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Message ID: 230     Entry time: Mon May 23 17:21:29 2016
Author: Patrick Coleman-Smith 
Subject: [HowTo] A solution to the problem of no SYNCs 
When starting Aida some FEE64 fail to provide SYNC data , or any data for that matter, on the ASIC data stream.
The problem is that the ASIC Readout is not starting properly and is becoming stuck waiting for an internal
event which will never arrive.
The chief source has been found to be the Correlation part of the VHDL. The reason is not yet clear but the work
around of disabling the Correlation part of all of the FEE64 at 'GO' except the Master has allowed the System to
start with all FEE64 producing SYNCs. 

This change is now incorporated in the sys.tcl file which is used when 'GO' is activated in the RunControl window.

The Master is required as it provides the 25Mhz clock and the Reset pulse. The Correlation Trigger will cause a
correlation data item to be put in the Master ASIC data stream.
Only one Correlation data item is required in the data stream, so having just the Master should be fine.

If it is required to enable another FEE64 then do this after 'GO' by opening the Correlation Browser window from
the Control window and set the Control ( at offset 0 ) to 0x0001.

Should one of the FEE64s still fail to provide SYNCs first try to 'STOP' , 'GO' the system two times and see
if that works.

A further means of correcting the problem is to directly reset the ASIC Readout using the Data Readout Window
available through the Control window. In the ASIC Readout - buffer status & control (0x300) section enter 0x4000
into the Control register to reset the state machines. Then enter 0x0001 to re-enable them. This may solve the
problem.

This is all by no means an ideal situation and the source will be found and the problem solved.
ELOG V3.1.4-unknown