How to report a software problem.

To make it easier and faster to solve problems with the Congo software, it is important that problems are reported in a proper and complete way.

First, it is important to define what a Crash means. To a developer, a crash means that the application crashes with some kind of error message. Most crashes can be intercepted to make it possible to save play data and to present a proper crash message. These are known as "handled crashes". Handled crashes produce an error message and also produce what is known as a "Dump file" containing important information about the console state when the crash occurred. In addition, a "Recovery File" is produced and is offered on a restart so that you can recover any data you programmed but had not saved before the crash. When you have restarted, please connect your USB stick to the console and use the BROWSER>FILES>COPY LOG AND DUMP FILES TO USB command to copy a ".zip"archive of the dump file (Congo.dmp) and an additional file called the "Log" (Congo.log) to that USB stick. Please email that ".zip" file, a copy of your play file and a detailed description of what you were doing at the time of the crash to Congo@etcconnect.com.

If the application hangs or misbehaves, this is not regarded as a crash (it may still be a serious problem however).

If the application seems to hang, please check the following things:

• Was the hour glass constantly on in the upper corner? If so, this is a real hang-up.
• Does anything work? Mouse, keyboard, some buttons etc? If an external keyboard is connected, is anything pressing down a key like a script or a headset?
• Was it possible to press ESC to unlock this state? (It is possible, in some very special situations, that a key could be "forgotten" in the down state, which blocks other keys. ESC should always fix this.)
• Does it say "Keyboard override" in the upper right corner? If so, there is probably a text cell open for editing somewhere on screen.
• Is there a focused tab (with the orange frame)? I have seen some situations where the focus got lost, meaning there is no tab focused, which can be confusing since some things don't do what you expect. If there is no focused tab, click on one using the mouse or trackball or enter a tab number and press TAB.
  

 

If you need to report a problem, please try to include as much information you can about:

• the software version number
• the configuration (standalone, server/backup, other connected devices on the network, etc)
• the situation the problem occurred in (what did the user do when it happened, open editors, special conditions etc)
• any other information that you think could be useful

 

If we get this information from the start, it makes it easier for us to provide a fast and professional service to our customers.

 

And just to reiterate, if you are in a show situation and are experiencing problems with your Congo console, please do not seek help here on the forums, please contact ETC Technical Service at one of the numbers below:

 

For technical support in the Americas, please call 608/831-4116, or toll-free in the U.S. at 800/688-4116.
For technical support in Europe, please call (+44) 20 8896 1000.
For technical support in Germany, please call (+49) 8024 4700-0
For technical support in Asia, please call (+852) 2799 1220.

 

Thanks -

 

Sarah 

[edited by: sclausen at 2:39 PM (GMT -6) on Wed, Sep 19 2007] Changed text to refer to the zipped dmp/log archive. [edited by: sclausen at 8:46 AM (GMT -6) on Wed, Apr 25 2007] [edited by: sclausen at 8:46 AM (GMT -6) on Wed, Apr 25 2007] [edited by: sclausen at 8:45 AM (GMT -6) on Wed, Apr 25 2007]