No "ML_STAR" section in method editor toolbox

Hi

We recently purchased a second hand Hamilton Starlet. I installed Venus on a Windows laptop, and have been able to get everything up and running so far. When I do a System Deck layout, and if I go to one of my plates/tip racks and use the “Move probe” command, it succesfully homes the robot, picks up needle and moves to the correct locations etc.

However, when trying to create methods, I simply can not figure out why I don’t have access to the “ML_STAR” toolbar section mentioned in the manuals and everywhere else. Not having this means I don’t have the “Initialize” step or any others. When I try to use steps from the “Microlab STAR Smart Steps” also visible in the screenshot, it just seems like nothing wants to happen/I can’t get it to actually accept even a single step.

I also often get an “Out of memory” error and can’t find a reference to this anywhere, not sure if anyone knows what causes this?

I’d be very happy to pay an hourly rate for someone to help get us through the last bit of config on a video call or remotely. I feel quite confident in being able to build workflows etc once we have the basic setup done and working end to end, but it’s very difficult to troubleshoot, so hoping for help! Thank you

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Hiya, welcome to the forum :slight_smile: for the ML_STAR toolbar section, would you be able to check something for me - if you open the system configuration editor (found under the tools tab), does it have a tab for Microlab STAR, and if so, what does the “step selection” section within it look like? For the memory error, there are a couple of potential ones. Is it error code 0xa0220001? If so then you can try to either increase the amount of RAM Venus has been allocated or in task manager, go to details, right click the hamilton software and assign priority high. For that and other error codes, this site has a lot of them listed as well as suggested fixes.

In the configuration editor, I only have the “Microlab(?) STAR” tab, see image here. I’ve changed visibility to “step visible” for all commands under step selection tab, but there are simply no “initialize” step for example
image

Thank you for the error code overview! I didn’t see any actual error codes, just a Windows pop-up modal without additional context, but I’ll try the proposed fixes anyway and see if I can locate an error code

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@EricSindelar_Hamilton or @NickHealy_Hamilton may be able to assist here.

Have you also changed the step visibility under the microlab starlet tab? Because those are two different things, one handles general commands and one handles star-specific commands such as initialization

Hi Tarun, yes - actually had a brief session with Kastronaut yesterday, but everything was configured as it should and ML_Star simply isn’t showing up. We tried re-installing Venus with a new version from a separate source, but it didn’t help.

This might be a silly question but have you run the Hamilton Support Software?

This is integrated into the Venus software rihgt? I believe so, but not sure. Is there a specific diagnostic tool or anything I might be able to run?

It might be worth nothing that this STARlet configuration has a 96 head AND 8 channels, right @MagnusReshape ?

Yes, 96 head and 8-channel and I believe the “large gripper” gripping device

For the ML_STAR steps to appear in the toolbox, the method must be linked to a system deck that has the ML_STAR device added. Try creating a new system deck, and select ML_STAR as shown below and select OK.

image

Save the new system deck and while you have it open, go to File->New->Method and save the new method, give it a name and select Save. This would automatically link the system deck to the method. You should now see the ML_STAR commands in the toolbox.

You could then go to the System Configuration Editor in the ML_STAR section to make all or only specific individual commands visible.

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Hi Eric, thank you. I just tried replicating this, but I get the same results.

  1. New system deck shows you have in the screenshot (ML_STAR). Save this
  2. Create new method while having the system deck open that just initialized and save this
  3. Open system configuration editor and set all steps visible

I still don’t have any “ML_STAR” toolbox available in my “Steps” toolbox. This is also what I believe I did the first time and tried with the help of Kastronaut - it feels like some kind of bug where the Steps simply don’t show up in the “Toolbox” pane?

Hmm, I’m not sure what’s going on here then - you may have to perform a repair or reinstallation of the software.

Have you tried right clicking the toolbox, click add/remove instrument, and checking that the box with the “Microlab STAR” is selected, and that low-level steps are on the “visible” mode?

Thank you Eric

Tarun - yes, did a lot of rounds back and forth at all levels of add/remove instrument, creating new system deck, linking to new method, enabling all steps, re-installing software etc etc. Only thing I haven’t tried is a completely separate computer. Thank you, I think I might need to try that - do I need a computer connected to the instrument for this to show up? If you know? I have a desktop in another location I could try installing Venus on and see if it works

No, you don’t need to be connected for the ML_STAR commands to show up. If you have another computer to install VENUS and see if it works, that would help isolate the issue.

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