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This topic comprises 4 pages: 1 2 3 4
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Author
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Topic: GDC SX-3000 “host & SM do not match”
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Leo Enticknap
Film God
Posts: 7474
From: Loma Linda, CA
Registered: Jul 2000
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posted 09-30-2017 11:49 AM
quote: Taylor Goins
Am I able to replace the server or battery myself? Or best to have my tech do it? It’s a 4 hour trip for them, so the labor a travel is god awful.
With care and common sense, yes. On a GDC, I'd suggest buying the official change kit, which includes a temporary battery pack that you install while swapping out the permanent one. It's simply a case of following the instructions, and then remarrying the SX-3000 to the projector afterwards (which is very easy on a GDC - done through the GDC's front end, so no Barco Dallas key ritual or NEC username/password needed). As you'll be handling the bare board, I'd also suggest wearing an antistatic wrist band.
If you get the procedure wrong (e.g. pull the main battery out without the temporary one being properly connected first), you'll brick the IMB, which is why manufacturers state that battery replacements should be done by a trained tech. But for a remote location, that is looking at almost a four-figure bill to get a trained tech on site, with care, attention, common sense, reading the relevant bits of the service manual first and generally a "take your time and get it right" approach, it should be do-able.
And as long as your SX-3000 remains in warranty, if you do get it wrong, the worst case scenario is that you'll be down for a day or two, which is what would happen if you didn't replace the battery and it ran down anyways, so I can't see that you have anything to lose.
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Leo Enticknap
Film God
Posts: 7474
From: Loma Linda, CA
Registered: Jul 2000
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posted 09-30-2017 07:37 PM
quote: Mark Gulbrandsen
GDC is working on a battery level indicator...
Very good news. AFAIK, only the Dolby cat745 has this at present (the low battery field in the Show Manager system devices tab). Every single one of the "IMB battery out and screen down" calls I've handled since becoming a service tech has involved GDC products (which isn't a reflection on GDC: it's very likely because we have more service contracts with customers that have these IMBs than other brands), so an early warning system for them would be hugely welcome.
And of course that three years probably assumes that the IMB is being run in a typical multiplex usage pattern, e.g. roughly 12 hours a day, seven days a week. If a given unit spends significantly less time than that powered up, the battery replacement interval needs to be shorter.
quote: Mark Gulbrandsen
IDK if MIT even offers the extended warranty on GDC.
We do, and we make our customers aware of that option, both at the point of sale and when setting up service contracts (and not just for GDC products). Whenever I or any of the other techs perform planned maintenance on any system with a media block, IMB or IMS that needs regular battery replacements, we make our customers aware of this, and explain the consequences if the battery is allowed to go out.
We don't want anyone to find themselves in Taylor's situation, and try as hard as we can to prevent it from happening. However, it is inevitable in some cases. A particularly high risk scenario is the mixed use venue (live theater, music, conferences, plus movies on one or two nights a month, or during the off season) that doesn't use their digital cinema system very often. The staff member who was briefed in the post-installation handover leaves, is replaced by someone else who doesn't know about that gotcha ... and the rest is history. It happens a lot less in full-time movie theaters, from what I've seen.
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Leo Enticknap
Film God
Posts: 7474
From: Loma Linda, CA
Registered: Jul 2000
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posted 10-01-2017 11:12 AM
I'd guess that this is because in an old school, full-size server with a built-in media block and dual SDI connections to the projector, the server is designed to stay on 24/7, so the media block's volatile certificate memory is almost never having to be kept alive by the battery (or supercap). An IMB or IMS, though, will typically be powered down for 10-12 hours each day in a typical multiplex situation, which seems to be that the projector is powered down at the end of each day, but the rack next to (or underneath) it is left on.
That having been said, a couple of weeks ago I booted up a DSS200 that had been without power for around a year, fully expecting the cat862 to be toasted. It was OK.
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Marcel Birgelen
Film God
Posts: 3357
From: Maastricht, Limburg, Netherlands
Registered: Feb 2012
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posted 10-02-2017 01:46 PM
quote: Mark Gulbrandsen
I suspect the batteries in the 3000 maintain certificates on both the motherboard and on the media block.
What's maintained by the battery is only the private key, the public part of the certificate is stored on traditional storage that keeps state, without power being applied. According to the DCI specifications, the private key must not leave the IMB, because that would immediately invalidate its purpose.
I doubt there is such a storage facility on the motherboard, because there isn't really a need for it. In order to lock an IMB to a certain motherboard for example, there are other facilities, like simply checking a serial number.
quote: Leo Enticknap
Agreed. GDC's charges for repairing or replacing an out-of-warranty IMB are punitive.
I guess it's their way of ensuring a steady flow of "return customers". As a good-minded, technical minded person, it's the kind of stuff that makes you scratch your head, but that's what a lot of business looks like: Squeezing dollars out of those who need it the most.
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