Problems with 7.9.4

[mattyiench]

Hi, 

I need to downgrade to 7.9.2.5 or 7.9.3. Can someone can tell me how can i do?

Since I've upgrade to 7.9.4, i've some issues that i don't understand:

-dmx signal seems to be not stable, like if the desk loose for a mms the signal, fixtures flash many times without doing anything at anytime.

-fader doesn't work properly, i've to clear them severals times before to make it works 

-some weird things in the setup appears...

-load and reload show in the set up to make things stop flashing ...

I need help, i've try many things, like reset the desk to factory default, clear everything, make a new show, clean the desk physically also...

The desk is running a lot this month and i need to find quickly a solution..

Sorry for my english...

Matt.

[kgallen]

Hi Matt,

You can find 7.9.3 here:

 

[mattyiench]

Ok, thanks i've find it already.

Do you know if it is complicated to downgrade or this is the same way to upgrade?

Cheers.

 

[kgallen]

Yes do the same I guess!

[Edward Z88]

Hi Matt,

53 minutes ago, mattyiench said:

I need to downgrade to 7.9.2.5 or 7.9.3. Can someone can tell me how can i do?

Since I've upgrade to 7.9.4, i've some issues that i don't understand:

-dmx signal seems to be not stable, like if the desk loose for a mms the signal, fixtures flash many times without doing anything at anytime.

-fader doesn't work properly, i've to clear them severals times before to make it works 

-some weird things in the setup appears...

-load and reload show in the set up to make things stop flashing ...

I need help, i've try many things, like reset the desk to factory default, clear everything, make a new show, clean the desk physically also...

The desk is running a lot this month and i need to find quickly a solution..

Sorry to hear you've experienced problems with ZerOS 7.9.4. Software versions are competently independent from one another, therefore you can upgrade or downgrade to different versions without any issues. You just need to be wary of compatibility if you're loading in show files that are saved in a newer version of ZerOS to the software version you're loading them into.

Regarding fixtures flashing randomly, what are the fixtures that are causing issues? Have you got RigSync enabled? This is found by tapping SETUP -> Inputs & Outputs -> RigSync. RigSync enables RDM on the DMX line, which some fixtures interpret for DMX, shown as random flickering. We haven't heard of any other issues like this, so it would be interesting to know the cause. Would you be able to send me a specific show file you used that demonstrated these issues? It would be interesting to see if there is anything in there that has caused the issue, although I appreciate you have tried factory resetting the console too.

If you have any queries let me know.

Edward

[mattyiench]

Hi Edward, 

Thanks for your answer!

Actually, i've active Rigsync and I didn't try my desk without this on, i'll try it tomorrow. The fixtures who are randomly flickering are only LED unit... Some of those are old fixtures (all of them work fine with 7.9.2.5)

I use:

12X LED chinese Bar RGBDS (i've made the fixture in the fixture tool)

4X Spotkolor RGBW from Starway

18X RGB LED panel 

18X  RGBW Smartbat +  from Prolights

And 24x Conventional fixtures

The flickering is only visible on the LED units.. No problems with the conventional (;-) )

Yesterday I've try the desk with a Robe Pointe, the RIgSync works fine. But I've made some cues (dimmer and position cues) and things weird appears, like little bug...

A position cue with 2 positions, with pan and tilt both, when clear the programmer, the 2nd cue only react on the the tilt..I clear the cue stack and it works fine...

same things with a dimmer cue... i just put dimmer parameters in the programmer, record on a empty fader, after clearing, it doesn't work. All defaults parameters in the desk were fine also.. After clearing severals times, i did the same way of recording and it works fine...

Maybe i can try to re-install the software?

You can find in attachement the last show i use;-)

Thanks for your reactivity

Cheers

 

JAROUSSKY V4.isf

[JWylie91]

I have also noticed a flash issue with one of my eight Stairville CX-3 LED PAR 64's. This I believe started since using 7.9.4, I have tried parking the unit to prevent the desk sending DMX data to it incorrectly, however the unit continued to flash randomly. This can be rather distracting when some dimmer scenes are on stage. 

I shall also check whether or not I have Rigsync active.

cheers

[Edward Z88]

Hi Matt,

2 hours ago, mattyiench said:

Actually, i've active Rigsync and I didn't try my desk without this on, i'll try it tomorrow. The fixtures who are randomly flickering are only LED unit... Some of those are old fixtures (all of them work fine with 7.9.2.5)

RigSync was introduced in ZerOS 7.9.3, which probably explains why this has only recently just started to become apparent.

2 hours ago, mattyiench said:

A position cue with 2 positions, with pan and tilt both, when clear the programmer, the 2nd cue only react on the the tilt..I clear the cue stack and it works fine...

Thank you for attaching your show file. I have taken a look, and there's nothing obvious there that may be causing this. As this show file doesn't have movers patched, I haven't been able to recreate the position issue you described. You can try reinstalling the software if you wish, but I don't believe this will solve your issue. When you say the playback didn't work, did values appear in the Output Window when you raised it, or did it seem completely "dead"? At the point of recording that playback, was the fader at the bottom of its travel?

2 hours ago, mattyiench said:

Yesterday I've try the desk with a Robe Pointe, the RIgSync works fine.

Robe are top of the range fixtures and Pointes are RDM enabled, so you would expect them to receive RDM data correctly. It is only fixtures with poor RS485 implementation and are not RDM enabled, that mistake RDM packets for DMX data, resulting in a fixture flickering.

 

16 minutes ago, JWylie91 said:

I have tried parking the unit to prevent the desk sending DMX data to it incorrectly, however the unit continued to flash randomly. This can be rather distracting when some dimmer scenes are on stage. 

If RigSync is enabled, the console is still sending the DMX data to the fixture correctly, which is why parking your fixture doesn't make any difference. Unfortunately the issue is caused by the fixture incorrectly interpreting the data it receives. You should find disabling RigSync solves this, as only DMX data will then sent from the console. You may also find that addressing the problem fixtures to a DMX address greater than 255 also solves the flickering, due to data rate.

Any queries let me know.

Edward

[kgallen]

I recon this is RDM data that is not handled by the fixture. If you want to use RDM (RigSync) I think you can work around this by addressing the non-tolerant fixtures higher up the DMX address range. Jon mentioned this in some post a while back, something like above address 200. I'll see if I can find the post.

Lots of my "cheapo/£200-range" fixtures are not tolerant to RDM packets.

ETA: My post crossed with Edward's above. His is, as usual, a much better answer!

[mattyiench]

Thanks Edward for having a look on the show, i did not send you the good one, you're right no head movers where patched actually, but this one has flickering issues.

i did not check the output view when i had the issue with the Pointe.

I will try this tomorrow morning, by unactivate RigSync first. I'm going to use Robe pointe also, i'll let you if strange things appear again:-)

Regards.

Matt.

[mattyiench]

Hi, 

I'm going to downgrade 7.9.3,

problems are still there, less flashes but it is still unstable.

I've un-active RigSync, but nothing really change.

I hope i'll be fine by downgrade.

I'll let youknow

Matt.

[Edward Z88]

Hi Matt,

Hmm that's odd that the fixtures are still flickering despite RigSync being disabled.

How is this system cabled? Is there one long DMX daisy-chain around all the fixtures, or does this run via a splitter/buffer? If so what make/model is the splitter?

If you try addressing your fixtures in the range of DMX address 300+ do they continue to flicker?

Edward

[mattyiench]

Hi,

There're no difference bye downgrade to 7.9.3.

So, what've noticed:

Some fixtures stop flicking by disabled RigSync! (This issue is resolved:-)).

But i still have got some hazard flashing sessions, some or all of the led unit flash one time. Sometime i've to wait 1h to see that, sometime less. And the the flashs start to make a kind of a circle, a flash every 10min, or 20min.

The light system is fine because it works really fine one month ago and it was the same! 

I've 2 univers, a splitter on each, N°1 for conventional, N°2 for LED. Every led power are on a separated wire, each family fixture has his separated dmx cable. I've check the power wire and i've already change it to another plug power. It 's not a electrical problem! or a wire issue. I've inverse the splitter to see also if it was a splitter issue...

I've noticed something really weird with the Grand master; i've switch on the desk with grand master at zero, i didn't see it was  at zero actually but all the faders works fine with it at zero. the black out button was  not flashing red..to make the grand master works i've to up and down it.. That's not normal? You ok with that?;-(

So I've call the dealer of my FLX in France, Axente in Paris, I'll sent it to them;

Is it possible that the grd master is out of order and put some bad signal in the output of the desk?

Cheers

[Edward Z88]

Hi Matt,

Thank you for the information.

16 minutes ago, mattyiench said:

I've noticed something really weird with the Grand master; i've switch on the desk with grand master at zero, i didn't see it was  at zero actually but all the faders works fine with it at zero. the black out button was  not flashing red..to make the grand master works i've to up and down it..

The behaviour of the Grand Master you describe is correct, therefore I don't believe this is the cause of the flashing fixtures. After rebooting the Grand Master level will always be at full, irrespective of what the fader is currently set to. As you have found you can then level match the fader to grab control of the Grand Master level.

Edward

[Joe_H]

I also have this issue with some of my fixtures so I would be interested to know if you found a solution to this? I have a similar setup with 2 universes 1 splitter each, the flashing happens even if the desk is plugged directly into the desk, all cabling tests fine & rig sync disabled.

We did notice some dmx values randomly shooting up occasionally with the tester although still within dmx specification.

[Edward Z88]

Hi Joe,

I don't believe we have heard from Matt since he reported these issues, so presumably he solved the issue.

Just to clarify, I presume...

1 hour ago, Joe_H said:

the flashing happens even if the desk is plugged directly into the desk

... means fixtures directly into the FLX DMX output, rather than via the splitter.

What DMX splitters are you using? What DMX tester did you use? What are the make and model of the fixtures that are causing issues? What other fixtures are on the same DMX line that are behaving correctly? When did the issue seem to start, what changed in the system?

Apologies for all the questions!

All the best,

Edward

[Joe_H]

Dear Edward,

I have contacted James and he is going to look at this again shortly with another tester, yes my apologies that was a typo I meant to say it flashes even if the 'Chauvet Colour Band Pix' battons are plugged directly into the desk with patch leads - bypassing all of the infrastructure cabling and 'Showtec DB 1-8' splitters ruleling out the environment. There are 7 fixtures on the DMX line and they are all the same with different addresses but flash at the same time even in blackout. I believe the tester was a swisson dmx tester. The issue started since upgrading to 7.9.4 from 7.9.3, I tried rolling back but it did not fix the issue oddly so it might not be fully rolling back some of the firmware? The infrastructure cabling is under the maximum length.

When we tested the smaller FLX S24 that we have in a studio also on 7.9.4. it also had the DMX anomalies that James saw however it was still within DMX specification I believe.

Kind regards,

Joe

[Edward Z88]

Hi Joe,

Many thanks for the information. 

You are correct, if you roll back software versions, firmware versions will not necessarily automatically be rolled back. 

If you would like to roll back to ZerOS 7.9.3 with the older firmware, you will have to update the software from a USB stick formatted as a bootable drive. Instructions on how to do this can be found in the ZerOS 7.9.3 release notes, available with the software here...

https://zero88.com/forum/files/file/1-zeros-793/

This information can be found in the "Consoles running ZerOS 7.8.2.39 or older" software update instructions. 

When you have formatted the USB drive, plug into the console, and switch it on, you will be taken to a screen with "Install ZerOS 7.9.3", or "Advanced", if you choose advanced, you will have the option to manually roll back the firmware. 

When you have done this and installed the software, it would be interesting to know if this solves this issue.

If you have any questions, feel free to email me directly.

Edward

[Joe_H]

Dear Edward,

Thank you for your response, I downgraded today as per above but no change they are still flashing - any other ideas?

Thank you

Joe

[Edward Z88]

Hi Joe,

Thank you for letting me know.

ZerOS 7.9.5 is going to be released soon, hopefully in the next week.

If you could wait until this is released, try installing ZerOS 7.9.5 and see if this solves the issue.

Kind regards

Edward