Lab Handbook

PsyScope
Button Box Errors

Button Box Disconnected

A fairly general warning message that could mean one of many things.

Loose connection to the button box. In most cases, the problem is the connection to the button box. Make sure you insert the cable firmly into the button box since it is a tight fit.

On computers that share the modem port with the printer port, you must make sure AppleTalk is off. Open the Chooser and make sure AppleTalk is turned to "inactive".

In rare circumstances, the serial port can get jammed. In this case, turn the button box off, shut down the Macintosh, disconnect and reconnect the cable from the back of the Macintosh, then turn the computer back on.

In even rarer circumstances, the AC adapter may be dead.

In yet even rarer circumstances, the button box may be dead. A test of a dead button box is to turn it off, then turn it back on while holding down the red button. If the red light does not eventually flash, the button box is not getting power.

Timer Inaccurate

Mostly found on the newer machines like the Quadra 660AV and the Power Macintoshes. The reason is that the ASFU fixer extension is not loaded.

You are probably not on the PsyScope set in the Extensions Manager. Or if you are, you probably did not restart after changing it. You wont see the ASFU fixer extension in the PsyScope set of IIsi/IIci Macs because it is not needed.

PsyScope freezes while collecting real data

This can happen on occasions where the button box loses power while PsyScope is running. It may be possible to recover from this by turning the button box off, unplugging the power cord, plugging the power cord back in, then turning the button box back on.

This can also happen if the data cable is not secure. If you push the cable into the back of the button box, there is a chance that commication between the computer and the button box will continue and you will be able to complete the experiment.

If the computer becomes completely unresponsice, the computer may have crashed. If you haven't configured the Extensions Manager as recommended elsewhere in this PsyScope setup section, then you may run into this problem frequently. It is also highly recommended that you turn off virtual memory in the Memory control panel.

If you cannot recover from this type of crash, you may lose all data collected up to that point. Before you give up hope, restart the computer, open up your PsyScope script again, enter the subject number in the Subject Info dialog, and open up the data file, using Utilities->Open Data File. Scroll to the bottom of the file. If there is data in there, you at least have some of the data. If there is no data recorded, then you have a choice to re-run the subject after checking the Extensions Manager and Memory control panels, shutting down the computer and button box, unplugging the cables to and from the button box, replugging them back in making certain they are secure, especially the data cable in the back of the button box, and restarting the computer.

If the problems continue, it is possible that there is a problem with the operating system installed on the computer. In that case, it is recommended to "Clean Install" Mac OS on the disk. If there is no "Clean Install" option in the OS installer, then it is recommended that you reformat the drive and install on a fresh disk. Proceed with caution because this will erase everything on the disk. You will need to make sure you can reinstall any software, including PsyScope, that you use on the computer.