Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: NEC NC800C error

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Posted by Richard May (Member # 2627) on 12-12-2013, 07:29 PM:

We have an NEC NC800C projector. Today when they started it, an 2 errors came up. Error 52 Security Tamper and 53 Component Side Door Open. The book doesn't even have these 2 codes. I called NEC and even they are having trouble with it. I'm sure the 2 codes are for the same problem. There is no door on the component side besides the air filter. The other weird thing is the BluRay plays fine through the projector in the bluray macro. Picture is fine. When the DCP plays we have sound but just snow for picture.

Posted by Carsten Kurz (Member # 5396) on 12-13-2013, 06:58 AM:

HDMI playing but not DCP is 'normal' for this situation with security tamper issues. Strange NEC is not able to help here. Probably a bad security switch/cable/connector, or someone actually opened housing parts for some reason.

- Carsten

Posted by Marco Giustini (Member # 4544) on 12-13-2013, 08:18 AM:

I've seen an NEC coming up with the tamper error - whitout nobody tampering with it - which cleared simply rebooting it! [Smile]

Posted by Richard May (Member # 2627) on 12-13-2013, 08:37 AM:

I know nobody tried to open any of the panels. They tried rebooting a few times with no help. All side panel screws are tight. There are no door or locks on this projector. I guess because it's a series one projector not a lot of people at NEC deal with it much. They were going to call me today.

Posted by Stefan Vogels (Member # 5573) on 12-13-2013, 03:50 PM:

I have seen this error many times on a series 1. Error 52 and 53 combined. And in all cases it turned out the interface board was gone ( broken ). It needs replacing before encrypted content can be played again. It happens to a lot of series I projector's after several years.

Posted by Richard May (Member # 2627) on 12-13-2013, 04:03 PM:

You mean shorted out or something? It wouldn't "break" by itself.

Posted by Stefan Vogels (Member # 5573) on 12-13-2013, 04:13 PM:

The cause is not clear, NEC is a bit fuzzy about it. However it does mall-function and won't set up the secure link anymore.

Posted by Richard May (Member # 2627) on 12-13-2013, 04:17 PM:

On the phone with NEC again. He says that sounds like it's possible. He's checking with other people now......................................

Yep. They say it's the board. Thanks for the suggestion.

Posted by Richard May (Member # 2627) on 01-30-2014, 06:44 PM:

So after 6 weeks of waiting we finally got the board. I put it in the error messages that we had are gone but now I have an error 26 Tamper-Switch Activation Detected and I cant clear it. I tried rebooting with and without the DCC program.

Posted by Carsten Kurz (Member # 5396) on 01-30-2014, 06:49 PM:

You mean this machine was out of operation for 6 weeks with you waiting for a spare part?

- Carsten

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 01-30-2014, 06:58 PM:

DCI requires a physical presence to clear a security tamper so all projector companies have devised a means that mere software alone can't clear the final error. You have to manually do it. For Christie, it is the marriage button (on series 2s), on Barco it is the dreaded Dallas Key (aka ibutton), and for NEC...is is a special code.

Now I'm not familiar if the NC800, being a series 1, also requires this to clear it (I'd have to check) but it is worth a try.

Posted by Richard May (Member # 2627) on 01-30-2014, 06:59 PM:

No. BluRay ran fine through the DVI port because it doesn't go through the interface board that was bad. With the new board in, BluRay still runs fine and we lost the errors we had. We just now have the new Tamper error.

I've done it with the series 2 projector. I have all the codes. I don't remember the series 1 having any codes.

Posted by Jim Cassedy (Member # 4115) on 01-30-2014, 11:57 PM:

quote: Richard May
So after 6 weeks of waiting we finally got the board.

quote: Carsten Kurz
You mean this machine was out of operation for 6 weeks with you waiting for a spare part?

Last month I had a similar issue with a Series II projector that started off
the exact same way. ("Tamper" error codes) The projector was down for 5 days
while they diagnosed the problem and got the parts, which had to come from Japan.

Fortunately, we only lost one show, since we still had 35mm changeover capabiltiy
and were able to get film prints for the all the screenings we had that week.

But in almost 30 years of projecting, I've NEVER had a film machine down for
more than 24hrs, and 99% of the time you could save a show using a paper clip,
rubber bands, wooden coffee stirrers, duct tape, etc to fix the projector until you
got the part you needed.

The DCP projector was down for SIX FRIGGIN' DAYS.

But remember- - it's digital, so it's "better."

Posted by Richard May (Member # 2627) on 01-31-2014, 06:12 PM:

NEC has everybody on this one. There are no passwords for the 800C to clear the tamper. They sent me a screenshot of the troubleshooting code that I got with steps to check. I checked what I could and nothing yet. What's worse now is that Bluray doesn't work anymore. We only get snow like with DCP. For now were using a smaller video projector.

Posted by Jason Raftery (Member # 6291) on 01-31-2014, 11:07 PM:

I believe Stefan is correct. While I don't support any 800C's, I do have 1600C and 2500S machines and they share the same error code set.

On the latter models, errors 52/53 point to a dead gore interface board.

Might also double check the projector's error log and see if it logged a host of successive failures. Here's an example from the last gore board I ran across that went into a tailspin following the last show of the day before expiring completely a few hours later in the middle of the night:

2014/01/15 10:38:57(96) MF(B) Test Fail
2014/01/15 10:38:57(95) MF(G) Test Fail
2014/01/15 10:38:57(94) MF(R) Test Fail
2014/01/15 10:38:57(44) IB File System Fail
2014/01/15 10:38:57(51) IB TPM Self Test Fail
2014/01/15 10:38:57(50) IB Activate Setup Fail
2014/01/15 10:38:57(38) IB RTC Serial # Fail
2014/01/15 10:38:57(37) IB ANC FIFO Test Fail
2014/01/15 10:38:57(36) IB Framestore Test Fail
2014/01/15 10:38:57(35) IB FPGA Reg R/W Fail
2014/01/15 10:38:57(30) IB Diag Not Performed
2014/01/15 10:38:57(24) Interface FPGA Fail
2014/01/15 10:38:57(23) DSP Fail
2014/01/15 10:38:57(22) ARM Fail
2014/01/15 10:38:57(21) Self Test Fail
2014/01/15 10:29:11(140) DLP CommR Fail
2014/01/15 07:57:47(49) IB Active Data Fail
2014/01/15 07:57:47(20) System Fail
2014/01/15 07:57:47(120) DLP Ack Fail(1707)

Posted by Amanda Mundin (Member # 3386) on 02-01-2014, 11:38 AM:

The Error Message description doesn't always describe the problem correctly.
Last year we changed a bulb/module (same NEC NC800C), it was a little dusty inside, tried to remove some of this including lightly dusting the lamp cover open switch. When we refitted the back and switched on an error message came up that said something like Lamp Cover Open, thought we'd maybe damaged the switch. A call to an engineer and they told us the same fault can be triggered by the chip on the back of the lamp module not contacting correctly, pulled the module and whoever had fitted the new bulb into the module had attached the new chip the wrong way round, unscrewed and turned the chip around, refitted and worked fine, but the error message wasn't very helpful in describing what the actual problem was!

Posted by Richard May (Member # 2627) on 02-01-2014, 01:33 PM:

Jason, the error 52,53 has been cleared with the new interface board. We are now getting error 26...tamper switch activation detected...Nothing will work until that is cleared.

Amanda, the lamp door open error is a pain in the ass. If the chip is not perfectly positioned, you will get that error. Almost half the time we change the lamp, we have to shim the chip.

Posted by Stefan Vogels (Member # 5573) on 02-01-2014, 02:28 PM:

Try reseating all the boards in the card cage. Secondly check all the tamper-switches and close up the entire projector. See if the error message disappears. Might only be visuable after booting up the projector.

Posted by Carsten Kurz (Member # 5396) on 02-01-2014, 03:44 PM:

Where is the sense of a tamper switch/error if there is no explicit reset procedure for it?

- Carsten

Posted by Richard May (Member # 2627) on 02-01-2014, 05:05 PM:

I reset all 3 boards the other day and the projector was completely closed up. Projector has been rebooted many times with no success. It's just weird that I only got this new error AFTER opening the projector up and replacing the board. I must have tripped something. Can you bypass the tamper switches by just cutting and connecting the 2 wires together?

Posted by Jason Raftery (Member # 6291) on 02-01-2014, 07:11 PM:

Sorry Richard, I missed the part about getting error 26 now.

26 can be a tough one to catch as there are a lot of potential triggers for it. Stefan is right to start by re-seating the boards in the TI chest and checking the physical tamper switches.

Verify the new interface board is on the same firmware versions as the old board. A version mismatch can cause this.

You may also want to check voltages on the PJDIV board (be sure to use a meter with sufficiently good accuracy when measuring DC voltage!). For a 800C, the test points and acceptable ranges are as follows:
- TP5609: 5.10 + 0.1 [VDC]– 0.0 [VDC]
- TP5610: 3.40 ± 0.05 [VDC]
- TP5611: 12.00 ± 0.1 [VDC]

I have seen interface boards cough up bizarre errors if the 5V rail is even the tiniest bit low. If the voltages are out of tolerance, adjust the trim pots on the GPSU slightly to bring the voltages to the center of the allowable ranges.

Also, double check your macros and make sure one isn't calling a file that is not on the new interface board. That would typically trigger an error 120 (DLP Ack Fail) but the service manual suggests it as a troubleshooting step for error 26, as well.

Good luck!

Posted by Richard May (Member # 2627) on 02-02-2014, 10:54 AM:

I had the 120 error with the tamper error when I first installed the card. I was told to save all settings from a good projector and restore to this one. When I did that, it got rid of the 120 Ack error. When I originally put back the old interface card, I still had the new tamper error so I dont think its the card. I did reset all 3 cards.

Posted by Richard May (Member # 2627) on 02-02-2014, 07:08 PM:

I'll be back at the theater tomorrow. NEC is going to call. We will see.

Again, can I bypass the door tamper switches?

Posted by Richard May (Member # 2627) on 02-06-2014, 12:33 PM:

After locating the MANY door tamper switches, I found one where the screw coming through the door was bent enough to miss the lever on the switch. That's all it was....GRRRRRRRR!!!!!

Posted by Richard May (Member # 2627) on 02-11-2014, 04:24 PM:

The story doesn't end there. DCP works fine now but Bluray through the DVI is messed up. The picture plays fine for 10 seconds then goes to snow. If I turn off the Bluray and turn it back on, picture plays again for 10 seconds then snow. If I hook up my laptop to DVI with the same cable, it works fine. I tried different Bluray and DVD players. No luck. All the files have been restored from a good projector with the same equipment hooked up to it. NEC is still helping but running out of ideas.

Posted by Ian Freer (Member # 1940) on 02-11-2014, 11:04 PM:

Snow over HDMI/DVI is often a result of one device not being HDCP compliant isn't it? Could the NEC board responsible for HDCP be giving you trouble?

Posted by Richard May (Member # 2627) on 02-12-2014, 05:21 AM:

It could be but this only happened after the new interface board was installed. Could there be a compatability problem with the new interface board?

Posted by Richard May (Member # 2627) on 02-12-2014, 01:53 PM:

Turns out the new board is not compatible with the projector. I put the old bad board back in and Bluray is fine but DCP is no good again. The part numbers were a bit different between the 2 boards and NEC is trying to figure it out.

Posted by Richard May (Member # 2627) on 03-05-2014, 09:14 PM:

New board finally arrived. Correct part number this time. All works fine now. Go digital. [Roll Eyes]

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 03-06-2014, 07:17 AM:

Not bad...only took 3 months!

Posted by Richard May (Member # 2627) on 03-06-2014, 10:28 AM:

And not a show lost. I kept swapping the board back and forth.