By Erasmo Sanchez
As biomedical engineers we want to make sure that we have all the tools necessary to successfully complete our jobs. When dealing with the Philips iU22/ iE33 machines it is important to have a copy of the system’s “License Options” file. The License Options file holds all of the options that are currently licensed on the machine. Examples of some options are DICOM, certain higher end probes, 3D/4D modes, calculation packages, etc. You should never, under any circumstances, reload software on any iU22 or iE33 without having a valid backup and a copy of the license options.
Before you can create a backup of the License Options, you need to determine the cart level of the machine. The easiest way to determine the hardware level for both systems is to look down at the brakes of the machine. If there are two brake pedals on the front of the machine it is an A-D cart or sometimes an R-cart. If there is one brake pedal then the system is an E-G cart system. On higher level carts there is a sticker on the back panel of the machine that will read “Service Hardware REV” and the letter of the cart level.
Different types of hard drives reside in each of the different cart levels. The license options file exists in the hard drive. If you are in an A-C cart system, you will need to remove the hard drive from the HOST computer. In a D-F cart, you will need to remove Hard Drive 0 from the UMB assembly. Finally, in a G-R cart you will need to remove the single 1TB hard drive from the EMB assembly.
Now that the hard drive is out, you will need a computer and a USB-to-IDE adapter for the A-C cart hard drives and a USB-to-SATA adapter for the D-R cart hard drives. Even though the hard drives are different, the process for retrieving the License Option file is the same. Connect the hard drive to your computer using the adapter and follow this file path: RW_Normal:\host\config\iu\licensedOptionsFile.xml. Save a copy of the file to a flash drive and open the copy created using notepad and scroll down until you see the “Chip ID.” Highlight and copy the chip ID and close the file. Add the chip ID to the end of the file name using an underscore. So the file should now look like this: licensedOptionsFile_xxxxxxxxxxx.xml, with the Xs being the chip ID that you copied from the License Option file. Take the file that you just created and burn it to a CD-R, making a copy for yourself and one for the customer. This completes a vital procedure that will ensure system uptime in the future.
For more information, please call Conquest Imaging’s Technical Support at 866-900-9404. To view our Tech Support Videos or register for our next webinar, visit www.conquestimaging.com.
Erasmo Sanchez is the Repair Floor Manager at Conquest Imaging.