Troubleshooting

• "Igor has stopped working ..."
• AO range issue

"Igor has stopped working ..."

Sometimes ScanM starts completely normal and successfully connects all devices (see green indicators in the image below), but then crashes after loading all scan configurations with the following message:

Problem:

That all indicators are green means that here not the NI cards are causing the trouble but that the Igor code crashed. A likely reason is that ScanM was not able to write a valid .ini file into the ...\ScanM_Settings folder. When it tries to load the damaged file, it crashes.

Solution:

1. Make sure that Igor is completely closed

2. Go to the ...\ScanM_Settings folder in the Ìgor Pro 6 User Filesdirectory and every file that has the extention.ini`. One can also delete the whole content of that folder; the files here are just saving user setting such as what color palettes are used with what scan configuration.

   WARNING: Before deleting anything, make sure that you are in the correct folder!

   

3. Start Igor and ScanM again. When it does not find the .ini file it recreates it automatically with default settings.

   Because ScanM also misses other files, the history window looks like this:

   

   These warnings can be ignored.

   The .ini file is written to the folder upon the next regular shutdown of ScanM. Therefore, if you want to be on the safe side or restore some settings in the .ini file. Close Igor again (and edit the file, if needed).

Other issues reported by users

AO range issue ...

Some issue that Filip Janiak came across with (hopefully) a solution. Igor crashes if configuration files contain the following lines:

cp.minAO_V                          = -4.0      // AO voltage range minimum
cp.maxAO_V                          = +4.0      // AO voltage range maximum

instead of

cp.minAO_V                          = -10.0      // AO voltage range minimum
cp.maxAO_V                          = +10.0      // AO voltage range maximum

I am not sure what the reason for the crash is but I think it is related with safety checks (if the scanner range is valid) I added to the DLL at some point. My logic was that the AO voltage ranges given in the scan configuration files are only for the calculation of the scan path - if there was crap then a single wrong configuration file could scrap the scanners. Therefore, I added absolute limits to the ScM_USER_DEFINITION.ipf (see below), such that there is a single place where one could set the maximally allowed range. The DLL uses these ranges to clip the scan path, preventing the scanners from being damaged while avoiding to stop the program (as earlier versions of ScanM did).

Why ScanM does not tolerate values other than -10 /+10 V in the configuration files (I did not explore what values else are allowed), I have to check. But I would say that this is not an urgent problem, as the safety limits are set in ScM_USER_DEFINITION.ipf.

// - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
// AO channel output ranges
//
// This defines the maximally allowed x-y scanner range (in V);
// voltages below -SCM_maxRangeScannerX_V/2 and above
// +SCM_maxRangeScannerX_V/2 (e.g. allowed herer -4.0 ... +4.0 V)
// will be clipped in the ScM.dll
//
// IMPORTANT: Using the wrong values here can damage the scanner driver
// and/or even the scanners!!!!!
//
constant        SCM_maxRangeScannerX_V    = 8.0
constant        SCM_maxRangeScannerY_V    = 8.0