Troubleshooting

Common problems and how to fix them.

Before working through this page, run the hardware diagnostic: ? Help → Test my setup. Six automatic checks will tell you exactly what's wrong with your setup.

My microphone doesn't work

The recording shows a flat line, or the analyzer never receives input.

Is the microphone plugged in and on? USB headset: try a different USB port. Bluetooth: confirm it's connected and not paired to a different device.
Is Windows using the right microphone? Right-click the speaker icon → Open Sound settings → Input → pick your microphone. Talk into it; the bar should move.
Did Windows block microphone access? Settings → Privacy → Microphone. Turn on "Allow apps to access your microphone" AND "Allow desktop apps to access your microphone".
Is something else using the microphone? Close Zoom, Teams, Discord, and any other audio app, then restart SENTINEL·IEP.

If none of that works, launch SENTINEL·IEP from PowerShell so you can see error messages:

cd "C:\Users\YourName\Documents\Live Bot"
python iep_assistant.py

Try recording. The PowerShell window shows any error. Screenshot it and send via the Help → "Send a technical question" form.

My license key is rejected

You see "license not registered" even though you have a key.

The app has two checks:

Format check — checks the key has the right shape (e.g. SI-ADV-XXXXXXXX-XXXX) and a valid checksum. Passes for any well-formed key.
Backend check — confirms the key is in our central database. Required for the live analyzer, document review, and other cloud features.

If you see "format valid but not registered," your key wasn't pushed to the backend. Contact support with your key and we'll register it.

If you see "license expired" or "license revoked," reach out and we'll sort it out.

The live analyzer isn't flagging anything

You're typing notes but no flags appear in the LEGAL ANALYSIS pane.

Did you finish a sentence? The analyzer fires about 4 seconds after a sentence-ending period, or after a longer pause. Type a complete thought ending in a period.
Is your tier chip green? Top-right of the app. If it says FREE, the analyzer isn't included. Upgrade to FAMILY or ADVOCATE.
Is the engine pill set to CLOUD·SENTINEL? Bottom-right of the status strip. If it says something else, open Settings and choose the SENTINEL Gateway option.
Is your internet working? The analyzer talks to our cloud service. Load any website in a browser to check.
Are your notes specific enough? Generic notes don't trigger flags. "He was rude" won't flag. "Mr. Smith said we don't have to write a PWN for this" will.

Test sentence

Paste this into MEETING NOTES and wait 5-10 seconds:

The district said we will not do an FBA because his behavior is not severe enough.

You should see an ALERT flag appear. If nothing appears, screenshot the app and use Help → "Send a technical question."

The app won't start

Double-clicking the script does nothing, or it flashes a window and disappears.

Launch from PowerShell so error messages don't vanish:

cd "C:\Users\YourName\Documents\Live Bot"
python iep_assistant.py

Common errors and fixes:

ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'X' — install the missing package: pip install X. Common ones: sounddevice, numpy, python-docx.
UnicodeDecodeError when loading a file — your file has non-UTF-8 characters. Re-save as UTF-8 and try again.
tkinter-related errors on Linux — install the system package: sudo apt install python3-tk

FFmpeg not found

You see "ffmpeg not found in PATH" in the hardware diagnostic, or transcription fails.

FFmpeg is a separate tool the app uses for audio conversion. Install it:

Windows: download a static build from gyan.dev/ffmpeg/builds, extract it, and add the bin folder to your PATH.
macOS: brew install ffmpeg
Linux: sudo apt install ffmpeg (Debian/Ubuntu) or sudo dnf install ffmpeg (Fedora).

Restart SENTINEL·IEP. Re-run the hardware diagnostic to confirm.

The text in the Knowledge Library is cut off

If text in the right pane appears clipped, make the Reference dialog bigger by dragging its edges. The text reflows when you resize. If it still looks wrong, that's a bug — send a screenshot via Help → "Send a technical question."

Notes archiving / Past Notes

If you can't find old notes from a previous meeting, click the Past Notes button at the top right of the MEETING NOTES pane. The dialog shows all archived sessions for the active student, newest first.

Notes are archived automatically when you:

Close the app
Switch to a different student
Click + New Session manually

If a session you remember isn't there, check that you've selected the right student in the top dropdown.

Still stuck?

Click ? Help in the top right of the app, then 📨 Send a technical question in the sidebar. The form auto-includes your app version, license tier, OS, and recent logs so we can diagnose your issue quickly.

Or email hello@sentineliep.com directly.

Last updated: 2026-05-26