Sony XCT-S10 front USB not working

[Elia Orselli]

Hi everyone!
One of my customers with a Sony 515 is experiencing problems with front usb ports on the server, as both of them aren't working even with different usb keys/hdd. I'll be on site tomorrow, but I've never heard of a similar problem (nor other colleagues). Have any of you had the same experience?

[Dave Macaulay]

I've had several Doremi servers where the front USB port is worn out and no longer working, or intermittent (worse). But these are easily replaced with a a cheap standard cable from Dolby (excellent quality) or Amazon (might be OK... or horrible quality so bad it breaks if you look at it).
I don't know about Sony though, are they soldered on a board?
Front USB ports take a beating if used for content ingests and KDMs. USB-A ports are spec'd for 1500 plug/unplug cycles after all.

[Carsten Kurz]

When you take off the front cover, there are two more hidden USB (2.0 only) Sockets behind it. I would try these first. If they are bad, too, probably the UIF-13 board needs to be replaced. But maybe taking out the board and cleaning the connectors/sockets may already solve it.
There are two more USB sockets on the back of the server. Actually not sure wether they are USB 3.0, but, for a while, we used more devices on the server through a standard powered USB Hub connected to the back (usually, these are populated with the touch screen and UPS). So, there may be some workarounds until the issue is solved.

You may also try a powered USB hub on the front ports. As ingest devices sometimes draw too much power, it could be that the 5V USB power ist dead. There is a small chance that a powered USB hub solves this. So, take a powered USB hub with you. On the UIF-13 board, there are also two USB power indicator LEDs. They should be lit.

No, I have never heard about a similar problem from my (many) Sony colleagues. But if that site ingests from USB often, or employ a 'brute force projectionist', these ports may indeed go bad from abuse. Another option, of course, ist to take out UIF-31 and just clean and reseat it. It's just two screws from the front.

[Jim Cassedy]

I've never had a problem with one of the USB ports on a Sonyserverthingy going dead. I've also never had the
need to open one up, so I don't know what's going on inside. I work at one location that has a DOLBY DSS 220
that had one its' USB ports on the front get destroyed by someone bumping into a USB stick plugged into it while
walking by the rack. That's not an easily findable or replaceable part and it leaves them with only one "good" USB
port on the front. To protect the remaining front USB port, I got a short (6") Male-Female USB extension that they
leave plugged into the working port all the time now, and any thumbdrives or USB min-drives that need to get
connected to the DSS-200, get plugged into the extension, to save wear on the server port.

> When I work that location, I use FTP to send keys & content to that server, so it makes no difference to me
if that USB port works or not. But not everyone who works that room knows (or cares to learn) how to do that.

[Harold Hallikainen]

The USB hub and the USB extension remind me of "tube socket protectors." You'd plug one of these into a tube socket, and it would stay there. Tubes would be plugged into the protector. Multiple replacements would wear out the tube socket protector instead of the tube socket itself.

In this application, I think it would be nice to have a rack mount USB hub with the jack to the server on the rear panel and "user" jacks on the front panel. When they get broken and worn out, the inexpensive USB hub is replaced instead of having to dig into the server.

Harold

[Carsten Kurz]

Yeah, especially on e.g. a Sony 220 or 330, where the USB is actually the ONLY local ingest option (no CRU port, no SATA/eSATA), and which use 'exotic' hardware components, which makes finding a replacement USB-interface card impossible one the manufacturer ends support. That said, USB hardware failures are really rare on those machines.

As important is protecting HDMI inputs on projectors/integrated media blocks. I know quite a few machines with dead HDMI inputs. Always put a switch or splitter in front of your single HDMI input...

[Stefan Scholz]

The two USB ports behind the cover are Keyboard and Mouse ports, on the same hub, as on the back of the unit. The 2 "Hispeed" port are on a different logical hub, and are the only ones to be used for ingest. The others are USB 2 at best. Good enough for the purpose.
I have seen UIF 13 boards go defective. You may buy a new board, they are pricey these days. But actually, is the USB really required? Anything today relies on Network ingest, from NAS, from servers.
So if the ports are gone, instead ordering a replacement board, my clients have relied on network ingest.

Something, which also helps to speed ingest on the legacy Sony 320s. One net port is actually a Gigabit port, and allows you to ingest from there, but only using the TMS user. Really speeds ingesting up.

[Ioannis Syrogiannis]

Do you mean that you ingest DCPs via FTP into a 320, Stefan?