Troubleshooting

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 Inputs 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 Inputs 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 (or Custom Decoder) below it. 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 available for this mode. PacketPresenter is auto-enabled only for decoder modes that support it; there is no PP enable checkbox. If the Edit Packet Format button is not showing for the port on the Inputs tab, the current decoder mode does not feed PP. Choose a PP-capable decoder mode.

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 Packet Format button in the Inputs 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.

Custom Decoder Errors

"Custom Decoder 'X' could not run" with a Python traceback

The script raised an unhandled exception. A modal error dialog with a monospace, no-wrap traceback appears after the decoder run. Open the script with the pencil icon, fix the line indicated by the traceback's bottom frame, click Save, then APPLY CHANGES.

Decoder appears in the folder but not in the picker

The most common cause is a missing or malformed DECODER_MYNAME line at the top of the file. The line must look exactly like:

# DECODER_MYNAME = "Some Name"

The picker scans only the first 100 lines and stops at the first non-comment line, so the line must be in the header block.

Decoder runs but emits no annotations

Likely causes, in order of frequency:

• The channel parameter is pointing at a digital channel that was not capturing data. The PARAM type digital_channel forces the channel on; a select or int parameter does not. Switch the PARAM type, or enable the channel manually on the Inputs tab.
• The condition you are waiting for never becomes true. Add an append(m.t, m.t, 0, "debug") call inside your loop, the resulting annotation rows are user-visible and the status-bar "records" counter increments so you can confirm the loop is executing.
• You are dereferencing a None Moment, which would normally crash, but you may have wrapped the wait in a try/except that silently returns.

Decoder hangs

The script has an infinite loop with no advancing wait inside. Custom Decoders rely entirely on wait_for/wait_time to make progress through the capture buffer. The CAPTURE button cancels the run.

"Decoder script did not signal ready within 30 seconds"

The script crashed during import (so the runtime never got to print ready), or the chosen Python interpreter is broken. Read the script's stderr from the bottom up, typically a SyntaxError.

Channel conflict warning every time you save

Two ports are using the same channel. Open the gear dialog on one of the ports and change its digital_channel / analog_channel parameter to a free channel.

See Custom Decoders for the full reference.

Trigger Never Fires

Symptom: The Buffer & Triggers tab is configured with a non-Off mode, but the TRIGGERED badge never appears and the << / >> / CENTER TRIGGER buttons stay disabled or grayed.

Possible causes:

• Source is "None (disabled)". The trigger never fires regardless of mode. Pick a real source.
• Channel selection is wrong. The Channel dropdown lists only channels that have actually received data. If the channel you want is missing, enable it on the Inputs tab and let some data flow before opening the list.
• Threshold is outside the signal range. An Analog Rising/Falling trigger with a threshold of 4 V never fires on a signal that swings between 0 V and 3.3 V.
• Text pattern is case-mismatched. The Equals / Does Not Equal conditions are case-sensitive (including spaces).
• Decoder is misconfigured. If a Custom Decoder or PacketPresenter isn't emitting anything to the channel you trigger on, there is nothing to match against. Confirm the source data is visible in the waveform first.

After changing trigger settings against an existing capture, press APPLY CHANGES in the status bar to re-scan the captured data with the new trigger configuration.

Trigger Fires but the View Doesn't Snap

Snap-to-trigger only applies in Normal and Auto modes. In Off mode the trigger system is disabled. If the view has been manually scrolled away in Normal mode, the next trigger event will re-snap; in Auto mode, every trigger re-snaps.

"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 source files with recognized extensions: .c .cpp .py .rs .java .v .sv .vhd .vhdl. 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.

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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. Custom Decoders attached to the capture also re-run during load and appear as a "Processing Custom Decoder" status line.

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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.

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APPLY CHANGES Is Greyed Out

The button is disabled when (a) no pending changes have been queued since the last processing pass, or (b) a live capture is currently running. To use APPLY CHANGES while capturing, click STOP first.