EPICs suddenly not connecting to devices

[John Teah <jart0407@hotmail.com>]

Hi,

I have recently taken over a cryostat with control system using EPICS on a linux PC.  There are a number of devices connected via ethernet, such as a PLC, vacuum gauges, mercury ITCs etc.  The instructions are basic and there is no troubleshooting guide. 

Last week I powered it up after it has been off for a few months and everything looked good. Then some of the mercury ITCs stopped communicating with EPICS.  After failing to get them reconnected I restarted the whole system.  Now nothing connects. 

I have reset the linux computer to the last backup, in case I broke anything.  All the devices are locatable on the network (i.e. I can ping them).  I have restarted everything.  

I am totally new to EPICS so dont know where to start with troubleshooting.  There are a couple of batch files that start two Soft IOCs and an archiver and archive data server.  The Archive engine has a web interface and I can see that they are not connected to any of the devices.  There is an EDM gui of sorts, which again doesnt connect to anything.

Can anyone help with this.  I've trauled through the website but cannot get anything to work.  If I cant get the system running I will have to get it rewritten in Labview or something, which seems a shame after all the effort that has gone in to creating it.  

Any help would be much appreciated. 

Thanks

John