EIKS DLL Questions

[Malcolm Roberts]

Folks
Any tips? trying to start some automation and this EIKS dll function gives an error.
Malc.

[Malcolm Roberts]

Folks!
Bit more info now
States
Error in JEOLSetScanSpotmode 8x30 (J8K_setsampling mode)

• : EIK DLL function error

Any ideas on what may be causing this and a solution would be most welcome.
Cheers,
malc.

[John Donovan]

Hi Malcolm,
Three possibilities...

1. Your JEOL driver on the PFE PC is out of date, I'll send you our latest JEOL driver in a "Dropbox".

2. Your JEOL PC-SEM software on the JEOL PC is out of date- you should have v. 3.0.1.6 as seen from the JEOL help menu.

3. Your JEOL EIKS client software on the PFE PC is out of date. I'll send you our latest JEOL EIKS client in a "Dropbox".
john

[John Donovan]

Or maybe more likely... the network cable to the JEOL PC is disconnected suddenly somehow?

[Malcolm Roberts]

Hi John
V3.0.1.6 is in place. When I get a chance, I will do the other updates you sent through and contact our JEOL man and give him a prod.......
Cheers,
Malc.

[Malcolm Roberts]

Just for general interest sake, I got around this error for the time being by using the reset batch file for the PC-SEM software. I also got rid of the process.dat file from the PfEPMA App folder. I may well make this a routine activity......

[Probeman]

Hi Malcolm,
OK, but this is not a normal occurrence.   If you are seeing an error, something is out of date. Also check the

[hardware]
JEOLEIKSVersionNumber = 5

value in your probewin.ini file.  5 means the latest EIKS functions are available.

Let me know once you get the driver and EIKS 2012 client DLLs updated.
john

[John Donovan]

Here is a summary of where the JEOL EIKS files should reside:

The JEOL EIKS files need to be in the SysWOW64 folder (if Win7 64 bit) *and* also in every app folder that needs to access the JEOL instrument using the EIKS interface:

Matrix.exe                                             in SysWOW64  folder
Probe for EPMA.exe, Stage.exe, etc                     in C:\Probe Software\Probe for EPMA folder
ProbeImage.exe                                         in C:\Program Files (x86)\Probe Software\Probe Image folder
NSS.exe                                                in C:\Program Files (x86)\Thermo Scientific\NSS folder


Normally one should never have duplicate DLLs in multiple folders, but because the JEOL EIKS driver is *not* multi-threaded, each app that needs to run *at the same time*, needs their *own* copy of the JEOL EIKS files.

Note that because of this JEOL EIKS limitation one can run Probe for EPMA and Probe Image at the same time (because they are in different folders!), but not PFE and Stage.exe (because they are in the same folder!).

The latest JEOL EIKS files are attached below, but note that your existing JEOLEIKs.ini file contains settings specific to your instrument network and should generally not be modified.  However, if installing the EIKS interface for the first time, you will need to configure the JEOLEIKs.ini file properly. Please contact Probe Software for more information.
john

[Malcolm Roberts]

Hi John
That did not work. I am still getting the identical errors as sent through in the error log and PfEPMA will not function. Note I have followed your advice and copied the JEOL dll from the old set up to the WOW folder as well as the PfEPMA application folder. Matrix is in the WOW folder too. I have not even bothered with PI as there is no point until I can get PfEPMA cracked.
Cheers,
Malc.

[John Donovan]

Hi John
That did not work. I am still getting the identical errors as sent through in the error log and PfEPMA will not function. Note I have followed your advice and copied the JEOL dll from the old set up to the WOW folder as well as the PfEPMA application folder. Matrix is in the WOW folder too. I have not even bothered with PI as there is no point until I can get PfEPMA cracked.
Cheers,
Malc.

Malcolm,
You are not reading my instructions.  Calm down.

The amb8x00 driver should *only* go in the SysWOW64 folder.

The JEOL EIKS files should go in every folder that contains an app that uses the EIKS interface.   I documented that for you above.  Be sure to use the JEOLEIKs.ini file from your old computer as that should be properly configured.
john

[John Donovan]

These are the files that need to be copied to each application folder as described in this post:

http://probesoftware.com/smf/index.php?topic=149.msg2558#msg2558

07/23/2012  09:42 PM            38,912 eiksJSample.exe
07/16/2012  11:18 PM           121,344 jeoleiks.dll
07/23/2012  09:43 PM               190 JeolEIKs.ini
01/06/2011  11:39 PM         4,342,600 mfc100.dll
01/06/2011  11:39 PM           768,848 msvcr100.dll

[John Donovan]

Just for general interest sake, I got around this error for the time being by using the reset batch file for the PC-SEM software. I also got rid of the process.dat file from the PfEPMA App folder. I may well make this a routine activity......

FYI, the process.dat file is no longer utilized by PFE so that is one less thing to worry about from my perspective!   
john

[Malcolm Roberts]

Hi John
Just doing a bit of housekeeping here. This problem has well and truly gone. I've managed the upgrade to win7 a while back too. Meanwhile, a little thing I have encountered is that after every three weeks or so, PfEPMA and the probe decide to quit talking to each other requiring a full reboot. I checked the error log files, which mysteriously get purged during the process, and there is never any info on what may have gone wrong. The answer is cunning. Reboot the system before it even thinks of throwing a hissy fit.......
Cheers,
Malc.

[Probeman]

Hi John
Just doing a bit of housekeeping here. This problem has well and truly gone. I've managed the upgrade to win7 a while back too. Meanwhile, a little thing I have encountered is that after every three weeks or so, PfEPMA and the probe decide to quit talking to each other requiring a full reboot. I checked the error log files, which mysteriously get purged during the process, and there is never any info on what may have gone wrong. The answer is cunning. Reboot the system before it even thinks of throwing a hissy fit.......
Cheers,
Malc.

Hi Malcolm,
Because Probe for EPMA is so stable, I have to remember to re-boot the my SX100 instrument every 3 to 4 months if it's been running continuously, because of similar comms issues. I suspect that there are some tiny memory leaks or something similar that over the course of several months eventually cause the firmware to run of of local memory.

As they say in one of my favorite British shows "The IT Crowd" when a device isn't functioning properly: "Did you try turning it off and on again?" 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_IT_Crowd

john