RE: Issues in MCA module with XFlash detector

[Abdalla Ahmad via Tech-talk <tech-talk at aps.anl.gov>]

Hello Mark

 

Yes, we are using the serial port to communicate with the detector. I turned on asynTrace options and I noticed that the freezing and unresponsive buttons issues are caused due to a timeout during acquisition, this is confirmed because “timeout handler” message gets printed almost every 1 second (not all the time), and after that the temperature PV gets processed. So I switched the scan rate on the main GUI to passive just to test and the acquisition works fine for now.

 

Also, I noticed that the spectrum takes 1 or 2 seconds more than the real time, I looked into the MCA setup GUI and changed the “Read spectrum every” setting to “Event”, seems a bit more responsive than before. I attached the current MCA settings screenshot. What do you think?

 

Best Regards,

Abdalla Al-Dalleh

Control Engineer

SESAME

 

From: Mark Rivers <rivers at cars.uchicago.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, June 24, 2025 4:19 PM
To: Abdalla Ahmad <Abdalla.Ahmad at sesame.org.jo>; tech-talk at aps.anl.gov
Subject: Re: Issues in MCA module with XFlash detector

 

Hi Abdallah,

 

Are you communicating with the XFlash over a serial port or over their QM100 high-speed interface?

 

If it is over a serial port then you should enable asynTrace to see the communication stream.

 

Mark

 

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From: Abdalla Ahmad <Abdalla.Ahmad at sesame.org.jo>
Sent: Tuesday, June 24, 2025 4:55 AM
To: tech-talk at aps.anl.gov <Tech-talk at aps.anl.gov>
Cc: Mark Rivers <rivers at cars.uchicago.edu>
Subject: Issues in MCA module with XFlash detector

 

Hi

 

We have the MCA module running on a Windows 10 machine to control the XFlash detector from Bruker. We started to face the following issues:

• When the IOC starts, the state is always acquiring without pressing the start button.
• The buttons to erase/stop/start the acquisition have no effect, they do not stop or start the acquisition.
• The real time and live time show weird values on startup, like in 10s or 100s. of seconds.
• If I wait long enough, the acquisition stops but pressing the start button again, say for a real time of 1 second, it starts acquiring for fraction
  of a second and then freezes, nothing is progressing.

 

Despite what is mentioned, the IOC log shows no error messages. The Bruker software seems to acquire just fine, but not tested thoroughly. We even

Installed the IOC on a different laptop and a PC and still the same behavior. Any idea on what might went wrong with the detector or IOC?

 

Best Regards,

 

Abdalla Al-Dalleh

Control Engineer

SESAME

 

Attachment: current-settings.png
Description: current-settings.png