The LOGIQ P8, P9 and P10 platform: nest box, PC, power, operator panel and ports
Identify which LOGIQ P model and hardware release is in front of you, name the boards in the nest box and their place in the signal and power path, and know where software, settings and the system identity live before you open anything.
One manual, four names, several hardware generations
The LOGIQ P7, P8, P9 and P10 share one service manual, and that already tells you how to think about them: one cart platform built around one board set, sold at different feature levels. The manual we used (Rev. 18, a preliminary 2022 issue) lists the P8 and P10 only from release R4, the P9 from R1 to R4.5 and the P7 up to R3; check the revision you have. So a 'LOGIQ P9' on a work order can be a first-generation machine or a current one, and the parts that fit it depend on the release, not on the name on the front.
The release is not only software. At R4 the manufacturer changed a large part of the hardware: a new core board, a new probe interface board, a new backplane with an extra small board next to it, a new I/O box with a different AC/DC module, an M.2 solid state drive instead of a 2.5-inch disk, a larger monitor and a redesigned operator panel. The parts list marks every part with the releases it belongs to. Ordering a board by model name alone is the most expensive mistake you can make on this family.
If you did the LOGIQ model course, you met a portable with an external adapter and a battery that runs the scanner. This is a different machine. It is a mains-powered cart of roughly 67 kg on R4, with the electronics in one removable card cage, a Windows-based computer module, an optional battery that only bridges short mains interruptions, and a service desktop that is organised by access class. The method you learned transfers; the boards, the power path and the service tools do not.
- Record from the rating plate: model, model number, serial number, manufacturing date.
- Record from Utility, System, About: application software version and revision, base image part number and revision.
- Record from the service desktop home page: system type, serial, connected probes, enabled options and their expiry.
- If anything does not match, stop and find out why before you order or load anything.
The nest box: where the ultrasound electronics live
Almost everything that makes the image sits in the nest box, a card cage that slides out of the console once the front and rear covers, the power cord bracket, the rear cable cover and the cables are off. Learn the board names, because the logs, the diagnostics and the error dialogs all use them.
The MPI is the probe interface: the probe ports, the relays that select the active port and the probe identification path. On R4 machines the manual shows three RS-type connectors plus one DLP-type connector, but check the configuration in front of you, which is why probes with a D suffix only appear on R4 and later; earlier P9 systems had three or four RS ports depending on the option. The CW options sit on or next to it: a DCWD board for the steerable CW path and an MCWD board for the pencil probe.
The MCB is the core board. The parts list describes it as merged RF and beamforming; in simplified terms it carries the transmit and receive front end, analogue front end chips, beamforming FPGAs and the digital signal path. It also carries the PC module and a socketed EEPROM that holds the system's vital product data, including the system serial number that the software option keys are checked against. Keep that EEPROM in mind; it comes back in lesson 5.
The MDC is the DC converter for the front end. It produces the low voltages and the transmit high voltages that the MCB and MPI need. When an error says the transmit supply is not ready or reports an HV or LV fault, the MDC is the first board the manual points to. The I/O box holds the AC/DC module, the MIO board that makes the main 5 V rail and handles I/O, the optional battery, and the DC4D board that serves the 4D option. Behind everything is the backplane, the MBP, which on R4 is joined by a small CSI board.
The manual lists a minimum configuration for boot: MPI, MCB with its PC module, MDC, I/O box, the system drive and the operator panel. That list is useful in two ways. It tells you what you cannot remove to isolate a fault, and it tells you that options such as CW, 4D, ECG and wireless are not needed to get the system to the scan screen.
The PC side: COM Express module, drive and software
The back end is a COM Express computer module mounted on the MCB assembly, with its own heat sink and fan. The parts list shows different module generations by release; to know which one is fitted, read the system configuration file and match it to the parts list release columns. The module keeps its date, time and BIOS settings from a coin cell on the MCB, so separating the two loses the clock. That is a normal consequence of the repair, not a new fault, and resetting it is part of the manufacturer's procedure.
System storage changed with the releases: a hard disk on R1 to R2.5, a 2.5-inch SSD on R3 and an M.2 SSD on R4 and R4.5. On R4 the M.2 drive sits under the MCB, so reaching it means taking the board assembly out of the nest box. The drive is split into several partitions with different jobs: the operating system and application, service data and logs, spoolers for print and DICOM, and a repository that holds packages for a software reload.
Two facts about software matter before you touch anything. First, the base image and the application are separate items with separate part numbers and versions, and both are recorded at every job. Second, on R3 and later the drives may be encrypted. The manual warns that a software reload on an encrypted system without the recovery key loses all patient data. Ask the site whether encryption is on and who holds the key before any work that could involve a reload.
Power: standby, main rails and what the button does
The machine takes single-phase mains through an inlet with a circuit breaker at the rear. The manual gives two ranges, 100 to 120 V and 220 to 240 V, each with a 10 percent tolerance at 50 or 60 Hz, and a nominal consumption of about 500 VA with the on-board peripherals. It asks for a dedicated branch circuit with its own neutral and a full-size earth, and it warns that a poor earth path in the building can show up as image artefacts. Keep that in mind when you meet noise in lesson 4.
Read the start-up as a chain. With the breaker on, the AC/DC module makes a standby 5 V that feeds the operator panel, the PC module and the boards, and the On/Off key glows blue. Pressing the key for about three seconds sends a signal through the operator panel to the PC module, which tells the AC/DC module to switch on the main 12 V. The 12 V goes to the boards and the switched outlet for on-board printers, the MIO board makes the main 5 V, and the MDC then makes the front-end low and high voltages. The key turns green. Shutdown runs the other way, started from the software.
The manual gives you an easy window on that chain: status LEDs near the front fan, visible with the front cover off, for the live 5 V, a negative 5 V, the 12 V and the main 5 V. With the breaker on and the system off, only the live 5 V should be lit; with the system on, all four. A machine that stays blue and dark can be placed in the power chain in a minute without a meter. The system is live while you look: do it only as the manufacturer's procedure describes and only if you are trained for it, touch nothing inside, keep tools out, observe ESD precautions and refit the cover before the system is used.
The optional battery, called Power Assistant, is a bridge, not a power source. The system will not start on battery, and the manual says so explicitly. When the mains disappears during a scan, the system keeps running with a dimmed monitor and the touch panel off, and returns to normal when the mains comes back. Treat the battery as a lithium-ion pack with its own safety rules: approved packs only, no opening, no heat, and disposal by local regulations.
Operator side: control panel, touch panel and monitor
The operator panel, called the OPIO in the manual, is a self-contained unit on a swivel and height mechanism. It carries the main board with the keys and encoders, the trackball, the freeze key assembly, the touch panel LCD, front USB ports and, as options, an alphanumeric keyboard and a probe light. On R4 the panel was redesigned and gained a joystick encoder. It connects to the console through its own power, USB and video cabling, so a dead panel is a cabling question before it is a board question.
The main monitor sits on an arm that moves up, down and sideways and tilts. On R4 and R4.5 it is a 23.8-inch panel, with an HD variant on the P10 HD; earlier releases used a 21.5-inch panel. It has its own power, HDMI and USB cables, a USB port of its own and adjustable room and colour profiles in the Utility pages. The touch panel is calibrated from the operating system at maintenance level; the check and the calibration both come back in lessons 2 and 4.
Ports, peripherals and the network
At the rear you find three USB ports for printers and the footswitch, an HDMI output, S-video and composite outputs, a gigabit LAN port and the AC inlet. The front has four USB ports on early releases and two on R4. The manual marks all of these USB ports as non-isolated and limits each to 500 mA, so an externally powered USB device or a high-current gadget does not belong on them. On-board printers take mains from a switched outlet in the console, which is why they come on and off with the system.
Options worth noting at the first visit are the ECG module, the 4D kit, the CW pencil probe kit, wireless LAN, a Bluetooth dongle for apps and some printers, a gel warmer, and an isolation transformer for an external patient monitor. Each option changes what you test and what you record. On the network side the system can work alone, through removable media, on a direct cable to a workstation or on the hospital network with DICOM services and, where contracted, a remote service agent. Record the network and DICOM settings before you change anything; the reload in lesson 5 depends on them.
| Part | What it does | How it fails | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | MPI (MPI-R4 on R4 and later) | Probe ports, port selection relays, probe identification | One port dead, probe not recognised, contamination or bent pins in a port |
| 02 | MCB (MCB-A on R4 and later) | Transmit and receive front end, beamforming FPGAs, carries PC module and VPD EEPROM | Beamformer or FPGA errors, invalid hardware configuration, noise floor faults |
| 03 | MDC | Front-end DC converter: low voltages and transmit high voltages | Transmit supply not ready, HV or LV fault errors, no scanning with a running PC |
| 04 | COM Express module | Back-end PC: operating system, application, video and USB | No boot, crashes, overheating with a dirty filter or failed module fan |
| 05 | M.2 SSD (HDD on R1 to R2.5, 2.5-inch SSD on R3) | System drive with OS, application, logs, spoolers and reload repository | Boot failure, corrupted software, full partitions; may be encrypted |
| 06 | I/O box with AC/DC module and MIO board | Standby and main 12 V, main 5 V, I/O; houses battery and DC4D | Blue key that never turns green, protection cycling, missing rails |
| 07 | MBP backplane (with CSI board on R4) | Interconnects the nest box boards and the I/O box | Intermittent board detection after a knock or bad seating |
| 08 | OPIO operator panel | Keys, encoders, trackball, touch panel, front USB, power button signal | Dead keys or encoders, trackball faults, touch offset, no start signal |
| 09 | Main LCD monitor on arm | Image display with its own power, HDMI and USB cables | Blank screen from cabling, arm cable wear, colour or profile complaints |
| 10 | Front and bottom fans with air filters | Draw air through the nest box and out of the side and rear | Clogged filters, temperature warnings, noisy or stopped fan |
Typical scenario: the right board for the wrong release
Typical scenario, not a recorded case. A LOGIQ P9 stops scanning after a front-end fault, and the engineer orders a core board using the model name on the work order. The replacement fits mechanically, but at start-up the system reports that the hardware configuration is invalid and refuses to scan. The rating plate and the About page show an R4 system; the board that arrived belongs to an earlier release. The parts list marks every nest box board with the releases it fits, and the hardware configuration log lists the functional revision of each board the system expects. Matching the order to the release, not the name, would have saved a week.
On this family the release decides the part. Record the model, serial and release at the first visit, check the parts list release columns before ordering, and expect the system to refuse a board from another generation.
Relays clicking, power supply LEDs blinking
On an older cart LOGIQ P5, a predecessor of this platform with a different board set, the relays began clicking and the power supply LEDs blinked as soon as the main switch was turned on, and the system never started. Colleagues read it as the power supply protection tripping and restarting, which usually means the supply is fine but something it feeds is pulling it down. Their advice was to disconnect the loads and reconnect them one at a time until the cycling returned. The final cause was not recorded in the discussion.
A supply that cycles in protection is often a victim. On the LOGIQ P8, P9 and P10 the same logic applies: read the status LEDs, then separate the loads in the order the manufacturer's documentation allows before you condemn the AC/DC module.
On-site checklist
- Model, model number, serial and manufacturing date recorded from the rating plate
- Application software version, revision and base image part number recorded from the About page
- Release generation (R1 to R4.5) established and noted on the job sheet
- Connected probes, enabled options and option expiry dates recorded from the service desktop home page
- Encryption status asked and the holder of the recovery key identified
- Network, DICOM and remote service settings noted before any change
- Battery option present or not, and its state on the status bar