By Doug Keenen
Not a week goes by where we don’t hear the words, “my system is intermittently locking up,” or “freezing and I can’t do anything.” Nothing is more frustrating to an end user than when they have a patient on the table and the ultrasound machine locks up for no reason. Depending on the nature of the lock up, the sonographer may have to reboot the system. This is a huge inconvenience for not only the customer and the patient on the table, but also the line of patients waiting for their delayed appointment to be scanned.
This symptom is quite common and the root cause of the problem can originate from multiple areas within the ultrasound machine. It’s time to play detective. The key here is to interview the customer thoroughly to help lead you in the direction that will most likely resolve the problem.
Key questions to ask:
- Can you duplicate this problem for me or does it just happen sporadically?
- How often is the lock up occurring? If it has only happened once or twice over the period of a few months, it could be a glitch. These are basically computers so that may happen occasionally.
- Does the lock up occur at a specific time of day? Morning, later in the day? This may be a thermal problem.
- Is there one particular probe or modality being used that is common to experiencing these lock ups? Sometimes when a probe is starting to fail, it can cause performance issues with the system. If the lock ups only occur when using color flow doppler, or PW doppler, then that is what needs your focus.
- Does the system lock up when starting a new patient or saving patient images? The system then could possibly have patient data corruption, operation software corruption, or simply that the patient hard drive partition is too full. When the hard drive is too full, the system will have a hard time processing all the data and commands in a timely fashion. Deleting all patient files may resolve the problem. If this doesn’t work, reloading software may be necessary.
There are other factors to consider as well. This could be heat related. Check and clean all fan filters and filter trays. Check the back-end processors for dust build up on the microprocessor fans. Clean and reseat all the circuit boards in the back-end. It is also a good idea to open the front-end of the system and blow out the card cage with air and reseat the boards. This will insure that there is proper ventilation and secure connections in the card cages.
As important as it is to ask the right questions, it’s even more important to listen and pay attention to what the customer is telling you.
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For ultrasound tips and tricks and technical videos, visit www.conquestimaging.com or call Conquest Imaging 24/7/365 at 866-900-9404 for free technical support.
Doug Keenen has over 27 years’ experience in the ultrasound industry in sales and service with 17 of those years in the multivendor ultrasound market. He is currently a field service engineer for Conquest Imaging and is responsible for ultrasound service and sales in the Mid-Atlantic region.
