DC-MP3 Director sometimes won't start at power up, but slide out SD card and back in makes it work

[jeffostroff]

I've had this problem since I bought this 1602 with the DC-MP3 Director 5 years ago.

PROBLEM DESCRIPTION:
About 25% of the time, this main controller will not initialize when the power turns on from the timers. I know the controller is getting power, that is not the issue. So I will often cycle power 3 to 4 times and still nothing, it just sits there.

HOW i GET IT TO WORK:

While THE CONTROLLER is just sitting there ALL POWERED UP, BUT NOT DOING ITS JOB, I slide out the SD card and slide it back in and a couple of seconds later, it starts the sequence perfectly.

So why will the unit not bootstrap itself, but yet just sliding out the card and back in makes it work? Very frustrating, and what if it happens when I'm not there to see it fail. Faulire is not an option.

[Dennis Cherry]

jeffostroff wrote:

I've had this problem since I bought this 1602 with the DC-MP3 Director 5 years ago. PROBLEM DESCRIPTION: About 25% of the time, this main controller will not initialize when the power turns on from the timers. I know the controller is getting power, that is not the issue. So I will often cycle power 3 to 4 times and still nothing, it just sits there. HOW i GET IT TO WORK: While THE CONTROLLER is just sitting there ALL POWERED UP, BUT NOT DOING ITS JOB, I slide out the SD card and slide it back in and a couple of seconds later, it starts the sequence perfectly. So why will the unit not bootstrap itself, but yet just sliding out the card and back in makes it work? Very frustrating, and what if it happens when I'm not there to see it fail. Faulire is not an option.

Can you explain all the steps in programming the SD card.

[jeffostroff]

yes, when I program the card, I use the LOR Hardware program to select all the sequences, and it programs them into the SD card. The SD card is then plugged into the SD card slot on the DC-MP3 daughter card in the 1602 controller.

I don't see what this has to do with anything, the card is programmed correctly, and already programmed just fine. It sits in the controller all week long, and fires up perfectly almost every day, but usually about every 5 days or so, it just wont power up unless I slide out the card and push it back in.

It just seems like something in the hardware of the MP3 card is not waking up until interrupted by the pushing pack in of the SD card. Maybe that somehow sets and interrupt that really waked up the MP3 card.

We've been over this before in years past, and I use the recommended SD cards, we've beaten that possible path to death. The card that's in there now is a Lexar 2GB 60x card. This problem has occurred over a few brands, and sizes and speeds of cards, indicating the problem is not the cards, but the MP3 hardware itself, or the firmware that tells the MP3 hey wake up, power is on, time to get to work.

[ericnagel]

Why do you cut power to it? Or is this the DC-MP3 that doesn't have scheduling, which is why you have to kill / restore power?

Eric

[Gary Levelius]

I have a suggestion and it's slightly different from everyone else. I suspect what you have is a bad SD card socket in the director module itself. It may not be making good connection with the actual card and simply popping it out and re-seating it may restore the bad connection. After a few days, the connections will oxidize and once again lose contact. When the season its over, I'd get in contact with LOR support and discuss this possibility.

-Gary-

[jeffostroff]

Eric, the timers cut power to the controllers at the end of the evening. That's why the power is removed from the controllers. When the timers turn on again the next night, the power is applied to the controllers and they are supposed to start up.