There are two main things to take care of here. Basically, Oban needs to get triggers off the scanner so it can do stimulus timing, and it needs to get responses from the subject. Getting this right requires (i) all the correct cables are connected correctly and (ii) the FORP (fiber optic response blah… the thing we use to get responses) is configured properly.
The Little Black Box
On top of Oban lives a little (medium sized) black box, that has a BNC input and (I believe) a DB9 input. The BNC gives the scan triggers. The cable is labeled “slice trigger out”. The DB9 (or whatever it is) connects to the FORP and is labeled as such. Both of these need to be plugged into the “little black box” (LBB) for Oban to receive the relevant information. The little black box then needs its USB output to be plugged into Oban. Occasionally, Oban forgets the little black box exists, in which case you won’t get triggers or responses. If this happens, unplug and plug in the little black box, or just try restarting Oban.
In short:
Make sure the BNC slice trigger cable is plugged into LBB (*THIS STEP NO LONGER NEEDS TO BE DONE EACH TIME)
Make sure the DB9 cable from the fORP is plugged into the LBB
Scan Triggers
Underneath the console (the computer where you prescribe scans) is a T-junction BNC cable, normally with the bottom of the T disconnected. We just need to connect our cable that goes to the LBB (little black box) to the bottom of that T-junction. The cable that goes to our little black box (henceforth: LBB) is marked with orange tape. Connect this to the T-junction and we’re good.
Disconnect the bottom of the T-junction after your session, because unfortunately the T-junction is not as good as we hoped and sometimes it steals other people’s triggers if we keep our cable connected.
fORP (Responses)
Take the response box you want and plug it in (inside the magnet room). The button boxes plug into a cable out of which red light shines… it’s an optical system… cool.
The ‘fORP’ box sits on top of a computer under the main console. Go there now.
Press the dial on the front of the fORP once… press again to say you do want to change the configuration
When navigating the fORP menu with the dial on the front, choose autoconfigure → serial → ASCII12345.
Check the serial number shown on the display matches the serial number of the button box in the magnet room
If autoconfig doesn’t find the appropriate button box, you can do manual config. You’ll just need to know the serial number, which should be printed on the response box (we often use ‘HHSC-2×4-C’) and choose it from the menu, then choose Serial → ASCII12345 like normal.
Oban Setup
Set the input on the stimulus computer to HDMI2 for Oban.
Grab the white mac keyboard. Disconnect the mouse from the computer and plug it into our keyboard.
Login using our lab’s standard password.
Open MATLAB.
To get the stimulus to start at the proper time, do things in this order:
Get your functional scan ready to go, but instead of clicking “SCAN”, click the little button next to the scan button and you’ll get a dropdown menu. Choose “PREP SCAN”. The scanner will make some noises and throw off some triggers.
Start your stimulus code on Oban. It should do some stuff, open the screen, and then pause and say “waiting for backtick”.
Now click “SCAN” on the console.
After 16 volumes (the calibration frames), your stimulus should start. If it doesn’t, get extremely tense, swear a lot under your breath, and refer to the other parts of this document that explain how to get scan triggers to Oban.
Do not enter numbers only as subject id (e.g..25). This will send your data to cni's “unknown folder”. You'll have to ask Bob to get the files back for you.
Shim Failure: If the shim fails and you don't want to restart your scan click the hammer/wrench button (top left) and open the service manager and open a C shell. Type: “fixshims” and you should see the shims all go to 0 (or approximately 0). Type it twice if you aren't sure. Once that's done redo your localizer scan and go into the advanced setup options and turn the shim ON (from auto). Then run your remaining scans as normal.
“No matching processes belonging to you were found”
Quit digIO and start matlab again.
Projector not getting signal from Oban
Check that the orange cable at the back of the projector is plugged in. Check that the orange cable is plugged into oban.
Reboot the projector.
To get the eyetracker screen visible on the MRI
Press the buttons on the black box with the lights to get the eyetracker screen on the screen above
Then, press some buttons on that box dangling behind to get it back onto the MRI
mglDigIO not finding connection — or something about “cannot find mglStandAloneDig”
Check the cable connections
Unplug the black cable from the right of the little black box on top of oban and plug it back in
Quit matlab and start again: type mglDigIO(‘init’)
fMRIProjFlex screen looks out of focus
Someone may have messed with the focus / zoom on the projector. Very carefully try twisting different parts along the projector lens and see if that improves the focus.
Eyetracker wobbly
There’s a screw that attaches the eyetracker to the snake thingy that sometimes gets loose. If so you may need to just unscrew it, disassemble the snake thing, and rescrew the eyetracker firmly back onto the snake.
Eyelink says “OPTICAL LINK ERROR” as soon as the scanner starts.
Unknown how to solve it.