Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: ShowVault 4 USB Keyboard Issue

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Posted by Rick Cohen (Member # 6140) on 04-07-2019, 11:44 AM:

I have five Doremi ShowVault Servers which interface using a standard USB keyboard and regular VGA monitor. All five screens use identical equipment. Here's the problem: On screens 2 and 3, the USB keyboard is unresponsive after server bootup, but will magically come alive simply by unplugging the USB cable, and plugging it back in after the bootup. On the other three screens, the USB keyboard functions correctly after bootup without needing to have the USB cable pulled and plugged back in

The issue is always constant on the same two screens, never intermittent. I tried swapping keyboards around, and it has no effect, meaning the issue is with the server, and not the keyboard. The ShowVault also has two USB ports, and the issue is constant on both USB ports, so it is not a bad USB port, unless both USB ports are bad on both projectors, which is unlikely. All of the ShowVaults were installed new in March 2012. Screen 2 has had this issue since maybe 2015. Screen 3 began doing the same thing near the end of 2018.

So it's not really that a big deal, it's just somewhat annoying to have to pull the USB cable out for the keyboard and plug it back in every night when we boot up the server.

Some background, this is a seasonal drive-in so we only run two shows per night, weekends only in April-May, full time in June-July-August, back to weekends only in September-October-November. We shut down all the servers and projectors every night, and boot up an hour before showtime. Never had any other issues with the ShowVaults, IMBs or projectors. Never lost even a single hard drive though 7 seasons, either. Filters are cleaned monthly, booth is cleaned weekly, ShowVault is cleaned annually.

Not that it's relevant to the issue, but we run Barco 2K-32B on all screens with 6.5K lamps.

My guess is that there is some kind of minor issue going on in the Doremi ShowVault motherboard where it interfaces with the USB ports, which the keyboard plugs into. Just curious if anyone else has experienced this issue, and if there is a simple fix. It's not worth tearing the motherboard apart, but if there's an easy fix, that would be great.

We update all firmware, software, security manager annually, so it's not an update issue. Coin batteries were all replaced in 2016, after 5 seasons.

Any thoughts?

Posted by Carsten Kurz (Member # 5396) on 04-07-2019, 12:14 PM:

Just a blind shot - try to connect a simple low port count USB hub between USB port and keyboard and see wether it makes a difference.

Weird - we recently had a similar report on the german projectionist forum, and I replied that to my knowledge, this must be a rare issue, as I never heard something similar elsewhere. What software version are these SVs running?

- Carsten

Posted by Marco Giustini (Member # 4544) on 04-07-2019, 12:20 PM:

I've seen this before, not sure what it could depend on. Maybe the motherboards are from different revisions.

On top of what Carsten recommended, try a different brand of keyboard.

Are you also aware that it's actually better for your server to be powered 24/7 than being powered down every night? I know it may sound silly but... (unless you really only a few shows a week I guess)

Posted by Carsten Kurz (Member # 5396) on 04-07-2019, 12:25 PM:

IF possible, I still today prefer PS/2 keyboards. I know that in 2019, it really shouldn't make a difference anymore, not in the OS, not in the BIOS, but, still...
I have a range of PS/2 devices in my gear box.

- Carsten

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 04-07-2019, 02:40 PM:

I got bitten in the metaphorical rear by that issue, too. It would appear that the Dolby DSS100 and DSL100 do not have BIOS-level support for USB keyboards, meaning that if you need to change any BIOS or RAID controller settings, you need a PS/2 keyboard. After finding that out the hard way and needing to make a return call to one site as a result, I have now put a PS/2 keyboard in the few remaining booths I service that still use these models (for $8 a piece, it seemed silly not to), with a label on the box stating that they should not be removed from the booth or trashed for as long as the DSS100 or DSL100 remains in use. I have another at home that I can take with me on service calls involving these models. Looks like I should take it to any job involving a Doremi rack server, too.

Posted by Dave Macaulay (Member # 813) on 04-07-2019, 03:43 PM:

I've seen this for keyboards but for mice more often. Generally, because there are only 3 USB ports and most sites have Captiview, a USB hub is used and I've blamed it on the hub. I have had them be unresponsive when connected directly as well, unplug/plug resolves it. Sometimes I go to a thrift store and get used (and pretty cheap) PS2 keyboards and mice. These don't have the "nobody home" problem and don't occupy the USB ports.

Posted by Bruce Cloutier (Member # 9615) on 04-07-2019, 04:10 PM:

USB can be temperamental where devices can come and go. We're actually looking into using Wireshark which has a USB hook to try to see what is happening. USB ports manage their power usage and can shutdown devices in an effort to stay within defined limits.

You might just try another USB port on the system for the keyboard assuming that there are additional ports. If there are multiple things on the bus eliminate one temporarily to see if the keyboard issue settles down. Or just swap them... play musical USB ports.

A powered USB hub might help as it will bring additional power for use.

There is probably an internal hub and something internal is using one of the ports taking more power than it should. You can snoop in the Device manager.

My guess. Like I said we've been baffled by such things here in our offices. If you know us... we're eventually going to dig into it to figure out who screwed it up.

Posted by Marcel Birgelen (Member # 6801) on 04-08-2019, 04:22 AM:

Instead of swapping keyboards around, have you tried entirely different keyboards e.g. a keyboard from a desktop?

It could be something insignificant like the firmware inside the keyboard and your BIOS... Since nowadays everything runs software (and rather often, pretty crappy software unfortunately), even the simplest things can become almost infinitely complex to debug...

For my own desktop, I'm using a Razer gaming mouse, not such a beast with 300 buttons, but one of the most simple ones, because I like the way it feels in my hand, it's pretty exact and since it uses a laser for position scanning, works sufficiently decent without a mouse pad...

But once every while, the thing just disconnects from the system, even in mid-use. It has done this on two different machines now. You specifically need to unplug it and plug it back in...