SI software crashing/freezing

Stereology
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#1

Hi there, I was wondering if anyone has experienced the SI crashing or freezing when using the Optical Fractionator Workflow as you move through the tissue? We use an Olympus BX53 microscope and there seems to be no issues with the scope (can early focus the sections when looking down the microscope) but on the computer monitor the live camera image appears to be frozen. Is this a simple fix? Thank you in advance for any advice on this issue.

#2

This is a tricky issue to diagnose, and I would recommend opening a support case for this.

But, try the following:

  1. Are you using the latest version of Stereo Investigator? Download it from our Download Center - open a case if you don’t know your credentials.
  2. Make sure your exposure time is less than 100 ms - anything over this tends to be quite slow to focus.
  3. If this is happening when you first click start counting, and you are completely locked out of the software, it may be the “set top of section” dialog is appearing, but is not on screen. This can happen if you recently changed your screen resolution or monitor configuration.
    1. Force close Stereo using the task manager
    2. Open the folder: C:\ProgramData\MBF Bioscience\stereo\Configuration%username%\Groups. Click your group name, then your profile name. You will see a file called stereo.ini.
    3. Open stereo.ini in notepad, find the line FocusAndMeasureMessage = and delete it (delete the whole line, it’ll be recreated next time Stereo runs.)
      3a. in version 10 and older, there are two lines you’ll have to remove: FocusMessage and MeasureMessage.
    4. Run Stereo again, and the issue should be fixed.
      Do not attempt the steps above unless you are comfortable editing configuration files on your system. You are always welcome to open a case for help with something like this.
    5. You can go to File>Preferences>Stereology and turn off Enable automatic movement to top of section and Enable automatic movement to top of disector. To be clear, this is a band-aid fix, and if this “fixes” the issue you’re seeing, please open a case and have our support team help you find the root cause.