Troubleshooting

When something looks wrong, compare your screen against this manual's screenshots for your version (Help ▸ About shows the version; the screenshots are regenerated for every release). A difference between your screen and the manual is worth mentioning in a bug report.

Where to look first

Artifact	Location
Application log	File ▸ Open Logs Folder → %LOCALAPPDATA%\MIB_Studio_Qt\logs\app.log (portable/dev installs write data\logs\app.log next to the executable instead)
Crash dumps + state snapshots	%LOCALAPPDATA%\MIB_Studio_Qt\crashes\ — a .dmp minidump plus a .json snapshot of service state at crash time
Data folder	File ▸ Open Data Folder → Documents\MIB_Studio_Qt

Logs rotate at 10 MB (5 files kept) and flush every few seconds, so the tail of app.log reflects the state moments before a problem.

Common symptoms

The app doesn't start. Usually missing runtime files (e.g. Qt platforms\qwindows.dll) after a broken install — reinstall with the full setup installer. Early startup errors are appended to %LOCALAPPDATA%\MIB_Studio_Qt\crash_log.txt.

"No camera found" on startup. Check the camera cable, frame-grabber seating, and that the eGrabber driver is installed; then click Refresh on the Connect tab. To verify the rest of the app independently of hardware, use the mock camera.

Live view frozen, or frame rate / MB/s stuck at a stale value. Stop the camera, then start it again. If it recurs, save the log tail — stale transport statistics point to a capture start/stop ordering problem.

Start Experiment refuses. The camera must be running first: "Camera must be running before starting an experiment."

Recording stops with a save error. The app stops the experiment and shows the reason. Typical causes: disk full, missing permissions on the target folder, or antivirus blocking writes. The already-written part of the HDF5 file remains readable in the Review tab.

Review tab is slow on a huge file. Keep the file on a local SSD rather than a network share; thumbnails stream in as you scroll. Close other files first (Close File).

Charts empty on the Monitoring page. Charts only accumulate while the Monitoring tab is visible and the camera is running; they reset with each experiment.

No update prompt appears. Check Help ▸ Software Updates… manually. If the entry is greyed out, auto-update was disabled under Settings ▸ Boot Service Toggles…. Very old installations may predate the current update server and need one manual reinstall with the full installer.

Reporting a problem

Help ▸ Report a Problem opens the issue tracker. Include:

1. The app version (Help ▸ About) and what you were doing, step by step.
2. The last ~100 lines of app.log (File ▸ Open Logs Folder).
3. If the app crashed: the newest .dmp and .json pair from %LOCALAPPDATA%\MIB_Studio_Qt\crashes\.
4. A screenshot of your screen — ideally next to the corresponding manual image, if the UI looks different from this manual.