Weird issue with CP2000ZX

[Brandon Wood]

Hi all, first time poster here. I'm pretty new to all this so please bear with me. A local nonprofit that I volunteer with purchased a movie theater with some pretty old equipment. We have a Christie CP2000-ZX projector and a Dolby DSS200 server. Of course we are looking to upgrade soon, but today I came across a weird issue. Before today everything was working fine.

When I turned on the projector today and started playing content from the server, the image only showed up as a relatively small box on the left hand side. It wasn't cropped or anything as it was the full image, just small and shifted over the left. I tried manually changing formats on the projector. I tried to use the alternative content format with our Blu-ray player. I even did a reboot on the server. I also did the auto-recalibrate on the lens. All with no results. I could see the light hitting the full screen, but the image was only showing up in a small box on the left side. The only thing that eventually fixed it was shutting down the projector and cutting the power to it at the breaker, then turning it back on. From everything I've read this doesn't seem like a good idea, but I couldn't think of anything else. I then played a full 90min movie and it worked fine.

Has anybody had experience with this? I wish I would've taken a picture but I was a bit panicky in the moment as we're supposed to be playing a film for the first time under new ownership this weekend.

Thanks for your help!

[Ryan Gallagher]

Try shooting one of the built in test patterns and tell it to ignore the screen files etc (if the CP2000 had those options).

If that is good it's just a format configuration thing hopefully. If it's not good share a picture and some screenshots.

(oh wait, just saw a full reboot fixed it, LOL)

[John Thomas]

I have definitely seen this exact issue on a ZX, but it was in 2017-2018 and I can't seem to find the service report from that case. But it was involving the PCM board (which is where basically everything on the ZX lives).

The PCM board on the ZX does have a battery that needs to be replaced -- every 5 or so years if memory serves. This is not necessarily the issue here, but you should be aware and make sure it has been changed or does get changed. To my recollection you need to take a full backup before you replace the battery, and then restore it afterwards.

In addition, there is a known memory leak such that when the internal logs begin to overrun, things will start to get weird. I think when it gets bad enough you can't even access the webGUI. Christie has a command-line Windows program specifically for clearing those logs, called LogCleaner.exe. Worth looking into if this issue crops up again.

Apologies for the haziness of the info here, it's been like 5 years since I've touched a ZX.


Edit -- Found that service report:

1619197-1

Issue Reported (Symptom):
Projector-IMAGE GEOMETRY/ALIGNMENT ISSUE CP2000-ZX Projector

Diagnostics (Analysis):
Found PCM had forgotten correct screen files for each channel.

Resolution (Work Performed):
Set correct screen files, ran log cleaner, replaced PCM battery, and rebooted. Set manual lens shift and zoom. Tested good with content.

What happens is that the PCM forgets which screen files are assigned for each channel, so it defaults to the very first one in its list which (if I recall correctly) is a wonky 1024 or 1280 one that scales the image down and justifies it to the far left of the chip. Anyway, Looking at some other PCM battery replacements that I did, it looks like you just have to reset the clock in the PCM after replacing the battery. It's always a good idea to grab a full backup though.

[Marin Zorica]

I have saw that on many christie 2000ZX, still have few in service. Normaly on every service we do log cleaner. Also besides that projector refuses to save any new settings if log clean is not performed. Also, before changing battery try to save backup files and reload them. Because on many of them when i saved backup file i was not abke to load it again. So, before swapping battery i did save files manual (file by file) from projector and TI board via ti software.

[Brandon Wood]

Thank you all so much for the help! You all have been most kind. I will contact our booth tech after the new year to see if he can show me how to do all this. Will share your solution with him.