The PSMs aren't moving

All manipulators should be completely back drivable when not powered. If your PSMs are stiff and you can't move all the joints by hand, make sure you have removed all the brackets and zip ties used to protect the arm during transportation. Please read the unpacking guide: ISI private wiki.

I can't find qladisp but everything else has been compiled

You're probably missing the curses development libraries. Install them, re-run CMake or just catkin build if you're a ROS user. To install on Ubuntu:

  sudo apt-get install libncurses5-dev

All signals freeze for a couple seconds

• Make sure you don't have two programs trying to access the FireWire controllers simultaneously. The low-level API provided by JHU performs a check but you might have found a way to defeat it.
• Make sure you don't have any other FireWire devices on the same FireWire controller. For example, don't connect an external FireWire hard drive or camera on the same FireWire chain. Please note that PC that comes with a built-in FireWire controller might provide multiple external connectors that are managed by a single FireWire chip.
• Make sure your FireWire "chain" is good from your computer to the last FPGA-QLA board set. See Firewire below.

Some intermittent signals

• Make sure you don't have any loose ITT Cannon cables from your manipulator to the controller.
• Make sure the SCSI and RS cables between the dMIB and QLA boards inside the enclosure are not loose.
• See also controller boxes description and debugging potentiometer issues

Firewire connection

Symptom

• Can't even connect to controllers
• See some of the QLA-FPGA but not all
• qladisp seems to be working but the display freezes for a couple of seconds

Firewire cables

Cheap cables tend to have more quality issues. We strongly recommend to buy your FireWire cables from Unibrain.

For a more detailed description of the cables used for our controllers (at JHU), see ISI private wiki. The best way to test your setup is to start with a single cable and single QLA-FPGA and then add the extra boards one by one to the daisy chain. This requires to open the controller enclosures.

I plugged my PC to the stereo display but I get no image?

You need a special cable and the correct settings on your computer. The cable adapter is not provided with the Research Kit and is not standard so you will have to make it. See ISI private wiki.