azfrankp Posted December 5, 2017 Share Posted December 5, 2017 I have a 12 CCR tree with a star that has been working flawlessly the past 3 years but now suddenly has become erratic by not playing sequences properly (this is the older non pixie system) running on a single 500K network using a USB485B. Sequences sometimes looks like the equivalent of video noise we called "snow" back in the days of analog TV. The problem does not appear to be cable related despite using about 150' of CAT 6 cable that is terminated properly. The show runs on a laptop and so I replaced the 150' cable with a 6 footer up close and the display exhibits the same problems. I also tried the other port on the USB485B and swapped out the cable between the 12th CCR controller and the 16 channel controller used for the star. Some sequences run almost like they should while others are extremely noisy. It seems the faster the sequence the worse the noise. Sometimes, one or more of the CCR's will remain partial on after the sequence is finished. All sequences work perfectly in the Superstar Sequence Editor. I even tried re-exporting and building some of worst sequences. Nothing seems to work. Again, this just started happening this year after 3 years of no problems. The only change was the replacement of a bad CCR. I've ruled out a bad controller since the noise appears random and across all channels. Normally I would try moving the controllers away from possible radiated electrical noise but the display is on a hillside next to my house away from all that. Can anyone thing of something else to try? Thanks in advance Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oilmoney Posted December 5, 2017 Share Posted December 5, 2017 I would split the CCR's into two separate networks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
azfrankp Posted December 6, 2017 Author Share Posted December 6, 2017 Great idea. I tried and partially worked but still have a problem I can't figure out. I used two USB485's. Controllers 1 - 6 on Network A and 7 - 12 on Network B which is still noisy. When I switched cables, the noise stays with network B. I switched the 485's also and still noise on Network B. You did give me an idea in that I possibly have a controller problem. I'm not sure how since noise is now on all 6 controllers on Network B. I'm going to add to Network A and reduce from Network B one at a time until I isolate the problem. That will be time consuming but I will let you know the results. I used to think I was a pretty good Engineer but this one has me baffled. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
azfrankp Posted December 9, 2017 Author Share Posted December 9, 2017 OK. Now I feel real stupid. The problem this whole time was the computer. I bought a new laptop last year because my old XP was no longer supported and I didn't want to have problems mid season. As it turns out, the new Dell Windows 10 machine either doesn't have enough RAM or speed to run the LOR system. I know this because when I was playing a song through the Sequence Editor I noticed some choppiness in the speed bar and at one point literally jumped ahead a second or two, equating it to buffering. When I changed back to my old system it worked flawlessly, even going back to one network. The lesson learned is don't buy cheap and invest in enough RAM memory to prevent these types of problems. Thanks again for your responses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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