Description
User is unable to start the Insight Analyzer v4.x. The following description does not apply to v5.x.
Procedure
Here are the steps to follow, in trying to find out what might be wrong.
1: Attempt Start
- In a Linux command shell, enter the command 'run-insight'.
- If that command is not found, use the full path such as '/home/tools/insight/Insight-xxx-yyyy/bin/run-insight'
- The above command is a run script that chooses a binary that is appropriate for your version of glibc. Based on that selection, the actual binary is chosen from a subdirectory, under the bin path. Example: /home/tools/insight/Insight-xxx-yyyy/bin/Linux-x86_64-glibc2.12/'. The actual binary, 'userclient, is located in this path.
- If the above run-insight command does not work, try to invoke the binary directly, for example '/home/tools/insight/Insight-xxx-yyyy/bin/Linux-x86_64-glibc2.12/userclient'.
2: Check GUI
Skip this section if you do not have X windows available.
- If you have X windows available, confirm that the Linux command shell shows the message:
"Starting the Insight GUI '/home/tools/insight/Insight-xxx-yyyy/bin/Linux-x86_64-dbg/iagui'..." - If you do not see the above message, then the analyzer is being prevented from running by a system level issue. Confirm that you do have a return message from Linux, such as a crash, library conflict, or other obvious startup failure. Solve this item first and do not proceed until you can get the above "Starting Insight GUI" message.
- If you do see "Starting Insight GUI" message, but the Insight GUI does not appear, then try running the GUI directly with the above path. This is only a debugging step, and the GUI can not be used by itself.
- If you do see "Starting Insight GUI" message, but the Insight GUI does not appear, proceed to the next section, "ERC Prompt".
3: ERC Prompt
If you have X windows with Insight GUI, or if you do not have Insight GUI, this section will apply for both cases.
- After you start the 'run-insight' command (above), there should now be a log directory created under $HOME/.insight/logs/, followed by a date and time stamp. Find the current log directory and look at the files inside that directory, for any clues about why the system is not starting.
- Check the Linux command shell, for the following three scenarios:
- Scenario: The Linux command shell has no further text, and will not accept any key entry from keyboard. In this case, please proceed to the next section, "License Server".
- Scenario: The Linux command shell has "ERC>" prompt, but will not accept further key entry from the keyboard. In this case, please proceed to the next section, "Stuck Process".
- Scenario: The Linux command shell shows a system failure and returns you to the Linux input prompt. In this case, please check the Linux error such as system crash or load library failure (file not found, etc).
4: License Server
This section assumes the Insight Analyzer has been started, but is not responsive (above steps). In some rare situations, the FlexLM license server may cause Insight Analyzer to wait indefinitely.
- If using the GUI, open "View > Log" to see the system log.
- If not using the GUI (in batch mode), go to the log area under $HOME/.insight/logs/, and find the most recent log sub directory. In the sub directory, find the file "main.log".
- In the log, confirm the following possibilities:
- Scenario: The first few lines read "attempting to communicate with license server", followed by no other text. In this case, Insight Analyzer is hung up while waiting for the FlexLM license server. The FlexLM license server is apparently running, but not able to issue licenses due to a communications problem.
- Scenario: The log has many lines near the top, including messages about FlexLM license server. In this case, the license server could be off line, or it is running and licenses are not available, or it is running and licenses have been checked out. In any such case, the log lines will indicate what has happened with FlexLM.
- If the above scenario does indicate successful license checkout, proceed to the next section.
5: Stuck Process
This section assumes that you have a session that was started, but is not taking any input. The process is stuck.
- Double confirm that this is not a crashed process. The original Linux command shell would show a system crash message. If this is the case, please solve the above steps and do not proceed any further below.
- On the Linux command shell window, click once to focus your mouse cursor, and then press ^C / control-C one time only, from the keyboard. Following that, check for either of these results:
- Scenario: The ^C action causes a stack trace to appear, such as:
Script Menu:
S (stack trace)
C (continue script)
A (abort script)
^C (exit)
Choice: ___
In this case, please skip to section "Startup Script" - Scenario: The ^C action causes this message to appear:
Press ^C within 2 seconds to exit.
In this case, it appears the system is working normally. Please contact Insight support for further help.
6: Startup Script
This section assumes that you have a process that is stuck due to a running script.
- At the "stack trace menu" shown in the previous section, press "S" key. The result should say:
"wrote stacktrace.out" - Using another Linux command shell in the same directory, find the file "stacktrace.out".
- Open the stack trace file. There should be one of the following:
- Scenario: The stack trace file says only "stack trace", with no other text. In this case, the running script is doing something outside of Insight's control, such as running a system command that has not returned, or running an endless loop, or an indefinite 'until' command. Please continue with these steps.
- Scenario: The stack trace file says "stack trace", followed by other lines of text showing script progress and command calls. In this case, the startup script has begun some circuit related tasks, and the circuit related tasks are still busy. Please continue with these steps.
- To find out where the script has been called from, check the log directory for the latest log path. Example $HOME/.insight/logs/log.2019-07-09_152629.532/main.log. In this log file, there should be an entry such as "Running script: /the/path/to/my_script.tcl".
- It is also possible there is a different script running, that was given by the startup command line (section 1).
- Unfortunately, it is not possible to dump a list of all script files being run (as Tcl script may be calling other scripts, outside the control of Insight framework). But, you can disable this by removing either the startup script (startup.tcl, above), or the command line script (-run my_script.tcl).
- Check the environment variables for anything spelled "INSIGHT_". Try starting with the option -help, which will dump a list of the known INSIGHT_ environment variables. Some of these can direct the tool to run Tcl scripts outside the normal flow.
- To get around this problem, try starting Insight Analyzer apart from any other environment scripts. You should be calling
In any case, the symptoms that brought you to this section do indicate that a script is busy.