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Problem Controlling Sierra Pro Switcher

TurnipTruckTurnipTruck Posts: 1,485
in NetLinx Studio
Greetings,

I have a Sierra Pro matrix that has been controlled by a serial port of an NI-3100 for several years. Today the Sierra stopped responding to commands. I tried moving to another port on the NI, still no response. I then moved the Sierra to a serial port of an Axcent 3 on the system and it will now respond.

Any ideas?

Firmware is up to date on the NI, both master and device.

Thanks.

Comments

  • TurnipTruckTurnipTruck Posts: 1,485
    Update... After a few reboots, it seems that all of the serial devices connected to this NI are not responding. Moved all of them to Axcent 3 ports and they're all working again.

    Hmmm.
  • rynandorynando Posts: 68
    Sounds like a dying NI-3000 . . . are you able to send strings out of the NI-3000 via telnet or Netlinx Studio?
  • ColinColin Posts: 51
    NI-3100

    I have had several NI go down due to a dried out cap on a voltage rail, it means a visit to the AMX guys to replace the capacitor.
  • jjamesjjames Posts: 2,908
    So far this year we've had 4 NI-3000s go down and an NI-3100 if memory serves me right. (Maybe it's 3 x NI-3000)

    Regardless, I couldn't / didn't get an acknowledgement of it being a "known issue" from TS, but it's certainly a trend we (as a company) are seeing. Serial ports are just dying and they need to be sent back. I haven't looked at what they fixed per their return sheets, but I'd suspect Colin's problems are the same problems we're having and you as well.
  • viningvining Posts: 4,368
    Do you guys know if these problems were just serial ports or the entire comm bus? I had an issue a few weeks ago w/ an NI3100 installed maybe 2-3 years ago that just stopped talking. No serial or AMX devices were chatting. All the AMX gear showed online in the device tree but it was as if the PRD switch was turned off and no code was running. I finally did a clean disc, firmware re-install and gave the box some words of encouragement and it started working again. Don't know what the problem was and worst of all I don't know why it started working again.
  • ryanwwryanww Posts: 196
    I am currently working on a system with the 32x32 version. I am having nothing buy problems getting this thing going. For some reason my NI2000 will work for a bit and then do the same thing you were experiencing.

    Yesterday I had tried a different parsing call to organize the data. When I polled it, then it would respond fine. When I changed anything from the front panel, the second the port received the data, it would kill the running program. It showed as everything being online and I could send strings to the box through the master.

    Out of curiosity, would you mind if I tried your version of the module to see how it works on my system?

    Also, is there a way to force this thing into only sending Y commands instead of the X command which is a ridiculous amount of unneeded communication on the system I would prefer not to deal with.

    Thanks, Ryan
  • PhreaKPhreaK Posts: 966
    @Colin and jjames
    We've got the same problem here. A lot of our older masters have been dropping like flies over the last year. If the masters are out of warrenty and you are/have a hardware tech it's a simple fix - images attached.

    @vining
    From what I've heard it's just the serial ports, I'll see what info I can pry from our hardware guys.
  • a_riot42a_riot42 Posts: 1,624
    PhreaK wrote: »
    @Colin and jjames
    We've got the same problem here. A lot of our older masters have been dropping like flies over the last year. If the masters are out of warrenty and you are/have a hardware tech it's a simple fix - images attached.

    @vining
    From what I've heard it's just the serial ports, I'll see what info I can pry from our hardware guys.

    Any idea if this is the same for the 4100s? I have one out of warranty that is at a remote job and would prefer to get it fixed locally than RMA it.
    Paul
  • rynandorynando Posts: 68
    ryanww wrote: »
    Also, is there a way to force this thing into only sending Y commands instead of the X command which is a ridiculous amount of unneeded communication on the system I would prefer not to deal with.

    I looked into this too and it seemed like the router will only send the "X" response (crosspoints) rather then the more compact "Y" (or any other) command. This makes sense though as I believe that the "Y" command is AFV . . . all levels on a channel being routed the same.

    I just did a very large job with a 32x32 Sierra, a NI-3100 and two loaded card frames and I never noticed the system bogging down when dealing with feedback from the router. It would take a while for all the serial data to trickle in from the router after bigger routes but parsing the returning data was no problem for the NI-3100 even with all the other stuff it was dealing with.

    R
  • TurnipTruckTurnipTruck Posts: 1,485
    PhreaK wrote: »
    it's a simple fix - images attached.

    Thanks. I will replace that cap and see what happens.

    To be clear, in my case I am losing serial ports only. Everything else seems normal.
  • ryanwwryanww Posts: 196
    rynando wrote: »
    I looked into this too and it seemed like the router will only send the "X" response (crosspoints) rather then the more compact "Y" (or any other) command. This makes sense though as I believe that the "Y" command is AFV . . . all levels on a channel being routed the same.

    I just did a very large job with a 32x32 Sierra, a NI-3100 and two loaded card frames and I never noticed the system bogging down when dealing with feedback from the router. It would take a while for all the serial data to trickle in from the router after bigger routes but parsing the returning data was no problem for the NI-3100 even with all the other stuff it was dealing with.

    R

    Yea, I just have no use for the extra data.. I have the 32x32 as well, but I am using everything AFV.. And it takes a solid 10 seconds after getting a full status update to get everything into the master from the unit. I would love for a simple command set just to speed replies up. Those are even quite lengthy.. And I figured out that I had a typo causing a for loop to lock up the master.. Go figure.. Took me a while to catch it too. This system also has 2 additional older axcess card frames loaded with axc-232's for 9 scalers, 12 projectors and some other stuff like relays and midi cards. Most of the switches are done with the 12 outputs at one time which most times after sending the 12 switch commands to the router, it gives me some parity overrun error or something and skips a couple of them. An additional hit of the take button fixes that as it only sends the commands that haven't been switched yet based on the reply.
  • JOHNBONZJOHNBONZ Posts: 99
    Sparadically serial ports work and then dont work
    TurnipTruck wrote: »
    Thanks. I will replace that cap and see what happens.

    To be clear, in my case I am losing serial ports only. Everything else seems normal.


    Did replacing that cap help? I am having same issues with my NI-3000. But somethimes it works and sometimes it doesnt. Maybe the serial ports are dying.
  • z00fz00f Posts: 4
    Circuit + Photos !!!

    http://www.smarthouse.pro/showthread.php?91
  • gravityhammergravityhammer Posts: 65
    How about some pictures hosted at a place where you don't have to sign up to see them?
  • jsnyderjsnyder Posts: 23
    Splendid fix!

    The cap is in a different spot on my NI-3100, but there is only one 10mf @35v on the board.
    The old one wouldn't even trigger my cap. tester!

    Thanks for the clue.

    John
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