Table Of Contents
When hardware fails then messages are written to DAQ Plot's console and you will also get this panel:
Explanation of the options:
- Stop Acquisition: Use this to stop all data acquisition so you can correct the situation.
- Reset Acquisition: Use this to reset the acquisition. Resetting involves stopping the current acquisition and then starting it right away, i.e.: it is a full reset.
- Continue: Use this ignore the error. Usually ignoring hardware failures is not possible and you will probably need to reset the acquisition to flush buffers, reset states, etc.
Causes Of Hardware Failure
Obviously if you disconnect the USB cable or unplug the power to the computer then you will encounter a catastrophic hardware failure. The list below itemizes some less obvious types of failure.
- If you collect millions of samples of data, try to export the data to a file, have limited RAM and continue data acquisition then there is a good chance you will overwhelm your computer and cause a hardware failure (USB buffer overrun). You will need to reset the acquisition to recover. It is recommended that you actually stop the data acquisition before exporting data or doing very large operations.
- There is a chance that if you run a very intensive application on your computer while acquiring data then that can cause a hardware failure. If your acquisition needs are critical then it is recommended that you run DAQ Plot and no other application beyond those normally running (such as the Finder, etc.). Some scientist acquire data while listening to iTunes for example, that appears to work well but is not recommended.
Hardware Failure Recovery
If you are concerned about hardware failure then turn on the Backup. Even if you unplug your computer's power you should still be able to recover previously collected data. For less drastic hardware failure you can simply click the Reset Acquisition button on the hardware failure prompt. If your failure is of a permanent type, for example if you apply wall outlet power to the DAQ device and it burns out, then you will need to replace the component in question. But at least your data will be intact if you turn on the backup.