


                         What to do if you have problems
                       with the Audiometer RS232 interface
                                  10/13/92 -med

        Most problems are caused by cabling problems, configuration 
        problems at the computer, or incompatible hardware at the 
        computer. To help determine where the problem is, the Fryers 
        RS232 software disk includes a test program. You can find the 
        program (FCHECK) in the TROUBLE subdirectory on the disk. 

        The program works in conjunction with the RS232 cable that is 
        provided with the RS232 option. The cable includes two leds which 
        show communications activity between the computer and the 
        instrument. 

        Testing FIPP mode:

        For the FCHECK test program to work, the audiometer must be 
        configured in the FIPP mode of operation. The FCHECK program can 
        not test operation with the ASCII mode. 

        To use the FCHECK test program, refer to the documentation found 
        on the disk along with the program.

        Testing ASCII mode:

        If you are using the ASCII mode and do not want to open the 
        audiometer up to reconfigure it for the FIPP mode, you can test 
        the audiometer with a terminal emulation program on the computer. 
        A simple Terminal emulation program is provided called TERM.EXE 
        for this purpose. 

        The Audiometer operates at 9600 baud, 8 data bits, no parity.
        You should set the terminal (or terminal program) to these 
        settings. The provided terminal program will default to these
        settings.

        To test the ASCII interface, send a command to the audiometer by 
        entering it at the keyboard. On power-up, the default is to not 
        echo the commands. So the first command you might want to give it 
        is "ECHO ON" which will tell the audiometer to echo the 
        characters as you type them in. If the command was accepted, you 
        should see "OK" returned followed by a new prompt. If the command 
        was not accepted, you should see a question mark "?" returned 
        followed by a new prompt. 

        If you do not get anything back, watch the green led on the 
        cable. It should flash momentarily as you type characters on the 
        keyboard (watch carefully, the light will be dim since the amount 
        of time it is on is very small). If it does not flash, you may 
        not be connected to the proper COM port. Make sure that the COM 
        port the terminal program is using is the same as the one the 
        cable is connected to. 





        To test the communications port on the computer, you can still 
        use the FIPP based FCHECK test program. Just ignore the message 
        that says that there is no instrument connected. It will still 
        test the computer hardware up to that point.

        If the green light does flash, try entering the command "VER". 
        The audiometer should respond with the current copyright message 
        and version number of the software. At the same time, the red led 
        should flash as the message is being sent. If the green led 
        flashes, but the red led does not flash, or the red light flashes 
        but you do not get a recognizable response, the terminal (or 
        computer) may not be set up to talk to the audiometer properly. 
        Check to insure that the baudrate, data, and parity settings are 
        correct if you are using your own communications program.

        If you still have problems, reconfigure the audiometer to FIPP 
        operation and use the FCHECK program to see if the audiometer is 
        operational. If the FCHECK program works, but the ASCII mode does 
        not seem to be working, then there is still something wrong with 
        your system setup. If the FIPP method works, the ASCII method 
        will always work.

        Be sure to check that the instrument is in the correct mode for 
        your testing. In the FIPP mode, the red led will flash 
        continuously, and the green led will only flash when the computer 
        sends commands to the audiometer. In the ASCII mode, the green 
        led will only flash when the computer sends a command to the 
        audiometer, and the red led will only flash when the audiometer 
        responds to the command. Thus if the red led is flashing all the 
        time, you are in the FIPP mode, if the red led does not flash, 
        you are in the ASCII mode (unless of course something else is 
        wrong).


        Note: Early versions of the FCHECK program will identify the 
        audiometer as an HE100. This identification is built into the 
        FCHECK program. The Fonix audiometer was originally called an 
        HE100 before it was released, but part way through development 
        the model designation was changed to FA10. Unfortunately, the 
        FCHECK program was released with the old model designation still 
        programmed inside. 

        Frye also makes several private label audiometers, such as the 
        ME3 and OTO. These audiometers are actually FA10 audiometers
        and will report that they are FA10 when asked via RS232.
        For developement and testing purposes these audiometers are
        equivalent to and may be treated the same as an FA10.


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