Summary

• Instrument
  • Cross-disperser won't stop moving
  • Filter wheels are mispositioned
  • ThAr lamp image shows no light
  • Contaminated light in ThAr image
  • Problem intialising or running rotator
  • One of the utility board voltages keywords reports a bad value

• Cross Disperser
  • The X-disperser is oscillating
  • Unable to move cross disperser
  • Cross-disperser cover refuses to open

• Datataking
  • Image will not read out
  • FITS keywords not written

• Computers
  • Response from GUI is very slow
  • cserv and/or hdserv lights not lit on hexpocon

Instrument

Cross-disperser won't stop moving

Symptom

When the cross disperser is moved, the XDANGL keyword starts changing and never stops; it cycles continuously within a certain range of values.

Problem

The cross disperser motor is confused.

Solution

1. From the window manager's pulldown menu, select the HIRES Control Menu option, then release on the item labeled Stop Cross-disperser Oscillation.
2. Alternatively, type the following command on makua:

   stop_cd_drift

3. If this does not halt the cross-disperser, contact your Instrument Specialist.

Filter wheels are mispositioned

Symptom

XHIRES reports a certain filter to be in, but exposures look as if the wrong filter is in.

Problem

The filter wheel is lying and needs to be re-homed.

Solution

Re-home the stage by typing the following commands in a manuka window:

m lfilcal=reset
m lfilcal=homed

ThAr lamp image shows no light

Symptom

Observer clicked the button to turn on the ThAr lamps, but exposure shows no lines.

Problem

Either:

• the lamps did not turn on, or
• the mirror did not enter the beam

Solution

• Try turning the ThAr lamps off and then on again. Check whether the reported current changes from 0.0mA to about 25mA, indicating power to the lights.
• Check whether XHIRES shows the mirror to be in the beam. If not, insert it using XHIRES and try another exposure.

Contaminated light in ThAr image

Symptom

ThAr lamp image shows what looks like second-order light

Problem

This may not be a problem if the bands of light are horizontal and only seen redward of about 7500 Å. In this case, you are seeing reflected light resulting from the intense ThAr emission lines.

Problem intialising or running rotator

Symptom

Rotator will not initialise, motion seems wrong, or you are having trouble moving the unit into or out of the beam.

Problem

You are trying to initialise with the DCS gui. There have been reports this is unreliable.

Solution

Use the rotator control panel obtained via XHIRES to initialize.

Problem

One or more of the watch_hirot daemons has died. Find out if they are all present by typing ct at a lehoula prompt.

Solution

Login to lehoula as hireseng and manually kill any processes that contain the string watch_hirot. Issue the command hires start watch_hirot

Problem

The telescope has been re-initialised or the tertiary has been turned since the rotator was last initialised.

Solution

Re-initialise the rotator via the control panel from XHIRES.

One of the utility board voltages keywords reports a bad value

Symptom

When you show one or more of the utility board voltage keywords you get a value much different than you should.

Problem

The keyword which contains the mapping values for a given voltage may need to be re-set. This could be a result of a problem with infoman or the file /kroot/data/music/info/data

Solution

Login to kanaha as esieng and check what the correct values are in the ESI keyword library. If they differ from those in the HIRES library this is likely the problem. Assuming this is the problem, here is how to fix each of the voltage keywords:

modify -s hires utbp30v = 0,35.71,2048,0,36
modify -s hires utbp15v = 0,89.60,2048,0,0
modify -s hires utbm15v = 0,89.60,2048,0,0
modify -s hires utbp5v = 0,278.42,2048,0,0

Cross Disperser

The X-disperser is oscillating

Symptom

Cross-disperser angle (displayed on the xshow widget as XDANGL) continually changes without ever stopping.

Problem

The motor controller for the cross-disperser is in a bad mode and needs to be restarted.

Solution

1. From the background menu, select HIRES Control Menu > Stop Cross-disperser Oscillation
2. Wait for the script to complete.
3. Verify that oscillation has stopped.
4. Set the cross-disperser to your desired angle.
5. Note whether the move completes of whether the oscillation returns. If so, repeat above procedure.
6. If the oscillation continues after severel attempts to run the script, contact your Support Astronomer.

Unable to move cross disperser

Symptom

Attempts to open the cross-disperser cover or to change the cross-disperser angle fail.

Problem

The cross dispersion motion control is set to manual.

Solution

1. Ask summit staff to verify that the cross disperser is back in computer control mode.
2. If trouble persists, have summit staff check cabling to the cross disperser.

Cross-disperser cover refuses to open

Symptom

Attempts to open the cross-disperser cover fail.

Problem

The cross-disperser cover is locked.

Solution

Ask summit staff to verify that the cross disperser cover is unlocked.

Datataking

Image will not read out

Symptom

After an image is taken, it will not read out. Xpose claims it "writing crate memory."

Problem

FIGDISP is being run on an 8-bit color display. It must be run on a 24-bit display.

Solution

Quit FIGDISP and re-start it on a 24-bit display window.

FITS keywords not written

Symptom

tklogger warns that certain FITS keywords are not being written and/or it is noticed that the FITS files are smaller than they should be

Problem(s)

There may be problems with DCS.

or

Some low level processes may need to be restarted.

Solution(s)

Check if DCS communications are okay by trying to show a DCS keyword.

For example, in a nuu window type:

 show -s dcs airmass

If you get an error message, ask your OA if everything is fine with DCS. If this is not the problem then you may need to restart some low level processes such as watch_ccd and/or traffic. Look at your Hexpocon gui or type ct at a nuu prompt. It will tell you which processes are running. Rebooting nuu will restart these processes, but this is a bigger hammer than needs to be used. Instead:

1. Shutdown HIRES control from the openwin menu
2. Login in as hirestst
3. hexpo stop daemons
4. Manually kill any processes that contain the string "hirot"
5. hexpo start daemons
6. hexpo start watch_hirot
7. Startup HIRES and take a test image

Note

If you get the message "no match" after step 6, it may mean you did not find and manually kill the hirot processes as instructed in step 4 above.

Computers

Response from GUI is very slow

Symptom

The computer is very slow to respond to input.

Problem

Obsolete processes are running on the computer, consuming most of the CPU.

Solution

1. Go to a local window on the computer. If you are sitting at hanauma, then open a hanauma window (for example, use the Login Windows submenu on the OpenWindows pulldown menu to select the xgterm option).
2. Find out whether another observer's processes are running by typing the following command:

   ps -aux | grep hires | more

   This will list all processes owned by hires accounts. If, for example, you are using the hires2 account and the output of the above command shows that jobs are running under the hires1 account, then you should stop these other processes as described in the next step.
3. Log in as user hires and issue the command

   kill_em hiresN

   to search for and destroy processes owned by the hiresN account, (substitute the appropriate number for N).

cserv and/or hdserv lights not lit on hexpocon

Symptom

Besides the lights not lit, other symptoms are to be determined.

Problem

The processes in question have died.

Solution

1. Reboot the crates.