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Problems creating File for Show Director


JAF

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Hi,

I am using the  N2-G4-MP3 show director this year.  I did a test run writing to the card and was able to create two shows in the Hub successfully and ran them in the garage with a few props for a few days.  Both shows seemed to work fine.  I assembled more of the props in the side yard and ran through all of the shows using my laptop, found a few problems and made some corrections.  I did rename the files to not overwrite what I had before.   

The problem started when I went to edit or recreate the shows on the SD card last night.  I kept getting errors.  I thought I was tired and tried it again this morning and was still getting an error right at the end.

The error says:

"Creation of the show cfg file has failed"

"Error: Overflow"

"Ensure the SD card is not write protected and no other program is attempting to use the ED card"

I closed everything on the computer that was open and after a few tries I was able to get it to write a show to the SD card.  Unfortunately, I had the wrong time and had to try to modify it and this time it failed.  

I have probably tried another 10 or so times and I Get the same message.

The SD card came with the Show director.

I have also done the following:

Rebooted computer twice.

Formatted SD card 2 times as well.

I know it will all fit because it has worked before. 

Any suggestions?  What am I missing.

Thanks,

Alan

 

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Been there many times, since you formatted the SD Card it should be clean... You also have to delete the files in the  "\LIGHT-O-RAMA\LORInternal\Playback" Directory... That is the only way I found around the issues you stated... Delete Directory & format SD Card...  When the HUB fails during the SD card writing process - the card is lock / protected / encrypted (who knows, but you can not delete files) you must format the SD Card

Edited by Jimehc
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Thanks for the ideas.  I tried whet you recommend and unfortunately it didn't work.  I actually tried it twice formatting  the card each time.  Once deleting the files and once deleting the whole "D" directory. I did double check the lock and it off and unlocked.

It looks like its writing three files per sequence and one called S1CONFIG.CFG but I still get the error. 

Any other ideas/thoughts out there?? Is there a special way the card needs to be formatted? 

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All I can say is that is how I was able to work around the issue - but will note - that it appears you are accessing (viewing) the SD Card files while it is being written...

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Unfortunately I am not that lucky!  I am looking at the card and the directory after fails and the hub is closed.  Thanks for trying to help. 

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I see above you deleted files and deleted directories, but did you actually format the card?  Usually when I insert my SD card into my computer, the File Explorer comes up and it is set to the "media" tab, which has in it the ability to reformat the card.  I reformat every time before writing a show from the HUB, as deleting files ultimately led to failure.  I also do NOT leave the file explorer window up while interacting in HUB.

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Yes, I reformatted it each time and closed the explorer window after I did that and deleted the directory with the playback files.  

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I have and never will use a director, but a thought occurs to me. You say you delete the playback files before creating the sd card. If you mean the files in Lorinternal, try creating them in sequence compressor first. May not work but, hey, you never know.......

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For me, when I used to encounter a write error in HUB, once I started re-formatting the SD card the problem went away.  I also have never deleted the files in the LORInternal directory, but will certainly keep that bit of advice in the back of my head.  I guess that part forces the recreation/re-processing of the sequence for the write.  Note that SD cards are not forever; they do have a lifespan to them and need to be handled correctly.   I learned the hard way not to just pull an SD card out of the computer.  Make sure to always eject it, as not doing so can corrupt a card to the point of no recovery.  It can cause bad sectors on the card that are not recoverable or usable, and will likely corrupt the file system, to which a reformat could possibly not fully recover from.  Consider it/treat it to be just a very very small disk, and you would never just rip your hard drive out while running.

I would try a factory fresh card, and/or depending on how you put it in your computer, try a different mounting method (like a different USB SD dongle/adapter).

Just some thoughts.

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you can copy the files to the card  using copy/paste from your computer.   I used to do this to keep different shows and just swap them on the card.   But I had the originals to start with and checked and hub will only write them to an SD card. And also try a full format, not the quick one just to make sure your computer can format it all.  But did you try just copying a bunch of files over on to the SD card.  If that works, seems like the best thing to do is to contact LOR support. 

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Quote

 

Thanks for the ideas.  I have been doing the complete format and not the quick format. The card is new, it came with the director and worked the first time I tries it.  I just made a few updates to the sequences and wanted to update it. I had another card I bought for something else and didn't use, no joy there either.  But its not a Kensington   It is writing three files per sequence (including the MP3), but the S1CONFIG.CFG must be where it fails.  To add more complexity. it occurred to me that the 2 times it worked, I had forgot to change the time for the show to operate.  It defaults to 5 to 10 PM.  So just for grins last night I reformatted the card, deleted the files and created a show to the SD card leaving the times alone.  It actually worked. I noticed the S1CONFIG.CFG file was 3 Kb this time and only 1 Kb when it fails.  I then did an animation from 10 to midnight as a second program and it also worked.  This makes no sense. 

The director seems to have lost it mind yesterday and I don't think its getting power from the controller I have hooked up to it with a 6' long cable.  I have a 12v center positive DC source hooked up to it and it just didn't want to work consistently.  I completely disconnected it last nights and hooked again this morning, with the card  I made and it seems to be working.  The display says 2-01 which I think means two programs 01 is queued up.  I'll see if it comes on at 5 PM and makes lights blink. 

I still don't have solution, since I want the lights to come on at 5:30 when its dark! It also seems like the Director is possessed, so I may end up using my PC anyway. Maybe why "PhilMassey" doesn't advocate using one.  After it does or does not come on at 5, I will try some other things. 

More later

Alan

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It says "WAIT" when it is not actively playing a show.  If it says "2-01" it thinks it playing the second show.  Is the time set correctly on the Director?  Take the SD card out and see what time it says.  If wrong you can use the buttons on the front to set it.

Another issue I had was the concept of midnight in setting up show times (like end time).  I gave up and just set it to 11:59.

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OK thanks.  No Surprise, it didn't come on. The time is correct and when I went to remove the card it went nuts again.  I suspect I will be running it from the PC this year.   

Alan 

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I know this will be a stupid question, but are you sure AM and PM are correct on the Director.  It concerns me that you said it was playing the 2nd show when you tried this morning, and did not come on when expected this afternoon.

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The director has to be scheduled to turn on with the Time Buttons Before the Card Scheduled Time..... 02-1 means when you inserted the sd card - show 02 sequence 1 was playing

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