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Author Topic: NC1200C issue Steve Kraus Film God Posts: 4094 From: Chicago, IL, USA Registered: May 2000 posted 02-15-2018 03:09 PM                    I have an NEC NC1200C with a Dolby DSS200 server the media block (Cat.862) in the server. The server runs 24/7 with occasional reboots. Projector is shut down at the end of a day and restarted as needed. There is no library server as I only run one screen. This morning, on starting up the projector I got this warning on the projector LCD display. Warning! CommE Fail(000000:Conn=2)->->DLP (During this time the normal error on the server when the projector is off about unable to connect to transport remained) I powered down the projector and restarted. This time there was no error on the LCD. But still no connection to server. I did try connecting the ethernet directly from projector to server (it normally goes through a switch where there is a connection to the booth router) but this made no difference. I powered down the projector and restarted again, banging on it a little in case it was one of those card seating issues. Again, no change. No LCD error but no connection to projector. I then powered down the server and after waiting long enough to make sure the Cat.862 was fully dead, restarted it. Eventually connection to the projector was reestablished. But for some reason it had 516 security logs to download first. OK after that and I ran a screening. When it ended instead of about 2 seconds of "Downloading Security Logs" it hung on that for a long time. Maybe I wasn't patient enough because after a couple of minutes I tried restarting the projector yet again and once again all those logs to download and once again it seemed to hang a long time on the last one but did eventually finish. So what is going on and what should I do?  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 02-15-2018 03:52 PM                     Your security logs were full. There is a way to manually empty them on the Dolby but it's been so long I forgot. It can take some time to download them. Mark  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 02-15-2018 04:56 PM                     When the DSS200 saw the security event (or thought there was), it went into lock-down mode (needed to power cycle). It will then, automatically download all 8192 logs but approximately 512 of them at a time after each show (16 shows). You can expedite the process by running a 5-second show (one blank) every 5 minutes until all of the logs are cleared.  |  IP: Logged Steve Kraus Film God Posts: 4094 From: Chicago, IL, USA Registered: May 2000 posted 02-15-2018 05:09 PM                    Fair enough; that sounds familiar. But what was the initital issue and what should I do to prevent a reoccurrence?  |  IP: Logged Leo Enticknap Film God Posts: 7474 From: Loma Linda, CA Registered: Jul 2000 posted 02-15-2018 05:24 PM                        quote: Mark Gulbrandsen There is a way to manually empty them on the Dolby but it's been so long I forgot. As luck would have it, I did one last week and so it's fresh in my mind. - Press ctrl+alt+F1 if using a locally attached keyboard, or establish an SSH connection to the server if working remotely (e.g. using PuTTY). - Enter the administrator username and password, then enter the following commands: [hostname]:~$ cd scripts [hostname]:~/scripts$ ./getAllProjectorLogs.sh localhost The Dolby documentation warns that the process can take up to two hours, during which transport (DCP playback) will be unavailable. However, the longest I've had it take is 45-50 minutes, and that was with over 8,000 entries in the log.  |  IP: Logged Steve Kraus Film God Posts: 4094 From: Chicago, IL, USA Registered: May 2000 posted 02-15-2018 05:49 PM                    Does that empty them for good (until they accumulate again) or if there is another security-related reboot and then it's 8192 all over again?  |  IP: Logged Leo Enticknap Film God Posts: 7474 From: Loma Linda, CA Registered: Jul 2000 posted 02-15-2018 05:56 PM                        It should empty them for good, with one gotcha. This feature was introduced into 4.7 of the software, but on that version it'll still download 516 logs once more after the next playback (after the complete purge). This was fixed in 4.8.something (can't remember which, sorry): from that version on, it's emptied for good, period. Probably a good idea to cold reboot the server, cat862 and projector (because the Enigma card is in the projector) after doing the log "cleanse," though.  |  IP: Logged Steve Kraus Film God Posts: 4094 From: Chicago, IL, USA Registered: May 2000 posted 02-15-2018 06:11 PM                    Any idea about the initial issue?  |  IP: Logged Leo Enticknap Film God Posts: 7474 From: Loma Linda, CA Registered: Jul 2000 posted 02-15-2018 06:34 PM                        Looks like it could be something to do with the projector's internal router. From the service manual: If the LAN connection between the Enigma card and the DSS200 were disrupted such that it couldn't download the logs, or that process were interrupted, then I guess the two symptoms are consistent with each other. Since I started as a service tech in June last year, I've had to replace two router cards that went bad in Series 2 NECs: both projectors were around five years old. They die frequently enough that we keep one in stock, ready to ship (or take with us if one of our techs is to do the field installation) at any time. Let's hope that this was a one-off glitch (power brownout during the log download process, maybe?), but if you see "Router verify fail" on the LCD when you power up your projector one day, that's what's happened.  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 02-15-2018 06:45 PM                     I have never found that after using the getAllLogs command was issued that it didn't run the 512 logs again for the next 16 shows. As for "for good" no...anytime a DSS server "sees" what it thinks is a security tamper issue, it will download the logs again. What versions are you on of DSS and NEC?  |  IP: Logged Leo Enticknap Film God Posts: 7474 From: Loma Linda, CA Registered: Jul 2000 posted 02-15-2018 06:54 PM                        Bug fix in 4.8.1: quote: Release notes for 4.9.0.96, page 18 DC-12525: Fixed a CAT862 issue where the projector logs were unnecessarily downloaded again after running the getAllProjectorLogs script. But I guess that's under normal circumstances, not in response to a tamper alarm.  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 02-15-2018 07:01 PM                     Yes, I know they've claimed to have fixed it. I have not personally found that to be the case. Once Enigma 1.8 came out, it fell off my radar of important things to worry about.  |  IP: Logged Steve Kraus Film God Posts: 4094 From: Chicago, IL, USA Registered: May 2000 posted 02-15-2018 08:49 PM                    About 2 months ago I had an error on boot which might be related. I think it said ICMP or something like that. I rebooted the projector but I might have been too quick because when I looked back on the server it had gone to Downloading Security Logs so I don't know if that could be happening during that error or it somehow how was resolved. Obviously that froze when I shut down the projector. Rebooting the projector cleared the error but it would not reconnect to the server. From what I gather in this thread it's expected that the server will need to be recycled. I did that but it came back with "Disconnected." Another cycling of the projector and it was finally back to normal. Seems like something is starting to fail. DSS200 is running 4.3.5.13 that I put on when a media block replacement would not let me stay with 4.3.5.9 lest I downgrade its software. Not sure about the NEC; will look next time I am there. But as I avoid changes when things are running well which they were it's never been updated since I got it and that was mid 2012. No doubt it's long overdue. But this apparent hardware issue scares me. As a screening room with one screen I don't have the option of moving the audience next door. I might have to replace something just to be safe.  |  IP: Logged Carsten Kurz Film God Posts: 4340 From: Cologne, NRW, Germany Registered: Aug 2009 posted 02-15-2018 09:20 PM                     I see CommE failures on our NC900 every few months, always during power-up. So far, a full projector shutdown always got rid of it, without any server issues (Doremi, in that case). As it happens so rarely and always fully unexpected, we could never track down the reason, or wether there is a special power-up sequence that triggers it. I believe it's the occasional software glitch. Steve - you need to update the NEC software ASAP. You are running an outdated enigma software version which could darken your screen anytime. Please check the NEC software version and take care that the enigma is updated to 1.8 as soon as possible. You can leave the Dolby as it is, but do update the NEC! Should be at least NEC S2 4.214 (includes Enigma 1.8), latest NEC pack I believe is 4.219. Enigma 1.8 solves log memory corruption/full issues. Maybe you should also source a replacement for the internal router, they seem to fail quite often on the NECs. - Carsten  |  IP: Logged Leo Enticknap Film God Posts: 7474 From: Loma Linda, CA Registered: Jul 2000 posted 02-15-2018 09:48 PM                        The latest (that I'm aware of) is 4.221. Agreed with Carsten that updating to Enigma 1.8 is a very good idea, though if the logs are purged on 1.6, it should be a long time before the screen going blank is a risk. I stress that mentioning the internal router card is just a guess, based on what I saw in the service manual: I personally have not encountered that CommE error before. I've had to replace two failed routers, one in a 900 and the other in a 3240. They're not at all difficult to swap out, but if the router card does die completely, then the projector is totally unusable until it's replaced. The symptom in both cases was a "router verify fail" (or similar wording) error on the LCD, and a red tail light. Might be an idea to pull a log from your projector and see if there any router-related entries in the error section. As long as you're only playing Interop, unsubtitled DCPs, you'll probably get away with leaving the Dolby software untouched.  |  IP: Logged

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