mini director problems: HELP!

[fsubama]

I downloaded my sequence to the pre formatted card I received from LOR. I am sure the sequence is on the card. If the card is not in the director, the led status light blinks as normal, but if I insert the card, the light does nothing and my show never begins. This is an animated show, power supplied by controller. I had an email from LOR HELPDESK. I was instructed to download firmware and then download to mp3 player. I was told to only hook up the director to theUSB485. When I get to step 3, download file, my computer says,"loading", but no progress is ever made. It appears to be frozen. There is no response from the led status light on the director during this entire procedure. What do I do?.. I am stuck and have no light display

[Surfing4Dough]

How are you adding your sequences to the memory card? You don't just copy the files to the card. You have to create the show to add it properly. The best way is to use the LOR Hardware Utility, and there is a mp3 tab there, where you add the sequences properly to the card.

[Don]

I know what the instructions say ... but there is a nagging feeling that something is amiss. If you have a USB485 (not the Booster version) I don't know if it has enough power to properly power the mini-director.

I would try USB -> Controller -> Mini-Director and see if you can update the firmware that way. (Make sure you do not have a SD card in the reader.)

[Orville]

If they are using the non boosted USB485, it won't power any of the Director units, not enough juice, hence why I purchased the USB485B with the power booster and got the 12VDC Adapter for my DC-MP3 Showtime Director for updating firmware, since I use the DC-MP3 Showtime Director to run my show. So if they have just a standard USB485, they will need to purchase the 12VDC adapter for their MP3 Director from LOR to install the firmware, although it CAN BE done if the Director is connected to a POWERED controller and daisy chained with a cat5 cable. I've done this and no problems.

HOWEVER, the USB485B IS NOT REQUIRED to create a show from the Hardware Utility. I create my shows directly from the MP3 tab on the hardware utility and my USB485B IS NOT CONNECTED to my computer.

You CAN NOT write to an SD Card in the Director units, your computer must have an SD Card Reader/Writer built in or an external SD Card Reader/Writer installed. If they are attempting to write to the SD Card in the Director, they should get an message that there is NO SD CARD INSTALLED from the HWU, unless the HWU is writing to another drive in the system, it will even allow you to write the show to drive C:, but will give a warning that it is not an SD Card and are you sure you want to do this.

The Directors are READ ONLY and the best way to place your show on an SD Card is via the HWU MP3 tab and either a built in SD Card Writer/Reader or an external one. Again, one CAN NOT write to the SD Card in the MP3 Director, and even if you have an SD Card in the Director unit itself, you can still write to an SD Card in the computer SD Card slot or the external one, just NOT to the SD Card in the Director.

The only time the SD Card in the Director units will give you strange and head scratching issues is if the SD Card in the Director unit does not have show installed {still blank} or if one is in the Director unit {unit is powered on} and you try to run a sequence via the Sequence Editor or run a show from your PC. Then you'll get some strange things occurring, lights on when they should be off, fading lights that may be set to shimmer, etc.

Also the USB485B IS NOT required when running a show from a Director unit daisy chained to ANY controller via a cat5 cable, as the Director WILL get its power from the controller it is daisy chained too. This is how mine works, no USB485B anywhere when operating my display. Power comes from controller #1 or controller #4 as my Director is daisy chained between these two controllers. So if something were to happen to one, the other will still keep power to the Director unit, but is not necessary to set it up this way. I just did it this way due to where I had to place the DC-MP3 Showtime Director unit I use and my controllers.

Edited November 25, 2012 by Orville