Dolby IMS2000 (No longer supported) CPU1&2 RED, not pingable. Ideas? or Bin?

[James Gardiner]

I have a IMS2000 (No longer supported by Dolby) that started to play up and after some rebooting a few times to figure out what was wrong.. It basically same up with
CPU1 and CPU2 status lights RED. (Manual description: CPU cannot play due to error in communication with security manager.)

As its not pingable, I wanted to plug in a cable to show me the console. (I think I have a suitable one at home)
When powered on, it does appear to go though a diagnostic sequence, with lights changing until it eventually displays double RED.
Also, the AES 1-8 port shows status RED, and the AES 8-16 is green. Find that strange too.

Has anyone ever been able to recover from this? If so how?
Could it be a corrupted boot device? etc?

Otherwise, I am looking for a cheap second hand unit.

[Carsten Kurz]

The IMS2000 is no longer sold by Dolby, but should still be supported. As far as I know, Dolby still sells it as a special item for some special installations that need master/slave configurations.

[Elia Orselli]

IMS2000 is fully supported till 31 January 2025.
The SM3 red and SM4 green mean "marriage is not initialized, service door and physical marriage are ok (READY TO MARRY)".

[Marcel Birgelen]

Like Elia indicated, the status of the SM leds may indicate a problem with the security manager.

A problem with the security manager should still allow you to access the system via SSH though, as the SM is a separate module.

sm_ims2000.png
The last one wrapped over to the other page:
Red / Red: Marriage is not activated, physical marriage is currently broken.

The console out is a mini-DisplayPort affair. If you have a notebook, especially a Mac, you may have some mini-DP to HDMI, VGA or other more common connector already.

[Elia Orselli]

First of all, I would try to extract a log using usb key method.
Just to be sure, if you have a cru bay connected to the ims without a hdd inserted, that could cause problems during power up.
Probably this issue will need a board reseating, but I would suggest to call a trained technician.

[James Gardiner]

The system will not come up to a PINGable state.
So, based on some input from Dolby, I need to get a
Mini-DisplayPort to HDMI adapter (not VGA)
SO I can see the console.
I don't have one of those so will need to order one in. (Could be weeks, not common anymore)

HD lights seem fine. I get a RED on AES 1-8 and a green on AES 9-16..
CPU 1 and 2, Red.

Getting a console output appears to be my only path to getting any more diagnostics.
I hope and based on he fact the system and the way the lights flash up until it raches this state does appear to indicate its going through a BIOS sequence.
Cross fingers its a corrupted boot drive/flash. As that would be a reasonably trivial/inexpensive fix.

[Steve Guttag]

Note, the post said the CPU LEDs are double red...no information was provided on the SM LEDs...except, I suspect that James is interpreting the SM LEDs as AES LEDs (look at their proximity)...so SM3 RED and SM4 Green.

The RED-RED on CPU...Error can't communicate with Security Manager. If my guess is correct on the SM LEDs...then it just needs to be remarried using the projector's normal marry procedure (presuming this server was configured for this projector...right make/model, right IPs...etc).

Now, if SM1 is RED...then it is lights out as it is in FIPS lock...like the super-cap was allowed to drain down.

If you don't know the IP of the server...try one of the other Ethernet ports, like ETH-2 with a DHCP server...it is likely still set to DHCP.

[Steve Guttag]

These are the LEDs (there are no AES LEDs on the server...just whatever sound system you may have that could indicate an AES signal)

Screen Shot 2022-01-05 at 7.36.39 AM.png

[Elia Orselli]

the instructions from Dolby. But, waiting for the adapter you have time to try log extraction with usb key

To generate a report using a USB key:
1. Create a directory doremi at the root of the USB key. This may have been previously created.
2. Create a directory report inside the /doremi directory.
3. Safely remove the USB drive, and plug it into the IMS2000.
4. Wait two minutes without any USB activity. (Watch your USB key LED.)
5. Reboot the IMS2000. The report will be in the USB key folder /doremi/report.

LEDs under GPIO and AES ports are called SM1 to SM4.

Edit: while I was pasting here log procedure, Steve answered.

[Marcel Birgelen]

Meanwhile, if you have something like Wireshark or tcpdump available, maybe connect a machine directly to both ethernet ports (once at a time) and look for traffic coming from the IMS. First of all this is a good way to see if the boot process gets as far as initializing the Ethernet stack and furthermore, if there is a mis-configured network, you should be able to spot it, once it starts to do ARP requests or a DHCP request.

I haven't seen it yet on an IMS2000, but I've seen an IMS1000 reverting to DHCP after something on the flash got corrupted.

[Marcel Birgelen]

These are the LEDs (there are no AES LEDs on the server...just whatever sound system you may have that could indicate an AES signal)

Screen Shot 2022-01-05 at 7.36.39 AM.png

Yes, I do think so. The labeling is pretty confusing. But SM3 red and SM4 green also doesn't seem to be a valid combination, at least according to the manual. Maybe he also interprets orange as red, in that case it would be a simple fix: "Service door closed but needs to be rearmed."

PS: If you have to happen a MiniDP to VGA adapter, you may as well try that as well. Not all of them are created equally, but yours may as well just work.

[Carsten Kurz]

Mini-DP to HDMI can be bought for very little money on ebay. Better, just use any MiniDP to regular DP cable with a monitor that offers regular DP.

[Steve Guttag]

Marcel:

Care to rephrase that?

Screen Shot 2022-01-05 at 8.01.18 AM.png

-Steve

[James Gardiner]

So, as I refer AES1-8 is SM3 ad 9-16 is SM4, and based on Steve table above, that indicated, Marriage not present..
Which makes sense as if I cannot get into the unit as its IP stack is not coming up.. And I plugged it into a test projector it has not been in before..
Marriage not initialized would very much be the case..

Its in a NC1201, an I have entered the Tamper reset sequence on the keypad interface...

So CPU 1 and 2 RED, and no IP stack. CONSOLE OUT is my next and only real option.

I may try the USB sequence to get Report, but I very much doubt it will work if I have CPU red lights and failed IP stack. Really talks to a error occuring in the boot sequence and its not getting anywhere near being up enough to start the user processors needed to do that operation.

[Leo Enticknap]

I had this exact problem with an NC1201 last year. Turned out that the tamper switch at the back of the NEC's card cage had gone bad. The giveaway was that after pulling the IMS, giving it the DeOxit treatment, then reseating, the projector did not report having been tampered. In fact, it gave a green tail light and no errors! That led me to suspect that the projector was buggered rather than the IMS2000, and swapping IMS2000s with another projector confirmed it.

I'm afraid that replacing that tamper switch is a whole bunch of no fun, given the amount of stuff you have to disassemble in order to get at it. We're talking 3-4 hours of labor to replace a $20 part.