Siemens Emotion 16: reconstructor (IRS) hard disk failure
What happened
The image reconstructor (IRS) went down; diagnostics pointed to a failed hard disk, so the drive had to be replaced and the IRS software rebuilt from scratch.
What was checked
- The engineers reviewed the cbdoc records for the system.
- They went through the logs to confirm the software had installed cleanly.
- They made sure a usable backup of ct-settings and the Mode data existed, since the recovery path ends with restorebackup.
Cause
The engineers found a failed hard disk drive in the reconstructor (IRS) computer — ordinary disk wear-out, nothing exotic in this one case.
The cause is probable and was not fully confirmed.
What was done
After the drive swap, the fix was a recovery procedure from the manufacturer's service documentation, done by authorised personnel: boot the BIOS recovery media to prepare the new disk, install the IRS software, check the logs for a clean installation, run the table-installation step (irstablesinstall.bat) on the ICS so the reconstructor picks up its tables, then restore the IRS with restorebackup — including the ct-settings backups — and additionally restore the Mode data. In this reported case the outcome was probable: the method was shared, but the final result was not confirmed.
Safety
Disconnect the reconstructor computer from the mains before opening it, and after any internal component change on a CT, complete the manufacturer's electrical safety and functional checks before the system returns to patient use.
Lesson: Treat the reconstructor as the ordinary, wear-prone PC it is: keep fresh ct-settings and Mode backups and rehearse the recovery sequence before the disk dies, not after.
Covered in the course: CT Service — Level 2: Fault-Finding →
Written from an anonymised case shared by service engineers. It is not a manufacturer instruction and grants no authorisation. Independent note; names are trademarks of their owners.