Common problems:

The XIA Digital Processors (DGF & DXP) are digitally controlled, high performance products for X-ray and gamma-ray spectroscopy. All settings can be changed under computer control, including gains, peaking times, pileup inspection criteria, and ADC conversion gain. The hardware itself is very reliable (no moving parts!). Most problems are not related to hardware failures, but rather to setup procedures and to parameter settings. XIA's DXP software includes several consistency checks to help select the best parameter values. However, due to large number of possible combinations the user may occasionally request parameter values which conflict among themselves. This can cause the DXP unit to report data which apparently make no sense (such as bad peak resolution or even empty spectra). XIA is working towards implementing all the necessary consistency checks in the DGF software. Each time a problem is reported to us, we diagnose it and include necessary modifications in the new versions of our DXP control programs, as well as add the problem description to the FAQ list.

As a first step in diagnosing a problem, it is sometimes helpful to consult most recent data sheets and user manuals for a given DXP product, available in pdf format from the XIA web site. Since these documents may have been updated since the DXP unit has been purchased, they may contain information that may actually help solving a problem in question. All manuals, datasheets, application notes and software and firmware downloads can be found in the DXP Resources page.

Please check your DXP software/firmware before submitting a problem report:

It is important that the DXP unit is being driven by the most recent software/firmware combination, since most problems are actually solved at the software level. Check here for the most up to date standard versions of the DXP software and firmware. Please contact us if you are running semi-custom or proprietary firmware code. (Note: it is not a bad idea to make backup copies of your existing software and firmware before you update)

Submitting a problem report:

XIA encourages customers to report any problems encountered using any of our software. Unfortunately, due to limited resources XIA is unable to handle bug reports over the phone. In most cases, the XIA engineering team will need to review the bug information and run tests on their hardware before being able to respond.

All software-related bug reports should be emailed to and should contain the following information, which will be used by our technical support personnel to diagnose and solve the problem:

• Your name and organization
• Brief description of the application (type of detector, relevant experimental conditions...etc.)
• XIA hardware name and serial number
• Version of the library (if applicable)
• OS
• Description of the problem; steps taken to re-create the bug
• Supporting data:
  The most important are digital settings of the spectrometer unit, i.e., the values of the DSP parameters such as the decimation, filter length, etc. The values of these parameters can be captured into an ASCII file by executing an appropriate command from the user interface menu (such as "Parameters --> Save As...", or similar). Please attach a copy of this file if possible.
  Capturing an oscilloscope image of the preamp output will be extremely helpful. This can be done either with a digital scope, or by making a sketch of the scope image by hand. Please make a note of the signal amplitude, raise time, and decay time (if applicable). Is there any line noise present in the signal?

XIA offers the ADOPT program for customers who have special time and programming restraints that require priority access to the XIA software team.

For general questions:

For DXP hardware issues please email:

For DXP software support please email:

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http://www.xia.com/DXP_support.html, last updated August 9, 2012
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