ElBruno.OllamaMonitor

Troubleshooting Guide

Common Issues and Solutions

App doesn’t start

Symptom: Running ollamamon does nothing, or the app crashes immediately.

Solutions:

  1. Check .NET is installed: 
    dotnet --version

    If not installed, download .NET 10 from dotnet.microsoft.com.

  2. Check logs: Open the diagnostics log file at: 
    %LOCALAPPDATA%\ElBruno\OllamaMonitor\logs\

    Look for error messages.

  3. Try from command line with verbose output: 
    dotnet run --project src/ElBruno.OllamaMonitor/ 2>&1
  4. Reinstall the global tool: 
    dotnet tool uninstall --global ElBruno.OllamaMonitor
dotnet tool install --global ElBruno.OllamaMonitor

Tray icon doesn’t appear

Symptom: App runs but no icon in system tray.

Solutions:

  1. Check if the app is running:
    • Open Task Manager (Ctrl+Shift+Esc)
    • Look for ElBruno.OllamaMonitor process
    • If it’s not there, the app crashed (check logs)
  2. Check Windows tray settings:
    • Right-click the system tray (clock area)
    • Click “Show hidden icons”
    • Look for the app icon
  3. Check if it’s minimized:
    • Press Alt+Tab to cycle through windows
    • Look for the app window
  4. Review Windows event logs:
    • Press Win+R, type eventvwr.msc
    • Check “Windows Logs → Application” for errors

Tray icon shows gray (Not Reachable)

Symptom: The tray icon is always gray, even though Ollama is running.

Solutions:

  1. Verify Ollama is actually running: 
    curl http://localhost:11434/api/version

    If this fails, Ollama is not running. Start it:

    ollama serve
  2. Check the configured endpoint: 
    ollamamon config

    Look for the endpoint value. Verify it matches where Ollama is running.

  3. If Ollama is on a remote machine: Get the IP or hostname of that machine, then: 
    ollamamon config set endpoint http://<remote-ip>:11434
  4. Check firewall: If Ollama is on another machine, the firewall may be blocking port 11434.
    • On the Ollama machine, allow inbound on port 11434
    • On your machine, verify you can ping the remote machine
  5. Restart the app: 
    # Close it from the tray menu (Exit)
# Then launch again:
ollamamon

Tray icon stuck on one color

Symptom: Tray icon doesn’t change even when you load/unload models or change resource usage.

Solutions:

  1. Check the refresh interval: 
    ollamamon config

    Look for refreshIntervalSeconds. Try increasing it:

    ollamamon config set refresh-interval 1
  2. Manually refresh:
    • Right-click the tray icon
    • Click “Refresh” (if available)
  3. Restart the app:
    • Click the tray icon
    • Click “Exit”
    • Run ollamamon again
  4. Check logs for errors: Open %LOCALAPPDATA%\ElBruno\OllamaMonitor\logs\ and look for warnings or errors.

Floating window doesn’t show

Symptom: You click the tray icon but the floating details window doesn’t appear.

Solutions:

  1. Check if the window is already open but off-screen:
    • Try Alt+Tab to see if the window is listed
    • Try moving your mouse to different screen edges (in case it’s hidden)
  2. Try manually showing it:
    • Right-click the tray icon
    • Click “Show” or similar option (if available)
  3. Check if it’s disabled in settings: 
    ollamamon config

    Look for showFloatingWindowOnStart. Try:

    ollamamon config set show-floating-window true
  4. Check logs for rendering errors: Open the logs directory and look for WPF-related errors.

GPU metrics show “N/A”

Symptom: The floating window shows “GPU: N/A” even though you have an NVIDIA GPU.

Solutions:

  1. Check if GPU metrics are enabled: 
    ollamamon config

    Look for enableGpuMetrics. If it’s false, enable it:

    ollamamon config set enable-gpu-metrics true
  2. Check if nvidia-smi is installed: 
    nvidia-smi

    If not found, install or update NVIDIA drivers from nvidia.com.

  3. Check nvidia-smi manually: 
    nvidia-smi --query-gpu=name,utilization.gpu,memory.used,memory.total --format=csv,noheader,nounits

    If this command fails, the issue is with your NVIDIA drivers, not the app.

  4. Try different nvidia-smi path: The app looks for nvidia-smi on PATH. If it’s installed somewhere else, add it to PATH.

Settings file is corrupted

Symptom: App shows errors about invalid JSON or settings.

Solution:

Reset to defaults:

ollamamon config reset

This deletes and recreates the settings file with default values.

If you want to manually edit, open:

%LOCALAPPDATA%\ElBruno\OllamaMonitor\settings.json

Verify it’s valid JSON. Use a JSON validator at jsonlint.com if unsure.

Config commands don’t work

Symptom: Running ollamamon config set endpoint ... returns an error or shows nothing.

Solutions:

  1. Check syntax: 
    # Correct:
ollamamon config set endpoint http://localhost:11434
ollamamon config set refresh-interval 2
   
# Incorrect (missing arguments):
ollamamon config set endpoint
ollamamon config set
  2. Check key names: Valid keys are:
    • endpoint
    • refresh-interval
    • Other advanced keys (see Configuration Guide)
  3. Try from the same directory: 
    cd %LOCALAPPDATA%\ElBruno\OllamaMonitor
ollamamon config
  4. Check logs: Open %LOCALAPPDATA%\ElBruno\OllamaMonitor\logs\ for error details.

High CPU usage

Symptom: The app is using 20%+ CPU even when idle.

Solutions:

  1. Increase refresh interval: 
    ollamamon config set refresh-interval 10

    Higher interval = less frequent polling = lower CPU.

  2. Disable GPU metrics: 
    ollamamon config set enable-gpu-metrics false

    GPU polling can be expensive; try disabling it temporarily.

  3. Disable disk metrics: 
    ollamamon config set enable-disk-metrics false

  4. Check if Ollama process itself is using CPU: Open Task Manager and look at the ollama process. If it’s using high CPU, it’s not an issue with this app.

  5. Check logs: Open logs for any repeated errors that might trigger constant retries.

App crashes randomly

Symptom: The app works for a while, then suddenly closes.

Solutions:

  1. Check logs immediately after crash: Open %LOCALAPPDATA%\ElBruno\OllamaMonitor\logs\ and look for the last entries. They should indicate the error.

  2. Reduce refresh interval: 
    ollamamon config set refresh-interval 5

    If a bug only triggers during fast polling, reducing frequency can help.

  3. Disable GPU metrics: GPU polling is the most likely culprit for random crashes. Try: 
    ollamamon config set enable-gpu-metrics false
  4. Check event viewer:
    • Press Win+R, type eventvwr.msc
    • Go to “Windows Logs → Application”
    • Look for crash events related to the app
  5. Reinstall: 
    dotnet tool uninstall --global ElBruno.OllamaMonitor
dotnet tool install --global ElBruno.OllamaMonitor

“Request timeout” or “Connection refused” errors

Symptom: Tray icon flashes red or you see “Timeout” in the floating window.

Solutions:

  1. Verify Ollama is running: 
    curl http://localhost:11434/api/version
  2. Check endpoint is correct: 
    ollamamon config
  3. Increase HTTP timeout in code (if building from source): Edit App.xaml.cs, find: 
    _httpClient.Timeout = TimeSpan.FromSeconds(5);

    Increase the value (e.g., to 10 seconds) if your network is slow.

  4. Check network:
    • If Ollama is remote, test connectivity: ping <ollama-ip>
    • Check for firewall rules blocking port 11434

License or “Not a valid global tool” error

Symptom: When installing, you see a license or validation error.

Solution:

Ensure you’re using .NET 10:

dotnet --version

Then try installing again:

dotnet tool install --global ElBruno.OllamaMonitor

If still failing, check your NuGet configuration:

dotnet nuget list source

Getting Help

  1. Check the logs: %LOCALAPPDATA%\ElBruno\OllamaMonitor\logs\
  2. Read the Configuration Guide: Configuration
  3. Review the Architecture: Architecture Guide
  4. Open an issue on GitHub with logs and steps to reproduce

Advanced Debugging

Enable verbose logging

Edit the app code to add more WriteInfo() calls in DiagnosticsLogService.

Manually test the Ollama API

# Test connectivity
curl http://localhost:11434/api/version

# Get loaded models
curl http://localhost:11434/api/tags

# Get running processes
curl http://localhost:11434/api/ps

If any of these fail, Ollama isn’t responding. Restart it and try again.

Test nvidia-smi

# List GPU info
nvidia-smi

# Test with same format as app
nvidia-smi --query-gpu=name,utilization.gpu,memory.used,memory.total --format=csv,noheader,nounits

If this fails, update your NVIDIA drivers.

Questions? See the FAQ in README or Development Guide.

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