Troubleshooting
Device Not Appearing in the Devices Tab
Symptom: The hardware is plugged in but nothing appears in the Devices tab.
Possible causes and fixes:
Windows — WinUSB driver not installed.
The WinUSB driver must be installed for the active-pro hardware to be recognized. Install the driver included with the hardware. After installation, unplug and replug the device. If Device Manager shows the device with a yellow warning icon, right-click it and update the driver.
Linux — libusb-1.0 not installed or insufficient permissions.
Install libusb-1.0 (sudo apt install libusb-1.0-0 on Debian/Ubuntu-based systems). Add a udev rule to allow your user to access the device without root privileges:
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTR{idVendor}=="XXXX", ATTR{idProduct}=="YYYY", MODE="0666"Replace XXXX and YYYY with the active-pro's USB vendor and product IDs. Reload udev rules and replug the device.
Faulty cable or port.
Try a different USB cable (one rated for the appropriate speed) and a different USB port. On laptops, USB ports on hubs or docking stations sometimes have power or enumeration issues.
ACTIVE-PRO Ultra on USB 2.0 hub.
The Ultra's high bandwidth requirement means it may not enumerate reliably through some USB 2.0 hubs. Connect directly to a port on the PC.
ACTIVE-PRO Ultra Connected at USB 2.0 Speed
Symptom: At connection time, a dialog says: "Active-Pro Ultra is connected at High-Speed USB. Connect it to a SuperSpeed port for full capture bandwidth."
Cause: The Ultra is plugged into a USB 2.0 port or connected through a USB 2.0 hub. It will still work, but at reduced bandwidth — the maximum analog sample rate and logic capture rate will be limited.
Fix: Move the cable to a USB 3.x (SuperSpeed) port, identified by an SS label or blue color. If your PC does not have a SuperSpeed port, add a PCIe USB 3.x expansion card.
To suppress the dialog for the rest of the session, check "Don't show this dialog again" before closing it.
No Waveform Data After Capture
Symptom: You started and stopped a capture, but the waveform area shows nothing — no signal activity on any channel.
Possible causes:
- Decoder mode is set to OFF. Open the Settings tab and select the correct decoder mode for each device port. If the mode is OFF, no channel rows appear.
- Input channels are disabled. On ACTIVE-PRO and Ultra, open the Inputs tab and confirm D0–D7 (for logic) and the analog channel buttons are enabled.
- No device connected. Check the Devices tab to confirm a device is listed and selected.
- Target is not sending data. Verify your target firmware is running and actively calling ACTIVEText/ACTIVEprintf/ACTIVEValue, or that the bus is active. A logic analyzer channel on an idle bus will have a flat line at the threshold level, which is correct — it means the hardware is working but no signal transitions occurred.
- Incorrect wiring. Verify the signal leads are connected to the correct pins on your target, and the ground lead is securely clipped to the circuit ground.
Active Debug Port Shows No Channels
Symptom: The Active Debug Port decoder mode is set, but no named channels appear in the waveform — either the channel group is empty or channel rows never populate.
Possible causes:
- Wrong decoder mode. Your firmware uses 1-wire UART but the mode is set to 2-wire. Check your firmware's ACTIVE library initialization to confirm which mode it uses, then set the matching mode in the Settings tab.
- Wrong baud rate (1-wire UART mode). If the baud rate does not match the rate your firmware configured, the data will be garbage. Enter the correct baud rate in the settings field, or use Auto-Detect if the data is present but unreadable.
- Firmware not calling ACTIVE library functions. The Active Debug Port only produces output when your firmware actively calls ACTIVEText, ACTIVEprintf, or ACTIVEValue. If the firmware compiled but those calls were optimized out or the code path is not being reached, nothing will appear.
- Signal integrity issue. On high-speed 2-wire connections (above a few MHz), check that the signal lines are short, the ground lead is connected, and there is no excessive capacitance on the clock or data lines.
PacketPresenter Shows No Output or Wrong Output
Symptom: PacketPresenter is enabled but the PP row in the waveform is empty, shows no packet blocks, or shows garbled output.
Possible causes:
- PP definition syntax error. A syntax error will have caused a "Packet Definition File Error" dialog when you saved the definition. The PP engine will not run if the definition is invalid. Open the PacketPresenter Editor, fix the error, and save.
- Packet start condition not matching. If the
[Start]condition in your PP definition does not match any bytes in the decoded stream, no packets will be found. Verify the start byte value or condition against the actual decoded data visible in the raw decoded row above the PP row. - Decoder mode mismatch. The PP runs on the output of the hardware decoder. If the decoder mode is wrong, the raw bytes are garbage, and the PP will not find meaningful packets even if the definition is correct.
- PacketPresenter not enabled. Check that the PP enable checkbox is checked in the Settings tab for the correct device port.
Packet Definition File Error
Symptom: A dialog appears: "Packet Definition File Error" followed by an error description.
Cause: The .pp definition file has a syntax error that the PP engine could not parse.
Fix: Click OK to dismiss. Open the PacketPresenter Editor for the affected port (click the Edit button in the Settings tab). Read the error message carefully — it usually identifies the line or section with the problem. Fix the definition and click Save. The PP engine will rerun immediately.
"No Data Is Selected" When Exporting
Symptom: Going to File > Export Between Cursors shows: "No data is selected. Place the cursors to select what data to export."
Cause: The X1 and X2 cursors are at the same position, or have not been placed.
Fix: Place X1 (double-click on the waveform, or press 1) and X2 (right double-click, or press 2) at different positions that span some captured data. Then retry the export.
Source Code Tab Shows Nothing
Symptom: The Source Code tab is empty — no files listed, no code visible.
Fix: In the Source Code tab, click the browse/folder button and select the root directory of your firmware source tree. The application will scan this directory and all subdirectories for supported source files (C, C++, Python, Verilog, VHDL, Ruby). Also confirm you have selected a device and channel in the tab's device and channel drop-downs.
Application Shows "Already Started" When Trying to Capture
Symptom: The Automation API responds with AlreadyStarted to a StartCapture command.
Cause: A capture is already in progress.
Fix: Send StopCapture first, then StartCapture.
Very Large Captures Load Slowly
Opening a large .active file (multi-GB) may take some time as the application decompresses and indexes the data. This is expected. The application shows a progress indicator during load. Once open, navigation is fast because the data is indexed on disk and paged into memory as needed.
Application Exits Without Prompting to Save
This is normal when there is no unsaved capture data — for example, after you have already saved or when only opening a saved file. The application only prompts to save on exit if there is captured data that has not been saved to a file.