Michael Hooker Microscopy Facility

Michael Hooker Microscopy Facility (MHMF.ORG)

What's Down & Scheduled Repairs

On Going Issues:

Some users have been having trouble connecting to \\Minsky. If you encounter this situation use this i.p. number instead \\152.19.58.205 or \\minsky.med.unc.edu
The secure software web server (http://malus.med.unc.edu) is only accessible to computers on the UNC, UNC Healthcare, UNC VPN or UNC-SOM VPN networks.
Zeiss 510 Meta: The channel 2 emission filter (505-550 nm) has been replaced with a 475 to 505 nm set
Missing screws on DMXRA turret cover. Get spare screws for Zeiss HRZ stage

2014

June 17: Due to an unexpected glitch the power remained out for ~2 hrs.
June 17: Due to scheduled building power outage and emergency power generator test most computers and backup RAID servers will be powered down Monday evening. Users may have to manually power up computers that run acquisition systems Tuesday morning.
- Powered down are:
  - Olympus FV1000 computer - \\Sutton
  - Leica SP2 computer - \\Laplace
  - Zeiss 510 computer - \\Hertz
  - Upright Nikon computer - \\Hooke
  - Leica inverted color camera computer - \\Snell
  - Leica inverted b/w camera computer - \\Lister
  - Fluorescence dissecting scope - \\Gould
  - Spinning disk/wide field inverted Nikon - \\Nipkow
- Powered down and of no immediate impact to users:
- Unaffected:
  - Web & calendar server http://microscopy.unc.edu
  - Minsky file server

May 28: File server \\Minsky temporarily lost network connectivity from 6:49 PM to 7:00 PM due to Ethernet wall jack being damaged.

Apr 25: \\Lister - A new computer has been swapped into \\Lister's role. All users will have to restore there user profile in order to capture images using the Photometric HQ2 ccd camera with C-Imaging.

Apr 21: Incubator - Humidity control is giving alarms. This is a controlled humidity unit and it may not be possible to simply place water in the try on not have the humidity alarm go off. Note that temperature and CO2 control are not affected by the humidity control problem.

Apr 19: \\Lister - Looks like the mother board has blown out (just thought the system had the XP update bug)

Apr 17: These workstations have succumbed to the Windows XP update bug (KB2952678) and were off line:
- Fluorescence dissecting scope (\\Gould) [fixed]
- Inverted Leica widefield monochrome camera (\\Lister) [fixed]
- Inverted Leica widefield color camera (\\Snell) [fixed]
- Leica SP2 confocal (\\Laplace) [fixed]
- Win 32 Image Processing Workstation \\Nomarski [fixed]
- Other possible system that could be affected: Zeiss 510 (\\Hertz), Spinning disk (\\Nipkow)

Apr 16: Microsoft Windows XP bug introduced by Windows Updates April 15 (KB2952678) - see here scep-causes-xp-to-hang-until-msmpeng-crashes

Apr 10: Web server & calendar crashed. Back in service 10:40 AM - Nothing to do with heartbleed

Feb 03: \\Snell, the computer for the color camera at the Leica inverted widefield microscope, hard disk drive was replaced and restored with a system image backup of Feb 21, 2013. The system is being updated. Please help us by letting us know if there are anomalies, things missing on Windows and if it does not work as it should, thanks.

Feb 01: The MHmicroscopy AD/DC server did not restart after a brief power outage at 7:01 AM. Logons may not have be possible at the key boards of facility computers or over the network to servers/shared directories. Server was manually restarted at about 4 PM, after the UPS was replaced.

Jan 23: Incubator repair done. Conditions are once again controlled 37C, 5% CO2 & 95% and the readings are steady. Fyrite calibration has been carried out.

2013

Sep 25: Leica SP2 Confocal System - A new computer and hard drive has been installed. Some points worth noting:
- Please let us know if you would like assistance or have question
- After LCS initialization (while drosophila embryo image is rotating) at Fluorescence Module move mouse or press shift to proceed
- Keyboard mappings for UK to German no longer apply
- There is no E: drive anymore. Use D:\USERS\your-login-name (which should contain a LCS subdirectory - see/contact Michael if a LCS directory is not there)
- D:\Users is mapped as \\Laplace\users1 on the network
- Security restrictions which were imposed on the old computer are lifted (until April 2014 when all Windows XP machines will be banned on the UNC network)
- Passwords can be changed at the new \\Laplace computer
- New/modified/added files at the D:\Users directory are copied to \\Minsky\laplace\users1 every evening at about 2 AM.
- Around April 2014 direct access to \\Laplace\users1 will be blocked. Images will need to be transferred to \\Minsky for network access from your lab/office.
- Files from the old computer at D:\users are at \\Minsky\users and files that were on the E:\ drive are at \\Minsky\Users2 (this goes back to June 2012)
- Files older the June 2012 and a few years (may be 4+ years) are on the backup servers and can be made available by arrangement with Michael or Neal
- USB ports are available on the computer and may be used to transfer data (as of Sept 27 we have not tested this). Windows XP does not support USB 3, so transfers will be at USB 2.0 speeds. USB 3.0 devices will run faster than USB 2.0 devices even when plugged into a USB 2.0 port. Do not use a USB drive if you are not absolutely sure that it is free of viruses, trojans and malware.
- The screen may look brighter. This is due to characteristics of the video card. This has no effect on the acquired images. Hopefully you are using the glow over & under scale while imaging to set gains and offsets. Use the Q-Lut button.
- Some operations are faster with the new computer. e.g. Average projections. Most operations occur at about the same speed as the old computer.
- Do not push the computer off the table! Be very careful, deliberate and mindful around the computer and the objectives.
- Please help us out and let us know if you notice any quirks on the system
- Please let us know if you would like assistance or have questions

Sep 13: Leica SP2 Confocal: System - The hard disk drive has crashed. Due to the difficulty of obtaining a drive the whole computer will be replaced.
Sep 13: Leica SP2 Confocal: The system is unavailable due to a hard disk drive crash. Data from prior to Sep 13 is available at \\minsky.med.unc.edu\LeicaSP2.
Sep 06: Leica SP2 Confocal: System seems to be working. Engineer reseated galvanometer controller cards and can not reproduce problem. Please use the system, and we will be checking with you. Of course please let us know about issues.
Sep 04: Leica SP2 Confocal: System is not useable due to bad x-axis galvo. Engineer is expected Sep 06.
Sep 04: \\Minsky file server - 7:20 to 9:35 PM file server was inaccessible due to an unplugged network cable, which had a missing locking flange. The cable has been replaced.
Apr 19: Leica SP2 confocal - AOBS fans have been replaced.
Mar 27: Olympus FV1000 confocal - the replacement red 638 nm red laser has been installed. All laser in the merge box were alignment. All laser lines are functioning again.
Mar 26: The AD/DS mhmicroscopy (mh-microscopy.med.unc.edu) domain server (Marvin) had a failed mirror drive. The system did not reboot to the remaining mirror until the sATA cables were reversed. The mirror pair has been rebuild.
Mar 19: Power will be turned off briefly ~30 mins in the evening (sometime between ~9 to ~11 PM). This is all part of standard University power distribution maintenance.
Mar 19 Laptop wireless access to \\Minsky file shares is not working. This is due to network infrastructure issues beyond our responsibility/control. Access from desktops and laptops plugged into the wired network (Ethernet) works normally.
Mar 05: Olympus FV1000 Confocal Microscope - red laser has failed ( 635 nm for far red, e.g. Alexa 633/647, Draq-5, ToPro-3). Note that the other lasers are unaffected, so dyes such as 405 nm -> DAPI, 440 nm -> CFP, 488 nm -> Alexa488/GFP/FITC, 559 nm -> Rhodamine/TexasRed/Alexa 555/568, etc. can still be imaged.
Feb 19: The web server and calendars were down from 6:20 AM to 9:55 AM. The UPS was found off again. The UPS was replaced.
Feb 05: The web server and calendars were down from 7:05 AM to 8:58 AM. The UPS was found off. We are investigating why it turned off.
Feb 04: Network disruption continue. We need your help in tracking down problems, so let us know if you have issues connecting over the network by telling us which compouter(s) you are trying to connect to, your location and whether you are using a desktop or laptop.

Feb 01: Expect network weirdness. This is due reconfiguring of the VLAN in Thurston Bowles. Problems will roll around different network jacks and hence the associated computers. Once the reconfiguration is finished the weirdness factor should almost go away completely. If you have problems please call so that we can know that there is a problem, and we will try to find a workaround for you.

Jan 31: On Thursday evening several computers could not connect to several other computers in 6th floor of Thurston Bowles building. The disruption lasted about 30 minutes, and should be taken as a warning not to scan images directly to servers over the network. ITS/OIS was notified and a ticket was created.
Jan 22: Leica SP2 AOBS confocal - The computer keyboard has been replaced. The 1, q, a & z keys have stopped working, perhaps due to a drink drink spill caused . Since an US English keyboard has replaced the original German keyboard the following keys are remapped:

~ use shift + \

@ use shift + ‘

# use \

\ use ??? we're looking for the key combination

Jan 16: Leica SP2 AOBS confocal - UV correction lens for imaging DAPI with the 63x 1.4 NA now switches into place automatically. Laser UV correction lenses were aligned. Will need to determine if field illumination is adequate at 10x, 20x, 40, & 63x. Please let us know if you notice that the UV field illumination is not even.

Jan 11: Leica SP2 AOBS confocal - Optical mouse failed. It was replaced.

2012

Sep 23: Olympus FV1000 Confocal: The C: drive on \\Sutton failed completely. The system has been restored to the May 24, 2011 state. User short cuts to \\Minsky, the users directory, default web page, etc. will need to be reestablished for each user. See Michael or Neal for assistance. Note user data should be intact on the D: drive.

Sep 19: \\Nomarski Image Processing Working station has suffered an irrecoverable hard disk drive failure. The system is not usable and is currently only restored to its May 2011 state. Software will be reinstalled over the next week or so. Let Michael know ASAP if you need a particular piece of software sooner.

Jul 28: Leica SP2 AOBS confocal - The engineer is expected at the end of this week. The 488 nm laser will be addressed and the sticking UV correction lens for imaging DAPI with the 63x 1.4 NA objective. The UV correction lens for 40x 1.25 NA oil and 10x/20x objectives do switch in correctly.

July 12: There is an apparent after hours power failure in the server room. It will not be possible to logon to MHmicroscopy computers including \\Minsky and other file shares. The duration of the power loss has exceeded the run time of the UPS batteries. An on campus visit is required to assess the situation.

Jul 03: Leica DMIRB Inverted Widefield Microscope - Due to a virus/trojan infection the system has been restored to a clean 2011 version. Users will have to reestablish user profiles for C-Imaging and file/directory shares.

Jun 28: Leica SP2 Confocal Microscope is running. Note: User profiles may be different and network access is restricted to \\Minsky only and will need to be setup when users login, or at your request Michael or Neal can setup this up and issue a new password.

Jun 23: This Web Server & associated booking calendars will be run off the backup server. Page updates may be slow. Contact Michael (843-3268 anytime) if you have booking or other issues.

Jun 18: Leica SP2 confocal microscope. The C: drive has failed. We are expecting delivery of a replacement drive on Wednesday Jun 20. When this drive arrives its operational worthiness needs to assessed before the WindowsNT4 operating system, drivers and confocal software can be reinstalled. The computer/microscope is currently unusable. Contact Michael to access data up to 3 AM June 12, which is stored on the backup server.

Jun 12: Leica SP2 confocal microscope: The C: drive has failed. We expect the computer/microscope to be unusable for a few days. Contact Michael in order to arrange to access data save on \\Laplace up to 3 AM June 12, which is stored on the backup server.

Jun 08: Olympus FV1000 MPE confocal - The system is back in operation. A failing hard disk drive (C:) was causing the computer to not boot into Windows. The drive was replaced, however the system was restored to a slightly earlier version (3.00a) of FV-10 confocal software. Version 3.01 was running with the failed drive. There is probably little, if any, consequence using the earlier version.

Data on the D: drive is intact, therefore saved images and user scanning profiles are the latest versions. We will need to get a copy of the software distribution disk from Olympus in order to restore version 3.01 of the FV-10 software. Please let Michael or Neal know if you encounter problems with the system.

To connect to this computer over the campus network please use this address (unc): \\152.19.83.119\users (a.k.a. \\sutten.med.unc.edu\users). Just connecting to \\sutton\users will fail.

Jun 07: Olympus FV1000 MPE confocal - The system is not operational since the computer has failed. We are trying to determine what the bad component is. Data files stored on the D: drive in the last 4 days have been copied to \\minsky\users2\sutton so that they can be accessed.

Apr 12: Multiphoton Ti:Sapphire laser is back in operation on the Olympus FV1000 con focal microscope. The chiller unit was replaced. Drier cartridge was replaced in March.

Apr 03 Multiphoton Ti:Sapphire laser is unavailable due to a failed chiller. A replacement is being shipped. We will let you know when there is an expected delivery date is available. The standard lasers are still usable on the Olympus FV1000. Please do not turn on the Mai Tai Ti:Sapph laser.

Mar 22: Multiphoton Ti:Sapphire laser is down due to a flakey chiller unit. Discussion with service is in progress and a replacement is pending. The standard lasers are still usable on the Olympus FV1000. Please do not turn on the Mai Tai Ti:Sapph laser.

Mar 19: Leica SP2 Confocal microscope - Microscope stand LCD was showing ?? - ? for objective. LCS software was not initializing stand. Resetting microscope stand control box did not help. Problem was solved by reseating objective turret. Tightening screw on left of stand was not screwed in firmly at all. It may have been loose for the life of the scope! Note need to reprogram objective parfocality.

Mar 22 Multiphoton Ti:Sapphire laser is down due to a flakey chiller unit. Discussion with service is in progress and a replacement is pending. The standard lasers are still usable on the Olympus FV1000. Please do not turn on the Mai Tai Ti:Sapph laser.

Feb 27: Leica SP2 Confocal Microscope - Scan head backplane and X3 connector cable replaced. This should eliminate the lower voltage problem that has been plaguing the system for quite a while.

Feb 23: New server firewall settings are being implemented in order to meet standards for servers set for the Sch Of Med. by ITS. Problems may occur during this shakedown period. e.g. With connections to \\Minsky files shares & shares to other computers. e.g. Inability to log onto facility computers. Please let Michael ASAP if you encounter problems - voice 843-3268, text 919-912-9380, email see in Contacting Us.

Feb 22: Volocity License Sever - UNC initiated security scans are stopping this service from running on the server computer. If it is stopped this web page will not respond & Volocity will not run authorize on your computer. We are manually restarting the service. Please contact Michael if you find it unavailable so that it can be started.

Feb 20: OIS Ethernet connections - We are soon to be knackered. See NAC & guide re. new SOM network requirements.

Jan 13: Active Directory Domain Server (\\Marvin the password computer) has been crashing for mysterious reasons. If you can not log in or connect over the network please call or text Michael anytime. This computer will be upgraded.

Jan 13: LeicaSP2 - UV Illumination is better centered. Fiber coupling has been improved several fold. A new UV fiber is being ordered and is expected to provide more even illumination.

Jan 03: LeicaSP2 - The computer power supply was replaced after damage as a result of a crash. A CPU cooler fan is on order.

2011

Dec 28: Domain Controller Computer (\\MARVIN) - Power supply has failed. Log ins and shared directories may not have been available from ~12:00 PM to ~3:30 PM. The power supply was replaced.

Dec 15: Leica SP2 Confocal - The UV laser is available. Please start at tube current at zero and run at no more than two turns. Set the 364 nm AOTF to about 15% to 20%.

Oct 15: Leica SP2 Confocal - A loaner 63X 1.4 NA oil immersion objective is available while the 63x 1.4 NA UV objective is out for repair. Please note the loaner objective may not be well corrective for UV in the z-axis.
Oct 14: Volocity license server - The license server status web page has been moved to http://minsky.med.unc.edu:15003 and the license server connection for the Volocity program moved to http://minsky.med.unc.edu:15002. Although this is an inconvenience it was done since the old licnese server computer irrecoverably crashed (and burnt). Connect to minsky.med.unc.edu:15002 when prompted for a license server connection. Call/text/e-mail Michael if you have problems with Volocity. I will try to reply anytime if I physically can.

Oct 11: Leica SP2: UV laser has failed - We are searching for a replacement unit. The visible lasers are still operational and can be used normally. Please consider using the Olympus FV1000 confocal while UV laser is being repaired. Please contact the usual people for assistance.

Oct 13: printf( "Good bye DMR/n" );

Sep 19: Olympus FV1000 MPE confocal: Motorized x-y stage has been repaired

Sep 19: Inverted Leica widefield scope: Computer \\Lister - access to shared folders (\\lister\users, \\lister\users2) is not working properly. This problem has been fixed by adding the IRPStackSize parameter to the lanmanager service.

Sep 16: Olympus FV1000 confocal: Stage has been repaired. There was a broken wire at the stage connector. Laser alignment was also checked.

Sep 16: Leica Stereo/macro-scope: - USERS1 & USERS2 hard disk drive failed on the \\Gould computer. Failed computer power supply has been replaced. Power supply failed after hard disk drive failed.

Sep 16: Leica SP2: 63X 1.4 NA PL APO blue oil immersion objective is damaged after being crashed into the condenser due to uncontrollable stage movement as a result of a MIC controller crash. Still out for repair.
As a stop gap while the 63x is out for repair please use 40x and zoom in an extra 1.575x. There will be a slight (11%) loss of x-y resolution which is not subjectively noticeable, and would only be detectable under the most optimum of sample and imaging conditions. Note: If you will be doing x-z scanning with UV please see Michael or Neal about an alternate 40x 1.25 NA objective which has good x-z UV colocalization.

Sep 06: Leica SP2: UV laser is working. Used 4D Enterprise (0) power supply.

Jul 21: Laser Micro Dissection: Pulsed UV laser has failed.

Aug 02: Leica SP2 confocal microscope: Service with Jim & Jim. Lasers, voltages, etc. are OK. Perhaps AOTF is misbehaving. If lasers cut try changing settings on AOTF controller to see if laser output is restored.

June 03: \\Marvin the MHmicroscopy AD/domain controller had a bad mirror disk which was causing this computer to crash. Logging on to microscope computers and network access may have been difficult on Friday, June 3. The defective redundant dive has been replaced - no data has been lost.

May 27: Leica DMIRB inverted widefield microscope: A Hamamatsu Orca-ER CCD b/w camera has been put in service in place of the broken Cool Snap HQ2 camera. The acquisition software will need to be updated in order to use the monochrome camera. This is quick to do. Please see Neal or Michael for assistance carrying this out with your log in on the \\Lister computer.

May 18: Image processing workstation Nomarski hard disk drive has failed. This computer will be unavailable while the system is being rebuilt.

May 17: Nikon Nipkow Spinning Disk/Widefield microscope: The motorized dichroic filter cube turret has failed. Inspection the unit has revealed that salty fluid entry into the unit has caused corrosion of a crucial ball bearing. The turret rotation is stiff, rough and can not be driven by the motor.

May 16: Leica DMIRB inverted widefield microscope: The Cool Snap HQ2 CCD camera has become flaky. Temporarily an EMCCD camera has been put in its place. Please run this camera at multiplier gain 0 first then increase exposure time, &/or gain to 2 or 3. Multiplier gain will dramatically increase at over 17. The EMCCD camera has a dramatically different overload characteristics compared to conventional CCD cameras. Also the EMCCD only has a 512 by 512 sensor rather than the 1024 by 1024 sensor of the Cool Snap HQ2. Calibration images of the reticule slide need to be taken with the Cascade 512 for each objective on the Leica DMIRB. When we get a chance a Hamamatsu Orca ER will put on the system while we search for funds to repair the Cool Snap HQ2.

Feb 22 - Incubator 37C, 5% CO2, 95% Humidity: Is running again.

Feb 15 - Incubator 37C, 5% CO2, 95% Humidity: A broken plastic fitting prevents active humidification. We are seeking a replacement part, which may take a few days.

Feb 11: Leica SP2 Confocal Microscope - The UV laser has been aligned and the system is useable. Please make sure the tube current control is not turned more than 2 turns from the minimum position.

Feb 09: Leica SP2 Confocal Microscope - Backup UV laser is working! We still need to get the UV laser aligned to the scope, which will take a few days. Users of this system will receive an e-mail regarding its status

Feb 08: Leica SP2 Confocal microscope - The UV laser head has failed. All other laser lines (488, 514, 561, 633 nm) are still useable. Expected replacement sometime the week of Feb 14. We have a spare laser to swap in. If this laser functions it will need to be aligned with the fiber coupling.

Jan 06: Zeiss 510 Meta Confocal is available for use.
- Please double click "New User Generic Profile" on the desktop before starting the Zeiss software for the first/next time.
- Old data is secured on backup servers. Restored upon request.
- For help with restoring scan configurations or restoring old data please contact Michael or Neal

Jan 05: Zeiss 510 Meta Confocal - Is not available due to a computer/disk crash. We are working to get it operational. Data should be available on daily backups. Contact Michael or Neal for details.

2010

Nov 09: Zeiss 510 - Ch3 filter wheel serviced.

Nov 04: Zeiss 510 - Ch3 filter wheel has been replaced. Arc lamp field stop and aperture irises will be replaced.

Oct 11: Zeiss 510 - PMT power supply has been repaired. The system is running normally.

Oct 08: Zeiss 510 - PMT Ch-3 (red, far red emission) has failed. Repair is schedule for Oct 11 morning. See Neal or Michael about using the Ch-S (meta) as a work around.

June 24: Leica SP2 confocal - System has been restored. Replaced detector board, power module and adjust phase.

June 22: Leica SP2 confocal - System is crashing frequently. Service is scheduled for June 24.

June 14: Leica SP2 confocal - System was serviced. New scan head controller (SCSI?), exchanged MB but returned to original. UV lens motor not exchanged. Scheduled for exchange driver board & main board.

June 03: Leica SP2 confocal - Red laser (633 nm) has been replaced along with its power supply. The system is running again.

June 01: Leica SP2 confocal - Red laser (for excitation of CY5, Alexa 633/647, Draq5, etc.) fuse has blown again, reiterating the indication of a bad red HeNe laser. Replacement parts have arrived and will be installed June 2.

May 28: Leica SP2 confocal - Red laser operation has been restored for now. Although it can not certain how long it will remain functioning. Please use it while you can. If it fails please let us know by e-mail/phone. Replacement part is expected June 1 and will be installed June 2.

May 27: Leica SP2 confocal - Red 633 nm laser is not working. Fuse is blown indicating a bad laser &/or power supply. Replacement parts are expected June 2.

April 16: Nikon TE2000 - The computer called \\Morpheus has failed and has been replaced with another computer called \\Ploem. Independent of the motherboard failure the disk drive has failed. No data was lost, and please contact Neal if you need to access any of the backed up data files. For now, data files should be stored to C:\USERS. Your may create a named directory for yourself. \\Ploem\users1 is the network share name of the c:\users directory.
Important: The filter and camera configurations have been changed slightly in the rebuilt system. Please contact Neal for help setting up filter and camera configurations.

April 07: Leica SP2 confocal service maintenance completed. Please log any issues.

April 05 & 06: Leica SP2 confocal - Service. Stand cleaning of optics, inc. objs, condensor, polarisers, tube lenses. Service of z-wide-drive. Recal ferro resonant x-former voltage. Recal AOTF, AOBS, PMT sliders. Recal PMT amp?
Mar 31: Leica SP2 confocal - Intermittent crashes reported as a SCSI interface error. Service is scheduled for Monday April 5 & now also 6. See note on computer (and below) for the procedure to restart the scanner.
- If the machine is not working/giving errors:
  - Save your images (if possible)
  - Try to contact Michael (843-3268) or Neal (966-7051) immediately
  - Please briefly note any error message in log book
  - Try the microscope fluorescence shutter button. If the red LED turns off & on then do recovery procedure 1. If the LED does not turn off/on then do recovery procedure 2.
- Recovery procedure 1:
  - Shutdown the software. You may have to right click on the rectangular icon at the bottom of the left monitor, and choose close.
  - Turn the scan head off (switch #5) and wait at least 15 seconds.
  - Restart the scanner
  - After 5 seconds start the software, and resume scanning
- Recovery procedure 2:
  - Save images
  - Exit software
  - When software has completely closed power off the microscope stand (switch #2) for 15 seconds.
  - Repower stand and wait 15 seconds
  - Restart LCS software, and resume scanning
Mar 08: Leica SP2 confocal - PMT voltage/gain is not producing overloaded pixels when turned up. PMT circuit board(s) will be replaced in the week of March 15. Be careful about saturated image regions region - turn PMT voltage down to unsaturate these regions.

Feb 27: Leica SP2 confocal - The "SCSI error" system crash has yet to reoccur after the power supply replacement on Feb 24. The stand has crashed once in this period, but was not associated with a "SCSI error". Please note that a stand crash is a system/software freeze which is characterized by the microscope stand motorized controls not responding. If this happens:
1. Save your images;
2. Shut down the LCS software;
3. Power off the microscope stand control box on the floor;
4. Wait 15 seconds then turn the stand back on. The stage will move down a few millimeters, and if the upper limit has been set with your sample use the course focus up to get back close to focus.
5. Restart the LCS software
6. Open the image database. Double click in the last image scanned and use the "Reapply button to restore settings. Note zoom and image size will have to be manually restored.
If there are still problems try shutting down the software and waiting until it has shut down, then power off the scanner (switch #5), wait 15 seconds, then repower the scanner, wait 15 seconds then restart the software, or contact us.

Feb 24: Leica SP2 confocal - Main power supply has been replaced. We hope that this will have eliminated the system crashes that are associated with a SCSI error report. Note that rare stand crashes still persist.

Feb 3: Leica SP2 confocal - Scanhead SCSI controller was replaced. Firmware reloaded. The system should work fine as of 6 PM Feb 4. But, since the problem is intermittent, we can not be sure that the repair effective until the system is run for some time. Therefore we users to make use of the system. But please let us know of problems are encountered.

Feb 1: Leica SP2 confocal - Intermittent problems still persist. Next scheduled repair is Wednesday, Feb 3. We apologize the continued inconvenience.

Jan 29: Leica SP2 confocal - Is not working. The SCSI interface replaced on Friday 29 Jan.

Jan 14: \\Minsky file server - File shared have been restored. However errors and omissions may have occurred, so please do not hesitate to contact Michael or Neal about access issues.

Jan 11: \\Minsky file server: The computer which is Minsky has been restored. Shares are slowly being restored. If your data is not accessible please contact Michael after hours or Neal during regular hours to have your shares made available.

Jan 11: \\Minsky file server: Some time between 1:00 AM and 8:00 AM the Windows 2003 server hard disk drive failed. If you needed access to your data you could have phoned or e-mailed Neal or Michael to arrange access to the backup server \\Marvin. Since the Windows system drive is separate to the User Data areas, no user data has been lost. However the computer which shares this data needed to be restored.

2009

Nov 3: Leica SP2 Confocal - SCSI interface and micro controller were replaced. Machine is in shake down mode.

Oct 27: Leica SP2 Confocal - Again the SCSI VI issue. Repaired Oct 5 by Dana.

Oct 20: MHmicroscopy Web server - At 9:30 to10:30 PM Primary webpage (microscopy.unc.edu a.k.a. mhmicroscopy.med.unc.edu) was taken off line in order to restore operation from main hardware. All web pages and calendar pages should be back to normal.

Oct 19: MHmicroscopy Web server failed after a Windows security patch was installed at 1:30 PM. Primary webpage was restarted off a backup server at 2:45 PM. Secondary web pages (physiology.med.unc.edu, malus.med.unc.edu, confocal.med.unc.edu, 152.19 58.212) remained unavailable until 10:15 PM.

Oct 16: Volocity License server is back on ai.med.unc.edu:15002 (or 152.10.83.97:15002). The associated status page is back at http://ai.med.unc.edu:15003 (or http://152.19.83.97:15003)

Oct 14: Volocity License server is temporarily being run off \\Minsky. Volocity license server status page is temporarily http://minsky.med.unc.edu:15003 and the connection address for obtaining Volocity licenses is minsky.med.unc.edu:15002

Oct 13: Volocity License server is off line due to the failure of the \\AI computer.

Oct 13: AI the backup file server is off line due to a power supply failure and associated failure of both its operating system hard disk drives. This means that the Volocity server is also off line. No user data was lost from the RAID drives attached to this server. However ever daily backups will not be performed while AI is off line.

Oct 13: Minsky the main file server was offline from Oct 13 11:45 PM to Oct 14 1:30 AM due to a failed hard disk drive. No user data was lost!

Oct 05: Leica SP2 Confocal Microscope has been serviced .

Oct 02: Abbe backup computer & raid system - The SCSI disk controller interface is having issues. No user system is affected.

Sep 29: Zernike Image Processing Workstation - has been repaired.

Sep 26: Zernike Image Processing Workstation - Is unavailable due to a burnt out power supply. Impacted - no 64 bit Volocity. Please use \\Nomarski or \\Snell or your computer instead for Volocity.

Aug 18: Zeiss 510 confocal - The 543 nm Green laser has been repaired. All three lasers (blue, green & red) are one again functioning. Thanks Charlie!

Aug 14: Zeiss 510 confocal - The green laser (543 nm, Rhodamine, TexRed, CY3, etc.) has failed. It is flickering and producing horizontal bands of intensity fluctuations. Repair is scheduled for Aug 18.

Aug 12: Michael's furlough day part 2.

Aug 09 - HP1320 b/w laser jet printer is available \\Minsky\HP1320-MHMF
Aug 10 - Xerox dye sublimation color printer is available \\Minsky\Phaser550

Aug 08: Printers - Xerox 8550 dye sublimation color printer and the HP laser jet printer are not shared on Minsky yet (oops, Michael erred). These printer shares were overlooked when the Minsky hardware and operating system were upgraded.

Aug 07: \\Minsky file server - New hardware and operating system (Windows 2003 server) has been put into service. All current users data have been migrated to the new computer. There is no change in the way users should connect to file shares using \\minsky except for those who use the i.p. number for access. The i.p. number for accessing \\minsky is now \\152.19.58.205 and also \\minsky.med.unc.edu. This change is permanent. (\\152.19.58.67 & \\mh-microscopy.med.unc.edu is no longer in service.) However there remains the possibility that Michael mis-entered the sharing information for some users/labs/groups. If users encounter this situation, or other problems, please rest assured that your data is still stored on the system and is merely inaccessible. Please feel free to call Michael if you have problems connecting or can not find shares or files. Please feel free to call 843-3268 almost anytime or leave a message.

Aug 04: \\Minsky file server - Due to an impending failure the computer will be replaced. Please note that user data will be preserved. Yes, the computer event log is indicating that the machine will fail totally soon. While a replacement computer is running in parallel access to Minsky may be strange for a few days. Please call Michael at 843-3268, almost anytime is fine, if you encounter problems.

Aug 04: Zeiss 510 confocal - X-axis scanner galvo motor has been replaced. These is no longer a need to scan with 90 degree rotation. Also the galvanometer controller card has been updated.

July 20: Laser Micro-Dissection system has been taken off the network. Please use an USB drive to transfer any images.

July 16: Michael's furlough day part 1. Don't ask since I won't tell.

July 16: LeicaSP2 Confocal - UV lens drive was adjusted. This should fix problems described on July 3. This problems does crop up again please let Neal or Michael know so that we can get the issue addressed.

July 03: LeicaSP2 Confocal - UV lens motor is jamming giving weak and fuzzy DAPI, Hoechst, etc. images. Work around - try restarting LCS software. Service request has been submitted.

April 09: Zeiss 510 Meta Confocal Microscope - Power supply for the Green (543 nm) HeNe laser was replaced. All three lasers are operational.

April 07: Zeiss 510 Meta Confocal Microscope - The Green (543 nm) laser has been restored to operation at the expense of the Red (633 nm) laser. This was done since many more users rely on the 543 nm laser than the 633 nm laser, and the red and green laser power supplies are interchangeable.

April 07: Zeiss 510 Meta Confocal Microscope - The Green (543 nm) HeNe laser has failed. Looks like this is due to a failed power supply. Zeiss service has been contacted.

April 02: Nikon upright microscopy (Hooke workstation) - Power power switch failed. Switch was replaced April 3. Power connector to lamp bayonet was also loose. One fault, with two causes! This was tough to diagnose.

Mar 28: Acquisition and Image Processing Working Stations were turned off Saturday afternoon in honor of Earth hour. Files servers will remain running. If you would like (quick) access to data on Acquisition & Image Processing computers please telephone Michael or if you are on site just turn the computer back on. You will not be forced to use a candle for microscope illumination.

Mar 28: Snell - Zeiss 510 full off line software license has been moved back onto the \\Snell image processing workstation

Mar 27: Zeiss 510 - The automated condenser was replaced with a manual unit. Please manually choose DIC II for Nomarski DIC with the 10x objective and DIC III for all other objectives capable of performing DIC. Also the condenser aperture needs to be manually set to minimum for sample location in order to get maximum depth of focus and contrast, and to maximally open for DIC and laser scanning transmitted light imaging.

Mar 26: The Minsky file server small raid's bad hard disk drive has been replaced. Write access will still be disabled on \\minsky\users and \\minsky\users1 for now until the computer is replaced. Please keep on using alternate storage location(s). e.g. \\minsky\users2

Mar 26 - Minsky the file server was temporarily unavailable from 5:30 to 6:45 PM while a replacement hard disk drive was being resynchronized in the small RAID 5.

Mar 23: Zeiss 510 - The automated condenser will be replaced with a manual unit. This is being performed to see if system lockups will be reduced. After this has been done users will have to manually adjust the condenser aperture and ensure that the correct Wollaston Prism for DIC has been selected i.e. II for the 10x objective and III for all other objectives when doing DIC transmitted light imaging.

Mar 18: The Minsky file server - small server raid is close to failure. Do not store data in \\minsky\users1 This shared directory has been made read only. Please store new files in an alternate location. e.g. \\Minsky\users2 or \\Minsky\your_lab-name. Ask Michael or Neal for assistance and requests for share setup for your lab or you. The failure of this system is unavoidable since the hard disk drive in this RAID has been discontinued, and the replacement drives received were not compatible. If and when the failure occurs we do not expect data loss, and only minor disruption while the backup system is switched in. Please note data older than 24 is backed up on \\Marvin. As part of this switch over \\Minsky's i.p. number will be changed to 152.19.58.205. This will only affect those accessing the files server from outside of the Med. Sch. who access \\Minsky using \\152.19.58.67

Mar 18 - Minsky small RAID impeding failure. Write access to \\minsky\users & \\minsky\users1 has been disabled. For the very small number of users who still use these shares please use another location for new data. This has been done in order to avoid loss of data if the RAID array fails.

Mar 13: Zeiss 510 Confocal Microscope: Argon 488 nm laser is functioning! Problems were due to power switch and key being turned off. Please use Zeiss software to turn lasers off & on, and leave the key and rocker switch on the black power supply box on the cart both ON when the system is shut down using the software.
Feb 18: Zeiss 510 confocal computer has been replaced. This means that:
- The new computer does not have:
  1. LSM 510 personal users profiles, e.g. filter settings, microscope macros, scanning tracks.
  2. Confocal image database files saved on the old computer
  3. Drive letter maps, e.g. M: for \\Minsky\Users2.
- Restore:
  1. User profiles by logging into \\Gauss (old \\Hertz) and wait until "Profiles exported!!!" to appear in the Command Prompt box. Then go to the new \\Hertz, exit AIM 510 software, if it is running, and double click the "RunThisOnce Personal Profiles" icon on the desktop. Now Zeiss LSM 510 should contain the profiles, filters, multitracks, macros, etc.
  2. Old files/image databases from the original computer. Old files are currently on \\Gauss\Users & \\Gauss\Users2 (Old \\Hertz has just been renamed to \\Gauss and moved to the cart near the window).
  3. Drive letter maps, if any, manually by browsing to the server, right clicking on the shared resource and choosing "Map Drive". See: http://microscopy.unc.edu/Resources/Minsky/MappingToShares.html or ask Neal or Michael for assistance.
- Changed:
  - New drive E: for data & image storage
  - New & changed network shares on \\Hertz:
    - D: drive = \\Hertz\Users1 (formerly \\Hertz\users)
    - F: drive = \\Hertz\Users2 (formerly \\Hertz\users2)
    - E: drive = \\Hertz\Users3 (New. Did not formerly exist)
      - Note that contrary to logical assignment, but consistent with the scheme on old computer Users2 is the F: drive while Users3 is the E: drive.

Feb 17: Zeiss 510 confocal computer was replaced with a faster, bigger disk, more RAM computer. Zeiss 510 confocal user profiles will need to be transferred in order to have filter, setup, scanning, etc. parameters available on your log in on the new computer. The new computer is call \\Hertz and the old computer is call \\Gauss. The old computer (now called \\Gauss) will remain in service for a few months, or until it fails, so users can retrieve their Zeiss profiles and access files. Files on the retired computer can be accessed using you MHmicroscopy user name and password.

Jan 21: Spinning Disk Confocal: Nipkow - now has a transmitted light shutter. C-Imaging users will need to have its profile updated in order to drive this shutter.

Feb 06 - Zeiss 510 confocal computer is failing and will be replaced Feb 17. Also stuck condenser will be replaced.
Feb 01 - File server AI boot hard disk drive has failed. Daily backup will not be performed until this system is restored. This is of little consequence to users, since data is stored on a separate RAID array which is not affected.
Jan 12 - Hamamatsu OrcaER cameras have been send out for interface and firmware upgrades. Affected stations: Fresnel (Inverted Leica) - Morpheus (time lapse & Fura-2) - Nipkow (Spinning disk). Expected return: early Feb.
Jan 06 - \\Marvin has been replace with new hardware
Jan 03 - Backup server \\Marvin has failed

2008

Dec 28: Image Processing Workstation called \\Brewster has failed. \\Nomarski has replaced Brewster.

Oct 14: Minsky, the file server - A drive controller and its associated hard disk drive catastrophically failed after 4:00 AM on October 10. The disk partition serving Lamantia, Faber & Blancafort labs. and Dentistry, Dermatology & Psychiatry Departments shares were totally lost. This unit was replaced on Oct 13 and files restored from primary backups on Oct 14. As far is I can determine no data file was lost. Please contact Michael if you encounter any outstanding issues.

Aug 28: Zeiss 510 confocal - 633 nm (red) has been repaired.

Aug 28: Zeiss 510 confocal - The red (633 nm) laser is not firing up. Zeiss service has been contacted. Imaging with the 488 nm (blue Argon/1) & 532 nm (Green HeNe) lasers can still be performed.

Aug 22: Microscope stand on the Leica SP2 Confocal has been reset. Focus and limit setting is working properly again.

July 24: Leica SP2 Confocal is down. Systems is running again. Scanhead microcontroller was replaced.

July 18: Leica SP2 Confocal is down. Part is on order and expected the week starting July 21.

July 17: Leica SP2 Confocal is down. Error reported is "Timeout in device: SCSI Controller V1". The machine can not be used for scanning. Leica service has been notified, and we are waiting for a scheduled repair time and date.

July 08: Leica SP2 Confocal - Scan head voltage adjusted to 5.6V

June 26: Zeiss 510 Confocal - X-Galvo replaced.

May 29: Leica SP2 Confocal has been repaired - Power supply to scan head was readjusted.

May 28: Leica SP2 Confocal is still down. Parts expected to be here today did not arrive. They should be here tomorrow. If you do not need UV, the Zeiss 510 may be an option - contact Michael.

May 21: Power failure: Floor buffing caused a circuit breaker to be tripped from 10:50 PM to Thursday 12:25 AM. Unavailable servers \\Minsky and secondary web pages, \\Marvin. Some daily backups were interrupted. Dear Bill Marzluff, please we need some server room space!

May 19: Leica SP2 Confocal is down. Local service technician is out of town until Friday but we will try to get Leica to send someone sooner.
- "Timeout in device: SCSI Controller V1"
- Update May 20:
  - Talked to Miriam in Tech Support at the 866 number walked me through some restart procedures and we confirmed that there's nothing we can do here. A job order has been opened with Leica.
  - Dana, our local service tech, will be here Tuesday to work on the system. He is currently out of town on service calls.
- UPDATE MAY 28
  - Because of the stalled PO for the service contract, Leica service did not send the requested parts to Dana. Dana has requested the parts be sent today based on our previous verbal commitment for the service contract. He will plan to come tomorrow once the parts arrive.

Apr 14: SERVER \\MINSKY IS RESTORED Logons and access to shared directories and files are restored. Please contact Michael if you notice any issues.
Apr 14: SERVER \\MINSKY IS DOWN Went offline this morning. We are in the process of getting it back on-line and hope to have that complete before the end of the day. File access and logon to MHMF computers are affected. See a facility director if you need to log on to a computer.

April 07: Zeiss 510 confocal - AOTF control unit cooling fan replaced

Mar 26: Zeiss 510 confocal - Reported to Zeiss central funny sound from laser box at startup (probably a fan) and increasing amperage at consistent power output %. Work order # 41037839.

Feb 28: Leica SP2 AOBS Confocal - PMT #3 is working. PMT preamp and power supply board were replaced.

Feb 19: Image Processing Workstation \\Hooke - Replaced dead 21" monitor with used 19" CRT.

Feb 15 2008: Leica SP2 AOBS Confocal - Service Tech visit.
- Replacement of PMT#3 did not solve the problem.
- Connected PMT#3 to new port on controller board and had it working briefly but failed again before he left. The system is still functioning with only PMTs 1 and 2. Will order new controller board.
- Some correction of UV illumination evenness.

Jan 04 2008: Leica SP2 AOBS Confocal - PMT #3 is not working properly. To get any signal, offset must be turned to 40 or greater. Please see a facility director for assistance in adjusting your acquisition parameters. Service has been contacted. We were notified that there is a long line ahead of us so it may be several weeks before this is fixed. In the meantime:
- PMT #2 should be used instead of PMT#3 for all imaging parameters.
- Many of the Beam Path Settings for acquisition will need to be reconfigured.
- For imaging more than 2 channels, sequential scanning with frame switching will need to be used.
UPDATE Feb 11: Our Leica service technician is scheduled to come this Friday to address the PMT3 problem and the uneven UV illumination with the 40X.

2007

Dec 04: Zeiss 510 Confocal - The D: drive was failing, and the C: & D: partition hard drive has been replaced. Due to file corruption on the original D: drive most files were not restored to it. However all C: drive files and the operation system were restored. Failure was progressive and it is not certain when this problem started. Data stored on this drive was last copied on Dec 03 and can be made available upon request to Michael.

Oct 14: Raid File Server \\MARVIN - The Windows 2003 operating system for the computer called Marvin has been rebuilt from scratch. Raid Server Data is present and intact. If you use this server for file storage you will notice that there are currently no user network shares available (shared directories, e.g. \\marvin ). If you do use these shares on Marvin please let Michael know the share name you used, so that sharing can be re-established, and your data made available.

Oct 10: Snell image process workstation - Software installed: C-Imaging, Zeiss LSM 510, MetaMorph 7.1, Adobe Creative Suite 3, WinZip 11

C-Imaging/Compix/SimplePCI 6.2	Installed
Winzip 11	Installed
Zeiss AIM 510 (full off line)	Installed
Leica SP2 (full off line)	Installed
Thumbsplus 7	Installed
Videdit 1.1	Installed
QuickTime Pro 7.2	Installed
MS-Office 2003	Installed
Adobe Creative Suite 3	Installed
Roxio DVD/CD writing	Installed
Symantec Anti Virus 10.1.6.6010	Installed
ZoneAlarm 7.0.408	Installed

Oct 9: Raid File server \\MARVIN - Is not booting up after Microsoft's update Tuesday. Data should be secure on the raid array, but the computer which coordinates access to the array is in a constant loop of rebooting. Tests are being carried out to determine what is bad component in the system. Components found to be good so far are: CPU & memory, RAID array drive,

Oct 4: Snell image process workstation - Is available again, but software still needs to be reinstalled. Data on hard drives is preserved. Files that were left on the Windows desktop can be found in N:\Documents and Settings\ in a directory with your username. i.e. N:\Documents and Settings\%username%\ or N:\Documents and Settings\%userprofile%\desktop
Oct 3: Volocity - Is now on the Windows x64 bit workstation call \\Zernike which is currently located on the large table in 6129 Thurston Bowles. It will run faster in this machine. The D:\ drive is shared as users1. i.e. \\zernike\users1

Sept 13: Snell image process workstation - Is not available due to motherboard & Video card failures. Data on the hard drives will be preserved, and the computer may be back on the network on Monday. Software will be reinstalled subsequently.

August 17: Leica inverted - Fine focus has been repaired. A deteriorating FITC cube has been replaced.

July 26: Nikon Microphot - cleaning, lubrication. All transmitted light filters now work.

July 26: Leica 4D - Is back in operation

July 25: Leica 4D Confocal - Optics clean, lubrication, adjust condenser arm microswitch, clean stage, align visible laser, mount laser back on unit, laser alignment

July 20: Leica SP2 AOBS confocal - Detector board replaced. PMT2 channel is much cleaner. UV realigned in Z axis.

July 18: Leica inverted - An axis for the focus drive is cracked. Course focus is unaffected but the fine focus may have slight delay. Replacement parts are on order.

July 18: Leica inverted - A new transmitted light power supply has been installed. Transmitted light control is back to normal.

July 5: Leica SP2 confocal - Alignment of all channels was performed in XY and in Z.

June 29: Leica SP2 Confocal - Files older than 6 months have been purged from the D: & E: drives

June 26: Leica inverted - A temporary transmitted light power supply has been setup. It has two power levels, off and on - please use the power off /on switch. The rheostat on the temporary power supply is faulty and will be replaced. For now please just use it a maximum power only.

June 25: Leica inverted - Transmission lamp power supply has burnt out. A temporary power unit will be setup on Tuesday. Fluorescence viewing and imaging is unaffected.

June 25: Leica Inverted Microscope: File older than 6 month on \\Fresnel\users2 (the computers d: drive) area have been purged. This action is in accordance with stated facility policy, and was carried out due to no free space on \\\FRESNEL\USERS2. Removed files may be present on alternate storage. Please contact Michael for information.

June 25: "Roach" raid array: Left redundant power supply is being flagged as failing. PAM is not responding. However file shares on \\marvin are still accessible. Note to self: Make sure the mobile phone is well charged and call Promise.

June 22: Minsky server - Files older than 2 yrs have been purge from \\MINSKY\USERS2. This action is in accordance with stated facility policy, and was carried out due to limited available free space on \\\MINSKY\USERS2. Removed files may be present on alternate storage. Please contact Michael for information.

June 19: Nikon TE2000 MultiMode - The DG-4 fluorescence illumination is uneven and not as bright as it should be. Technical assistance has been contacted.

June 15: Image Processing Snell - The power supply was replaced and Snell and is working well so far. Please alert a facility director if you have any problems.

June 11: The image processing workstation called Snell is crashing and failing to boot. Cause is being investigated. A marginal power supply is suspected. i.e. too many devices inside this computer (3x hard disk drives, high performance video card, parallel card, DVD writer) just exceeding the maximum power which can be delivered from the existing power unit.

May 14 Leica SP2 Confocal: The UV laser excitation path has been realigned and should be working. Please contact a facility director with any problems.

May 03 Leica SP2 Confocal: The system is functioning again!

May 02 Image Processing Workstation \\Snell: The computer has been locking up occasionally. This seems to e hardware related. DVD/CD burner has bee replaced since it has been unreliable. These problems may be due to an inadequate power supply. This system runs with 3 hard disk drives and a DVD burner off a 400 W power supply. A larger power supply will be tested in this system.

May 01 - Leica SP2 AOBS Confocal: Replacement boards x-y-z galvo and reassigning the Mic Stand control to COM2 allowed the system to run for ~30 minutes, until a board failure brought down the system.

Apr 27 - Leica SP2 AOBS Confocal: Replacement of additional galvo components (control board) and 4 hours of troubleshooting did not solve the problem. More parts will be ordered and another round of troubleshooting will begin on Wednesday, May 2.

Apr 26 - Leica SP2 AOBS Confocal: Replacement of the x-galvo components that arrived today did not solve the problem. Now we must wait for parts sent from Germany.

Apr 25 - Leica SP2 AOBS Confocal: The system is non-functional due to the failure of the x-galvo mirror for laser scanning. Replacement parts are on order and should be installed Thurs. 4/26/07.

Apr 12 - Zeiss 510: HRZ/Galvo stage is working properly. Transmitted light switching mirror was replaced which should prevent further hardware communication errors.

Apr 12 - Zeiss 510: HRZ/Galvo stage is not responding. X-Z scanning can still be performed slowly with "z-sectioning" i.e. stand fine focus control. However x-z scanning with the high speed hyperfine mode is not possible. Note that standard z-series scanning is still possible.

Apr 3 - Zeiss 510 confocal: The hardware communication error for the transmitted light mirror continues to appear intermittently. If you encounter this and are unable to view or image DIC, close the software (lasers stay on), power cycle the microscope stand and restart the software (Argon laser power will need to be re-set).

Mar 30 - Zeiss 510 Meta confocal: The microscope stand power supply unit and the transmitted light PMT cable were replaced.

Mar 09 - Zeiss 510 Meta confocal: The condenser unit was replaced.

Mar 8 - Leica SP2 AOBS confocal: The microscope fluorescence module was adjusted. Please alert a facility director of any further stand crashes.

Mar 07 - LeicaSP2 Confocal: Stand service, especially fluorescence cube turret and shutter electronics. Replace lower AOBS AOTF controller fan.

Feb 16 - Zeiss 510 confocal: The transmitted light mirror is sticking intermittently. Service has been contacted and parts on on order..

Feb 15 - LeicaSP2 AOBS Confocal: The microscope stand is continuing to crash periodically. Service has been contacted.

Feb 15 - Web server: The computer serving the pages listed below will be upgraded soon. This change has no impact except for users accessing the FTP site and those administrating on the calendars. A note will be placed here when the site is upgraded.
- http://microscopy.unc.edu
- http://mhmicroscopy.med.unc.edu
- http://mhmf.org http://www.mhmf.org
- http://physiology.med.unc.edu
- http://confocal.med.unc.edu
- http://synapseclub.org
- http://confocal.org http://www.confocal.org
- 152.19.58.166
- 152.19.48.66

Feb 12 - LeicaSP2 AOBS Confocal: Original microscope stand controller put back into service, and firmware pack 4.3.1 loaded.

Jan 17 - Image Processing Workstation Snell: Defective DVD+R/W replaced.
Jan 17 - Image Processing Workstation Snell: Drag-Direct-to-DVD/CD removed since it was slowing down the system significantly. Logging out should now be swifter.

Jan 08 - LeicaSP2 AOBS: Several bad crashes due to unpredictable stage behavior. Reset parfocal settings for all objectives and seems to be working better. Cause of parfocality disappearance unknown.

Jan 02 - Nikon Inverted TE2000 - The DVC 1412 camera is working again. A p ower supply unit was faulty. A replacement power supply has been put into service. The DVC 1312 camera is still connected to Morpheus and may be used.

2006

Dec 24 - Nikon Inverted TE2000 - 1412 camera is not functioning. 1312 is now connected to the computer called Morpheus. Problem will be appraised in early Jan 2007

Nov 17 - Minsky: Another hard drive has failed on the file server Minsky (a different unit to the Oct 31 failure listed below). It was replaced and restored with data prior to Nov 11, and was back in service on Saturday morning. Affected users/labs/groups are listed. Note: since files were restored from cumulative backups, file which have been deleted may be back in user directories.

Oct 31 - Minsky: A failed hard disk drive has been replaced. Affected files have been loaded from backups made up to Oct 14, 2006. Affected users are listed in this link: users/labs/groups. Files that were stored on the failed drive from Oct 14 to Oct 28 may still be present on the original computer workstation. If the files have been deleted from the workstation they may still be available on separate workstation backups of Oct 17 & 24. Please contact a facility director if you wish to examine these off line backups.

Oct 28 - Minsky: A drive has failed affecting shares and data of some users/labs/groups

Oct 25 - Leica SP2 AOBS Confocal: The UV light path was aligned for better image quality.

Oct 24 - Color Printer: The Xerox Phaser 860 color printer is experiencing error 15,004.45:8029 and is not available for printing.

Oct 23 - Zeiss 510: Galvo Z-stage recalibrated. Please let facility personal know if you notice instability or non linearity in the galvo stage z-positioning system.

Oct 21 Sat. 7am-10am: Scheduled Power Outage for Thurston Bowles
- Ensure all lasers and fluorescence light sources are powered down prior to the power outage.
- MHMF equipment will be unavailable during this time.
- Servers will be shutdown at 6:00 PM on Friday and restarted Monday morning (please let a facility director know if you need access before Monday)

Oct 20 - Leica Inverted Fluorescence Microscope: Imaging of far-red emitting fluorophores (ie, Cy5, AlexaFluor 633, AlexaFluor647) is now available using a new filtercube. See a facility director for instructions on how to implement this new capability.

Oct 12 - Minsky file server: Many shared directories were unavailable due to two disk packs disconnecting from the computer. Data on the drives was safe, but unavailable on the network. The network shares were restored at 2:30 PM Oct 12

Oct 12 - This web server: Down - Due to a waste paper bin placed against the key board this server did not reboot after a Windows security patch installation. Down 11 PM Oct 11 to 9:10 AM Oct 12.

Sept 22 - Marvin file server: is available again.

Sept 25 - Zeiss 510: confocal is back in action. A scope interface board, the condenser and transmitted light changer were replaced.

Sept 22 - Marvin file server: is not available. The secondary file server, Marvin is failing to boot up. The data on it is safe and will be available again once the operating system for Marvin is repaired or reinstalled. Please note that most users access the main file server called Minsky. Only a minority of users will be affected by the unavailability of Marvin. If you urgently need data on Marvin please contact Michael.

Sept 20 - Leica SP2 confocal: Frequent microscope stand crashes. All motorized controls fail to respond to button presses, focus is frozen on the stand, and LCS software will not run microscope (e.g. switch from scan mode to visual mode).
- To fix problem:
  - 1. Save images
  - 2. Shutdown LCS software -
  - 3. Allow LCS software to close then
  - 4. Power down microscope stand controller
  - 5. Re-power microscope stand
  - 6. Restart LCS software
  - 7. Please record "Stand Crash" in log book

Sept 20 - Zeiss 510 confocal: Scanning is occasionally locking up. Service has been scheduled.

Sept 5 - Leica TCS-4D: The Kr/Ar laser would not ignite this morning. We will work on this as soon as possible. In the meantime, the Zeiss 510 has significant availability http://microscopy.unc.edu/Scripts/Zeiss510meta/Bookings_Zeiss510meta14.exe.

Aug 24 - Servers Minsky & Marvin: An uninterruptible power supply (UPS) battery failure forced the partial powering down of the file servers Minsky & Marvin. Some users' shares and printers on Minsky and Marvin were unavailable for ~12 minutes from about 10:15 AM.

Aug 16 - Leica-LMD: Preventative maintenance service; included realignment of laser for better power.

Aug 16 - Inverted Leica fluorescence: Service was performed on the stage to address the problem with lateral drift.

Aug 15 - Leica SP2 confocal: A borrowed 40X 1.25NA oil objective has been put on the system while our objective in place of ours. An improvement in the blue channel should be noticeable. Our objective has been sent out for repair.

Mel Gibson was born in New York: He only lived in Australia, and studied at the University of New South Wales, Australia.

Aug 1 - Zeiss 510 confocal: The F: drive storage space has been substantially increased to 110 GBytes.
- 1. Files on the F: drive older than May 1 are no longer present. (In effect files older than May 1 have been erased, but don't panic and see point 2. below.) This is because a new F: disk drive has been installed in the system, and only files newer than three months old have been copied to the new drive. Therefore problems may occur if you are opening image databases from the F: drive (or copied from the F: drive after Aug 1) that have images saved prior to May 1, 2006.
- 2. However for a limited time (until Aug 1, 2008) files and image databases that were present at Aug 1, 2006, can be made available by request.
- Yes, this is all rather complex. However we do not want to keep "expired" data, since both the D: & F: drives do fill up. In fact we spend a significant amount of time dealing with expired data, and hope users appreciate that it is difficult for us to determine which are unneeded files. It should be noted that most facilities have draconian rules about old data. We know that a large fraction of the files on the image acquisition systems are well backed up by users. However we have very little idea which files are actually no longer required. In some ways we create this problem by advising users not the erase data files until they know the files are securely and adequately transferred to their computers/servers/CD/DVD/etc. But transfer errors do occur occasionally. For the bottom line please see the facility file storage policy.
- Those who store image databases/files on the D: drive may consider using the open space on the F: drive instead.

Aug 1 - Zeiss 510 confocal: Scanning is back to normal after the service visit. Scanning galvos were recalibrated. Swing arm safety switch repaired. Annual PM performed. F: drive upgraded to 110 Gbytes from 39 GBytes.

July 31 - Zeiss 510 confocal: Scanning is intermittently failing. Service will be carried on Aug 1 in order to investigate the cause. Check back here for updates.

July 31 - File server \\MINSKY: MHMF server \\MINSKY went off-line starting at 1:24pm and was back on line at ~2:00pm. Access to files on the server and MHMF computer network drives were affected.

July 10 - Zeiss FRAP demonstration: Elise Shumsky of Zeiss will demonstrate how FRAP can be performed on the 510 Meta confocal microscope. Let a facility director know if you plan to attend.

July 4 - ~~Michael Chua: I am receiving spam e-mails faster than I can erase them. If you need to contact me please use the phone, paper or other 19th century and before devices~~

June 7 - Zeiss 510 Meta confocal: The mercury lamp power supply was replaced with a new unit. Start up and shut down procedures are the same as before.
The HRZ stage continues to misbehave. The Zeiss service technician has ordered a new stage.

June 6 - Analysis Workstation \\Young: Replaced failing video card with MSI nVidia FX5200

June 2 - Leica Inverted Fluorescence microscope: The stage has been tightened to prevent drifting. Movement is still not perfectly smooth. Please alert a facility director if you continue to have drifting problems.

May 31 - Image acquisition station \\Hooke: Replaced video card because of a failing fan on the previous card.

May 31 - Leica Inverted Fluorescence microscope: The stage is drifting when it should be stationary. The service engineer will be here Friday, June 2 to address this issue.

May 30 - Analysis Workstation \\Young: A cooling fan on the video card is making a rattling/humming noise. The computer still functions normally.

May 23 - Zeiss 510 Meta confocal: The service engineer could not replicate the z-galvo stage problem, so it is still unsolved. Please record any troubles in the log book and alert a facility director.

May 12 - Zeiss 510 Meta confocal: the z-axis galvo (HRZ) is not reliably returning to the beginning and end set positions. Occasionally a buzz can be heard emanating from the HRZ stage transducer box. Zeiss service has been informed. Engineer is expected about May 19. Temporary fix is to try powering down the system and restarting.

April 12 - Leica SP2 AOBS confocal: The microscope stand controller was replaced with a new unit. Please alert a facility director if you experience any troubles with the system.

April 6 - Leica SP2 AOBS confocal: A hardware communication failure may occur in the middle of your scanning session. The service technician has been contacted and is working on a solution. If you experience a hardware communication failure:
- Save your work
- Exit the Leica LCS software
- Turn off the Microscope Stand Controller (#2) (ONLY the microscope stand, no other components need to be adjusted)
- Wait 15 seconds, then turn the Microscope Stand Controller on again
- After the microscope completes startup, restart the software

April 6 - Zeiss 510 META confocal: The transmitted light mirror was replaced.

Mar 31 - Zeiss 510 Meta confocal: A "Hardware is busy" message may appear when scanning is initiated. Transmitted light mirror motor is jamming and will be replaced in early April.

Mar 28 - Minsky file server: At 3:07 PM a transient drive outage occurred due to a failed cooling fan. The drive was back on line at 3:40 PM. Some shared directories were affected.

Mar 20 - LeicaTCS-4D confocal: is back in action with a functioning laser! In order to get the system operational the PC computer was replaced twice! The current computer has the same disk drive as \\Jansen (the computer installed June 2005), and hence the network identity is unchanged and user image files are still there. Laser light power at the stage is good. Polarization of the laser has not been fine tuned yet, so DIC/Nomarski may not be optimum for now, however fluorescence is not compromised.

Mar 20 - Workstation computer \\Brewster has replaced \\Monarch. Files from \\Monarch were backed up to a protected area of \\Marvin prior to the exchange. Please see a facility director if you need access. Monarch has been decommissioned, and software reinstalled on \\Brewster

Mar 20 - Minsky file server: Some shared drives on the server \\Minsky were unavailable for a short time today due to a failed power supply and seized cooling fan on one of the firewire drives. Access to all drives has been restored.

Mar 17 - LeicaTCS-4D: Argon/Krypton laser has been received and is being installed. The computer for this system is not starting.

Feb 27 -- Spinning Disk Confocal: Installation and testing of new filters and correction lens has been completed.

Feb 27 -- Inverted Nikon MultiMode: Phase Contrast ring for the 4X objective has been added to the condenser turret.

Feb 24 -- Zeiss 510 confocal:
- The faulty computer power supply and AOTF fan were replaced.
- Tightening of connectors in the Mercury lamphouse has corrected the ignition problem.
- The switching mirror for the transmitted light detector was replaced. It was identified as the likely cause of the intermittent microscope stand communication problems.
If you experience any problems with the microscope, please document them in the log book and alert a facility director.

Feb 22 -- Zeiss 510 confocal: Mercury Arc lamp is not igniting on the first attempt. Please make sure the round LAMP indication light (NOT the power switch light) glows green before turning on the Remote Control power. If the lamp does not ignite, turn off the power switch, wait a few seconds and try again.

Feb 20 -- Zeiss 510 confocal: Loss of communication between the software and microscope stand is occurring intermittently but with increasing frequency. To restore communication: 1. Exit the software, 2. Reboot stand, 3. Restart the software.

Feb 18 -- Zeiss 510 confocal: A failing AOTF fain in the laser module is creating a groaning sound from under the lasers when the software is started. Service has been contacted.

Feb 13 - Zeiss 510 confocal: A cooling fan has failed in the power supply of the computer. It is possible that the computer will shut down without warning if the room temperature gets too warm.

Jan 27 - Laser Micro Dissection: Continuous erratic UV laser firing was due to trigger being incorrectly set to internal. Switching back to external trigger returned laser firing back to normal.

Jan 26 - LeicaSP2 confocal: UV laser seems to working better once warmed up. Poor performance may be due to a bad mirror alignment. An automatic realignment will be attempted.

Jan 24 - LeicaSP2 confocal - 40x oil x-z image quality is not as good as expected for blue emissions light (such as DAPI). 40x Oil objective cannot be used for z-axis co-localization with blue emitting fluorophores. Red and green co-localization is working great. (UV co-localization is good with the 63X 1.4 AN oil & 20X objectives.)

Jan 24 - Leica SP2 Confocal - UV laser behaved erratically. Please alert a facility director of any erratic behavior you encounter.
The UV laser failed on Jan 24, and was only operating at very low output power. In such circumstances, it can still be used with appropriate power adjustments.
1. Turn power knob on the control box 1/4 to 1/2 turn; be sure the "Current Limit" light is not illuminated.
2. Adjust the 364nm AOTF power as high as necessary (up to 100%) for a good image at Gain setting of 500-650 V.
We are working to diagnose the problem. Please stay tuned for updates.
Update: 5:30pm. After running at minimum power for several hours, the laser returned to normal behavior. The power successfully increased to 2 full turns of the power level knob 2:45pm and continued to run normally for several hours until it was powered off.

Jan 06 - Fresnel - The hard drive has been replaced and is available for imaging. IMPORTANT: All users must run the IMAGING_SETUP.reg file before they can use SimplePCI. Before starting SimplePCI, double-click on the desktop icon for IMAGING_SETUP.reg. Answer "Yes" or "OK" to the 2 dialog boxes that appear. If there are no cameras available in SimplePCI, exit the software and run the IMAGING_SETUP.reg file from the desktop.

Jan 05 - Fresnel - The hard drive on the computer Fresnel has been replaced and needs to be reconfigured. The system is still available for viewing samples but imaging is not available.

Jan 01 - Minsky shares for some labs. and users: will not be available on the network until a hard disk drive on the Minsky file server is restarted on Jan 03. Affected shares are listed below. This problem arises due to a not well documented problem with large data transfers via Firewire interface controllers. Some users will have their share or their lab. share on Minsky mapped to to drive letter (typically m:) on various work stations. If this mapping connects to a share listed below the drive letter will not be available.

Shared Folder Shared Path (Hidden to users)

\\minsky\Alessandra F:\Users3\Alessandra

\\minsky\Buchman-lab F:\Users3\Buchman-lab

\\minsky\CSeagle F:\Users3\CSeagle

\\minsky\CWD-lab F:\Users3\CWD-lab

\\minsky\Hartnett F:\Users3\Hartnett

\\minsky\Leica4D F:\Users3\Viceroy

\\minsky\LZhang F:\Users3\LZhang

\\minsky\Ostrowski F:\Users3\LEO-lab

\\minsky\PGeisen F:\Users3\Hartnett

\\minsky\Pickles F:\Users3\Pickles

\\minsky\Pickles-lab F:\Users3\Pickles

\\minsky\Rubenstein-lab F:\Users3\Rubensteiin-lab

\\minsky\Sechelski F:\Users3\Sechelski

\\minsky\SKreda F:\Users3\SKreda

\\minsky\VanDyke-lab F:\Users3\VanDyke-lab

\\minsky\Viceroy F:\Users3\Viceroy

Notes: For administrative purposes this drive is called users3, although users do not have access to this drive though the \\minsky\users3 share.

2005

Dec 13 - Xerox color printer: Maintenance kit has been received and installed. Color printer is back in action.

Dec 12 - Xerox color printer: Printing is not possible until a new roller is received. This roller is called a "maintenance kit" by Xerox and is in fact a roller impregnated with silicone oil, which aids in the release of the paper from the print drum. This kit has a chip which inhibits the printer from printing from 366 days after it is 1st used, so printing can not be forced. A replacement was ordered, and we are still waiting on delivery.

Dec 06 - Leica 4D confocal: Triple line laser is with Melles Griot for repair
Dec 01 - Leica 4D confocal: Triple line laser has been shipped out for repair.

Nov 04 - LeicaSP2 confocal: UV fiber alignment has improved power the level to the stage, and lens alignment has returned x-z imaging quality to expected levels for the 63x oil, 63x water, 20x, 10x objectives. 40x oil x-z image quality is not as good as expected. User will note that required 364 nm AOTF levels are back to normal.

Oct 25 - LeicaSP2 confocal: UV sensitivity and z-axis alignment has been improved on the 63x, 40x, 20x & 10x objectives. Note: run the 364 nm AOTF higher rather than increasing the UV laser tube current. UV z-axis imaging still exhibits some dispersion, however x-y alignment is still good. This dispersion issue will be addressed at a date yet to be determined.

Oct 25 - Marvin - secondary file server: Due to what can only be described as excessive weirdness OIS suggested changing the IP number for \\Marvin & marvin.med.unc.edu to 152.19.58.218. It may take a day or two for this change to propagate to users desktop computers. This means access to \\marvin or \\marvin.med.unc.edu may not succeed during this period. As a work around during this time, or anytime in fact, try connecting by placing \\152.19.58.218 in the address bar of a "MyComputer" window instead.

Oct 19 - Minsky - domain controller: A disk drive on Minsky's primary disk array crashed. From 2 to 4 PM Minsky was unavailable while the drive was being rebuilt. Network and local logins along with access to shared directories were not available during this period.

Oct 10 - LeicaSP2 confocal: A new UV fiber optic and pinhole were installed, however UV signal remains week and z-axis alignment is only good with the 63X 1.4 NA objective. Repair is still pending. This problem remains seemingly obstinate. A new fiber and pin hole will be installed on Oct 25.

Oct 05 - Zeiss 510 confocal: Green 543 nm laser and power supply have been replaced

Oct 04 - Zeiss 510 Confocal: The Green 543 nm laser has burnt out. Replacement is scheduled for the morning of Oct 05. It is expected that the system will be fully functional again before noon of Oct 05.

Minsky: Some users are having trouble connecting to \\Minsky. If you encounter this situation use its IP number instead. i.e. \\152.19.58.67

Sep 1 - Minsky: The drive on Minsky which hosts the shared directories listed below continues to intermittently not be recognized by the operating system after intensive reading or writing to the drive. These directories, as they existed on Sep. 1, have been copied to an alternate drive system on another computer called \\Marvin Access to these directories will be setup as quickly as reasonably possible in the next day. If you required immediate access to files on these shared directories and \\Minsky\yourname or \\Minsky\lab-name seems not to be available please contract Michael (843-3268)

\\Minsky\Users3 Users' protected area	F:\Users3
200 GByte Firewire 1394 drive
\\Minsky\Alessandra	F:\Users3\Alessandra
\\Minsky\Bankaitis-lab	F:\Users3\Bankiatis-lab
\\Minsky\BButton	F:\Users3\BButton
\\Minsky\Boucher-lab	F:\Users3\Boucher-lab
\\Minsky\Buchman-lab	F:\Users3\Buchman-lab
\\Minsky\JS-lab	F:\Users3\JS-lab
\\Minsky\Leica4D	F:\Users3\Viceroy
\\Minsky\LZhang	F:\Users3\LZhang
\\Minsky\PAR	F:\Users3\PAR
\\Minsky\PGeisen	F:\Users3\Hartnett
\\Minsky\Pickles	F:\Users3\Pickles
\\Minsky\Reid	F:\Users3\Reid
\\Minsky\Reid-lab (same as above)	F:\Users3\Reid
\\Minsky\Rubenstein-lab	F:\Users3\Rubenstein-lab
\\Minsky\Runge-lab	F:\Users3\Runge-lab
\\Minsky\Sechelski	F:\Users3\Sechelski
\\Minsky\SKreda	F:\Users3\SKreda
\\Minsky\Viceroy Leica4D (OLD)	F:\Users3\Viceroy
\\Minsky\Vilar-lab	F:\Users3\Vilar-lab
\\Minsky\WMarzluff	F:\Users3\WMarluff
\\Minsky\Yukako	F:\Users3\Anton-lab

Aug 31 - Minsky: The above lab. and user shared directories on Minsky are currently offline. It is expected that power cycling of this drive on Sept. 1 should restore access to the files.

Aug 30 - Minsky: Old Minsky has been restored. The domain is once again called MHMICROSCOPY (not mh-microscopy). Files shares are back to the original state except for data stored under \\minsky\users1 when it was part of new Minsky (mh-microscopy). These files will be transferred back to \\Minsky\users1 on Aug 30.

Aug 26 - Minsky: A new Minsky computer has been created. Although the computer name is still \\Minsky, its domain name is slightly different and is mh-microscopy (note the minus between mh & microscopy)

Aug 26 - Minsky (domain login controller and server file shares) - A RAID controller card for Minsky has been ordered. Delivery is expected on August 31. Updates of the status of the RAID repairs will be posted here. Also see just below.

Aug 25 - Minsky the main server & domain controller computer has a bad RAID disk controller. The immediate consequences are:
- Logging on to any MHMICROSCOPY computer may be impossible with your user account. Please see a facility director for assistance.
- File shares \\Minsky\users1 & \\Minsky\users2 are not available.
- Mac file access to user1 is not available
- Personal and lab. files shares are not available.
- Printing to the color Xerox and b/w HP printers is not possible.
A replacement controller is being ordered from Dell. The worst case scenario is that the RAID controller can not be replaced, in which case the files on the RAID drives can not be accessed. This will affect \\Minsky\users1, and all user accounts will have to be issued new passwords. Not affected are \\Minsky\users2 & individual and lab. shares of the form: \\Minsky\yourname and \\Minsky\labname

Aug 23 - Laser Micro Dissection: The UV laser has been replaced and is functioning normally.

Aug 9 - LeicaSP2 confocal: The red 633 HeNe laser has been successfully replaced. The UV laser alignment was also adjusted. Please a facility director if you have any questions or troubles.

Aug 2 - LeicaSP2 confocal: The red 633 HeNe laser has burnt out. Excitation of CY5, DyLight 647, etc. can not be performed until the laser tube/power supply are replaced. Replacement will be done on Monday, Aug 8, contingent upon the replacement units being received. Check back here for any updated information.

July 27 - Spinning Disk Confocal: The spinning disk confocal will be sent off September 2 for upgrades to improve field intensity uniformity and synchronization of the camera with the spinning disks.. Estimated return date is September 13th if no additional problems are encountered.

July 9 - Laser Micro Dissection: UV laser is flickering between cuts. New laser is back ordered.

July 6 - \\Hooke - Nikon Upright Microphot-SA microscope: The defective computer has been replaced and image files less than 3 months old copied back to the D:\ drive (\\HOOKE\USERS2 over the campus network). The color camera (DXM1200) can be driven by the Act-1 software or C-Imaging software. Note that with C-Imaging the camera and default path settings need to be setup for each user. See Michael for help doing this.
Shared directories are:

D:\ - \\Hooke\users2

C:\users1 - \\Hooke\users1

Some firewall zones need to be setup. Please contact Michael if you can not connect to \\HOOKE over the network.

July 5 - \\Minsky\users3: Laboratory and individual shares on Minsky have been restored.

June 30 - \\Minsky\Users3: The drive containing the individual lab folders previously accessible on \\Minsky\Users3 has been recovered. It is now Drive F: on the computer Nipkow, which is the computer on the spinning disk confocal. The drive is currently not shared on the network. Users with data on this drive should be able to log into the workstation Nipkow and access their files for transfer to CD or flash drive. We will work to restore network access after the July 4th holiday if not sooner.

June 29 - \\Minsky\Users3: The individual and lab. folders kept on \\Minsky\Users3 are currently not accessible. The drive enclosure has failed. We will do our best to retrieve the files as soon as possible. Please contact a facility director if you have any questions.

June 28 - Computer \\Hooke: Old files from the computer \\Hooke (Nikon Upright microscope) can be accessed at network location \\Nipkow\Hooke_Users2. Please contact a facility director if you have any questions.

June 22 - Nikon Upright/Computer \\Hooke: Computer \\Hooke will not power up. ~~Imaging is now possible using computer \\Jansen.~~ We are still working to access to files on Hooke's hard drive.
NOTE TO SIMPLE-PCI USERS on this system: All settings have been reset to null and will have to be re-established after being retrieved from Hooke's hard drive. Please see a facility director for help with this.

June 10 - Zeiss 510 confocal: The fluorescence filtercube turret seems to working properly again. Please report any further problems to a facility director.

June 7 - Zeiss 510 confocal: The fluorescence filtercube turret on the microscope stand is not properly switching between Visible and LSM modes and not selecting the correct filtercube position. If needed, move the carrousel by hand until it clicks into the correct position. Before scanning, ensure that Position 1 is correctly selected (the carrousel needs to be in this position). If the carrousel is not correctly seated in Position 1 for scanning, there will be a 5s pause before each scan and you will get an error message. Zeiss service has been contacted. Please find a facility director if you have any questions.

June 3 - LeicaSP2 confocal: Measures have been taken to reduce system software crashes. To help us asses the effectiveness of these steps please note any crashes you experience in the log book, and record what you were doing and which keys/buttons were pressed immediately prior to the crash/system freeze. Thank you.

June 3 - LeicaSP2 confocal: UV alignment has been checked. DAPI, Alexa 350, Hoechst, etc. sensitivity should be good, and produce low noise images. Suggested initial AOTF settings for the laser lines are: UV 361nm=10% (laser power 2 turns) 488 nm=10% (laser power at 9 o'clock) 561nm=20% 633nm=30%

June 3 - LeicaSP2 confocal: The E: drive has been replaced. Data may be stored there. The network shared directory \\LAPLACE\USERS2 is also available again. Data that was on the drive will not be restored. Users will need to create a suitably named folder for themselves. Additionally, with a suitable donation of payola, users may request their data from the crashed drive to be restored. (Astute users may notice that the replacement drive is half the size (35 GB) of the crashed drive. A 72 GByte drive will replace this smaller drive. Any user data present will be transferred to the larger drive.)

May 21 - Leica 4D confocal: The new laser has been installed. The machine is back in operation (for use by CF Center users). Please note: 1. start the laser with the switch on standby and 2. shut down by switching to standby. The cooling fan should run automatically for 2-3 minutes then the power (rocker) switch should be switched off. The OS9/VME computer should be turned off at the end of the day by the last users.

May 16 - LeicaSP2 confocal: The E: drive has failed. As a consequence the \\laplace\users2 shared directory, which is a mapping of the E: drive also unavailable. See a facility director if you wish to attempt to recover data from this drive.

May 13 - LeicaSP2 confocal: The E: drive on the Leica SP2 AOBS confocal microscope is currently failing. It is expected that this drive will fail totally.

May 12 - Image Processing Workstation \\Snell (6129 Thurston Bowles): is unavailable and disconnected from the network. Due to a serious security breach the Image Processing Workstation called \\Snell is not connected to the network currently. Consequently the following shared directories are unavailable:

\\Snell\users	(Windows network)
\\Snell\users2	(Windows network)
\\Snell\snail	(Windows network)
ftp://snell.med.unc.edu/snail	(ftp site)

Software unique to this computer is Volocity 3D viewing & rendering and Zeiss 510 offline confocal analysis. Hardware on this computer is the DVD+-R/RW recorder. Please note that DVD-+R/RW capabilities are available on the Image Processing Workstation called \\Young
It is expected that the program drive on this computer will have to be scrubbed (low level formatted). Data drives (D: & E:) will remain intact when the operating system is reinstalled.
Due to the security breach it is possible that passwords entered on this system from March 10 to May 12 may have been compromised.
If you have questions please contact Michael

April 14 - PE Spinning Disk: The Perkin Elmer spinning disk confocal is up and running again for live cell imaging of GFP-, mRFP- and Cy5-like fluorophores. The system is now controlled with the same C-Imaging software package used with the widefield system in the Facility. Contact a facility director for more information or to set up an appointment.

April 13 - Zeiss 510 Meta: Laser replacement has been rescheduled for the evening of Wednesday April 13. Replacement was completed at 9:40 PM. Thorough X/Y galvanometer calibration was performed. Bi-directional scanning should produce a better registration.

April 11 - Zeiss 510 Meta: Bidirectional scanning has been recalibrated electronically. This should improve the coherence of bidirectional scanning. An optical recalibration may also be necessary, and needs to be performed by Zeiss. Note that very few users select bidirectional scanning.

April 08 - Zeiss 510 Meta: Caution should be exercised setting the tube current (output power) of the Argon/2 laser, (blue 488 nm). Maximum laser tube current on the Argon/2 (488 nm laser) has become un-calibrated and can be set above 8.1 Amps. This level should not be exceeded. To this end the output level should be gently ramped up to the desired power rather than rapidly dragging the slider to high output levels. Rapid dragging of the power slider tends to set the tube current to levels about 8.1 Amps. This laser is showing signs that it is going to fail. Replacement had been scheduled for 8:00 to 10:00 AM on April 13. However Fedex declined delivery of the unit, so installation could not proceed.

Feb 18 - Leica SP2 UV laser: A loaned UV laser head has been installed and aligned. Dapi, Alexa 350, Fura-2, Cascade Blue, etc. may be imaged again.
Also note that the "blue" Argon Laser (488 nm) must never be turned off without first turning the start key to off, and letting the laser cool down before turning the cooling fan and power supply (red laser switch) off. Check the cooling exhaust temperature (upper temperature gage on the thermometer on the conduit) which will be less than 5^oC above the ambient temperature (lower gage on the thermometer).

Feb 16 - Leica SP2 UV laser: The EnterpriseII UV laser head is scheduled to ship back from Coherent on April 1. Once the laser is received in Chapel Hill it will be refitted back into the confocal, and the confocal is expected to be unavailable for about half a day

Jan 22 - Leica SP2 UV laser: The EnterpriseII UV laser has finally been received by Coherent of Santa Clara, CA as of Jan 19. Expected repair turn around time is 2 months. Status of the laser repair will be posted here as it becomes available.

2004

Dec 31 - Leica SP2 UV laser: The UV laser has been shipped to Coherent for repair. UV scanning will be unavailable until the unit is shipped back. Expected turn around time is 2 months. Scanning in the visible wavelengths is still available. Please power down the green 561 nm laser by pushing the red button on the power supply unit when finished scanning.

Dec 10 - Leica SP2 UV laser: Coherent turned out not to be available to conduct the planned alignment on the EnterpriseII laser. This will be attempted on Dec 13. Coherent California/Tennessee 800-367-7890 case# 349 366

Nov 23 - LeicaSP2 confocal: The UV laser can only operate at very low output power ( <3 mW) due to over heating. Service is being arranged. It can still be used with appropriate power adjustments.
1. Turn power knob on the control box 1/4 to 1/2 turn; be sure the "Current Limit" light is not illuminated.
2. Adjust the 364nm AOTF power as high as necessary (up to 100%) for a good image at Gain setting of 500-650 V.

Nov 1 - Leica Inverted Microscope: The polarizer has been replaced. Users should remember to have the analyzer out of the light path when doing fluorescence. The analyzer will cut fluorescence by 50%. (It also is an expensive neutral density filter and is best not be used for that purpose.)

Oct 18 - LeicaSP2 confocal: Laser and scanhead fibers realigned. AOTF retuned. Output of all visible laser lines have been substantially increased at the stage.

Oct 13 - Leica Inverted standard microscope: The polarizer material of the analyzer for DIC is wrinkling. This is reducing the quality of DIC (Nomarski) images slightly. Only DIC imaging is affected, and since standard transmitted light and fluorescence do not use the analyzer these modes of imaging are not affected. A new analyser has been ordered. Delivery is expected in 2 to 3 weeks.

Sep 30 - Booking Calendars: It may not be possible to display or make bookings when using Internet Explorer under WindowsXP. Try 1. reducing the security level for Internet Explorer (done in the control panel), 2. use another browser such as Netscape/Mozilla, 3. book from another computer which does not use WindowsXP, 4. call the facility or e-mail to make a booking. Once the computer person gets a computer running WindowsXP, he can look into diagnosing and fixing this problem. In the meantime please follow one of the workarounds described above.

Sep 29 - LeicaSP2 confocal: The AOBS was realigned at 561 nm. Reflections should be reduced when scanning TexasRed, Rhodamine, Alexa 594, etc.

Sep 29 - LeicaSP2 confocal: Erratic stage movement of the motorized stage has been experienced. In order to guard against injury lower the stage with the coarse focus and rotate the objectives two positions to the right or left. Leica have been informed about this rare situation. It has been impossible to duplicate the events leading up to this erratic movement which has damaged both fingers and slides.

Sep 28 - Leica SP2 confocal: Condenser is fixed. Swinging pin is reseated and glued in place.
Sep 27 - Leica SP2 Confocal: Currently it is not possible to align the transmitted light condenser due to minor damage. The problem has no impact on confocal or widefield florescence viewing or scanning. However it is not possible to perform transmitted light imaging during confocal scanning or center the condenser for DIC imaging. The unit should be operational again on Sep 28.

Sep 24 - Zeiss 510 confocal: the x-axis galvanometer (horizontal scanning driver) has been replaced and the machine recalibrated.

Sep 20 - Zeiss 510 confocal: the x-galvo is giving some minor problems. Images may jitter in the x direction. The x-galvanometer motor will be repaired on September 24.

Sep 2 - Leica SP2: The 561 nm green solid state laser has been installed. All laser lines are working. Note that the new green 561 nm laser has a simple on/off buttons. No cooling is required. The 561 AOTF should be run at roughly 5% (cf. 50% to 100% for the old Krypton 568 nm laser)

May 12 - Zeiss 510 Meta: The channel 2 emission band pass filter 475-505 nm information has been entered into the confocal database and is displayed correctly in the filter setup window in the LSM 510 software (and on the web page). This filter is intended for CFP detection. Warning listed at April 28 no longer applies.

April 28: Zeiss 510 Meta: The channel 2 emission filter (505-550 nm) has been replaced with a 475 to 505 nm emission filter (Chroma HD490/30m). Warning: The CH2 (PMT 2) filter display still shows 505-550 nm when actually the 475 to 505 nm filter is in place. This needs to be updated. The purpose of having a 475 to 505 emission filter is to help with simultaneous CFP & YFP detection using PMTs (not the meta) the 458 and 514 nm laser lines for excitation. Prior to this upgrade the closest filter for CFP imaging was the 475 to 525 nm emission filter. This filter is undesirable in that it lets reflection from the 514 laser line through to the PMT detector. For more information contact Michael

Zeiss 510 confocal: The Axioscope will be sent out for service due to corrosion on the turret mirror. This mirror requires replacement, which can only be done at the factory since it must be critically aligned. Confocal will be unavailable for 7-9 weeks at a date yet to be decided.

2003

Feb. 26: Leica4D confocal computers are no longer be connected to the Medical School Network:
The Leica4D confocal (Viceroy) is no longer connected to the Medical School Network, and hence the entire internet, including the Cytic_Fibrosis domain. Scanning can still be performed and the 100 MByte Zip drive can be used to transfer data. OIS has discontinued the sub-network that the 4D was assigned to on Feb. 18, 2003 as a final act in a 5 year plan to give the 152.2. subnet back to the main campus, and block that subnet in the Medical School. Unfortunately the 4D OS9-VME computer can not be easily be migrated to the Medical School subnet. Hence the 4D is isolated from the network. Alternative solutions are being investigated, but are limited by the potential fragility of the two unsupported operating systems that are an essential part of the 4D confocal.

History


		Copyright 2001-2014 Dr. M. Chua, Program in Molecular Biology & Biotechnology, School of Medicine, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599
Go Back	Booking Resources	Questions/comments/problems: Michael Chua

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Last Updated: 2014-06-24

Shared Folder	Shared Path (Hidden to users)
\\minsky\Alessandra	F:\Users3\Alessandra
\\minsky\Buchman-lab	F:\Users3\Buchman-lab
\\minsky\CSeagle	F:\Users3\CSeagle
\\minsky\CWD-lab	F:\Users3\CWD-lab
\\minsky\Hartnett	F:\Users3\Hartnett
\\minsky\Leica4D	F:\Users3\Viceroy
\\minsky\LZhang	F:\Users3\LZhang
\\minsky\Ostrowski	F:\Users3\LEO-lab
\\minsky\PGeisen	F:\Users3\Hartnett
\\minsky\Pickles	F:\Users3\Pickles
\\minsky\Pickles-lab	F:\Users3\Pickles
\\minsky\Rubenstein-lab	F:\Users3\Rubensteiin-lab
\\minsky\Sechelski	F:\Users3\Sechelski
\\minsky\SKreda	F:\Users3\SKreda
\\minsky\VanDyke-lab	F:\Users3\VanDyke-lab
\\minsky\Viceroy	F:\Users3\Viceroy

D:\	-	\\Hooke\users2
C:\users1	-	\\Hooke\users1

Copyright 2001-2014 Dr. M. Chua, Program in Molecular Biology & Biotechnology, School of Medicine, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599

Questions/comments/problems: Michael Chua