
  Solution: type launcher &
  or restart the SLS launcher from the menu bar of the desktop.

LOGIN

• Problem when trying to log in with your e-account:
  - login is rejected -
  
  Solution: There is limited amount of space on the home directories (a certain "quota"),
  and your home directory might have reached this limit (e.g., because you have collected data on
  this directory instead of the /Data1-5 directories.)
  You wil see this error message. Follow the instructions given there.

MD2

• Problem with the MD2 aperture:
  - beam does not pass the aperture -
  
  Solution: The default parameters for the cover position might have been corrupted
  (e.g., as 70 mm instead of 2 mm). Change the cover position manually in the menu (to 2 mm).

MOTORS

• Problem with the MOTOR MOVEMENT:
  - very rarely, the motors do not finish the movement or end in a wrong state -
  
  Solution: Open the MEDM window in DEBUG mode ("more")
  press STOP-GO-STOP-GO until, e.g., a wrong "moving" state disappears

SHUTTERS

• Problem with the FRONT END SHUTTER:
  - no beam in the X06SA optics, although beam available -
  
  Solution: reset the FE shutter outside the optics hutch (`crtl-alt-del').
  (The optics hutch is locted BEFORE the experimental station: leave the control room, turn left, and the FE shutter is in front of the door to the optics station. It is handled the same way as the experiment shutter in the control room.)


• Problem with the EXPERIMENTAL HUTCH SHUTTER:
  - experimental hutch shutter does not close or opens unexpectedly-
  
  Solution: reset the experimental hutch shutter at the door of the EXP hutch in the control room(`crtl-alt-del').