Re: LSM 510 META computer upgrade

Posted by Rosemary.White on
URL: http://confocal-microscopy-list.275.s1.nabble.com/FW-LSM-510-META-computer-upgrade-tp7584062p7584066.html

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Hi Deanne,

I can only second Jason's email. We have a Leica confocal purchased in 2001, and like the Zeiss 510, it will no longer be serviced by Leica from December this year. We have cannibalised a unit being decommissioned from another institution, but I imagine we will decommission our instrument by the end of next year. You might want to investigate obtaining spare parts from a decommissioned system, though as Jason says, the electronic components age even if just sitting on the shelf.

The problem with trying to keep an instrument like this going is that you really need to have a local enthusuastic tinkerer happy to exchange boards and other components, or else an independent engineer who knows the system very well and who is willing to keep your system going. We are fortunately in the latter category. Eventually, you have to weigh up the salary time (and external engineer bills) spent keeping an older system going against purchase of a superior and generally easier to use new system.

Good luck,
cheers,
Rosemary

Dr Rosemary White
CSIRO Black Mountain
GPO Box 1600
Canberra, ACT 2601

T 61 2 6246 5475

________________________________________
From: Confocal Microscopy List [[hidden email]] on behalf of Jason Kirk [[hidden email]]
Sent: Tuesday, 4 August 2015 1:59 a.m.
To: [hidden email]
Subject: Re: LSM 510 META computer upgrade

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Hi Deanne,

I am sorry you are having so much trouble with your 510.

First let me state that I am a former Zeiss employee and I do not speak directly for Zeiss, however (hopefully) I can give you some insight into your problems.

Your first 2 issues you should be able get rectified via Zeiss service.  Upgrades of the 510 system from XP are tricky because depending on the vintage of the instrument (whether you have the SCSI based grey ECU or the ethernet based laser module).  Windows 7 does not support SCSI - so Zeiss had to create a workaround to talk to the SCSI controller via USB.  These are not standard items and only apply to earlier vintages of the 510.

Issue #4 - does your Ch3 respond to the gain control at all?  Meaning if you turn the Master Gain to 1250V do you see any noise in the image?  If not, the problem is likely a bad high voltage board for that particular PMT.  HV boards are very sensitive and when coupled to older system electronics they can be finicky.

As to the rest of your issues with the system being slow and inefficient - unfortunately just as you experienced a slowdown in your OS computer performance you will encounter the same types of hardware degradation in the system electronics over time.  Every circuit board in your system will eventually fail.  It is not a matter of if but when.  With these older systems even opening the cases and removing/replacing boards can cause micro-fractures that can lead of unforeseen downstream issues that can compound your problems.

Also keep in mind that the 510 was officially discontinued almost 10 years ago.  That means that contracts with suppliers for one-off components are expired and such components are no longer being manufactured.  So while you likely can get parts for things such as laser power supplies due to the fact that the laser vendor still manufactures a compatible model - specialized components specifically made for the 510 are just not being made anymore.  That means that any parts that are ordered from Germany come from a spare parts stock that is likely as old as the part you currently have.  Also they may have been salvaged from systems that have been traded in, etc which can account for a higher failure rate.  Service agreements (in the US at least) stopped being offered this year for the 510 as the end of life projections for availability of parts is dwindling and Zeiss can no longer guarantee the level of service you are used to.  Traditionally Zeiss has offered parts and labor service on instruments that are past contract availabilty dates - and they will work diligently to repair and maintain these systems as well as they can - but they too can only do so much with the resources they have.

There is a point in every system’s lifetime where it just become inefficient to keep fixing - and for many 510 systems that date is rapidly approaching.  Many are just on borrowed time.

Sorry for the gloom and doom - but I hope this helps in understanding a situation that every hardware vendor eventually has to face.

-Jason Kirk

> On Aug 2, 2015, at 11:38 PM, Deanne Veronica Catmull <[hidden email]> wrote:
>
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> Good afternoon List servers!
>
> We have a Zeiss LSM 510 META confocal microscope at our facility In Melbourne, Australia. It recently underwent a computer upgrade to the newer Windows 7 platform with ZEN 2009 software. Before the upgrade (and partially the reason for the upgrade) was that the computer was 10 years old and getting slow. The microscope was sometimes struggling to communicate efficiently with the microscope and we were experiencing a number of software related issues which were making our experiments longer and more troublesome. Sometimes we needed to re-boot the whole system several times just to complete an experiment.
> The upgrade occurred three months ago now and the system has never worked efficiently since.
> Firstly two printed circuit boards failed which are involved in communication between the computer and the microscope (this is believable given our previous issues). But since then we have found out a few things:
>
> 1.       The computer that was sent out was configured in the entirely wrong way for our instrument and had to be re-configured to be compatible.
>
> 2.       The computer was meant to be supplied with 24 GB RAM but it only has 16 GB. This is still in the process of being rectified.
>
> 3.       The printed circuit boards, and AOTF cable had to be replaced twice (the first replacement was deemed faulty)
>
> 4.       The PMT to Ch3 no longer works despite it working perfectly before the upgrade
>
> 5.       The system works when initially started up, then after several hours I was finding that even our test slide could no longer generate a good image in confocal mode despite being able to get a prefect image at the start and the following morning with the same test slide. Is this a laser or power supply issue?
>
> Has anyone else experienced endless issues after an upgrade like this? Any suggestions what may be wrong with our microscope?
> Zeiss used to be exceptional with their servicing but have found their service with this upgrade slow and inefficient. There seems to be constant problems with their communication with the German head office and their Quality Control with parts and international pricing. Has anyone else experienced this? We are trying to gather notes to compile when revising the accumulating service costs to the machine.
>
> Many thanks in advance,
> Deanne.
>
> Deanne Catmull | Research Assistant and HSR
> Melbourne Dental School | Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences
>
> Level 6, 720 Swanston St
> The University of Melbourne, Victoria 3010 Australia
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