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Author Topic: NEC NC1200C doesn't boot up after summer break Pietro Clarici Expert Film Handler Posts: 136 From: Foligno (PG) Italy Registered: Sep 2008 posted 08-18-2015 12:14 PM                        Has anyone had any experience with Series 2 NEC projectors refusing to boot up after a longish period (45 days) of inactivity? I'm stuck with two of my 1200Cs (yes, two) that seem to power up, but Communicator can't reach them and the entire control panel is lit up but non-functional. I can see their IP addresses if I try and launch a network scan, but that's it. Is there a battery that might have died somewhere? Anything I can do while I wait for NEC to reply? Thanks! [Edit: Just saw that Brad referred to the Enigma battery in another thread. In case that's the issue I'm dealing with, I'm keeping the projectors powered for the 24 hours I have before reopening. Hope that helps and I don't need a two new boards.]  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 08-18-2015 01:09 PM                     The Enigma battery going dead will not keep you from communicating with the projector. The projector will give you an error relating to the Enigma/Link Decryptor (and you can't show movies on it) but it should otherwise wake up. There is a battery on the ICP module but it is a typical coin battery, the CR-2032 which should be good in the 5-7 year range. Since you said Enigma...this presumes you don't have an IMB of any type either. If you have an IMB you either shouldn't have an Enigma or you can bypass the Enigma via DCC. But DCC should be able to connect up to the projector (and the WEB server should work too).  |  IP: Logged Carsten Kurz Film God Posts: 4340 From: Cologne, NRW, Germany Registered: Aug 2009 posted 08-18-2015 01:44 PM                     Reseating boards might also be worth a try. - Carsten  |  IP: Logged Pietro Clarici Expert Film Handler Posts: 136 From: Foligno (PG) Italy Registered: Sep 2008 posted 08-18-2015 02:36 PM                        Correct, no IMB on these two. This is unusual, we have turned them off for 30 days at a time for the last five years and this break was just a couple of weeks longer. Can't connect via the web interface either. Still trying to get hold of NEC, my installer thinks the culprit is the CPU board, apparently he had something very similar happen. However, since they were installed in 2010, maybe the ICP battery could still be an option... I just don't get how two identical machines could develop the exact same issue at the exact same time without any external cause.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 08-18-2015 03:15 PM                     I've had NEC projectors sit way longer that waiting for construction to finish (like 3 months straight) and they still worked fine. It IS odd that both projectors are doing the same thing. Can you get to the INFO screen by pressing the Menu button down? Or does that screen just light up and there is nothing there? I'd almost suspect the LVPS that's mounted to the left of the heat exchanger as that's the power supply for the card cage electronics. Mark  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 08-18-2015 03:59 PM                     So forgetting the DCC and Web UI for the moment. When you put power on them...do they come up to the standby state? If so, can you take the key lock off? If so can you start the projectors manually with the keypad? If the projectors wake up with green tail lights and now messages on the LCD screen about bad things, then it sounds like an IT problem. Your description makes it sound like the LCD screen is dead (other than maybe a back light). If that is the case then yes, it sounds like the main CPU is the problem. Note, I saw on the current NEC release notes (for service pack 4.217) that there is a problem in earlier service packs if the date is reset to 1/1/2000: quote: 01. Fix the bug, Projector can not boot up when date of projector was reset to 2000/01/01. I wonder if your situation is related to that issue.  |  IP: Logged Marco Giustini Film God Posts: 2713 From: Reading, UK Registered: Nov 2007 posted 08-18-2015 04:45 PM                     ICP and Enigma batteries won't make a projector inoperative as you describe. Since two projectors have now developed the same fault, I doubt it's a fault but probably some sw bug or maybe a battery which keeps alive the main programme - which I am not aware of. Can you try and connect by RS232? Not sure if the RS232 on the projector is for the ICP or the projector, but I would try connecting with putty and then turn the projector up, you may see some activity in there. More than that, in case there is a timeout the projector should show something after 5 minutes. If that's not the case, sounds scary. Any chance a power surge - maybe during a storm - may have damaged the projectors, via ethernet or any other cable? Steve, my page says quote: Upload Release Package 4.2.17 RP 4.217 is solved the power on failure of both RP4.215 and RP4.216. quote: The failure is the power on failure when the projector is not turned on over 1weeks This may explain why 215 and 216 were removed from the web as you were wondering on another thread. I have the feeling that this may be a severe issue... Pietro, do your projector happen to be on 4.215 or 4.216?  |  IP: Logged Pietro Clarici Expert Film Handler Posts: 136 From: Foligno (PG) Italy Registered: Sep 2008 posted 08-18-2015 05:01 PM                        No way to get them to the standby state, unfortunately. The LCD backlight works, but the panel itself is blank and all the keys aren't functional, so I can't remove the keyboard lock. Except for the usual single beeping noise when power is applied, I don't think the projectors are booting up at all. Thanks for the release notes, I'm 99% sure they both were on 4.211. Maybe a ICP battery event caused the clock to reset to 1/1/2000? I'll check again tomorrow with my installer and point him to that. I'll admit I'm not an expert when it comes to electrical engineering, but I would rule out power surges: the two different panel boards the projectors are connected to where switched off the entire time and none of the circuit breakers and UPS we have in the building were activated.  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 08-18-2015 05:53 PM                     Yeah, I was wondering the same thing Marco...That this may be the result that 4.217 was trying to fix.  |  IP: Logged Pietro Clarici Expert Film Handler Posts: 136 From: Foligno (PG) Italy Registered: Sep 2008 posted 08-19-2015 04:06 AM                        Update: we had 4.216 on board. Thanks for bringing that up. Let's see if/how NEC takes responsibility for this.  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 08-19-2015 03:40 PM                     Please keep us posted.  |  IP: Logged Pietro Clarici Expert Film Handler Posts: 136 From: Foligno (PG) Italy Registered: Sep 2008 posted 08-20-2015 01:02 PM                        Sure. As of now, we have two CPU boards on the way: there has been at least one other case of this in Italy not too long ago, a NC2000 in a screening room that isn't used on a daily basis. At the time the cause (they had 4.216 too) was not known, but installing a new board solved the issue. No official response from NEC yet, but suffice to say, I'm NOT paying for this even if I am way out of warranty. Frankly, no serious company would even demand that.  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 08-20-2015 02:06 PM                     Wow! They can even fix it via software eh? Must be because you can never get real communication to the thing. Scary stuff.  |  IP: Logged Marco Giustini Film God Posts: 2713 From: Reading, UK Registered: Nov 2007 posted 08-20-2015 04:32 PM                     I was hoping for a 'low level' communication with the board (by serial?) too. Scary indeed. To be honest I feel that if the issue is so serious NEC should have probably done more to tackle the bug. Some countries are used to doing a break during the summer, NEC should have been more proactive on those sites. The least they can do is to pay for the replacement.  |  IP: Logged Carsten Kurz Film God Posts: 4340 From: Cologne, NRW, Germany Registered: Aug 2009 posted 08-21-2015 05:04 AM                     Ooops, oops, I have an NC900C in summer break, on 4.214. Gonna give them a call to wake it up as a safety measure. It may be safe because NEC left that version on their support server, but... - Carsten  |  IP: Logged

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