We've got six IE33 systems (18-24mths old) and unfortunately had alot of problems with them. Problems include: Patient data becoming corrupted (resulting in patients having to be re-scanned), systems crashing on a regular basis and tracker ball failures. Anyone else had similar experiences??

We have four Philips IE33 systems all purchased in March 2008. Every one of them has failed with various faults - hanging up, going into sleep mode, crashing and trackerball.
We also have an number of IU22 systems that have had a number of keyboard/console problems ie sticky keys.

open the user interface and clean the keyboard with alcohol pad (under the keys) . open the track ball and clean it. if you lose the patient data, probably the storage HDD has problem. There are 3 hard disk drives in iE33 and iU22. One of them is for OS and software which is connected to the Host computer. The patient data stores inside other ones. Creat a backup from information then replace the HDD. If the system is slow or crashing and frezing all the time the OS and software need to be reinstalled. You have to get the software directly from Philips. For installing the software you need the Bios's password.
* The OS of these ultrasounds is Win XP.

First of all ... a belated welcome to the forum.

That's all good stuff ... but what causes all those problems, do you reckon?

My guess is that the units don't get closed down properly, or the power cable (cord) gets yanked, or some such thing. Both equally daft, not to mention careless.

After all, I believe that Win XP is reasonably resilient. I'm not sure if it's as tough as Win 2000 ... but it's not as though it's really doing much here, is it? It just needs to be closed down with a bit of care!

But how to overcome all that? Am I right in assuming that there's no built-in UPS?

Maybe the real solution here is:-

1) Some way of disabling the main on/off switch
2) Hanging a UPS off the cart!

Of course, what is really needed is a ROM-based operating system (you know:- "instant on", no need to boot from disk, and good stuff like that) ... but I can't see that happening these days (unfortunately).

@Gerry: as recently mentioned elsewhere, sticky keys and tracker balls are almost always due to "sticky fingers" (that is, gel on the operator's paws)!

I have received a plea for help from a member of the forum who has cleared a fault on an IE33 by swapping out the control panel with one from an old machine. So far, so good, then.

But now he faces the problem of needing to calibrate the touch screens. For this he needs to log on as Admin - but doesn't have the password. And it's not written on sticky tape somewhere inside the machine, apparently (or should that be:- unusually?).

Does anyone have any words of comfort I can pass on to this guy?

I can supply a service manual for the IE33 / 22 series, if that would help, however I believe the password needs to be generated by Mr Philips using the machines serial number, it's also a use once pw that resets after you log out.

service manual does not contain passwords.

Thanks for that, Malcolm.

I've alerted the guy to this thread, so I'll leave it to him to contact you directly if need be.

Meanwhile, I'm wondering if he could now get away with repairing the (hardware) fault on the original board, and bunging it back in.

Hi All,

Please get in touch with me if you need any specific help with your Iu22 or Ie33. It maybe a good idea to replace the Harddrives (D to F Carts - have 3 HDDS and G or R have one only) and reload the software if your systems keep get corrupt databases.
For your sticky key problem it is possible to purchase a kit from Philips, to replace each key. However this is a long winded process and would advise doing this unless you have plenty of time and patience.
If I can be of any further assistance with any ultrasound problem please get in touch - Danelismedical@gmail.com

Apart from "serious abuse" by the user (not powering down in a dignified manner, and what-have-you), I have never really got to grips with why service engineers always want to replace the drives, reload the software etc..

After all, hard-drives on PCs (even when heavily used) usually last as long as the machine itself. Even the physically smaller drives in laptops are generally pretty robust.

With PCs there are software tools that can (and do) repair corrupted filing systems, databases and so forth. Even good old ChkDsk is generally worth a go. So surely there must be a way of running (applying) such remedies on ultrasound units?

Lastly, when replacing hard-drives (and almost anything else these days, it seems) and reloading software (if you have it to hand), we are back to the usual problem:- the Passwords, Config Keys etc..

What we really need is some "knowledge" about how the passwords are derived, or a universal (or default) password; or even better, a method of circumventing them altogether.

We had 5 of these units from 2008 - 2018 and they had about as many issues as any other ultrasound.

We did find that we had to archive the studies off and perform a database reset every quater which seemed to iron out almost all of the image managment issues you are describing.

Side note: the system performs a ChkDsk operation when not shut down properly, this is indicated on startup by an orange rather than a blue progress bar.

Hope this helps!

Interesting ... especially about ChkDsk.

Do you know which OS and file system (NTFS?) these units use?

Is the ChkDsk routine "self-healing" at start-up?

Has this fellow figured out how to circumvent the password so he can calibrate the touch screen? I can help.

It looks like the guy hasn't been on here since 25-May-19.

Hopefully he will respond when he next appears.