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Troubleshooting>
Solutions to common problems

Solutions to common problems

Some common problems you may encounter are addressed here:

Installation errors
Crash reports
Echoview slows down after an upgrade
Slow loading of echograms
Out of memory errors
Access violations
Floating point overflow exception
Permission denied or no write access errors
Error starting program
Data file corruption
Echoview feature is not working as expected
Every ping after a change in echosounder range appears misaligned
? is displayed in a filename
Errors in data files from upwards pointing transducers
Apparent gradient of brightness within areas of one color
Objects disappeared from scene, or scene navigation not working
Echoview performance slows when displaying 3D polylines
Unsupported transducer orientation is reported
Echoview does not recognize the HASP dongle
Help file display errors in browser
Jerky replay for multibeam echograms
Slow replay for multibeam echograms
Echoview performance is poor
Warning reading keyboard shortcuts file
Map data does not display in the cruise track window
Performance or timing issues with Athlon X2 based computers
Echoview can't display a video file
4D window display issues
Live viewing, Warning: processing overload - throughput too high
Known issues

Installation errors

Refer to Installing Echoview: Installation errors.

Crash reports

Crashes may occur. Please contact the Echoview support team and send contextual information to reproduce the crash.

Information such as:

the EV file, for details about the data and dataflow
an account of your actions in Echoview leading up to the crash
your computer specifications (display cards, RAM, operating system etc.)

Echoview slows down after an upgrade

Echoview caches performance boosting information in EV and EVI files. Sometimes this information is invalidated by an Echoview upgrade (new features in Echoview demand changes to the interpretation and use of this cached information).

If you open an EV file in a new version of Echoview, and Echoview performs noticeably more slowly than your last version, try saving the EV file again with your new version of Echoview. This will regenerate the cached information and after a first run through of everything, you will experience the speed with which you are accustomed. If for any reason that is not the case, please contact Echoview support for a diagnosis - we take your performance requirements very seriously.

Slow loading of echograms

An echogram may load slowly for a number of reasons. Here are some ideas:

Media performance is poor:
If access to your data files is slow, Echoview will inherit this delay. Consider storing data files on a local hard disk rather than accessing them over a network or from a CD or DVD.

Very large quantities of data:
The more data Echoview has to process the longer it will take. Consider reducing the total number of data files in each EV file.

Memory is in short supply:
With large volumes of data your system may run out of free memory. It will then use virtual memory, which performs very poorly in comparison with real memory. Consider increasing memory (RAM) in your computer to 16GB or 32GB, especially if using virtual echograms or very large data files.

Calculations are numerous and/or complex:
If you are looking at a virtual echogram with a long chain of operands you may find the calculations required on such a volume of data perform slowly. If a progress bar is displayed, press and hold the ESC key to interrupt the calculation if desired. Consider also the efficiency of your virtual program design (some operators perform better than others).

Data file contains many marker regions:
Data files with marker regions can load slowly. Uncheck Create marker regions from data files on the Classes page of the EV File Properties dialog box to stop the automatic creation of marker regions while loading such files.

Echoview loads data from your data files only as it is needed. This makes it possible to get up and running quickly even with very large data sets. It does mean however that scrolling across echograms (which will create a demand for new data, not yet loaded) appears to perform poorly. If the suggestions above do not help then preloading the data files during your coffee breaks may make scrolling more fluid and Echoview more responsive. To preload data files:

Press P when viewing an echogram.

- OR -

display a cruise track (which typically requires all the data in a data file to be loaded)

Note: Multi-threaded data file reading runs in the background and calculations that draw on all the data in a fileset (like analysis exports) become available once all data has been read.

Out of memory errors

A common error, that means that there is to not enough memory for Echoview, is std::bad_alloc. Make sure you have plenty of free disk space (at least 4 to 6GB), particularly on C: drive as Echoview is a heavy user of virtual memory. For details, refer to Computer requirements and Echoview and Windows memory management.

Access violations

If you get a message box indicating that a crash has occurred (such as 'Abnormal Program Termination' or 'Access Violation'), it most likely indicates a bug in Echoview or a corrupt data file. Use Send Error Report to send an error report to the Echoview support team. Follow the instructions to restart Echoview.

Check whether the problem happens with different files, if not the follow the instructions under data file corruption below.

Otherwise, we suggest you:

Check our website to see whether it is a known problem (we may already have a fix available). If a later version of Echoview is available, you should upgrade to this version and see if the problem persists.
Check the Computer requirements section to make sure that your computer and operating system are supported.
If these suggestions don't help, please e-mail a report of how you obtained this error together with any relevant data files to Echoview support. Make sure you include the Echoview version number with your e-mail (found in Help/About Echoview). We will provide a workaround or fix for your problem as quickly as we can manage.

Floating point overflow exception

If you get a message box indicating that a crash has occurred (such as 'Floating point overflow exception'), this can indicate that Echoview has unsuccessfully tried to integrate numbers that are too large. This can happen when dB values lie outside the acceptable range -999 dB to 999 dB. Situations which could cause this type of crash are:

Use of analysis exports with echograms that contain dB values that lie outside the acceptable range.
Use of the Formula operator or Data generator operator or Region statistic operator with dB values that lie outside the acceptable range.

Permission denied or no write access errors

Check the permissions on the folder you are attempting to access. It may be worth trying a program other than Echoview to create, read, write or delete files in that folder in order to confirm that the problem relates to permissions.

Error starting program

You may get this message box when starting the Echolog, Echoconfig or Echosim programs. To fix this problem, please check that the TCP/IP network protocol is installed.

Data file corruption

Echoview has been designed to read and process data from many sources. While Echoview Software has attempted to make Echoview as robust as possible, in some cases attempting to process nonsensical data from other sources may lead to unexpected behavior including general protection faults.

Such nonsensical data may arise from:

program errors in the logging or processing software,
network or other hardware failure; or
disk media errors.

It is also possible that new updates of the programs creating such files may change the internal formats of these files in such a way as to make them incompatible with Echoview. In this instance Echoview Software would like to know the details of such changes with the intention of making any required changes to Echoview.

Echocheck is a stand-alone utility designed to test echosounder data files. If you have problems with your files we recommend that you check them for errors using Echocheck. Echocheck is installed alongside Echoview.

Echoview feature is not working as expected

Ensure that you have the appropriate license for the feature.

The feature may be under active development and may have changed. Review the documentation on the feature.

Note: Multi-threaded data file reading runs in the background and calculations that draw on all the data in a fileset (like analysis exports) become available once all data has been read.

Every ping after a change in echosounder range appears misaligned

The Simrad EK500 has been observed to deliver each ping following a change in echosounder sampling range with the new sampling geometry but with data sampled at the ping geometry from the previous range. As a consequence the first ping after each range change will contain data at the resolution of the range prior to the change but scaled incorrectly. These pings can be removed from analyses by creating single ping bad data regions to cover them.

? is displayed in a filename

Echoview does not support some international character sets, and you cannot open or save files if the file name or folder name(s) in the file path contain unsupported characters. When Echoview encounters unsupported characters, it displays a warning message and identifies the file/folder(s) that contain the unsupported characters by using ? in place of the unsupported characters. You must rename the file or folder(s) that contains the unsupported characters, using characters from the Latin alphabet (as used for English), before Echoview will allow you to open or save the file. See International character support.

Errors in data files from upwards pointing transducers

Upwards pointing transducers must be placed deep enough in the water for all the data samples still to be below the water surface. Errors will occur if the data files contain data above the water.

Apparent gradient of brightness within areas of one color

When viewing some echograms, you may observe an apparent gradient of brightness within areas of one color. This is not a problem with Echoview or your display hardware and is consequence of the way the human eye reacts to light. This effect is known as the Chevreul illusion.

Objects disappeared from scene, or scene navigation not working

On occasion, it may appear, when navigating a scene, that objects are suddenly not in view or the navigation controls are not working.

You can generally correct this by selecting one of the standard scene views. To select a standard scene view, click the desired view on the Shortcut menu (right-click).

Scenes contain 3D objects, possibly including a rendition of the water surface and cruise track over the area those 3D objects cover. You are an observer in the scene, and a point in the scene is considered to be the center of your view (what you're looking at). The navigation commands move you, your direction of view and sometimes the center of view around in this scene.

The sensitivity of the mouse and keyboard controls is determined from your positions relative to the center of view. As a consequence, if you are very close to the center of view, or very far from the center of view the sensitivity of the navigation controls will be very low or very high respectively. In other words if you're looking at something very close, it's assumed you don't want to be racing around but edging along and if you're looking at something very far away, it's assumed you want to be racing around not edging along.

Adding and removing objects from a scene does not affect your position or the center of view. The sensitivity of the navigation controls is unaffected, but the appearance of the scene may be significantly affected by the objects added or removed. It can happen in some circumstances that the sensitivity of the navigation controls no longer seems appropriate to the visible scene. You were looking at something very closely for example and just added something very large, or you were looking at something very far away and just added a small object right in front of you.

As a consequence, it may appear that the navigation controls are not working (moving only a very small distance in a very large scene) or that a very small movement causes visible objects to disappear from view almost instantly (sensitivity of controls too high for currently visible scene).

Echoview performance slows when displaying 3D polylines

Echoview's performance may slow down when it has to display many 3D polylines in a scene. The individually colored polyline display method for 3D polyline groups is less time and resource consuming than the sphere and arrow display method. It is also more efficient to render 1 polyline with 1000 points than 1000 polylines with 1 point each. By grouping points into fewer polylines performance may improve. You will need to do this in the .epl file which was imported and re-import the file.

Unsupported transducer orientation is reported

When displaying an echogram, if you encounter the following message:

This orientation is not supported for scanning sonar variables and its use may lead to incorrect results or program crashes. This problem can be rectified by changing the transducer properties or the transducer selection.

this is because the echogram contains pings with a ping mode of 3, 4 or 5 (H, V or S-mode) and is associated with a transducer which has non-zero elevation, azimuth or rotation. These ping modes require the transducer elevation, azimuth and rotation to be zero. You can correct this by adjusting the transducer orientation on the Geometry page of the Transducer Properties dialog box.

Echoview does not recognize the HASP dongle

Echoview versions earlier than 3.45 require the HASP 4 device driver. From Echoview version 3.50, the use of HASP dongles require the installation of the HASP Sentinel device driver version 5.19 or higher. See Dongle installation for further information.
Your computer displays an Echoview warning that you are running a demonstration version of Echoview when it 'wakes up' after being in Sleep/Hibernate Mode. This is a bug between the HASP software and Microsoft Windows. Despite the warning, Echoview will run as the licensed version you have purchased.

Help file display errors in browser

Help file topics can contain text and formatting that may be incorrectly displayed in some browsers. Mathematical symbols and table display are known to be affected in some cases. For optimal display of topics in the Help file, it is recommended that you use the browser recommended under Computer requirements.

Jerky replay for multibeam echograms

Echoview replays multibeam echograms in a jerky way. This occurs when Echoview can not display pings (in real time) at the file's logged data rate - because the rate is too fast for your computer system. To improve the replay performance for the active echogram press CTRL+M to toggle the Multibeam replay rate to Maximum system capability (Max system). The Rendering section of the Details dialog box may have further diagnostic information about your multibeam echogram replay.

Slow replay for multibeam echograms

Echoview replays multibeam echograms very slowly. This occurs when the logged data rate is slow; there is a long time between pings. To improve the replay performance for the active echogram press CTRL+M to toggle the Multibeam replay rate to Maximum system capability (Max system).

Echoview performance is poor

Ping display becomes very slow when you have a long virtual variable chain. To improve performance adjust the setting on the Performance page of the Echoview Configuration dialog box.

Warning reading keyboard shortcuts file

A warning appears in the Messages window, for example, "Warning reading keyboard shortcuts file (line 87): Function CTRL+Z is deprecated." This message means that a shortcut key or key combination is unavailable for use as a user-defined assignment. In this example, CTRL+Z is a global keyboard shortcut. To fix the Echoview shortcuts.cfg file, you can reset the shortcut keys to the default values (all user-defined assignments will be lost), or remove the deprecated shortcut from the file.

Map data does not display in cruise track window.

A map has been added to the EV file, but does not display in the cruise track window. Map data may not be displayed because:

The map data is not selected for display:

1. Open the Variable Properties dialog box (F8).
2. Click the Cruisetrack Display page and ensure that the file is selected in the Visible map and waypoint files section.

The map data is in an inappropriate format:

Echoview will only read map files in longitude/latitude format. If your map is in another format, there will be a warning in the Messages window.

Performance or timing issues with Athlon X2 based computers

Echoview may show poor performance or display a message about timing issues with Athlon X2 based computers, while displaying multibeam echograms. A processor patch is available from AMD and may resolve the issues.

Echoview can't display a video file

Echoview utilizes DirectShow for playback of video files. This technology is used by common media players such as Microsoft Windows Media player to display video files. When a video cannot be displayed, it may be because Windows does not have the video codec for the file format. One solution is to install additional video codecs to your computer. You can find video codecs on the internet. An example is ffdshow. For further information refer to Video problems and tips.

Note: It is highly recommended that you consult with your system administrator and backup your data before making changes to your computer.

Live viewing, Warning: processing overload - throughput too high

This warning message is displayed when the computer running Echolog 80 is not adequately handling Simrad EK80 throughput. To address the issue, you will need to optimize the computer that runs Echolog. Consider going beyond the recommended computer requirements (OS, CPU and RAM) and minimizing the use of concurrent applications.

Known issues

Echoview COM

The Microsoft Office 32-bit Visual Basic Browser is not aware of 64-bit (registered) Echoview COM. This is a Visual Basic browser display issue only, it does not affect the running of scripts with Echoview COM.

COM line script crashes Echoview

A script that tries to use a deleted line will crash Echoview.

COM script crash when removing data files one at a time

Echoview COM will crash when you use EvFileset.DataFiles.Remove in a scripting loop. Use EvFileset.DataFiles.RemoveAll instead.

COM script crash when using an EV file with an open Object list in the Dataflow window

Echoview COM will crash when a script uses an EV file that displays an open Objects List in the Dataflow window.

Formula virtual variable crash

A Formula virtual variable may crash when its Variable Properties dialog box is closed. This type of crash occurs rarely.

Incorrect Density number

The Region by Cells analysis export outputs incorrect Density number values.

Cruise track window: Vertical band selection and Define region

The Vertical band tool may not include the end of a cruise track when you use Define Region. A workaround is to Zoom in and use Define Region again.

Calculation precision when converting between dB and linear units

Signals with a large dynamic range in the samples (e.g., ≳10² dB) can introduce precision losses for operations which convert between linear and dB units.

Object is incorrectly displayed in a scene

The incorrect scene display can arise from an out of date object bounding box that may have been saved to the EV file. To force an update to the bounding box, make and apply a reversbile change to any Mapping page setting on the EV File Properties dialog box.