System maintenance/fix-it tips and tricks

[DavidAdams]

I think it is related to the JEOL software version installed. The newer of the 8530s at UWA in Perth also has that window locked in position (but as far as I know it is fully visible), and I think at Melbourne Uni the window became locked when their JEOL software was updated. On our system (installed March 2017) we still have the movable window.

Weird.  I'm running version 17 which is the exact same version that I was running in Denver and the behaviour between the two installations is different. I did notice this morning that in the JEOL service engineer only software that there is a "reset window position" button that moves things around on the screens but I don't have the password for that program

[Anette von der Handt]

Hi, I have that problem too and in my opinion, it is just related to the display resolution (and poor programming).

If I run the display resolution at 1920x1080 I have the problem that PC-EPMA is unmoveable (Monitor is 4K, but the lower resolution displays the PC-SEM/EPMA windows nice and large). If I choose a higher display resolution, I can move PC-EPMA just fine as both windows are displayed smaller.

I think the default position of PC-EPMA is just a little too high so that it cuts off the window title bar. Not sure if that is something that can be defined in Windows/JEOL.

Try if a different display resolution helps in this respect.

[Karsten Goemann]

We have 1920x1080 on our monitor and the window is not fixed. I actually swap the PC-SEM and -EPMA window positions around as that works better for me with our overall screen layout, so having PC-EPMA locked would be quite annoying.

Our PC-EPMA version says 1.13.0.0, PC-SEM 3.0.1.20, not sure how that translates to 17 (overall version number?). The PC-EPMA window seems around 1280x1050 in size under Win7, so even if I can move it it only just fits when using the small setting for the taskbar at the bottom, not with the normal full size taskbar. We're still on Win7 but as far as I remember my colleague from UMelb was saying that their's became unmovable after a JEOL software upgrade, not upgrade to Win10.

If you have a Windows taskbar at the bottom of that screen, does the fixed position of the PC-EPMA window change if you move the taskbar say to the left screen edge or turn it off for that screen?

[DavidAdams]

Our PC-EPMA version says 1.13.0.0, PC-SEM 3.0.1.20, not sure how that translates to 17 (overall version number?). The PC-EPMA window seems around 1280x1050 in size under Win7, so even if I can move it it only just fits when using the small setting for the taskbar at the bottom, not with the normal full size taskbar. We're still on Win7 but as far as I remember my colleague from UMelb was saying that their's became unmovable after a JEOL software upgrade, not upgrade to Win10.

The second number in your PC-EPMA version is the "Version" in JEOL speak. So in your case you're running "Version" 13.  I'm not sure why Heather's version 17 allows for the window to be moved and my version 17 is immovable.

Moving the task bar around it is a good test. I'll try that as soon as Sergiy is done in the lab this week.

Hi, I have that problem too and in my opinion, it is just related to the display resolution (and poor programming).

If I run the display resolution at 1920x1080 I have the problem that PC-EPMA is unmoveable (Monitor is 4K, but the lower resolution displays the PC-SEM/EPMA windows nice and large). If I choose a higher display resolution, I can move PC-EPMA just fine as both windows are displayed smaller.

That's really interesting behaviour. I have one 4k screen too and when the PC-EPMA window decides to move to that one after a software reset, changing the resolution doesn't do anything.  The PC-EPMA window just gets larger or smaller but is still locked in the upper left corner of the monitor

[Probe321]

Hi everybody,

This is a question about JEOL software behaviour.

So on the USGS Denver 8530F microprobe I could freely move around both the PC-SEM software window and the PC-EPMA window anywhere I wanted to on any of the screens connected to that computer. On my current setup (an I think some setups at Oz Unis) the PC-SEM Software is freely movable. The PC-EPMA side, however, opens up on a monitor when starting the JEOL software, locks itself into place, and becomes completely immovable. The Title Bar with the Max, Min, and X buttons is completely missing. The only way to get this window to relocate is to close the JEOL software completely, turn off the monitor that the PC-EPMA software decides to open itself on, then restart the software. This has the effect of opening the PC-EPMA software on a different screen but it still is locked and immoveable on the new monitor.

Does anyone have any idea how to get the PC-EPMA title bar back and to allow the window to be moved?

Thanks!
David

Change the resolution on the monitor(s) using the video card software.  The NETL 8530F plus is using an Nvidia video card and to get the display to show the JEOL software correctly resolution has to be set through the Nvidia software. Microsoft Remote Desktop does not allow you to change resolutions. 

For the frozen epma software I suspect you are using Microsoft Remote Desktop.  Try logging off the computer and reconnecting and logging back in.  In my case the EPMA window is now movable.  If the software is up and running and you reconnect the EPMA window is locked to the left side of the screen. Using a VNC program such as VNC connect ($) lets you change monitor resolution and the EPMA window moves. At NETL I remote to a workstation and then use VNC connect viewer to connect to the Microprobe and Probe for EPMA. I have not found anything I cannot adjust when using the VNC connection.

[Anette von der Handt]

Hello,

because this came up in a different discussion, it may be worth posting here.

With time, there are various communication/networking issues that seem to accumulate (at least the JEOL probes I worked with) that may benefit from a restart. They can range from PFE being frozen or having erratic communication to problems on the instrument ("jog" doesn't work, spectrometer problems).

Depending on the issue at hand, there are different levels of escalation that one can go through. It may not always required to go as deep as Level 4 but occasionally I find that a level 4 reset, brings "Aprilfrische" back to the instrument.

Here are the different steps for a reset.

Level 1:
Close PFE, PI and whatever would be connected to the instrument
Close the PC-SEM/PC-EPMA and exit the JEOL software. Run the "kill" batch script for good measure.

Level 2:
Level 1 + Restart of both computers

Level 3 (This is what I would recommend for communications problems)
Level 1+ cycle the OPE power. On the front of the probe, behind the plastic window, it is the third button from the top, labeled OPE Power (obviously do NOT touch the main power or vacuum power). Just press the OPE Power button "off", count to ten or so, turn on again. Restart the JEOL software. When it is up, restart the PFE etc. The JEOL software will want to initialize the stage and you will likely have to reset your points unless you established fiducials in PFE.

Level 4 (likely needed for stage and spectrometer problems)
All the way to Level 3 but while the OPE power is off, also cycle the power on the intelligent unit. This is the big box behind the instrument. The power button is in a recess in the lower right corner close to the floor. Turn off, count to something, turn on again. Turn on your OPE power. Restart JEOL software etc..
The JEOL software will not come on fully before the electronics are all back, so give it enough time between each step too.

[jeolunlv12]

Hi all,

This is another topic but related to the system maintenance.

does anyone use Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) for the JEOL probe?

We have brown out issues several times recently and shut down the instruments. I want to get a UPS to avoid the shutdown. The circuit is 210 V, what is the peak amps of the UPS needs to keep the probe running for a few minutes? What kind of UPS brand is good to look for?

Any suggestion will be helpful.

Best,
Minghua

[glennpoirier]

Hi Minghua,
My 8230 and 6610 SEM (and computers and monitors) are both running off a Symmetra LX 1600 kVA ups. This gives the lab about 35 minutes of backup power and protects against the voltage fluctuations we have in the new building. I've been using it for ~11 years and apart from replacing the batteries every couple of years I've had no problems with it. Highly recommended.

Cheers
Glenn

[Jacob]

does anyone use Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) for the JEOL probe?

We have a UPS on our new probe, and had one on the old probe.  The new one was supplied by JEOL US and is an Ametek PowerVar Security Plus II.  The previous system was a Toshiba 1600 system.  I had good experiences with the Toshiba.  The PowerVar is too new for me to have an opinion either way.

Both systems are online UPSes and will let you ride out brownouts as well as full outages.  Having one is a good idea, as it will also protect the microprobe from all kinds of voltage transients that can degrade power supplies over time.  Just keep up on the battery changes.

If there's one thing I could say about the PowerVar unit so far it's that battery changes appear to be much easier and within the expected user service domain rather than requiring a technician.  Batteries are expensive, but technicians are vastly more.

[Probeman]

does anyone use Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) for the JEOL probe?

We have brown out issues several times recently and shut down the instruments. I want to get a UPS to avoid the shutdown. The circuit is 210 V, what is the peak amps of the UPS needs to keep the probe running for a few minutes? What kind of UPS brand is good to look for?

I don't know about JEOL, but our Cameca instrument when installed in 2006 apparently wanted a power supply of 220 volts, not 208v which is what our lab had. To make up for this Cameca normally provides a small transformer called an Oneac(?) which bumped the voltage up from 208 to 220.

But we instead bought an "international" model Liebert UPS which can provide customized voltage outputs, so we could input 208v and the UPS would output 220v, so we didn't need the transformer after that (we'd had this transformer fail on our old SX50 previously).

The Liebert was a really good UPS and our model provided 6 KVA because we powered all the probe equipment off it, microprobe, water chiller, computers, vacuum pumps, etc. Really cool that we've had the power to the building die, and one could keep going with the probe run! 

This amount of drain on the UPS only gave us about 10 to 15 minutes of backup, but that was enough to handle either very short outages (< a few minutes) (90% of them) or at least have time put the instrument in a safe state before the UPS started warning us it was going to shutdown.

Eventually the university ran new circuits to our labs that were backed up by emergency diesel generators that will kick in if the power outage lasts more than 3 minutes. 

But these our UPS units provide smooth noise free AC power because they are all "on-line" UPS devices, which means the outputs are *always* running off the batteries, and don't have to "switch over" in the case of an outage. I highly recommend these "unswitched" UPS devices as they provide perfect sine wave generation.

As for batteries we have to replace them every 4 years or so, but that only takes about 20 min. They are heavy though. Can't wait for the industry to move to lithium ion batteries. Much lighter!

[sem-geologist]

We also use Liebert with our SXFiveFE, it is 3 unit UPS providing 10kVA + 2x10kVA additional battery packages, able to run machine for 2 hours (when batteries are new). It is kind of a must for field emission machine as turning off and on FEG is not such a simple process, and abrupt switch off FEG is disastrous. Really have no bad word for that UPS. Unfortunately unit was bought without special card for network communication. As it is 30 meters away, direct USB connection is out of equation. Fortunately, I could find open source linux drivers and could put small board Computer, tte reliable (industrial class) Beagle bone black, which watchdogs the UPS, sends the events to the PC, and orchestrates disaster control (sequence of decreasing heating of FEG (The AC is not under UPS, and FEG is very sensitive to temperature increase), if power is not back - shutting FEG gracefully, closing important valves, shutting down PC, switching off chiller (which stops Control electronics of SX to shut off), and preserving all power as long as possible for Ion pumps).
Anyway The UPS is working without any issue from 2014, and had went fluently through many short (up to 20min) blackouts.

[jeolunlv12]

Thank you all for the tips, they are very helpful.
Best regards,

Minghua

[Probeman]

More proof that software is never finished:



 

[DavidAdams]

More proof that software is never finished:



 

Maybe we should start a new thread because there are so many typo's in the JEOL software. They're fun little easter eggs sometimes when one has to use that software 

[John Donovan]

Ha, yeah I hear you. I was just making a joke on a slow forum day because it caught my eye, but seriously, maybe better to document these typos off-line.

So if you (or anyone else) has notes (and/or screen shots), please send them to my email and I would be happy to forward these to my JEOL Japan contacts.