NEC NP-90MS01 - Cinelister Hangs when Scheduling

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

It's interesting that both Dolby and GDC used Super Micro boards in their servers. I had that same issue with having to reseat the RAM in one unit at Jackson Hole. It's still running today. I doubt Super Micro makes the Dolby or the GDC mb's any more. Nor do I know if the MB BIOS ia tje factory stock version, or if it's a one up BIOS in both brands. I have not lost a media block yet, except for dead batteries. The larger servers sent to my locations already had the later version of the fan installed in them, and have quite a bit more air on the media block than older units do.

[Leo Enticknap]

The bottom line with DSS servers is that if the media block dies, you're buggered, but almost everything else (with the possible exception of the motherboard and the little IDE flash drive that early DSS200s booted from) is replaceable with generic parts from third parties.

I've now encountered my second instance within a month of the cat862 fault whereby it doesn't show any complaints or errors, but nothing happens after you press play. According to Dolby, that's the end of the media block.

[Steve Guttag]

I've had luck getting both the X7 and X8 motherboards that the DSS200s use...that said, they are getting more scarce. As for CAT862s, 2021 has been a rough year, I think I've had 2 that died and one or two showing signs of issues. If you get one that won't advance, try a downgrade to 4.8.4.10. That one is a bit magical. It can wake up a CAT862. Also, if the CAT862 responds to the Software Updater, perform an "update" and tick the box to reinstall all components.

As for GDC IMBs...I've had several kick the bucket. One would still show picture but the audio portion failed. Oddly enough, I came across a GDC that still had the dual internal fan still working! I immediately got the better fan ordered (and changed its batteries) and that one still goes. I'll run them until they drop.

[Marcel Birgelen]

It's interesting that both Dolby and GDC used Super Micro boards in their servers. I had that same issue with having to reseat the RAM in one unit at Jackson Hole. It's still running today. I doubt Super Micro makes the Dolby or the GDC mb's any more. Nor do I know if the MB BIOS ia tje factory stock version, or if it's a one up BIOS in both brands. I have not lost a media block yet, except for dead batteries. The larger servers sent to my locations already had the later version of the fan installed in them, and have quite a bit more air on the media block than older units do.

Supermicro is one of the better known server brands that allows their equipment to be customized. In general, my experience with Supermicro isn't any worse than e.g. Dell, but it remains off-the-shelf, mass produced PC hardware with an expected lifecycle of about 5 to 7 years in normal production.

I don't know who designed Dolby's or GDC's IMB. GDC's approach is clearly to use as many off-the-shelf hardware as possible: Their SR-1000 server uses an industry-standard Raspberry Pi, whereas Doremi/Dolby's IMBs seem to be entirely custom designs.

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

I owned several Supermicro servers over the years. My only complaint is that the fans in.all of them are way too noisy. For tje TMS systems I built I ended up using Dell 2950"s, and a few 2900 towers. Dell is Much quieter and all but two are still running. The two that aren't I replaced with Dell R-610 servers Yet Dell is also not my favorite, HP is by far my favorite. They are just as long lived and they are whisper quiet. Both Dell and HP are very easy to get parts for.
As for the Pi being used in the SR-1000, I think it's great. By using that they have left Dolby in the dust. It's an excellent, super reliable and fast computer that keeps on getting better. I have a cloud system here that's built out of two Pi 3's and two Pi4's. The Pi 5 is due soon and supposedly will run Windblows 11. The secret is to buy the Pi's with the most RAM. Not sure which model GDC is using, but I will find out. Also, the Pi's are interchangable. As they become faster and faster, just move the existing micro SD card with the OS over to the new one. I also build music streamers using them. FWIW the Pi 3, 1 GB board does a good job streaming Blu-Rays. Streaming lossless audio is nothing for it. My audio \ video streamer feeds my router, so it can be picked up and used anywhere in the house. For a credit card sized computer, it's amazing. The Pi has also made it's way into many other industries. I wish I owned interest in that company.

[Leo Enticknap]

As for CAT862s, 2021 has been a rough year, I think I've had 2 that died and one or two showing signs of issues. If you get one that won't advance, try a downgrade to 4.8.4.10. That one is a bit magical. It can wake up a CAT862. Also, if the CAT862 responds to the Software Updater, perform an "update" and tick the box to reinstall all components.

Tried resinstalling all components in one of them: no luck. It was on 4.7.8.7 and had to stay there, because it was in a mixed 'plex of DSS200s and 100s. If I had updated the 200s beyond that version, that would have created a situation whereby the Show Manager TMS could see the 100s, or the 200s, but not both.

After trying all of this I contacted Dolby, and was told that no response to pushing play is a known cat862 issue, indicating unrecoverable hardware failure. So the second time it happened, I simply passed that news along. If I get another that can be flashed to 4.8.4.10, I'll give that a try - nothing to lose.

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

Yea, Dolby likely did accelerated tests on tue CAT 862. They obviously bowed out right at the predicted time of failure.

[Marcel Birgelen]

I owned several Supermicro servers over the years. My only complaint is that the fans in.all of them are way too noisy. For tje TMS systems I built I ended up using Dell 2950"s, and a few 2900 towers. Dell is Much quieter and all but two are still running. The two that aren't I replaced with Dell R-610 servers Yet Dell is also not my favorite, HP is by far my favorite. They are just as long lived and they are whisper quiet. Both Dell and HP are very easy to get parts for.
As for the Pi being used in the SR-1000, I think it's great. By using that they have left Dolby in the dust. It's an excellent, super reliable and fast computer that keeps on getting better. I have a cloud system here that's built out of two Pi 3's and two Pi4's. The Pi 5 is due soon and supposedly will run Windblows 11. The secret is to buy the Pi's with the most RAM. Not sure which model GDC is using, but I will find out. Also, the Pi's are interchangable. As they become faster and faster, just move the existing micro SD card with the OS over to the new one. I also build music streamers using them. FWIW the Pi 3, 1 GB board does a good job streaming Blu-Rays. Streaming lossless audio is nothing for it. My audio \ video streamer feeds my router, so it can be picked up and used anywhere in the house. For a credit card sized computer, it's amazing. The Pi has also made it's way into many other industries. I wish I owned interest in that company.

I don't think it's in the quality of the fans themselves, but Dell, just like HP, does seem to have more advanced fan management, allowing them to run the fans at more reduced speeds when possible. Also, a 2U machine like the Dell PE2950, R7xx or HP DL380 series can use bigger diameter fans than the most 1U "pizza-box" designs allow for, resulting in less fan noise.

Yeah, we all should've bought some "RasPi shares", but the funny thing is: there are no shares. The Raspberry Pi is produced by a charitable foundation. What started as a cheap general purpose "micro-PC" for the hobbyist, has become a serious general purpose thingamabob which can now be found almost everywhere. The Pi 5 will be using a new generation ARM CPU, which is said to be in comparable territories as the Apple M1. Keep in mind that while it may run Windows 11, it will not run Intel x86/AMD64 applications. While Apple manages to deliver something like Rosetta 2, don't expect anything similar from Microsoft. They semi-embraced ARM back when Windows 8 was released, only to dump it a few months later...

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

Yea, it's definitely in the fan control. But today, that can be easily done with a Pi. As far as Microsoft... I am going to slowly abandon them in favor of a Linus OS. There is an easy way to make Photoshop run, and that was the only thing stopping me before.