Customer Service FAQ

1. How do we contact the Systech Customer Support Help Desk?
2. What information do I need to have ready when I contact the Customer Support Help Desk?
3. Where can we find Systech's product information?
4. What is Systech's Warranty policy?
5. How are production system RMA's handled?
6. Do you have recommendations for performing system maintenance checks on Systech systems?
7. How do you save an image in Systech's system software; which was acquired from a camera?
8. How do you create a backup of the Systech software configuration (i.e. security, button, screens, vision configuration, etc.)?
9. What is Systech's backward compatibility of archives?
10. In the Audit Log report, why are values displayed under Old and New when working with vision projects and vision tools?

You can reach the Customer Support Help Desk at the Systech Cranbury, NJ Headquarters between the hours of 8AM and 5PM EST, Monday through Friday via one of the following methods:

Email: support@Systech-tips.com - Accessible by all Customer Support personnel, globally.

North America
2540 Route 130, Suite 128
Cranbury, NJ 08512
(800) Number: 1-800-TIPS-HELP (1.800.847.7435) within the U.S. and Canada
Direct Number: 1.609.235.8445

European Headquarters
Pontbeekstratt 2
1702 Groot-Bijgaarden
Belgium
Direct Number: +32 (4738 82434)

United Kingdom
14 Marina Court
Castle Street
Hull
HU1 1TJ United Kingdom
Direct Number: +44 1482 225118

When contacting Systech's Customer Support Help Desk, please provide the following information:

• Name of your company, system location, and contact information (i.e. phone, pager/cell, fax, and email)?
• The Systech Serial Number of the system being worked on/with (i.e. 42865 or 000042865)?
• The Systech software version (i.e. 7.00.025)?
• Your name/reference for the system or line?
• A description of the problem/issue being experienced?
• The current state of your production line. Is the line down (a.k.a. No longer able to run production)?
• Your role. Are you the System Administrator for the system?
• The error message you are getting from the system.
• Any activities that may have occurred prior to the issue starting (i.e. change to configuration/vision project, power failure, etc.).
• The diagnostic/troubleshooting steps you have already performed.
• If you have spare parts in-house for the system (i.e. spare hard drive, etc.)
• A known "good" archive of your Systech system software configuration.

Information is provided within our manuals for maintenance of systems. The manuals can be located for your specific system type on the installation and documentation CD provided with the system at time of purchase.

Warranty on software is ninety 90) days from date of shipment and covers technical support on the system software and its applications. Warranty on hardware products is one (1) year from date of shipment. Systech warrants that its products are free from defects in material and workmanship. Systech will, at its option, either repair or replace any part of its products that prove defective by reason of improper workmanship or materials. Repaired parts or replacement products will be provided on an exchange basis, and will be either new or refurbished to be functionally equivalent to new. This warranty does not cover any damage to this product that results from accident, abuse, misuse, natural or personal disaster, or any unauthorized disassembly, repair, or modification.

a) Hardware product under warranty will either be repaired or replaced once returned to Systech. Special considerations are made for any out of box failures within 30 days of date of shipment. Charges for shipping hardware and software products in Warranty will be partly borne by customers and will be partly borne by Systech. Product being returned to Systech is to be shipped door-to-door at customer's expense. Product being shipped by Systech is to be shipped door-to-door at Systech 's expense. Any and all costs paid by Systech to have product received at our door will be invoiced back to the customer. b) Hardware product out of warranty will be repaired once returned to Systech and receipt of a Purchase Order to cover the repair charges. Shipping charges are borne by Customer. Any and all costs paid by Systech to have product received at our door will be invoiced back to the customer.

Return Material Authorizations (RMAs) provide a means for a customer to return items that require evaluation, repair and/or replacement. The fee for the repair or replacement of an item is determined upon the item itself and the warranty status of the item. If you would like to have an RMA issued to you for the evaluation, repair or replacement of an item, please contact the Customer Support Help Desk. They will walk you through the process of verifying item issue, service(s) to be performed, and part/pricing information for the service.

Please see our How-To Document links or request one of our How-To Documents from the Customer Support Help Desk. There are currently (2) documents with recommended system maintenance checks written based on the Operating Systems being used (i.e. either NT or XP), as follows:

• HTI-019: System Maintenance Checks for NT
• HTI-020: System Maintenance Checks for XP
• Also see the Installation & Documentation CD for Hardware Manuals for your specific platform type.

To save an image that has been acquired from a camera through Systech's system software, you need to create an item called an Image Save. This document is saved with a bitmap extension (*.bmp).

Please see our How-To Document links or request the following How-To Documents from the Customer Support Help Desk:

• HTI-004: Creating an Image Save This document provides instructions for a single image.
• HTI-007: Using the Vision - Image Capture Mode This document provides information on how to setup and use Image Capture mode; which saves a defined number of images (camera acquisitions) to the hard drive of the system.

NOTE: Legacy versions of Systech system software and hardware platforms may or may not have this functionality and/or the use of a CD-RW drive. See the Installation & Documentation CD for Hardware Manuals for your specific platform type to know drive options.

The Archive Manager application provides two critical functions: It saves an existing configuration and then later restores system configurations. Archiving protects and stores information that can be loaded in case of disaster recovery or whenever a previous configuration is desirable. This enables a user to create new configurations on the system while ensuring that a copy of an established, functional configuration always exists.

Archiving saves and compresses all files and subdirectories within the C:\Tips\Config directory. This directory contains tag, screen, station, product, lot control variable, vision tool, and security information for your system. Archive Manager does not save Operating System, Systech system software applications, historical information, or backup the hard drive. Save Systech's historical data using the History Database Manager.

Restore renames the existing C:\Tips\Config directory to C:\Tips\OldCfg and then decompresses the archive to the C:\Tips\Config directory. The C:\Tips\OldCfg directory is then available in case there is a problem restoring a configuration. Perform Archive and Restore functions only while Systech system software is not running a Lot (for systems with Lot Control) or in Project Run.

Please see our How-To Document links or request one of our How-To Documents from the Customer Support Help Desk. There are currently (3) documents on the creation and restoration of Archive Manager archives, as follows:

• HTI-001: Creating an Archive Manager Archive on an NT OS System
• HTI-002: Creating an Archive Manager Archive on an XP OS System
• HTI-003_Restoring an Archive Manager Archive

NOTE 1: Legacy versions of Systech system software and hardware platforms may or may not have this functionality and/or the use of a CD-RW drive. See the Installation & Documentation CD for Hardware Manuals for your specific platform type to identify your configuration backup and drive options.

NOTE 2: Archive Manager can be run external to the Systech system software. Contact the Customer Support Help Desk for more details on how and why this would be used.

Archive Manager archives are compatible with the Systech system software version they were created under and are forward compatible. Archives are not backward compatible.

When a project is saved or run, the Systech software looks to see what the value of each property was when the vision project was last saved. If the current value of a property does not match the value last saved for the property in the vision project, an entry is made within the Audit Log database. In the Audit Log report, the value information shown is for the following:

• Old Value: The value that was set for the property when the project was last saved.
• New Value: The value that the property is currently set for.

An entry will appear every time the vision station or vision project is stopped, vision station adjustments are made, and then re-started. If a change is made on the first adjustment but not changed after that with no project save being performed, an entry will be put into the Audit Log because after the first adjustment the value is still different than the Old Value (the value saved within the vision project).