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What This Guide Helps With
Troubleshooting unresponsive ultrasound controls, touchscreen, keyboard, trackball, or control panel input issues before repair escalation.
Step-by-Step Troubleshooting
Ensure Patient Safety First
Confirm the ACUSON Juniper is not actively being used for patient scanning.
If controls become unresponsive during an exam, have clinical staff stop the exam, safely remove the transducer from the patient, and move the patient to another available ultrasound system if imaging is still needed.
Expected outcome: No patient care depends on a system with unreliable operator controls.
Confirm Which Input Is Not Responding
Ask the sonographer exactly what is not working.
Determine whether the issue involves:
- Trackball not moving the cursor
- Keyboard keys not responding
- Touchscreen not responding
- Touchscreen responding inaccurately
- Control panel buttons not working
- Knobs, sliders, or soft keys not responding
- Entire control panel frozen
- System image still live but controls locked
- Complete system freeze
Expected outcome: The issue is narrowed to one input device, one section of the control panel, or the whole system.
Check Whether the System Is Frozen or Only the Controls Are Affected
Look at the display and determine whether the ultrasound image, clock, system messages, or on-screen indicators are still updating.
If the screen is frozen and no controls respond, the issue may be a system software or processing lockup rather than a single control failure.
Expected outcome: Troubleshooting is separated between a full system freeze and a localized input problem.
Remove the System From Clinical Use if Controls Are Unreliable
If the trackball, keyboard, touchscreen, or control panel does not respond consistently, do not allow the system to be used for patient exams.
Ultrasound operation requires reliable depth, gain, freeze, measurement, annotation, patient entry, and image storage controls.
Expected outcome: The system is not used if operator control is unsafe or unreliable.
Check for Obvious Physical Obstruction
Inspect the trackball, keyboard, touchscreen, knobs, and control panel surface.
Look for gel, cleaning residue, fluid spills, paper labels, probe covers, debris, stuck keys, or anything physically blocking normal movement.
Carefully clean external surfaces according to site-approved cleaning procedures.
Expected outcome: External contamination or obstruction is removed if present.
Check the Trackball Movement
Rotate the trackball in all directions and observe whether the cursor or selection point moves normally.
Check whether the trackball feels sticky, loose, jammed, or physically damaged.
If cleaning around the trackball restores movement, verify normal operation and stop.
Expected outcome: The trackball either responds normally or remains suspect after external checks.
Check Keyboard and Control Panel Buttons
Press several known commonly used keys or buttons such as Freeze, Gain, Depth, Measure, Patient, Store, or Review, depending on what staff reported.
Do not perform a patient exam during this test.
Expected outcome: You determine whether one button, one area, or the entire control panel is affected.
Check Touchscreen Response
Touch several areas of the touchscreen and compare the response to the operator’s input.
Determine whether the touchscreen is completely unresponsive, delayed, inaccurate, or only failing in one area.
Inspect for screen protector damage, moisture, gel, or pressure from an object contacting the screen edge.
Expected outcome: Touchscreen failure is confirmed as either environmental, alignment-related, or likely hardware/software related.
Check for Stuck Keys or Continuous Input
Look for a key, knob, encoder, or touchscreen area that appears stuck or continuously activating.
A stuck input can prevent other controls from responding correctly.
Expected outcome: Any obvious stuck control is identified before assuming internal failure.
Check External USB Accessories
If a USB keyboard, barcode scanner, wireless adapter, or external storage device is connected, remove nonessential accessories and retest the control panel.
A faulty USB accessory can sometimes cause input delays, system lockups, or unexpected behavior.
Expected outcome: The system input issue either clears after removing accessories or remains unchanged.
Check Power and Docking Condition
Confirm the system is on stable AC power and that the power cord is fully seated.
If the system is operating on battery, connect to AC power and allow the system to stabilize.
Expected outcome: Low power, unstable AC, or battery-related behavior is ruled out.
Perform a Controlled Restart
If the system is not actively scanning a patient and no data is at risk, perform a normal shutdown and restart using the approved user interface if possible.
If the interface is completely frozen, follow site policy for safely powering down the system.
Expected outcome: Temporary software lockup clears after restart, or the issue returns and requires further evaluation.
Retest the Reported Control Function After Restart
After the system boots fully, retest the exact control that was reported.
Confirm trackball movement, keyboard input, touchscreen response, and control panel button response.
If all controls function normally and the issue does not return, document the restart and return the unit to service only if it passes functional checks.
Expected outcome: The system is either restored or confirmed to have a repeatable fault.
Check for Error Messages or System Logs Available to Clinical Engineering
Review any visible system messages, startup warnings, touchscreen prompts, control panel errors, or input-related alerts.
Record the exact wording or code if available.
Expected outcome: Any useful fault information is captured before escalation.
Perform a Basic Functional Check
Without scanning a patient, verify that the system can:
- Navigate menus
- Adjust gain and depth
- Freeze and unfreeze imaging
- Enter or edit patient information
- Use measurement controls
- Store or review an image if appropriate
- Respond to touchscreen and physical controls consistently
Expected outcome: The system either passes a practical operator-control check or is removed from service.
Do Not Continue Repeated Reboots as a Fix
If the issue returns after restart, affects multiple controls, or occurs intermittently, do not rely on repeated power cycles.
Intermittent control failure can affect patient workflow and may lead to incomplete exams, incorrect measurements, or unsaved images.
Expected outcome: A recurring control issue is treated as a service problem, not a temporary inconvenience.
If the Problem Persists
If the trackball, keyboard, touchscreen, or control panel remains unresponsive after external checks, cleaning, accessory removal, power verification, and restart, common external causes have been ruled out.
The ACUSON Juniper should be removed from service, labeled Out of Service, and sent for repair or bench evaluation.
The likely issue may involve the control panel assembly, touchscreen interface, input electronics, cable connection, software corruption, or system control hardware. Clinical Engineering should stop at safe external troubleshooting unless trained and authorized service procedures are available.
Knowing when to stop is proper troubleshooting.
Clinical Use Tip
Do not troubleshoot control response problems while the transducer is being used on an active patient. Move the patient to another available ultrasound system first. A system with unreliable controls should not be used for patient imaging, measurements, or documentation.
Work Order Documentation (CCR Method)
CCR = Complaint, Cause, Resolution
Complaint
What was reported by the clinical staff.
Example:
"Sonographer reported that the ACUSON Juniper trackball and touchscreen were intermittently not responding during exam setup."
Cause
What was observed during troubleshooting.
Example:
"External inspection found no spill, obstruction, or connected USB accessory issue; fault returned after restart during functional control testing."
Resolution
What action was taken.
Example:
"Removed ultrasound system from service, labeled it Out of Service, documented failed trackball and touchscreen response, and sent unit for bench evaluation."
Helpful Details to Include (If Known)
- Whether patient exam was in progress
- Which control failed
- Trackball response
- Keyboard response
- Touchscreen response
- Control panel button response
- Whether issue was intermittent or constant
- Any visible error messages
- Whether gel, fluid, or cleaning residue was present
- External USB accessories connected
- AC or battery power status
- Restart result
- Functional check result
- Final device status
Final Thought
Control problems on an ultrasound system should be handled carefully because they can affect imaging, measurements, patient data entry, and image storage. Start with patient safety, then check for external contamination, accessories, power, software lockup, and repeatability. If the issue persists, remove the system from service and document the work clearly using the CCR method.
That is successful troubleshooting.