Barco 32B Error 5020 Read Projector ID Failure

[Jay Glaus]

This one’s got me stumped.

A while back, a 32B I work on started getting a 5020 ID read error. Tried the obvious stuff first. Beyond that, here’s what’s been done…

Replaced the Cinema Controller… Nope.

Got a new SIM card for the backplane… Nope

Crap, it must be the backplane huh?

Changed the backplane… NOPE!

Reloaded all the software… nope.

Cleaned every contact in there with DeOxit… nope.


I spoke with Barco about this and while they thought it was a shot in the dark, they suggested I put a known working ICP in just to rule out some anomaly, and that still had no effect.

I’m really at a loss on this one, and unfortunately so is Barco. They are basically at a loss to suggest anything else right now, and are waiting to see if anyone can think of anything else to try. I’ve personally never had a 5020 error persist after all of this has been tried. In every other case, one of the above steps I took solved this problem.

Anyone ever have anything like this happen?

[Leo Enticknap]

Weird! I've only had this happen twice, and on both occasions, pulling, contact cleaning, and reseating the SIM card fixed it.

This is also a shot in the dark, but the only thing that has a signal contact to the backplane (and thus could be messing with the CCB's ability to read the SIM card) is whatever is in the option slot - IMB or Enigma/SDI board. Maybe try swapping those between projectors (though admittedly, if it's an IMB in there, that will be a pain, because of the need to get new KDMs)? I know that there no logical reason for one to interfere with the other, but that is the only thing I can think of that even could be relevant that you haven't tried already.

[Jay Glaus]

I’ll give it a try next time I’m there.

Yeah this is so strange to me because I’ve basically changed everything that would primarily affect this and nothing has worked. Ughhhh

[Steve Guttag]

Heck, you can leave the SDI/IMB out (it will take a LOT longer to boot up) but you'll get a green tail light. I think Leo is on the right track though...something is preventing the SIM from being read. The ICP communicates via Ethernet (and an RS232). The lamp power supplies communicate via RS232 and the rest of the projector use I²C.

I'd almost be tempted to unplug all of it and see if it recognizes what it is. Essentially just boot up the Cinema Controller with its SIM card. And the, bit by bit, put it all back on line and see what causes the communication issue. This all presumes that the theory is correct that something else is causing the CCB to not read the SIM.

[Dave Macaulay]

There's also something called the "I²C bus" that's used for some internal communication. I had a DP2K-12C doing crazy things and replaced everything except the chassis and harnesses, we finally returned it to Barco and got a new one (it was under warranty). At some point in the process of replacing parts they suggested it may an I²C problem.

[Jay Glaus]

Here’s an interesting turn of events…

When I left the projector last week, it would function and show a movie, it just had the 5020 error. Last night, shortly into the start of the show, the image went green. Their operator knows how to perform a reseat of the cards so I instructed him to power off the projector and reseat the ICP and IMB. He informed me that did not work, so I went up to the theater.

Upon getting there, I found that the projector takes what feels like 10 minutes to finally boot, plus it will not take a Dallas key. It has all of the theater’s Dallas key codes programmed in it, but no matter what one you use, it has no reaction at all to any Dallas key put to it once fully booted. Also, the IMB (GDC Sr-1000) seems to have no connectivity to the outside world. You cannot access it through the web UI or VNC. I can access the projector through communicator just fine.

I did remove the cards and boot it with just the CCB and I still get the 5020 error.

I re loaded all of the projectors software packages into it hoping perhaps this was a software issue. No affect whatsoever.

This feels like this is some major communication error in the projector but I can’t figure out what.

[Leo Enticknap]

Are both the 12V and 24V lights on the SMPS and FCB lit (and, while the lamp is lit, the Peltier light)? Are the buttons on the keypad lit when the boot sequence is complete and you are trying to apply the Dallas key?

If the SR-1000 is dead, this says to me that there could be a power supply issue, especially if there are no status or NIC lights on.

If it isn't power, the obvious guess would be a NFG backplane, but you've already replaced that. But you didn't replace the SMPS, and so if dirty DC power is coming out of it and possibly frying other components...

[Jay Glaus]

Yep, all smps and fcb lights are normal. I don’t think the SR1000 is fried, it eventually comes to “life” after a long while, the SM light is green, tamper is red of course, and ext is yellow.

I tried putting the original backplane back in last night just to see if it was something going on with the new one. The projector still takes forever in a day to boot, won’t take a Dallas key, and the imb is unaccessible.

[Marcel Birgelen]

I suspect there is something weird going on on the IIC bus. Since IIC is such a simple, low-bandwidth protocol, it shoud be something you should usually be able to track down with an oscilloscope if you'd know where to look... It feels to me like stuff is trying to communicate over I2C but data isn't getting there, leading to all kinds of timeouts. Eventually, a lot of stuff will boot up in ERROR mode or some kind of zombie mode, missing crucial information.

Since you replaced the backplane back and forth and the chance of the same problem being present in both backplanes being so slim, you should be able to rule it out as a problem, I rather suspect you have one component in there somewhere, that's causing havoc on the bus, rather than a simple bad or broken connection somewhere.

There is still quite a lot on the I2C bus in there that you didn't disconnect or replace... I suspect that's where the problem is...

[Jay Glaus]

I’m noticing these projectors are getting more temperamental as they age. Perhaps it’s sore about being discontinued by Barco.

[Jerry Bian]

Most of the 5020 issues involve returning the ID card to Barco for re writing

[Marco Giustini]

but that has been swapped already. I second Marcel's hypothesis.

[Steve Guttag]

Again, I would unplug everything from the signal backplane aside from power and see if the CCB wakes up (and and doesn't find anything but the SIM). If so, then put things back on line until the problem shows.

[Dave Macaulay]

If you have other projectors, try swapping in another FCB. This controls power distribution and possibly it isn't powering everything it should. The key doing nothing is very odd. Are the buttons lighting normally? Doing a marriage from Communicator should turn them amber like the key does.
Seems like a CCB failure though. Or I2C short somewhere?

[Dave Macaulay]

I learned something... if you change the backplane and put the ID card in, you apparently need to reflash the software for it to recognize the ID "sim" card.