GDC IMB error in Christie CP2220

[Ryan Gallagher]

Was greeted for a tech check today by handshake issues between the christie and it's GDC IMB in our smaller room.
I'll have to dig up the IMB model, but it is a SX-2000/IMB pair.

Rolling a H.264 backup in stereo atm, I'm rarely over here with the GDC so any tips on where to start troubleshooting appreciated. Our regular projectionist for this room is on vacation.

Our sequence involves powering christie on from standby, and THEN the gdc box server. But today the christie had an error before step 2, and retrying from standby had no change.

Is this a reseat all network and try again from cold boot? Or are we looking at potentially card cage issue? Christie Internal network switch issue? Something else...

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[Frank Cox]

Your error message says to check the network connections.

I think that server has a short network cable that's maybe a foot long that connects between two cards on the back of the unit.

Maybe you need to change that little network cable.

[Steve Guttag]

Make sure that the Ethernet cable going between the server and the IMB is plugged into ETHERNET 2 (people often will plug it into 1). On the back of the SX-2000AR server there is a poorly labeled confusing array of ports.

In the picture below:

3a: Management Network
3b: IMB link cable (goes to the IMB Ethernet 2).
3c: Media Network (ignore where it says "IMB Interface", if your unit has that label).

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I would check on the Control Panel screen to see if all if the network ports appear to be up. ETH0 (aka 3a) is a 100 base-t port, as I recall so its speed will just be 100 but the other two should be at 1000. On the Control Panel, they'll be called out as ETH1 (IMB link) and ETH2 (media).

[Marcel Birgelen]

It's been a while since I've seen an SX-2000, it's kind of a mess, but there is a problem that when the server cannot communicate to the projector via IP, the connection with the Security Manager will also fail. So, do you have a connection between your SX-2000 and the Christie? If not, there is likely your issue.

If I remember correctly, the port towards your IMB is the one above the USB ports... You may want to check that network connection too and maybe just replace the cable if possible.

Edit: Steve answered with a better answer while dreaming up this one.
Edit 2: I've never seen that IMB Interface label, that's indeed pretty confusing...

The whole interface situation with these old GDC servers was always a confusing mess. If I remember correctly, you can't really configure an IP address for the IMB link, it's called a "loopback link" in the interface?

[Ryan Gallagher]

The urgency seems moot now. Learned they are delivering a file based edit version anyway. We are probably rolling on the laptop tonight too.

thanks Steve & Frank. I’ll start down the network path at the first opportunity. Great diagram. My TD said our IT person was in the catwalks this week, so it could be something that simple.

[Ryan Gallagher]

To make it more fun for all, our last integrator failed to come up with a faceplate for this IMB, (or maybe it was the compatible cage part they lacked). She just kinda floats in there all naked like. :-(

[Ryan Gallagher]

Eth0 and Eth1 are confirmed up with valid link, the IMB Link cable is present, in the correct port, and labeled with an IP that matches what the GDC is showing for eth1. We are not using (nothing plugged in) to the Eth2 labeled "IMB Interface" PCI card port (3c in Steve's Photo). Perhaps this is an omission in our configuration, but I don't think it is the root of my problem today.

This is starting to feel like maybe the internal card cage networking issue?

[Ryan Gallagher]

I guess Steve's recommendation/guide is kinda circumstantial, cause you can REMAP the NICs to the interfaces in the admin software. Makes sense why each one can be such a headache to troubleshoot. Ours atm:

NIC1 -> network (eth1)
NIC2 -> network (eth1)
NIC3 -> projector (eth0)

So you really need a picture showing which NICs the box is considering to be NIC1, NIC2, NIC3 etc. ;-)

SX2000 can ping the christie management IP. However it cannot ping the IP we have labeled on the IMB link cable. I would have thought it should be able to ping either it's own IP or the IMB's IP on that directly connected network. SX2000 Network Setup shows the ip written on the cable as the GDC side IP, and that port has link/activity lights.

This is an airgapped production network, IT does not manage it.

[Marcel Birgelen]

I think in software, both the "media network" and the network with the IMB live in the same VRF. So, I doubt it matters via what "network" interface it will eventually be able to reach the IMB (note, this is an assumption). But not being able to ping the IMB is a bad sign... Do the configured IPs and subnets match somehow with the IP on the label of the IMB? And what IMB is it? An SX-3000 IMB/IMS or the original one, which didn't even have a dedicated Ethernet port afaik?

[Ryan Gallagher]

I think in software, both the "media network" and the network with the IMB live in the same VRF. So, I doubt it matters via what "network" interface it will eventually be able to reach the IMB (note, this is an assumption). But not being able to ping the IMB is a bad sign... Do the configured IPs and subnets match somehow with the IP on the label of the IMB? And what IMB is it? An SX-3000 IMB/IMS or the original one, which didn't even have a dedicated Ethernet port afaik?

Haha, again, no faceplate to learn that IP or model, all I know is the IP on the SX2000 side is the original one from last time people were taking notes on this setup. I'd have to pull it to find out which model if it's printed on the PCB. There might be record of that somewhere if I ask around.

[Ryan Gallagher]

But not being able to ping the IMB is a bad sign... Do the configured IPs and subnets match somehow with the IP on the label of the IMB? And what IMB is it? An SX-3000 IMB/IMS or the original one, which didn't even have a dedicated Ethernet port afaik?

I should clarify, it's not that I can't ping the IMB, haven't tested that. The IP I was attempting to ping would have been it's own IP on that network, and GDC's network test utility could not ping the IP it is claiming it has for the IMB Link port. If I knew the IP of the IMB side I would ping that directly, that is the one IP address that is not notated in our records handy.

the SX server side is a 192.168.1.13, just don't know what IP to try on the other side. When pinging itself, It reports "network unreachable", but perhaps that is the normal response trying to ping itself, but in most cases you should be able to ping your own IP address.

[Ryan Gallagher]

Correction. I CAN in fact ping the SX side of the IMB link network (the *.1.13 above). I may have typo’d the IP prior in attempting.

can I ping the IMB, that is still unknown, I’ll resort to a network scan later if I have to when one of my laptops frees up.

[Marcel Birgelen]

If it's an SX-3000, which can operate as a stand-alone server, then it should not just ping, but come with web-interface and all.

[Ryan Gallagher]

If it's an SX-3000, which can operate as a stand-alone server, then it should not just ping, but come with web-interface and all.

Yeah no web interface here that I'm aware of, no drives in the media block, so I think it's the earlier generation.

The venue is dark the next three days and I have some easy shows next door with plenty of down time, I'll probably be back at it diagnosing then.

If I had the faceplate I expect it would look like this one:

[Hong Sung Hyeok]

Although there is no photo of the IMB, it appears to be an SX-2000TR server.

It looks like an error related to communication between the IMB and the server, but in my experience, I have seen the same error when the IMB is actually faulty. You might need to replace the IMB.
As proof, the "connection to the imb has been lost" error in DLP should not occur even if it is not connected to the main unit.

Another possibility is to examine the server's IMB settings. You can change the network port for the connection with the IMB from port 3b to port 3c.
Change the IP and the relevant settings, and try connecting the LAN cable directly between the 3c port and the IMB.
This is a troubleshooting step you can take when there is a problem with the server's main unit's 3b network port, but the probability is low.