A system and appertaining method isolates a hardware or user error in a
software controlled apparatus e.g., an NMR-apparatus. A diagnostic
function is added to an event log that uses a causality model to analyze
the event log. A series of events in the event log is evaluated by
comparing the events with at least one of a number of root cause related
patterns, and a best match of these patterns is used to assign a root
cause for the error. Various repair actions may be associated based on a
probabilistic model. Additional information may be utilized to modify or
improve respective probabilities associated with causes and/or repair
actions. This additional information may utilize other automated
diagnostic information or may query users for additional information.