Troubleshooting Digital Xray Sensor issues
Digital xray sensors are something we sell, repair, and do training for on a regular basis.
A digital xray sensor is also sometimes referred to as a Digital Radiography Sensor or a digital dental sensor.
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We see all kinds of digital xray sensors here at Sodium Dental and with that we see all types of xray sensor issues. Here we try to provide some information to help you fix your sensor yourself before having to buy a new one or send it in to Sodium Dental for repair. If none of these tips work please visit our sensor repair submission page. You can also call us at 1-800-821-8962 for help.
Issues that your digital xray sensor might be having:
1. Your digital xray sensor does not show up in your software giving errors like “no sensor found” or the software says “no sensor ready.”
2. Your digital xray sensor works some of the time and other times it does not work at all.
3. Your digital xray sensor mis fires or pre triggers giving you white images instead of xrays or gives you lots of static instead of an X-Ray
4. Your dental imaging software like Kodak Imaging, Dexis Imaging, Eaglesoft Image, Apteryx, Profsuni or other software crashes or gives errors when you try to acquire an image with your digital xray sensor.
Digital Xray Sensor Interface for Dexis
Digital xray sensors with USB interface boxes are easy to recognize. It means that a USB cable comes out of your computer or a powered hub and plugs into another device (the interface box) and your xray sensor plugs into that. Many companies like Schick, Owandy, Dexis, Sirona, Camsight, Suni, Planmecca, Gendex and Trophy had this type of setup.
This guide will help with direct to usb digital xray sensors and xray sensors with interface boxes.
When you have this type of setup there 4 possible areas of failure and some of them are very inexpensive to fix on your own.
The 4 components are:
1. The USB port on either your computer or powered hub
2. The USB cable that connects the computer to your interface box
3. The digital xray sensor interface box itself
4. The dental sensor that plugs into your sensor interface box
To troubleshoot these problems there is a lot of what I like to call “replace and pray.” The components are so connected that almost any one of them can cause almost any issue. I will start this guide off with some simple trouble shooting steps that apply to all kinds of digital xray sensors.
ISSUES WITH YOUR USB PORT ON THE COMPUTER: FIRST STEP
Computer USB Port
1. Your USB port on your computer or the USB hub it is plugged into may have failed. There is no guaranteed way to know this is the issue but it is very easy to diagnose.
Your USB port can fail but not be bad meaning it still shows up in the computer and sometimes will work for other devices but not your sensor. A dental sensor draws a lot of power and transfers information very quickly so a bad port can just cause random issues.
So your first step is to plug the USB cable going to your sensor or its interface box into a different port on the computer that is not right next to the port you are currently plugged into.
If your sensor is plugged into a USB hub, then unplug it from there and plug it directly into one of the USB ports on your computer. This may require you to reinstall the drivers if your computer doesn’t automatically do it. (If you are already stumped at this step you probably should give us a call)
If this resolves the issue then purchase a new powered USB hub ( meaning a USB hub that connects to your computer by a USB cable but also has a separate power cable you plug into a wall power outlet).
If your dental sensor or your interface box is plugged into a front USB port on your computer plug it into the back USB port on your computer and vise versa.
If this resolves your issue then purchase a powered USB hub as I mentioned above and plug it into the working port on your computer and plug your sensor into it. This will preserve the life of your good USB port.
ISSUES WITH YOUR USB CABLE GOING TO YOUR SENSOR INTERFACE BOX: SECOND STEP
1.Sometimes the problem is just with the USB cable connecting your interface box to the computer. This is the least expensive problem to fix.
To diagnose this issue go out and buy a new USB cable, 14FT or less in length that has the same connectors as your USB cable and try the brand new one. If it fixes the issue rejoice.
ISSUES WITH YOUR SENSOR INTERFACE BOX: THIRD STEP
Different names of interface box are as follows, this list is partial and doesn’t include all names.
Schick CDR Box, Schick USB, DEXUSB, Suni Inteface Box, Trophy Interface box
These issues can really only be diagnosed in one way in your office. Simply take a working interface box from another room and swap them out. If this solves the problem you can either talk to your dealer about buying a new box, look around on Ebay for used ones, or call us at Sodium Dental (1-800-821-8962) or drop us an email at sales@sodiumdental.com. We often have used or refurbished interface boxes for sale.
ISSUES WITH YOUR SENSOR OR ITS DRIVERS: FOURTH STEP
Many issues are either directly with the sensor and at this point I suggest calling the manufacturer if it is under warranty or even if it is not and see what they will do for you. Get a quote and weigh your options, often if it is out of warranty they will take this opportunity to try to get you to trade the sensor in and buy a new one. Also, you can call us here at Sodium Dental where we repair digital xray sensors and see what we can do for you. We only charge when we are successful at repairing a digital xray sensor so I believe it is always worth trying to get a broken sensor repaired. We have saved customers thousands of dollars over new systems and often the trade in value you will get for your sensor is far less than you would get if you simply had it repaired and sold it to another doctor who doesn’t want to buy a new system.
If the issues are with your drivers this can be tricky. I would highly suggest first talking to the tech support of whoever sold you the sensor but not to give up there. We have seen instances where a doctor had a perfectly working sensor but was told it was broken. I think this is because installing a sensor properly when there is a driver issue takes both IT knowledge and specific knowledge of both your digital imaging software and your sensor drivers. I would highly suggest giving our tech support a try on this we charge 60$ for a half hour of remote support and that is a small price to pay over a whole new sensor or system.
If you don’t want to do any of this yourself, call our office and let us know you have a broken digital xray sensor. If we get it in and it works in a preliminary testing our next step is always to ship the sensor back and use remote or on site support to diagnose the problems with your system.
You can also email our support at support@sodiumdental.com, if for whatever reason you do not get a response please follow up with a phone call to 1-800-821-8962 so we can help. Our office is open 8:30AM to 5PM eastern time and if our staff is away on holiday our administrative staff is always sure to respond to voice mail.
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