Hi Guys

Has anybody else had a rather strange fault with this part? We have a ventilator where some but not all of the top LCD screen information has vertical lines of interference.

Some colours seem more affected than others, and some not at all. Unfortunately white seems to be most affected, and it makes critical information unreadable, so we cannot suggest that the users just put up with it.

I swapped the top and bottom LCD screens to see if the problem moved (which would show the screen at fault). Then I repeated the process with the backlight driver satellite board. The result is that the LCD screens and backlight driver boards are OK when in the lower position.

So the remedy is a new CPU board for the GUI at an eye-watering £2149! (And no, there is no service exchange option.)

Any idea if this fault slowly got worse, or did it suddenly appear? Has the machine "suffered" at all recently (knocked about, trundled up or down a couple of flights of stairs, travelled in the van, etc.). Loose connections!

I think I would spend a bit of time looking closely at associated cabling (if any) and (or) screening before ordering that board. It could, of course, be a component failure (a little C somewhere).

I have no idea of the details of this unit ... but are any socketed chips involved? Could be failure of memory, or display driver, chips (depending upon how the thing actually works).

GUI ... what does the thing run under, then? Windoze?

Either way, good luck!

Hi Geoff

It came on suddenly, from the report, and these machines tend to stay in one place latched to a pendant, so a ride down stairs is unlikely.

I reckon the fault would have cleared up if it had just taken a jolt, because I took out the screens and put them back. Worst case, I expected the error to change or get worse!

I have eliminated the possibility of the fault being with the LCDs, their cables and the backlight boards by swapping all the top half components into the lower section of the board, and vice versa (they are identical, and this makes fault-finding them so easy!). The fault stays on the top LCD, whichever item is fitted, and whichever is in the lower position works fine.

So the fault can really only be in the CPU board, which is the only piece I have been unable to swap in for obvious reasons.

As to the socketed chips - they were all looking nice and docked, and I checked by pushing on them. Nothing changed.

The GUI is simply the touch-screen. There is also the BDU, and no doubt a host of other random collections of letters in the manual. It does not run on computer software but a standalone programme.

What I wanted to find out is whether this is a one-off, or whether there have been similar errors elsewhere. The ward is quite naturally concerned in case any more fail, given the price involved!

Thanks for those details, Clare. It sounds like you've had a good old go at it. The only other thing I can offer (but it's another long shot, I'm afraid) is this link.

Claire

I came across a similar problem with our units. I lost the top display (turned blue) and done everything that you have done to eliminate components, but as with you, to no avail.

I spoke with covidien at Biscester and I eventually sent the GUI CPU down to them for investigation. They sent it back to me after reloading the software, as they were confident this would work because it worked in their workshop ( I had to send down the BDU CPU as well). This worked for me, but by that time I had already spent £2k on a board, so kept it in place.

I would suggest having Covidien re install software before you purchase a CPU.

Thanks Alan - that is really important information, and I hope it helps someone else in the future. It's a little late for us, though that is no reflection on you!

The engineer did not suggest reinstalling the software as a solution - the only remedy presented was the new CPU board. I did ask about service exchange, but that was flatly out of the question.

Unfortunately, we had to ask the users for permission to spend this amount of money, as they hold a limited budget for repairs.

A ventilator being an essential item in an ICU, they naturally twisted all the necessary arms as quickly as possible, because this equipment is in almost constant use. We needed to act quickly, and the order has been placed.

The only way this cost can be justified now is if the speed of our action is matched by the speed of the part arriving, to ensure minimum disruption.

I really enjoy getting things done without busting the bank, and this is a setback. I would have called the engineer in for a repair, but have you seen the charges for that?

£133 call out fee; £147.50 per hour for working time, and any time spent waiting for the equipment to turn up; and £96.57 per hour travelling time.

I didn't get into the details of where the engineer would be travelling to and from (or what fractions of an hour they will divide up) to try to guesstimate the cost, but it is a seriously dear do.

Geoff - your link was interesting, but a bit of a long shot, as you said. Wonder what quantity of RF interference it takes to produce the error mentioned there? And could it be explained by any difference in the power supply in the USA?

Thanks for publishing those rates! It makes my own look like I've put the decimal point in the wrong place!

Of course the Service Engineer did not try to solve the problem by re-installing software ... no doubt he is "encouraged" to sell boards instead. That sort of thing is nothing new, of course.

But just bear it all in mind the next time people want to buy ventilators.

Meanwhile ... the board has been ordered? So the story hasn't ended yet, then.

Hi Clare,
When working at Hope Hosp. we had over 8 failures of the GUI bd.
The faults ranged from complete failure to that which you described.
After much debate with Coviden, and a good chunk of money, we decided to carry out our own investigation.
It turned out that the power supply to ICU was a bit spikey and as all cableing came through the pendant this was being inductively coupled to the data lines causing the varied failures to the GUI.
We fitted RS 232 opto isolators to the data line and left them permanantly connected, cost around £8.00 ea, think we got them from CPC.
From then on we had no further failures.

Hope this helps.

Hi Clare,

This from our local Tyco/Covidien service engineer. Hope it helps.............

Hi Dave

Sorry for the delay
The person doesn't say if its a 9.4" display.
Easy to check if there is only one comms port thats a 9.4" LCD.
If it is then swap the VGA daughter boards on the GUI brd
If it has 3 comm ports then the VGA brds are intergrated into the GUI board
and would require a possible board replacement.
Also swap LCD cables to see if the fault transfers

Ah yes! The one thing Clare apparently didn't try ... does the fault persist with the machine dismounted from the pendant? That could be it!