http://confocal-microscopy-list.275.s1.nabble.com/DeltaVision-softWoRx-Workstation-CentOS-HDD-crash-rebuilding-system-from-scratch-tp7582861p7582868.html
GE to service their DeltaVision microscopes. I really do not understand
their strategy, they are surely alienating a lot of customers. There are
to GE. It would perhaps be interesting to find out how many out there
supposedly not serviceable due to their age. That doesn't add up.
> Would be interested to know if anyone has been able to get GE to service any DeltaVision products or to release enough information to work on them yourselves.
> Ok to reply off line or call if you prefer.
> Thanks!
>
> ===========================================================================
> Michael Cammer, Microscopy Core & Skirball Institute, NYU Langone Medical Center
> Cell: 914-309-3270 note that we do not receive messages left at 212-263-3208
>
http://ocs.med.nyu.edu/microscopy &
http://microscopynotes.com/>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Confocal Microscopy List [mailto:
[hidden email]] On Behalf Of Gary Laevsky
> Sent: Monday, November 10, 2014 8:17 AM
> To:
[hidden email]
> Subject: Re: DeltaVision softWoRx Workstation (CentOS) HDD crash - rebuilding system from scratch
>
> *****
> To join, leave or search the confocal microscopy listserv, go to:
>
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> *****
>
> Along this line, we have just inherited a Deltavision, that GE will not service. Does anyone know of a stateside third party that will service this instrument?
>
> Thanks.
>
> Gary
>
>
> Gary Laevsky, Ph.D.
> Confocal Imaging Facility Manager
> Dept. of Molecular Biology
> Washington Rd.
> Princeton University
> Princeton, New Jersey, 08544-1014
> (O) 609 258 5432
> (C) 508 507 1310
>
> On Mon, Nov 10, 2014 at 5:52 AM, David Strachan <
[hidden email]> wrote:
>
>> *****
>> To join, leave or search the confocal microscopy listserv, go to:
>>
http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A0=confocalmicroscopy>> Post images on
http://www.imgur.com and include the link in your posting.
>> *****
>>
>> Hi Menelaos Symeonides,
>>
>> One thing I would try is to recover the old drive, there is a product
>> from www.grc.com<
http://www.grc.com> called spinrite, the main man
>> there is Steve Gibson who is a host of a podcast called 'security now'
>> on the TWIT network.
>>
>> I have never used the product personally but watched a colleague of
>> mine use it on a drive and it worked.
>>
>>
>> Or you could try these guys, they have been providing sales and
>> service of the DeltaVision systems for many years in the UK, I am not
>> sure how long they have left before GE take over here as well.
>>
>> Image Solutions (UK) Ltd
>> IMSOL House Cable Court, Pittman Way
>> Preston
>> PR2 9YW
>> United Kingdom
>> Tel.: +44 (0) 1772 663 140
>> Fax.: +44 (0) 1772 663 150
>> Email:
[hidden email]<mailto:
[hidden email]>
>>
>> Hope this helps.
>>
>>
>> regards
>>
>>
>> David Strachan
>> Beatson Institute for Cancer Research
>> Glasgow
>> Scotland
>>
>>
>>
>> On 9 Nov 2014, at 16:25, Menelaos Symeonides <
[hidden email]<mailto:
>>
[hidden email]>> wrote:
>>
>>
>> Hello,
>>
>> We have a DeltaVision DV/U series microscope on an Olympus IX70 base.
>> This is the slightly older configuration which uses two computers, a
>> workstation PC running CentOS Linux and softWoRx, and the IC/MIC which
>> runs Windows XP and controls the light source/camera/stage motors. We
>> love this scope and have published with it a lot, but unfortunately
>> we've had a lot of issues with support, especially since API was
>> bought out by GE Healthcare. Because it is an older model, GE has
>> denied us a new service contract and has only offered the option of
>> fully upgrading the microscope for over $100k in order to become
>> eligible for a service contract.
>>
>> Recently our microscope became inoperable because the Workstation PC's
>> hard drive crashed. After analyzing the drive from a different
>> computer, it looks like a good 30% of it is inaccessible, but I was
>> able to recover important files such as
>> /usr/local/softWoRx/config/Resolve3D.SYS and our network configuration
>> files. Also, I've put a new blank drive on the computer and installed
>> CentOS from scratch, and the computer works fine, but I do not have
>> the softWoRx packages to install the software and run the microscope.
>> The IC/MIC is intact and I can fully initialize the microscope by
>> accessing the IC/MIC directly, so there are no other hardware issues.
>>
>> The only service option that GE has offered to us is to completely
>> replace the Workstation PC for about $10,000. Obviously it is
>> unreasonable to do that given that the PC is completely fine and all
>> it needs is a new HDD with the software installed. Besides, we were
>> also told that this brand new Workstation would only come with 3
>> months' warranty, so if anything else were to go wrong with it in 4
>> months, that'd be another $10,000 down the drain, so to speak.
>>
>> CentOS is of course free, and we own a softWoRx license that is
>> attached to the MAC address of our computer's network interface, but
>> we cannot find the software anywhere. All we can find are the upgrade
>> packages on API's support website, but those don't seem to be able to
>> establish a softWoRx installation from scratch. When I install the
>> upgrade packages and try to run softWoRx, it returns a "segmentation
>> fault (core dumped)" error that is very hard to debug. I am fairly
>> comfortable with using Linux but I don't know the specificities of how
>> API sets up the softWoRx environment, the license manager, etc.
>>
>> Has anyone been in a similar situation, i.e. have you had to install
>> softWoRx from scratch? Were you able to find the appropriate packages
>> and do this on a fresh CentOS installation? I would really be
>> interested in hearing your experiences with trying to do anything
>> similar to this, and any other ideas of how we could rescue our system
>> given that all we really need is software.
>>
>> Menelaos Symeonides
>>