NEC NP-90MS01 (Dolby IMS1000) - Security Manager Not Responding

[Adam Towill]

Hey,

i went to check on two of these in storage today and they’re being disagreeable. They’re showing no network connection to the projector (Identification is green, Network is red, everything else is grey), but if you test it in Device Manager, it comes back okay.

Security Manager is showing as red, with unknown on all fields.

Are they dead?

[Steve Guttag]

If they've been without power for some time (months), they're likely dead. There is just a super-cap keeping the certificate alive. Once it drains down, the certificate is gone and the security manager will not function and be in a FIPS lock.

[Dave Macaulay]

sorry thought it was IMS3000, message deleted.

[Adam Towill]

If they've been without power for some time (months), they're likely dead. There is just a super-cap keeping the certificate alive. Once it drains down, the certificate is gone and the security manager will not function and be in a FIPS lock.

Are they repairable? Or is that the ballgame?

Seems a bit nuts to write off something so expensive over something so trivial.

[James Gardiner]

Enigma and IMS1000 are really going to start to fail in a big way in coming years. And nothing can be done about it. (Unreplaceable batteries) With people holding off on upgrades, they will be waking up to some serious unexpected costs.
Buy a new SMS for an ancient projector, or bite the bullet and buy a full player/projector set. One screen at a time...

[Leo Enticknap]

Dolby no longer offers a recertification service for the IMS1000, but does NEC for its badged variant?

[James Gardiner]

Dolby no longer offers a recertification service for the IMS1000, but does NEC for its badged variant?

No. NEC fall back on Dolby for high level support of the "rebadged" players. And from my understanding, the deprecation flows onto the NEC variants.

[Steve Guttag]

Enigma and IMS1000 are really going to start to fail in a big way in coming years. And nothing can be done about it. (Unreplaceable batteries) With people holding off on upgrades, they will be waking up to some serious unexpected costs.
Buy a new SMS for an ancient projector, or bite the bullet and buy a full player/projector set. One screen at a time...

James...no those are not the worry. It is the ICP certificate batteries that are the train wreck that is going to happen. It affects all series 2 projectors and many of those are now getting pretty close (and some have gone over) their battery life to hold the certificate. Barco will, happily, sell you an ICP-D for your replacement...which won't work with Dolby DSS servers (Dolby always depended on the ICP's Cine-Canvas for captions/subtitles). I don't know if Christie or Sharp have any plans/means to get the ICPs recerted. Christie, I believe, has a trade in program on the ICP. These are going be VERY expensive "battery" changes.

[Leo Enticknap]

I've had an ongoing discussion with a customer who has a DP2K-32B manufactured in December 2010. Her Doremi IMB suddenly went into FIPS lock back in August, largely unprovoked: it had been just over two years since the last battery change, which was well within the four that Dolby recommends (I had planned to replace it after three); but the projector had been powered off for around six weeks before the failure was reported. So they had to buy an IMS3000.

I was asked if there were any other "ticking bomb" very expensive parts that were likely to fail soon. Of course I immediately thought of the ICP, especially given that this projector does light duties and is powered off totally when not in use (it has around 45K card cage hours on the clock over about 14 years). The upshot of this discussion was that they are planning and fundraising to replace the projector within the next year to two years, and therefore I advised her to leave this one powered on 24/7 from now on, to minimize the risk of ICP certificate loss on the basis that there is no point in spending in the mid four figures to keep a projector alive that it is not planned to keep in service for much longer.

I now routinely advise customers who have projectors with TI ICPs and/or cat745 IMBs to (a) start planning and fundraising to replace them, and (b) in the meantime, leave the card cage powered on 24/7 if they're not doing that already. I even try to avoid powering them off when doing planned maintenance if possible (for example, a lamp change, and a coolant flush and refill can be done with the power on).

[Steve Guttag]

Just about 100% of our customers power down at night. It is a waste of electricity and it pumps dirt (that hurts cooling) to run them 24/7. If the certificate battery is not helped by being powered on, then I don't see how powering the projector will affect it. I'm still hopeful that I can come up with a battery change procedure for the ICP (able to be done in the field).

I have, generally, told our customers with DSS servers that they should be planning on replacement now. I've seen an uptick in strange caption/subtitle behavior (they work, they don't) and just overall erratic issues. The CAT862s are needing KDMs purged with more frequency and sooner or later, the mediablock will just stop working. The noise level will also go way down in the booth once box servers leave. Mind you, I've been keeping them going. Most have fresh bios batteries now, drives. Some have new motherboards (both X7 and X8 varieties). The DSS220s have not had the motherboard issues but they are, mostly newer.

[James Gardiner]

WOW, I didn't realise the ICP had any form of projected certificate in it. It does not have a membraned/protected secure area on the card from memory. So I didn't think it needed full-time power or that it had any form of disarming mechanism.

But yes, that just makes this situation worse.

Does anyone know exactly what procedure is needed to re-arm them if they go wrong? Can an in field procedure be implemented? As I do not see why not if it does not have a secure area, why an in field fix cannot be performed.

[Steve Guttag]

James, the ICP is part of the "trusted device list." Since it is handing the image, directly, that is what puts it as part of it. When you check a projector's "certificate," it is the ICP's certificate that you are pulling.

The Certificate battery is soldered in and there is no provision for putting in a temporary battery to allow the change to be made. I have located a trace coming from the battery that can be exposed (scrape away some of the solder mask) and solder in a temporary battery. The first board I tried, I ran into a strange issue. It all went well. When I disconnected the temporary battery, the voltage went to zero! When I investigated the problem, I found that the ground plane had separated from the plated through hole (so, internal to the hole as the ground plane is one of the middle layers of the board). I've NEVER had that happen and I used a desolder rework tool by Hako...so there wasn't really any significant force on the battery/hole. My guess is that they are using a 2-spoke thermal relief and that the spokes are aligned with the battery legs or the plating on that board was just particularly thin or their spokes are, for no good reason, are VERY thin, or when that battery was placed, the spokes were stressed.

So, as to field replacement, there will be a large risk element. Presuming my next test is successful, we will only offer the procedure in a "no-fault" stipulation.

In any event, measure (VERY CAREFULLY) the certificate battery to see how close you are to the cliff. I want to say that 2.75V is the absolute minimum you can be but Leo may know better on that one. Note, you can pick up the ground anywhere (use the USB connector body is a large target and positive is the top of the battery). You can try to use the legs of the battery on the bottom but most have RTV on them to prevent shorting if the board is set down on a conductive surface.

[Frank Cox]

What about putting in the "temporary" battery and just leaving it in place?

[Steve Guttag]

It is possible, I suppose. You have to figure out how you are going to mount it so it isn't flopping about. You will also want to remove the original battery so you are not "charging" it or, more likely, draining the new battery. My guess (since I'm not looking at the board right now) is that a suitable spot could be found on the component side of the board to RTV the battery down. Mind you...it it one thing to tack down a wire on a trace for a few minutes. It is another thing to know what will happen over time with air being blown across it. But hey...give it a try and report back as to how it worked out!

[James Gardiner]

Steve, arr, yes. The projector certificate.
Yes, I forgot about it as.. No one uses it. Or to be more exact, from my understanding, the use of the Projector certificate in making KDMs for cinemas has never been adopted, and last time I heard from a person in a position to know, there is no intention to ever turn it on.

That being the case, I see no reason why in field procedures that allow them to be re-batteries and re-armed, should not be considered as a possible path. (DCI are you reading?)

The problem here is, based on data, freely available, I have seen that indicates the speed of turnover of replacement equipment. We are currently nowhere near the level to maintain the current number of DCI-Players in the field based on old age failure, considering ICP boards, batteries etc. Due to the rise in power costs and the efficiency of new projectors being 70% more efficient, resulting in a 5-7 year saving in power alone that would pay for the projector. The only conceivable reason for so many cinemas holding of purchase considering these savings if they did upgrade, is that they are unsure they will be in operation 5 years from now.

The industry is not in good shape, we are going through a rocky period.
It may be a good idea to consider the risks of giving old ICPs an extension on life by making it in field upgradable, or possibly setting up a not-for-profit entity you can ship them to for recharge, even if deprecated by manufacturers.

I have been to some sites that have upgraded to laser and are loving it. But the old projectors are sitting on the floor next to them and are expected to sit there for a few years powered on.. Just to maintain the ICP and spare parts for other sites that don't intent to upgrade for the time being. But still wasting a lot of power just to keep the equipment alive, not that it will help that much, but maybe the batteries can keep them viable for short periods, so they can be moved to failed screens.

Independents don’t have that option.

I think this issues will become bigger than expected, and I hope those at the top are considering the fallout. Dark screen or closed cinemas... we need to collectively support our industry as much as possible to avoid those outcomes. Compromises are likely.