Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: DTS XD-10 Repair

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Posted by Paul Maxon (Member # 6211) on 04-12-2011, 03:12 PM:

We currently have a DTS box that is stuck in the initializing stage and will not fully boot up. When loading all it says is

"Initializing......Loader 1.04" and will not go past that.

I think either the hard drive is dead or the OS is corrupt. Can anyone give me some advice on how to troubleshoot and repair this box? They have been running movies in stereo mode and they sound pretty bad depending on the movie. Luckily its in the smallest theater where we usually put the movies right before they leave.

Thank You

Posted by Pete Naples (Member # 761) on 04-12-2011, 05:09 PM:

I've seen this a couple of times now.

Both times HDD failure, as well as PSU failure. Perhaps the PSU took out the HDD?

They went back to Datasat for repair, the cost was not too bad.

Posted by Mike B. Smith (Member # 2829) on 04-12-2011, 05:12 PM:

First step is to request a full install disc from Karen at Datasat formerly DTS. If the OS was corrupted this disc should correct the problem. Note however this does not always fix the problem but is always the first recommend procedure with what you have described, besides if you do need to replace the drive you will still need this disc which has the complete OS on it. Datasat does not charge for this disc.

Posted by Paul Maxon (Member # 6211) on 04-12-2011, 06:27 PM:

If the PSU was bad would the front screen still work?

The optical drives do not open anymore so it may be a PSU failure. Is there a special power supply these use or is it a standard PC power supply? I will talk to my boss and get a disc and try that, provided the optical drives actually open on power up. If they don't I will look into a Power supply and then hard drive replacement.

What kind of hard drives do these use?

Posted by Ken Lackner (Member # 1002) on 04-12-2011, 07:05 PM:

quote: Paul Maxon
They have been running movies in stereo mode and they sound pretty bad depending on the movie.

Slightly OT, but not really: I'm sure others on this forum would agree with me when I say the first order of business is to get a good technician in there with the proper tools and test equipment to check the A-chain alignment. There is absolutely no reason that stereo should sound pretty bad. Digital can drop out for any number of reasons, and analog needs to be in proper working order at all times in case it is needed.

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 04-12-2011, 07:09 PM:

The PSU can cause issues with the boot up being intermittent. I had the front panel switch cause the system to do multiple reboots and get the unit to where it would light the LCD screen but NO text would ever be on it..despite hearing the Hard Drive wisking away and then locking up.

As Mike said (always listen to Mike at Datasat...EITHER of them), use an INSTALL disc (not an upgrade) and let it do its magic...it will completely reformat the HDD so all existing data and licenses will be lost. However, it will bring the unit back to life if the HDD is still good. It always has for me.

If you are not on version 2.x.x on the XD10, there is another reason to upgrade as that will make it more robust as well as bring about new features.

-Steve

Posted by Paul Maxon (Member # 6211) on 04-12-2011, 07:57 PM:

I shouldn't say it sounds pretty bad. Most movies sound acceptable, we usually keep out the movies with alot of action for obvious reasons. Movies with little action and bass sound good and are watchable. We haven't had any complaints.

Here is what I have gathered from my brief time looking at this.

1)The unit goes immediately to the initializing screen.
2)The optical drives never power on so they can't be ejected
3)The fan on the power supply is spinning.

That's all the information I have right now without removing it from the rack.

I would assume the optical drives would be able to eject regardless if the operating system is intact, I think a reinstall is not possible with the unit in its current state.

I think the power supply is dead, or one of the rails anyway.

And another question, What is the proper way to power these down? Currently we just turn off all the breakers and leave the switch on so when you flip the breaker the unit powers on. I assume this isn't good for the power supply. Should we turn off the front switch and then turn off the breaker?

It may seem like a stupid question, but I was kind of thrown into this with little knowledge of these things, and my situation in how I got trained wasn't exactly Ideal. Im trying to make things run as smooth as possible and hopefully help prevent another unit failing like this.

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 04-13-2011, 06:26 PM:

Open the unit up and see what motherboard you have. If it is an A-Open mother board read on, if it is not then do as Datasat suggests and try reloadnig the OS, or replace the hard drive, power supply, etc.

If it turns out to have an A-Open M.B. examine the taller brown electrolytic caps to see if any of the tops of them are bulging up... there are about 10 of them on the board and if any are bulging even a little they are bad. Also check C-378 a small blue capacitor right near the silver heat sink in the center of the board... those fail to. The new capacitors cost less then 10 bucks!

Here is my post about replacing those caps.

I've done just over a dozen capacitor upgrades on those boards now and all are still chugging along just fine and the cost far less than a unit rebuild. With the short time left for filum spending big bucks ~$1200.00 on repairing one at the factory is questionable... If you don't feel comfortable replacing the caps yourself then there are many places on the net that repair motherboards and they can do it for you for a very reasonable cost.

Mark