Obviously there are limits what can be done with software about this. Rather sooner then later help from the electronics group will be needed. But we can try to diagnose the problem and solve the stupid things.
You find, during debugging startup or else that there is no communication with a device. There are some things which can be done about this.
The first thing to ask is: is it actually configured? Many instrument have optional hardware. Such options are enabled by setting flags in the inst.tcl file. Thus, if the device is optional, check for the state of the applicable flag in inst.tcl. If this is not the case you need to figure out which controller the device actually is associated with. I assume that you know the name of the non working device in SICS.
Now, how to proceed with this information?
A common occurrence with histogram memories is that the VME crate holding the HM computer is down. Locate the VME crate and look at it: the symptom will be that the red large digit does not show 5 Volt as it should and or a LED indication a fan error or something like this is lit on the VME crate. Also all lights on the HM computer are off. Then ask Roman Buerge to fix the crate.
With the old hardware, recognisable by the strings el737 or el734 occurring in the creation commands, there is another thing to be tried.
The motor is connected to SICS (has sensible hardware limits) but malfunctions.
When a message containing the string emergency stop appears and the motor controller does not show positions any more but the string *ES, then the emergency stop is engaged. In the experimental area and sometimes in the cabins, there are emergency stop buttons for motors. These need to be released if they accidentally or purposefully have been activated. Releasing them means turning them a little. If you are sure that you have released ALL emergency stops and the condition persists, then something is wrong with buttons themselves and an electronics person is needed to fix it.
When the motor is a second generation motor and brings such message as: command not found and the controller shows a red display, then the motor had an error. If the electronics group is around, tell them. They want to be informed. If not, power cycling the motor controller might help.
When there are a number of Restarting messages before the motor gives up then two possibilities exist:
When there is a message saying: !!! MOTOR ALARM !!!, then the motor has mispositioned for 5 consecutive times. It then assumes that something is seriously wrong and stops the batch file. This could be a consequence of the Restarting message described above. If so proceed as described above. Otherwise this indicates a mechanical or electrical problem: call electronics. If you are really, really, really, really sure that the condition is harmless then you can issue the command in SICS: motorname ingnorefault 1. This will suppress this error. Do this only when you are 100% sure that your are not breaking things.
Else there is a driver problem or softare problem and you need to debug.