Omniscope Troubleshooting Guide

What to do if problems occur at various stages of installing and running Omniscope

Java Installation Problems

Java is a free addition (plug-in) for all operating systems, including Windows, Mac or Linux/Unix. Java must be downloaded and installed on any machine before you can run Java-based programs such as Omniscope. Full installations of Omniscope include their own private version of Java (PVM). This will generally avoid problems related to Java. However, some organisations use their own Java across multiple applications.

The most current version of Java is always available from the official Sun Java site. Visokio applications run on installed versions later than 1.4.3. If you are having problems, first try updating your machine's Java installation to the latest version. Restrictive Java security and permissions settings on generalised JVM installations can cause unexpected errors... more information can be found here.

There are usually a few outstanding known issues in Java, which is open-source and constantly being improved. We try to anticipate and help manage these rare issues when possible until fixes are included in the next release of Java. Information on known Java installation issues is here. 

If you are experiencing problems installing Omniscope please submit an issue report.  

Java Virtual Machine memory Problems

When launching Omniscope, you might encounter the following error "Unable to create Java Virtual Machine".

This is resolved by allocating more memory heap for Java. Please read Instructions section of Memory allocation knowledge base page.

You might also experience this error message :

Erroroccurred during initialization of VM

Could notreserve enough space for object heap

Could notcreate the Java virtual machine. 

Please read possible solutions for this issue on this link Memory fragmentation.  

Omniscope unable to locate user directory 

Following error message appears on Omniscope startup: 

"Your computer is not configured correctly. Omniscope is unable to determine the user profile directory correctly and is using a temporary directory as a fallback." 

To solve the issue, please attempt the following: 

• Close Omniscope, if it is open. 
• Navigate to the Omniscope installation directory and open the "installconfig.properties" file in a text editor.
• Update the ADDITIONAL_JVM_ARGS and set the user.home to a writeable location that exists. i.e: ADDITIONAL_JVM_ARGS=-Duser.home="C:\Users\John Smith\Documents\my folder\"
• Save and close the document.
• Open Omniscope.

Freezing or Hanging

If you experience hanging with no Omniscope error message displayed, first consult the list of known Java issues below, some of which you can resolve by updating your version of Java.

Known Windows and Java issues:

Note: Neither Windows nor Java allow file names with '?' or other special characters such as '*' in the file name. If you use a '?' or '*' or other special characters when you specify the file name, nothing will happen. Try saving the file with a different name not including unusual characters.

A recent Windows update caused the Web View, Google Map View and DataPlayer View to stop working. The view appears in the drop down and can be switched to, but nothing appears. This has been fixed in the most recent versions of the Omniscope, you can resolve the issue by updating to the latest version of Omniscope. 

Java will not start - There is a known issue involving a small percentage of machines that start with very fragmented memory available to Java, which requires contiguous memory of the specified amount to start. More information

If your installation opens normally, but at some point experiences hanging or freezing, and you do not see an error message, and you are not experiencing one of the known Java problems outlined above, please follow the hang diagnosis procedure .

Functions requiring Internet access

Automatic activation, updating and bug reporting functions all depend on Visokio applications being able to access the Internet. Firewall settings and additional machines between your machine and the Internet called Proxy Servers can interfere with the ability of the Visokio application to access the Internet. In general, correct Proxy Server configuration will ensure that all functions are available.  If not, in each case, there are work-arounds available:

• Specification of Proxy Servers
• Browser based activation
• Manual updating - check the Omniscope download page frequently
• Browser-based and e-mail based bug reporting...see issue report

Graphical glitches

If you are experiencing graphical glitches and artifacts in some of the of views (especially when a web-based view such as Web View, Google Map View or DataPlayer is showing), please follow the steps below to resolve the glitch by setting the system property "sun.java2d.d3d" to "true". This property is set to "false" by default to fix potentially slow rendering when making selections in the Graph view.

1. Open "installconfig.properties" which is in the Omniscope program folder, normally found at "C:\Program Files\Visokio Omniscope".
2. Find this line
   

   #ADDITIONAL_JVM_ARGS=-XX:+HeapDumpOnOutOfMemoryErrorRem

3. Replace it with this line
   

   ADDITIONAL_JVM_ARGS=-Dsun.java2d.d3d=true

4. Save the file.
5. Restart Omniscope

(Note: if you are running on a 64-bit machine "installconfig.properties" is located at "C:\Program Files (x86)\Visokio Omniscope").

Preconfigured links

YouTube Issues:

If you have Internet Explorer 7 installed, you may find that the YouTube (video only) preconfigured link displays as a white screen with nothing playing. To avoid this problem, please ensure that www.youtube.com has been added to the trusted site section in Internet Explorer 7. This is done as follows: 

1) Click on Tools menu in the toolbar.
2) Click on Internet Options
3) Click on Security tab
4) Click on Trusted sites
5) Click on the sites button.
6) Untick "Require server verification (https:) for all sites in this zone"
7) Type www.youtube.com in the Add this website to the zone text box and then click Add
8) Tick "Require server verification (https:) for all sites in this zone", if previously ticked

Blank DataPlayer on Internet Explorer 64-bit or Office 64-bit

If you are using Internet Explorer 64-bit as your default browser, you will not be able to see DataPlayers. The reason is that Adobe has not yet released a public final version of their Flash Player 64-bit.

There are two solutions for this problem:

1) Set any other browser you possess as your default browser (only internet explorer currently exists as a 64-bit browser).

2) Download the preview release of the 64-bit version of the Flash Player. Simply go to http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/ and follow the instructions.

The same issue and solution apply if you perform an export to PowerPoint or Excel and then try to open the generated file with a 64-bit version of PowerPoint or Excel.

Please note that the generated file will open fine in non 64-bit version of those programs (as they rely on the activeX plugin of Internet Explorer).