Troubleshooting

This topic describes problems and solutions related to the Keysight Signal Optimizer.

General Software/Performance

Software crashes when the hard disk/SSD is full: The software requires at least 10 GB available disk space after installation to ensure that memory-intensive operations don't run out of non-volatile memory. Delete unnecessary files to create more working space on your primary HDD/SSD.
89600 VSA recordings saved in MAT(HDF) format do not import correctly: The Signal Optimizer's current implementation of MAT(HDF) file import is incompatible with recording files exported by VSA. There are two possible workarounds:
- Export from VSA in CSV format instead of MAT(HDF) format.
- Load the exported MAT file into MATALB, transpose the row/columns of the "Y" variable, and re-save the file. This is the preferred method because the MAT(HDF) format is faster to save/load and takes less disk space than the CSV format. To transpose the row/columns of the "Y" variable, execute the following command in Matlab:
  Y=Y.';
Download time is extremely long: When the source hardware Unequal Length Adjust setting is set to Repeat Until LCM, the resulting data length and download time may be very long, depending on the signal lengths and frequency offsets.

M8190A Problems

M8190A Output Device Control error messages: Typically, messages indicating "A connection attempt failed" are due to connection issues. However, there is a known issue related to sample rate selection which can cause this message to appear. This scenario can occur when a manually or automatically determined sample rate lands at a value similar to 4.0000023 GHz (a problematic sample rate is usually a high order resampling operation relative to the signal sample rates). The information log will list the waveform sample rate in a "Building Waveform" information message. The easiest workaround for this problem is to specify the sample rate manually and use a multiple of the signal sample rate (in the case shown here, choosing a manual sample rate of 4 GHz corrects the problem).
M8190A drivers, Firmware, and VISA Address: The Signal Optimizer software does not install the full M8190A software, only the drivers to communicate with the M8190A. If you prefer to run the M8190A firmware on the same PC (e.g., to connect directly to the M8190A via USB), please follow instructions and get support on the M8190A Firmware Download page.

There is a rare corner case where installing the M8190 controller application will fail with an "Error installing Keysight Instrument IO Config" error. This error occurs when the PC has no Keysight Instrument IO Config installed but has Keysight Host Processor Platform (HPP) version greater than 4.5.20324.12312, which is included in the M8190 installer. To resolve this situation, users must uninstall the Keysight HPP, Keysight License Manager, and Keysight License Service, then re-install the M8190 application, latest HPP, License Manager and License Service.

Connecting to an M8190A instrument will use an address similar to this:

TCPIP0::<hostname>::<socket>::SOCKET

The M8190A controller application (M8190A firmware) is useful when you need to know the correct VISA address of the M8190A. The VISA address is located in the main window when you run the M8190A firmware on its host PC (see picture).

Use the “SCPI Access (Socket)” address. If using an embedded PC on the AXI chassis, this address will typically have <hostname> equal to the embedded PC hostname, and <socket> equal to 5025. If running the M8190A firmware on the same PC as Signal Optimizer, <hostname> will equal “localhost”, and <socket> will typically equal 5025. There are several scenarios that can override the default socket port numbers for the M8190A driver, so if connectivity cannot be established, please review the M8190A firmware window to confirm the address used by the M8190A.

Z9070B Problems

Infiniium scope locks up when switching between Signal Optimizer software and 89600 VSA software: In Z9070B configurations (and possibly other configurations that use Infiniium scopes), the scope may lock up and require a reboot after switching between the Signal Optimizer software and 89600 VSA software. Upgrading to the latest Infiniium firmware should solve this problem.
Auto Range problems with Z9070B: For the Z9070B hardware configuration, the autorange function does not work and results in an input range setting that may be off by as much as 20 dB. It is recommended to use a manual approach for choosing input range setting when using a Z9070B hardware configuration. See Auto Range for more information.
The Z9070B hardware configuration is intended to support wideband signal analysis for data acquisition requirements < 2 ms. If measurements exceed this, there may be significant performance problems. Here are some potential symptoms and workarounds:
- Measurement stops with an error logged: The acquisition requirements exceed what can be satisfied with the Z9070B hardware configuration. If the bandwidth required is supportable with the PXA/UXA analyzer being used as a tuner in the system, define a hardware configuration using only the PXA/UXA and select this configuration to use for the measurements. This will reduce the maximum supportable bandwidth, but will likely improve dynamic range, acquisition length, and measurement time significantly.
- Measurement enters a memory-swapping mode: If you attempt to make a measurement that requires fewer points than this, but still a lot of points, (e.g., 100 MPt), then depending on the physical memory in your PC, you may succeed, or you may push your PC into memory swapping mode, which will eventually crash the software and probably require you to shutdown and restart your computer.