Mscannic Posted November 20, 2017 Share Posted November 20, 2017 I'm having trouble getting my light show to work. We have the mini director hooked up and it was working fine until I decided to add a few more sequences to the SD card. When I tried to add the new sequences with the simple show builder, it gave me an error that the card was full. So I purchased a new 64 SD card, made sure it was formatted for FAT32 and using the show builder, created the new show. I put the card in the mini director and the light turned from blinking red to solid red, but the show wouldn't start - no lights, no music - nothing. So after several hours of trying just adding one sequence to the card, trying the old card again with just one sequence, etc. I finally decided just to try to hook everything directly up to my computer. So I was able to use the hardware utility to make sure that the controllers were working and got the lights to come on (when hooked directly to the computer). Then I was able to get the show to start using simple show builder and doing it directly from my computer (with a little trouble but figured it all out). However, we really want to use the mini director to free up the computer. Any suggestions on how to determine why the mini director isn't working - I'm not sure if it is the SD card or some other transmission issue. Since the red light on the mini director goes solid red when the SD card is inserted, it seems like it should work when the card is inserted, but I don't know how to trouble shoot it to know if it is the SD card or if the mini director is broken and we just need a new one. FYI the FM transmitter IS working - we hooked it up to the computer run show. Any help would be extremely appreciated. I've tried everything I know how to do... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EARLE W. TALLEY Posted November 20, 2017 Share Posted November 20, 2017 (edited) This is a common problem with the mini director due to the type of SD card. It will not work with just any SD card, I use both LEXAR PLATINUN II 4gb SDHC and the KINGSTON 4GB SCHC SD cards and have had no problems. Earle P.S. a 4 GB card will hold all of my sequences about 60. Edited November 20, 2017 by EARLE W. TALLEY Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dibblejr Posted November 20, 2017 Share Posted November 20, 2017 PNY will/ should work UNLESS you are running pixels. I always used PNY while testing with the mini dir. Added pixels this year. Had to use a Kingston. Go figure. JR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mega Arch Posted November 20, 2017 Share Posted November 20, 2017 I’m with Earle. Those are the only two I can get to work. But they both are flawless. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mscannic Posted November 20, 2017 Author Share Posted November 20, 2017 Thanks! I will go get one of those cards today! Hubby wants to do pixel tree next year so will try the Kingston! I really appreciate the feedback! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomsusie Posted November 20, 2017 Share Posted November 20, 2017 I use the Hardware utitliy and not the show builder to put my sequences on the SD Card. I used the mini director for a couple years with no problems. Now using the standard director so I can run 2 networks. I've not had any problems when creating my show on the SD card using the Hardware utility. I could be mistaken but thought I read somewhere a while ago that only the hardware utitiliy should be used when creating cards for the directors. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HVACR Posted November 20, 2017 Share Posted November 20, 2017 There is a size limit on the SD card. Was thinking it was 8GB. Don't know what errors this would cause. HVACR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mscannic Posted November 26, 2017 Author Share Posted November 26, 2017 Thought I would send an update - light o rama said I needed to update firmware on the mini director. So this morning I went to update firmware as outlined in their suggestion but I couldn't get the mini director to talk to the computer. I was using the USB485 connector we got with the minidirector. But then I noticed that the mini director red light wasn't coming on. So we searched the house high and low for something that had a 12 volt connector (sleep machines, harmony remotes, air diffusers nothing had it) and we finally found an old wireless nexgear router that had a 12 volt cable. Plugged that in, connected the computer to the mini director using the USB485 connector and updated the firmware and it works! I appreciate all of the help and support! This is not something for folks that aren't dedicated to see it through to the end! Below are instructions for updating firmware that I got from LOR if that helps. (PS we did also make sure we were using the correct SD card as noted by all of the helpful folks on this forum as well as suggested by LOR) we found a Lexar 16 GB from Walmart. A Light-O-Rama help desk staff member has replied to your request, #161208 with the following response: The red light should NOT be on when a show is running. It may occasionally randomly blink - indicating that there is too much data for the communications port, but it should not be 'ON' once the card is inserted AND the show is running. The issue you are describing is most likely due to a bad firmware loaded onto your G3 device. The 5.28 firmware for the G3-MP3 and uMP3 directors could occasionally skip songs or otherwise refuse to send lighting commands/audio properly. To determine if you have a Generation 3 director, check the markings on the front of the director. Both directors are clearly marked if they are G3 or not. The Dual Network G3-MP3 Director is clearly marked on the upper left, and the uMP3 director is marked just above the SD card slot. If you do not see the G3 markings, please let us know so we can continue to diagnose your issue. If you do have a G3 device, you should update the firmware on it version 5.32 or higher. All of our firmware downloads can be found on our firmware download page: http://www1.lightorama.com/firmware-updates/To update the firmware, please consult the help documentation:http://www.lightorama.com/help/firmware_updates.htmWe hope this has sufficiently answered your questions. If not, please login to your account at the address below for a complete archive of all your help desk requests and responses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mscannic Posted November 26, 2017 Author Share Posted November 26, 2017 Well I was wrong - the songs played for about 45 minutes and then they cut off again! Just not sure what is causing the problem. We are now trying to just keep the 12 volt power in the mini director to see if that will help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mscannic Posted November 26, 2017 Author Share Posted November 26, 2017 Well that didn't work either Going to go back to running it off of the computer for now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tumblegrass Lights Posted November 9, 2018 Share Posted November 9, 2018 I had this same issue with a Lexar class 10 card playing my show for a little bit and then it would drop the song for a second and either the show would restart or everything would freeze. With the advice from support I went to a Kingston class 4 SD card, and now it is working without any issues. I am not sure if maybe the class 10 was too fast for the uMP3g3 device. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LOR Staff Posted November 9, 2018 Share Posted November 9, 2018 Zombie topic, but since you brought it up.... It wasn't the speed, it was the mfg. There are only a few mfgs of SD cards, so it is quite possible your Lexar card was actually made by SanDisk. It is also possible that sometimes another mfgs card will work, because it was actually mfg by Kingston. SanDisk makes an excellent product, they just can't figure out why it won't work with our MP3 directors. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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