Leica TCS SP8: scanhead and warranty

[Yan Zhu]

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Dear all,

Our Leica confocal recently had a problem with the scanner, and I have a few
related questions.

We had a Leica TCS SP8 confocal system installed on Dec 25, 2012. Yes, on
the Christmas day, my lab is at the Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy
of Sciences in Beijing, China. The system was covered by a 3 year warranty
for all parts except lasers. However, 3 months past the warranty period, now
the system needs a major repair. The symptom is simple, the Leica software
can't find the scan head. We had similar problems a few times previously,
which would go away by restarting the computer, but not this time. The
system worked fine the day before it failed to connect to scanner.

The service man from Leica told us that both the mainboard inside the scan
unit and the optical cables connecting the mainboard to the control unit
were broken. He showed that replacing both the mainboard and the cables
together allows the software to find the scan head. His suggestion was to
replace both parts, at ~23K USD.

This confocal is a major equipment for three Drosophila groups in our
institute. We have been careful with the system, putting it inside a special
room, with UPS, and operated by trained persons.

I found it is too coincidental to have a system to break down shortly after
the warranty period. Besides the cost, it is also difficult to imagine that
both the cable and the mainboard are broken at the same time. I would like
to hear suggestions from people with similar experiences.

Best,

Yan

[Andreas Bruckbauer]

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Hi Yan,
I don't have an SP8 and this error could be related to a number of things. I guess just replacing the cable did not work? Putting your board into another functioning system and having this failing too would indicate that something is wrong with the board. However we had problems years ago with a completely different system which were caused by a software bug. It was a micro controller board and in the uploaded code a variable was not properly initialised. The memory cell holding this variable could have some crazy value on startup and cause the code to crash. However mostly it would just work fine. On restart it would usually get a different value. But after a while only taking the board out and putting it back in would do the trick, sometimes we had to repeat this a few times... If it is something like this, other SP8 users should have experienced similar problems. By the way 23k for a board in the scan head sounds rather expensive to me!

Best wishes

Andreas

-----Original Message-----
From: "Yan Zhu" <[hidden email]>
Sent: ‎02/‎05/‎2016 19:22
To: "[hidden email]" <[hidden email]>
Subject: Leica TCS SP8: scanhead and warranty

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Dear all,

Our Leica confocal recently had a problem with the scanner, and I have a few
related questions.

We had a Leica TCS SP8 confocal system installed on Dec 25, 2012. Yes, on
the Christmas day, my lab is at the Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy
of Sciences in Beijing, China. The system was covered by a 3 year warranty
for all parts except lasers. However, 3 months past the warranty period, now
the system needs a major repair. The symptom is simple, the Leica software
can't find the scan head. We had similar problems a few times previously,
which would go away by restarting the computer, but not this time. The
system worked fine the day before it failed to connect to scanner.

The service man from Leica told us that both the mainboard inside the scan
unit and the optical cables connecting the mainboard to the control unit
were broken. He showed that replacing both the mainboard and the cables
together allows the software to find the scan head. His suggestion was to
replace both parts, at ~23K USD.

This confocal is a major equipment for three Drosophila groups in our
institute. We have been careful with the system, putting it inside a special
room, with UPS, and operated by trained persons.

I found it is too coincidental to have a system to break down shortly after
the warranty period. Besides the cost, it is also difficult to imagine that
both the cable and the mainboard are broken at the same time. I would like
to hear suggestions from people with similar experiences.

Best,

Yan

[Arne Seitz]

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" I found it is too coincidental to have a system to break down shortly after the warranty period."

What do you think would have happened if you had extended the warranty period?

Just my 2c.

Best
Arne

P.S: Absolutely no commercial interests of affiliation with the vendor.


-----Original Message-----
From: Confocal Microscopy List [mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of Yan Zhu
Sent: lundi 2 mai 2016 20:08
To: [hidden email]
Subject: Leica TCS SP8: scanhead and warranty

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Dear all,

Our Leica confocal recently had a problem with the scanner, and I have a few related questions.

We had a Leica TCS SP8 confocal system installed on Dec 25, 2012. Yes, on the Christmas day, my lab is at the Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, China. The system was covered by a 3 year warranty for all parts except lasers. However, 3 months past the warranty period, now the system needs a major repair. The symptom is simple, the Leica software can't find the scan head. We had similar problems a few times previously, which would go away by restarting the computer, but not this time. The system worked fine the day before it failed to connect to scanner.

The service man from Leica told us that both the mainboard inside the scan unit and the optical cables connecting the mainboard to the control unit were broken. He showed that replacing both the mainboard and the cables together allows the software to find the scan head. His suggestion was to replace both parts, at ~23K USD.

This confocal is a major equipment for three Drosophila groups in our institute. We have been careful with the system, putting it inside a special room, with UPS, and operated by trained persons.

I found it is too coincidental to have a system to break down shortly after the warranty period. Besides the cost, it is also difficult to imagine that both the cable and the mainboard are broken at the same time. I would like to hear suggestions from people with similar experiences.

Best,

Yan

[jerie]

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.....We had similar problems a few times previously,....

was Leica service informed about these former incidences and have these
been properly documented? this might point to an error that occurred
already before the end of the warranty period.

kind regards, Jens