Serialtek » Support

Support

Support Contact Info

PCIe users: please visit our Start Here page for instructions on interposer setup.

Our FAQ contains answers to the most commonly asked questions; please review the FAQ before you submit a request for support. Click Here to access the FAQ.

For support issues, please email support@serialtek.com

Start Here

Just received a new PCIe/NVMe Analyzer or Interposer? Visit the Start Here page, with unboxing and setup videos, as well as installation guides to get going, fast.

PCIe Gen5 – START HERE

Ensure that ESD best-practices are followed when handling analyzers and interposers. Failure to follow best practices may result in damage to the interposer, analyzer, or DUT. SerialTek is not responsible for any damage. Warranty hardware repairs are limited to defects in workmanship.

PCIe Gen5 EDSFF Interposer

PCIe Gen5 M.2 Interposer

PCIe Gen5 U.2 / U.3 Interposer

PCIe Gen4 MCIO Cable Interposer

PCIe Gen4 SlimSAS Cable Interposer

PCIe Gen3 – START HERE

All BusXpert PCIe/NVMe Analyzer Users:
Ensure that ESD best-practices are followed when handling interposers. Failure to follow best practices may result in damage to the interposer, analyzer, or DUT. SerialTek is not responsible for any damage. Warranty hardware repairs are limited to defects in workmanship.

Micro 2 Analyzer Unboxing and Setup

BusXpert Slot/Add-in-Card (AIC) Interposer Users:
Please review the following video for instructions on interposer setup:
Slot/AIC Unboxing and Setup

BusXpert U.2 Interposer Users (required):
Please review the following for instructions on interposer setup. SerialTek is not responsible for improper setup. Please contact SerialTek Support for more information.
U.2 Interposer Installation Guide
U.2 Unboxing and Singleport Setup
U.2 Dualport Setup

BusXpert M.2 Interposer Users:
The M.2 interposer is especially senstive to ESD (Electrostatic Discharge). Please review the following video for instructions on interposer setup:
M.2 Unboxing and Setup

FAQ

Answers to selected Frequently-Asked Questions.

GENERAL SOFTWARE QUESTIONS

HOW DO I DOWNLOAD BUSXPERT SOFTWARE?

Once your registration is approved, you need to Login (in the Green box in the top-right of the main page) and select “SerialTek Downloads.”

FROM THE (DEVICE) MENU, WHAT DOES A (CONFIGURATION FAILED) ERROR UNDER THE RED (i) INDICATE?

It means there is a problem with the RAM. Either the DIMM is faulty or has simply become unseated. Please contact Support to arrange an RMA.

WHY DOES BUSXPERT FAIL TO OPEN WITH A JAVA ERROR?

BusXpert uses Java in order to support multiple Operating Systems. The default install directory for the expected 32-bit JRE/JDK is C:\Program Files (x86)\Java\. If not found, Java is either not installed or not installed in the default directory. To confirm if your environment variables are set up correctly:

  • Select the “Start” Button, “Control Panel” then “System” and the “Advanced System Settings” tab followed by “Environment Variables” button in the bottom-right.
  • Under system variables, look for “Path” (scroll down the alphabetical “System variables” list).
  • “Edit” your Java environment variable(s).
  • Put the “Path” environment variable string into a text editor.
  • Click the “Path” row to highlight it and click “Edit”
  • In the edit box highlight the entire entry (e.g. CTRL+a)
  • Paste the entire entry into e.g. MS Word and search for the string “Java”.

If “Java” is not found, default settings are being used to run BusXpert.
If more than one is found, order becomes important; you will want to make sure that your answer from part 1.c., e.g. C:\Program Files (x86)\Java\jre7\bin is listed first.

To manually modify/repair the Java path environment variable:

  • If your “JRE7/bin” path is not found, paste in the Java path you found in Part 1.c.
  • In the edit box scroll past all the system root paths.
  • Then insert the Java path you found in Part 1.c. immediately after the semi-colon after the last system root path.
  • Remember to add a semicolon (“;”) immediately after the new java path (before the next path in the list), as in “C:\Program Files (x86)\Java\jre7\bin;”.
  • Save the modified Path variable.
  • Reboot computer so path takes effect.

Try and run BusXpert software and see if the error goes away.

HOW DO I UPDATE THE LICENSE FILE WITH AN UPDATED FILE SENT FROM SERIALTEK?

Save your file to a specific directory for safekeeping. We suggest you create the following directory: C:\Users\username\Documents\SerialTek\BusXpert\license.

From within the BusXpert software, go to “Capture Control”, Select “Help” from the menu and then choose the “Update License” option.

Search for the new file at the location previously created.

DOES BUSXPERT HAVE ANY HOTKEYS AND SHORTCUTS?

Absolutely! Trace shortcut keys are found in Help under “Using Keyboard Shortcuts”

Capture Control

  • Ctrl+Shift+O – Open Capture settings
  • Ctrl+Shift+S (when a device is selected) – Opens the Save Capture dialog
  • Ctrl+Shift+Settings, only when you have a device selected
  • Ctrl+O – Opens a dialog to open a trace
  • Ctrl+F5 – Starts a capture
  • Shift+F5 – Aborts a capture without displaying the trace(This is in help
  • Shift+under Capture Status)
  • F1 – Opens the Getting Started section of help.

Trace View

  • Ctrl+O – Opens a dialog to open a trace
  • Ctrl+S – Opens a dialog to save a trace
  • Ctrl+Shift+X – Opens the options to export C – Opens up the “Copy As”
  • Ctrl+Shift+dialog
  • F3 – Finds the next of the previously searched quick search or advanced searched item
  • Shift+F3 – Finds the previous of the last searched item from quick
  • Shift+search or advanced search
  • Ctrl+T – Goes to the trigger
  • Alt+X – Sets the X mark
  • Alt+O – Sets the O mark
  • Ctrl+Shift+comma – goes to the X mark
  • Ctrl+Shift+period – goes to the O mark
  • Alt+C – Goes to the capture control window
  • Ctrl+F5 – Starts a capture
  • Shift+F5 – Aborts a capture
  • F1 – Takes you to the help “Getting Started Section”
  • Ctrl+B – Brings up dialog to make a bookmark

Some depend on the event that is currently selected

  • F7 – Goes to the next event of the chosen type
  • Ctrl+F7 – Goes to the previous event of the chosen type

If the event has two different things it can search on like Fis type and Command Type you will get the F7 options plus the additional F11 options listed

  • F11 – Goes the next event of the chose type
  • Ctrl+F11 – Goes to the previous event of the chose type
  • If the chosen item is a primitive then it uses F6
  • F6 – Goes to the next primitive of the chosen type
  • Ctrl+F6 – Goes to the previous primitive of the chosen type

Any Tree View structure or where the events get dragged or copied to

  • Ctrl+C – Copies the event
  • Ctrl+V – Pastes the event
  • Ctrl+X – Cuts the event

I AM GETTING (TERMINATED BY CONCURRENT TRANSACTION) ERROR WHEN CASCADING. WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

If you are capturing traffic from a wide link (combined traffic from multiple ports), pre-capture filtering on all the ports making up the wide link must be identical; if the pre-capture filtering is not identical, “Terminated by Concurrent Transaction” may result. You may also have mis-configured wide ports. To check this:

  • Open TRANSACTION VIEW (this issue only exists in transaction view)
  • Right-click a transaction
  • Select “Wide Ports Assignment
” and Force the ports to all be interpreted as Narrow (single) ports by selecting “Unassign Links from Wide Port”

WHERE DO I FIND ERROR LOGS?

Error logs have the format “hs_err_pidXXXX.log”, where ‘XXXX’ is the process ID. In a default Windows installation, error logs are located at “C:\Program Files (x86)\SerialTek\BusXpert Y.Y.YYY” where ‘Y.Y.YYY’ represents the software version.

WHAT OPERATING SYSTEMS ARE SUPPORTED?

BusXpert supports both Windows and Linux operating systems.

The following Windows versions are supported:

  • Windows Server 2012/2016 (32 or 64-bit) or newer
  • Windows 10 (32 or 64-bit) or newer

The following Linux distributions are supported:

  • Fedora 12 or newer
  • Ubuntu 14.04 or newer
  • RedHat/CentOS 5.4 or newer

GENERAL HARDWARE QUESTIONS

WHAT DO I DO IF MY BUSXPERT SOFTWARE IS REPORTING THERMAL TEMPERATURE ISSUES?

Please confirm you are on the latest software and firmware version. Starting with 4.0.929 a fix was made in software to resolve any false reporting of thermal issues. Otherwise, ensure ambient temperature, airflow, or direct sunlight are not impacting the overall temperature of the Analyzer. If the errors continue to occur, please contact Support to arrange an RMA.

WHY CAN THE HOST NOT SEE THE TARGET WITH THE BUSXPERT ANALYZER IN THE MIDDLE?

There are a number of tests that can be performed. At any time during these steps if you have no success, please contact Support.

Is this a bad cable or cables? Please run your original test again, using a different set of cables. If you have a bad cable, this could explain the behavior. Please remove the analyzer and connect the HDD directly to the host computer: does the error continue? If so, please swap cables; if the issue stops depending on which cable is used, we may have a bad cable.

Is this a bad HDD? Please swap out the first HDD, replace it with a second HDD, and repeat your test. Does the second hard disk appear to the host computer? Remove the analyzer and connect the HDD directly to the host computer. Does the HDD operate, normally?

Please attempt to discover the disk using via your OS tools. In Windows, Disk Management may be used:

  • Start
  • Control Panel
  • Administrative Tools
  • Computer Management
  • Disk Management
  • If your HDD shows up, you will see it in the lower portion of the display, listed as a device

Is this a bad analyzer port? Please use another port on the analyzer (if you have only one port, please use another analyzer). Does your test work, now? Please send us your calibration settings file (let us know if you have customized the default settings).

HOW DO I ENABLE ACTIVE CONTROL CABLES (AOC)?

Requires BusXpert version to 4.0.941 or greater. For Version 4.0.941 and above:

  • In BusXpert “Capture Control” select “View” from the menu and then select “Calibration Settings”
  • Check “Optic Cable Power” in the top left corner
  • Click “OK”. Optical Cable Power is now applied to all ports.

NETWORK SETTINGS

WHERE DO I MODIFY IP SETTINGS IN BUSXPERT SOFTWARE?

Once the active analyzers are shown under the “Device” menu, right click on the green (or red) “i” and select “Modify IP Settings”.

WHAT IF (MODIFY IP SETTINGS) IS GRAYED OUT?

You may have a UDP timeout error due to your PC device being on a separate subnet to the Analyzer. Make a direct (peer-to-peer) connection to confirm. If so, reach out to your IT department to modify the connection. If you are still having issues, please open a case.

WHY CAN'T I DIRECT (PEER-TO-PEER) ATTACH THE MANAGEMENT PC TO THE ANALYZER VIA SINGLE ETHERNET CABLE?

From the BusXpert “Capture Control” section, select “Help” and click the Search/Magnifying-glass icon. Search “Direct Attached” for a copy of the article “Direct Attached.” Please note if the management PC is not running a DHCP server, the PC requires the following setup. Most PCs do not run a DHCP server.

  • Go to “Network Connections”‹Tip: To get to “Network Connections”, right-click “Network” either in the Windows Start menu or Windows Explorer and click “Properties”.
  • Click on the “Local Area Connection”
  • Select “Properties”
  • Click to highlight “Internet Protocol version 4 (TCP/IPv4)” and click the “Properties” button
  • Click the radio button “Use the following IP address:”
  • Type in an IP address that starts with 010 and is different from the analyzer IP address, for example 10.0.0.3.
  • Set the Subnet mask to 255.0.0.0
  • Click “OK”. The analyzer should now be connected (it may take a few seconds).

Note: If there are any issues with this, you may need to change your IP address to very closely match. If the analyzer has an IP Address of 10.2.19.219 and you cannot connect, try setting your host system’s IP address to 10.2.19.2. To change the IP settings on your analyzer:

  • From the BusXpert “Capture Control” section, choose “File” then Change Device Selection

  • Right-click the green (or red) “i” to the right of your analyzer
  • click “Modify IP Settings” and follow the instructions, there

For low-level information on BusXpert networking requirements, go to‹BusXpert | Help | Click the Search/Magnifying glass icon | search “Advanced Network Troubleshooting”‹This article presents a list of possible causes for networking issues, and is suitable to forward to the IT department or equivalent

APPLICATION PROGRAMMING INTERFACE (API)

WHERE ARE THE HEADER SCHEMAS FOR BUSXPERT CONTAINED?

C:\Program Files (x86)\SerialTek\BusXpert 4.0.xxx\SasHeaderSchemas

COMMAND LINE INTERFACE (CLI)

DOES BUSXPERT SUPPORT A COMMAND LINE INTERFACE?

Yes! The command-line application is called “bxcli.exe“. If no arguments are specified, the BusXpert GUI will start at the Capture Control window. If the name of a trace is specified, BusXpert will open that trace in the trace viewer. Otherwise, read the help manual or use “bxcli.exe -?” or “bxcli.exe –help” for more parameters

Tip: Windows Vista users (including Server 2008 and Windows 7) should right-click “Command Prompt” in the Start menu (it’s under Accessories) and select “Run as Administrator” in order to run BusXpert from the command line. Please make sure to run it from the SerialTek install directory.