                                  Appendix E

Trouble Shooting & Answers to Commonly Asked Questions



GENERAL

Q. When I run The Monitor II it just locks up, What's wrong?

A. The Monitor II is shipped with the COM ports set for COM2.
   If your serial mouse is also set for COM2 there may be a
   conflict. Set your mouse for COM1 or remove the mouse
   driver, then run The Monitor II and change the default COM
   ports in the SETUP/COMMUNICATIONS Menu. You can then change
   your mouse back to it's original setting.


Q. I ordered The Monitor II on 5 1/4" diskette, but I really need
   it on 3 1/2" diskette. Can I just copy it?

A. No. You must call technical support and arrange to have your
   diskette exchanged.


Q. My hard drive crashed and after restoring from my backup The
   Monitor II won't run anymore. What's wrong?

A. The authorization must be removed before, and then replaced
   after a FORMAT or RESTORE of your hard drive. You do not
   need to remove the authorization when doing a normal BACKUP.

   You must call technical support and have the program reset.
   This is done over the phone and takes just a few minutes.
   HAVE YOUR ORIGINAL DISK & SERIAL NUMBER READY.


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COMMUNICATIONS & LOGON

Q. Every time I connect with a controller I get the message
   "Could Not Verify Logon". What is the problem?

A.

* Make sure you have a COMMAND LINE version of the Infinity
  controller. If you did not specifically order one, you
  most likely do not have one. You can test your controller
  by logging out and then typing COMMAND. If you don't get
  a LOGIN prompt, you don't have a command line version.

* Make sure you have the correct username and password in
  the USER SETUP and the CONTROLLER DATABASE.

* Unless you are using some type of smart switch, the
  CONNECT STRING, DISCONNECT STRING and PRE-LOGON STRING
  should have only a single "pipe" symbol ('|' <Shift>-
  backslash on most keyboards) in them (but see next
  option).

* With some 9600 baud modems, it may help to place the
  following into the PRE-LOGON STRING in the CONTROLLER
  DATABASE: $$$$$$^Q$$$$$$^Q$$$$$$^Q  This will pause The
  Monitor II before attempting to logon to the controller,
  and also issue 3 <Ctrl>-Q (XON) in case the controller
  has been paused with a <Ctrl>-S.

Q. I don't understand all the different username & password
   options. Can you explain it to me?

A. The controller database is where you put the DEFAULT
   PASSWORD for each controller. This is the password that will
   be used to logon to the controller when nobody is logged in
   to The Monitor II (when auto processing is used).

   In the USER SETUP there is a USERNAME, MONITOR PASSWORD and
   CONTROLLER PASSWORD. The USERNAME and MONITOR PASSWORD is
   what should be typed at the opening screen to log in to The
   Monitor II. The USERNAME and CONTROLLER PASSWORD will be
   used to logon to the controller when this person selects
   CONNECT from the CONTROLLER menu. If you set a users
   CONTROLLER PASSWORD to 'SAME' (in all uppercase), then the
   DEFAULT PASSWORD of the controller will always be used to
   logon to any controller that that user connects with.

Q. How do I get my modem to connect with error correction and
   data compression enabled?

A. Read the section of the manual on MODEM SETUP in chapter 1.
   This gives the commands that will work for  many modems.

                          CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE


Q. When I go to terminal mode, my modem (or hard-wired
   controller) does not respond to my typed commands, Why not?

A. If you are not currently CONNECTED with a controller, the
   COM ports are going to be set to the default ports that are
   specified in the SETUP/COMMUNICATIONS menu. Make sure these
   default COM port are set correctly.


Q. I cannot seem to get the COMLINK example to work. What am I
   doing wrong?

A. Call technical support.



GRAPHICS

Q. After I draw a picture with my third-party drawing program
   and load the drawing into The Monitor II, the colors are all
   different. Why?

A. The Monitor II must force the use of the default EGA/VGA
   palette (set of colors) because of the menu system. If it
   did not force the use  of the default palette, the menus
   could end up BLACK text on a PURPLE background or other
   equally unacceptable colors. Some paint programs will modify
   the default palette, so the drawing looks OK in the paint
   program but the colors get switched around when loaded into
   The Monitor II.

   The solution is to set your paint program to use the default
   (or standard) palette. Some older paint programs will not
   allow you to change the palette, most notable is Paintbrush
   that is included with Microsoft Windows V3.1 (yes, this is
   an older program. It is a modified version of Paintbrush
   Version 1 by ZSoft). There is no easy solution to this
   problem with these older programs. Try using Microsoft
   Paintbrush Version 3 or 4.

                          CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE


Q. Why do I get a lot of asterisks (*) when I  VIEW a graphic?

A. An asterisk means The Monitor II tried to read the value of
   a point, but could not get a valid value.

Check the following:

* Make sure you have a COMMAND LINE version of the Infinity
  controller.

* Make sure the point you specified when you built the
  graphic exists in the controller.

* Don't enter a MASTER NAME when you ADD a point to the
  graphic unless the point is on an Infinity controller
  other than the one that The Monitor II is connected to.



BACKUP & RELOAD

Q. When doing a BACKUP or RELOAD, Why does it sometimes abort?

A. If you have a very large Infinity program, the controller
   can sometimes pause for long periods while it processes
   information. Try raising the FLOW CONTROL TIMEOUT in the
   SETUP/COMMUNICATIONS menu.


If you are still having problems, contact technical support at:

Custom Software Engineering
1463 Countryside Drive.
Indianapolis, IN. 46231-3304
(317) 247-4819

Have your serial number ready.


