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What This Guide Helps With
Troubleshooting workstation, acquisition, DICOM, or archive transfer issues using safe external checks before service escalation.
Step-by-Step Troubleshooting
Ensure Patient Safety First
Confirm whether a patient case is active, paused, or completed.
If imaging is needed for an active procedure and acquisition, review, or image transfer is unreliable, notify the clinical team immediately and follow the site’s downtime or alternate imaging workflow.
Expected outcome: Patient care is not delayed or dependent on an unreliable imaging workstation or archive connection.
Confirm the Exact Reported Failure
Ask the technologist or interventional staff what failed and when it occurred.
Identify whether the issue involves:
- syngo workstation frozen or slow
- Image acquisition not starting
- Images acquired but not displaying
- Prior images unavailable
- DICOM send failed
- PACS archive unavailable
- Worklist not loading
- Images stuck in queue
- Network or archive error message
Expected outcome: The failure is clearly identified before troubleshooting begins.
Check Whether Imaging Acquisition Is Still Available
Confirm whether fluoroscopy or acquisition can still be performed safely from the system controls.
Do not assume a DICOM or PACS issue means X-ray generation has failed.
Expected outcome: The issue is separated into either an acquisition problem or a post-acquisition transfer/archive problem.
If imaging cannot be acquired at all, continue with acquisition checks. If images acquire normally but will not send, focus on DICOM/archive checks.
Verify Workstation Power and Display Status
Check that the syngo workstation, monitors, keyboard, mouse, and any connected review consoles are powered on.
Look for blank screens, frozen images, no signal messages, failed logins, or unresponsive input devices.
Expected outcome: The workstation and displays are powered and responsive.
If a loose display cable, switched-off monitor, or unresponsive keyboard/mouse is corrected and normal operation returns, document and stop.
Check for Obvious Workstation Input or Peripheral Issues
Verify the keyboard, mouse, control panel, and acquisition workstation input devices are connected and functioning.
Check for stuck keys, unplugged USB devices, damaged cables, or liquids near the workstation.
Expected outcome: The workstation can receive normal operator input.
If replacing or reconnecting an external input device restores control, document and stop.
Review the Workstation Error Message
Record the exact syngo, acquisition, DICOM, network, or archive message shown on screen.
Note whether the error appears during patient registration, image acquisition, image review, send, archive, or query/retrieve.
Expected outcome: The issue is documented accurately for escalation or repair.
Check Patient and Exam Selection
Confirm the correct patient, procedure, study, and exam step are selected.
Make sure the operator is not attempting to acquire images under the wrong patient, closed exam, canceled procedure, or incomplete worklist entry.
Expected outcome: Acquisition and image routing are being attempted under the correct patient context.
If correcting patient or exam selection resolves the issue, document and stop.
Check Local Image Storage or Queue Status
Review whether images are stored locally on the acquisition workstation but not transferred.
Look for a DICOM send queue, archive queue, failed transfer list, or pending studies.
Expected outcome: You can determine whether images are missing, unsent, or only delayed in transfer.
If images are present locally, protect the study data and avoid unnecessary rebooting until the case status is understood.
Verify Network Cable and Connection Status
Inspect accessible network cables at the workstation, network wall jack, switch port, or equipment rack if safely available.
Look for unplugged cables, damaged connectors, disconnected patch cords, or missing link lights.
Expected outcome: The workstation has a physical network connection.
If reconnecting a loose network cable restores DICOM send, worklist, or archive communication, document and stop.
Check Whether Other Systems Are Affected
Ask staff whether other imaging systems, PACS workstations, modality worklists, or archive sends are failing.
This helps determine whether the issue is local to the ARTIS zee system or part of a broader network, PACS, RIS, or DICOM outage.
Expected outcome: The issue is narrowed to either the angiography system or an external hospital network/archive problem.
Verify Worklist Functionality
Check whether the ARTIS zee system can retrieve the modality worklist.
If worklist is unavailable, confirm whether manual patient entry is allowed by site policy and whether the case can proceed safely.
Expected outcome: Patient registration and procedure setup are confirmed.
If only worklist is down but manual entry and imaging are functioning, document the workaround and escalate the worklist/network issue.
Check DICOM Destination Selection
Confirm that the correct archive, PACS, or DICOM destination is selected.
Make sure images are not being sent to a test destination, old archive, offline node, or incorrect department destination.
Expected outcome: Images are routed to the intended archive destination.
If selecting the correct DICOM destination resolves the issue, document and stop.
Attempt a Controlled Resend if Appropriate
If images are present locally and the patient case is not actively dependent on immediate image review, attempt a normal resend from the workstation queue if permitted by site procedure.
Do not delete images or clear queues unless directed by approved service or PACS support workflow.
Expected outcome: The study either transfers successfully or produces a repeatable failure message.
Check for Archive or PACS Downtime Notices
Contact PACS, imaging informatics, or IT support to confirm whether there is a known archive, network, RIS, or DICOM service outage.
Expected outcome: External system outages are ruled in or ruled out before equipment repair is assumed.
If PACS or network downtime is confirmed, document the device as operational with external archive issue and follow site downtime procedure.
Confirm Image Acquisition Hardware Is Not the Primary Issue
If images are not being created at all, verify that the system is not reporting detector, acquisition, exposure, or X-ray inhibit faults.
A workstation or archive complaint may actually be secondary to no image acquisition.
Expected outcome: The issue is correctly identified as either acquisition failure or image transfer failure.
Perform a Safe Application Restart Only if Approved
If the syngo application is frozen or unresponsive and no active case data is at risk, follow site-approved restart procedures.
Coordinate with clinical staff before restarting any workstation or acquisition software.
Expected outcome: The workstation returns to normal operation without interrupting patient care or losing study data.
If the restart resolves the issue and images are confirmed saved or transferred, document and stop.
Avoid Unapproved Deletions, Reconfiguration, or Deep Service Changes
Do not delete studies, clear databases, modify AE titles, change IP settings, alter DICOM configuration, or perform service-level software actions unless authorized.
Expected outcome: Patient data and system configuration are protected.
If the Problem Persists
If the syngo workstation remains frozen, image acquisition cannot be completed, DICOM transfer repeatedly fails, or archive communication does not recover after external checks, the common external causes have been ruled out.
The device should be:
- Removed from clinical service if imaging or image availability is unsafe
- Labeled Out of Service
- Escalated for Siemens service, PACS, network, or clinical engineering bench evaluation as appropriate
Knowing when to stop is proper troubleshooting. Persistent workstation, acquisition, database, or DICOM communication faults may involve software services, storage, database integrity, network configuration, or internal system components that require authorized support.
Clinical Use Tip
Do not troubleshoot workstation, archive, or acquisition problems during an active patient procedure unless patient safety requires immediate action. If image acquisition or review is unreliable, move the patient care workflow to another room or approved downtime process when clinically possible.
Work Order Documentation (CCR Method)
CCR = Complaint, Cause, Resolution
Complaint
What was reported by the clinical staff.
Example:
"Staff reported the ARTIS zee syngo workstation acquired images but failed to send the study to PACS after the procedure."
Cause
What was observed during troubleshooting.
Example:
"Clinical Engineering found the study present locally with failed DICOM queue attempts and no physical network issue at the workstation."
Resolution
What action was taken.
Example:
"Verified local image availability, documented the failed archive behavior, notified PACS/IT and Siemens service, and left the system out of service pending correction."
Helpful Details to Include (If Known)
- Whether a patient case was active
- Exact syngo or DICOM error message
- Whether images were acquired successfully
- Whether images were visible locally
- Whether worklist loaded
- Whether DICOM send queue showed failed, pending, or completed status
- Archive/PACS destination selected
- Network cable and link light status
- Whether other modalities had the same issue
- Any recent network, PACS, software, or power outage
- Whether a restart was attempted
- Final device status
Final Thought
Angiography workstation and archive issues should be approached carefully because they can affect patient care, procedural documentation, and image availability. Start with patient safety, confirm whether images exist locally, check simple workstation and network causes, then escalate before risking study data or system configuration.
That is successful troubleshooting.