Troubleshooting

“Have you tried turning it off and on again?” - The IT Crowd

Below you will find a table with common problems and potential solutions for Qblox Pulsar series instruments. If your problem is not listed or you are not able to fix your problem, please contact support@qblox.com for help.

Problem

Solutions

The status (S) LED is not green.
If the LED is red, it indicates a serious error
that needs to be resolved.
Query get_system_status() to see
what the problem is.
If the LED is orange, the LED indicates a critical
warning, that an error has occurred but has been
resolved.
Query get_system_status() see
what the problem is.
The reference clock (R) LED is not green.
If the LED is red, no reference clock is found.
Most likely you have selected the external input
as reference source, but have not connected the
reference.
If the LED is blue, the internal reference clock
is selected. Use the parameter
reference_source() to change
this if necessary.
The channel (I/O) LEDs are not green.
If the LED is red, an error has occurred in one or
more of the connected sequencers.
Query get_sequencer_state() to
see what the problem is.
If the LED is purple or blue, one or more of the
connected sequencers is armed or running.
Query get_sequencer_state() to
see what the sequencers are doing.
I cannot connect to the instrument.
Make sure that the Ethernet cables are firmly
inserted into the instrument and host PC (see
Make sure that the instrument and host PC are
within the same subnet of the same network
(see section Connecting a Pulsar).
Make sure that you are using the IP address of the
instrument. If you you do not know the IP address
or are not sure you are using the correct one, see
When I connect to the instrument, I get an
error that the driver and firmware are
incompatible.
This indicates that the version of your installed
Qblox instruments package and the firmware of the
instrument you are trying to connect to are not
compatible (see sections Installation and
If all else fails, the instrument can be
instantiated in debug mode where this error is
bypassed. However, this is highly discouraged and
no guarantees can be given that the instruments
will function properly. Nor can further support be
provided. Please see
When I connect a reference clock to
REFin and configure the instrument
to use an external reference clock, the
reference clock LED (R) turns red.
Make sure that the reference clock source is
outputting the clock as a 10 MHz, 1 Vpp signal.
The REFout from another Qblox instrument
can be used for this (see section
I cannot get the SYNQ to work.
Make sure that you are using a USB-C compliant
cable to connect the instruments using the SYNQ
connectors (see section Overview).
Make sure that the SYNQ cables are firmly inserted
into the instrument. A distinct click should be
felt when inserting them into the instruments.
Make sure that the SYNQ is enabled by setting the
sequencer#_sync_en() parameter.
Make sure that the sequencers are used to play
waveforms and start acquisitions and that these
sequencers are running the wait_sync instruction
(see section Sequencer).
I cannot get the trigger to work.
Make sure the trigger source is connected to the
TRIGin SMA connector (see section
Make sure that the trigger source is outputting a
trigger. This can be easily verified using an
oscilloscope.
Make sure that the sequencers are used to play
waveforms and start acquisitions and that these
sequencers are running the wait_trigger
instruction (see section Sequencer).
The output voltage of the instrument is twice
as high as expected.
Make sure that you terminate the output signal
with 50 Ω.
I updated the firmware or IP address using the
Qblox Configuration Manager and the LEDs
turned purple and/or red. Did something go
wrong?
No, this is normal behaviour and indicates that
the instrument has stopped its internal processes
and is trying to reboot. Though, some are not able
to and need a manual power cycle
(see Updating).
I updated the firmware or IP address using the
Qblox Configuration Manager, but the
instrument won’t automatically reboot.
Unfortunately, some instruments do not have the
the capability to reboot and have to be manually
power cycled. Some up to two times to complete an
update (see Updating).