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Decision Arena troubleshooting

Work through the troubleshooting method first. In this space the most valuable early observation is how many segments are affected, and whether they are adjacent — four or five adjacent dark segments points straight at one of the two playback computers.

TODO verify with senior technician

Symptoms are derived from the equipment documentation and the structure of the signal chain. Causes and step sequences are informed reconstructions — review against real fault history before treating as authoritative.

Quick triage​

ObservationJump to
One segment darkOne projector is dark
4 or 5 adjacent segments darkA whole computer's output is missing
All nine darkAll nine channels dark
Image warped, shifted or seams wrongVIOSO calibration lost
Show will not start / display offline in WATCHOUTWATCHOUT display offline
Bright or dark bands at the overlapsBlend seams visible

One of the nine projectors is dark​

  1. Identify the projector by position and confirm it against Projectors — the arena has nine Epson EB-L510U units with individual DNS names and IPs.
  2. Open the projector's web interface. Check power state, shutter, selected input, lamp/laser hours and any alarm.
  3. If unreachable, check its PDU outlet on PDUs.
  4. If reachable and healthy but dark, the fault is in the feed from the GPU — check the cable and the output on the driving computer.

A block of four or five segments is dark​

This is the arena's signature fault, and it is diagnostic on its own: one computer drives four outputs and the other drives five.

  1. Count the dark segments. Four or five tells you which computer to look at.
  2. Check whether that computer is powered, logged in and running its playback role — see Computers.
  3. Check whether its GPU outputs are still active. Windows dropping a display topology takes the whole block at once.
  4. Restart the playback application before restarting the machine.
caution

After any restart of a playback computer, verify the warp and blend before declaring the fault fixed. VIOSO calibration can survive the restart but does not always.

All nine channels are dark​

  1. Are both computers up?
  2. Is the WATCHOUT show still running, or has it dropped to the desktop?
  3. Do the projectors show their own on-screen menus? If yes, everything from the projector down is fine.
  4. Check for a shared power event across the arena's PDUs.

VIOSO warp or blend has been lost​

Warp and blend are applied on the GPU by VIOSO, not inside the projectors. They are vulnerable to anything that changes the display configuration.

Typical triggers: GPU driver update, Windows update, a projector dropping off and returning, display resolution or arrangement change, a monitor being plugged into the machine for maintenance.

  1. Confirm the fault is calibration and not a physically moved projector — calibration loss usually affects a whole computer's block consistently; a knocked projector affects one segment.
  2. Check whether a driver or display change has happened recently.
  3. Check that the output resolution is still 1920 × 1200 per channel and the display arrangement is unchanged.
  4. Reapply the stored VIOSO calibration.
Do not hand-adjust warp

Do not attempt to fix alignment by eye or by nudging projectors. Escalate — recalibration has its own procedure and a stored dataset.

TODO verify with senior technician

Document where the VIOSO calibration files are stored, how to reapply them, and who is trained to run a full recalibration.

A WATCHOUT display is offline​

The arena runs Dataton WATCHOUT 6, with SGCT / C-Troll capture as a source.

  1. In WATCHOUT, check which display cluster members are online.
  2. Confirm network connectivity to the display machine.
  3. Confirm the WATCHOUT display software is running and the correct show is loaded.
  4. Re-send the show to the displays rather than restarting the whole system as a first step.
TODO verify with senior technician

Record the WATCHOUT production machine, display machine names, show file locations, and the normal procedure for updating and re-sending a show.

Blend seams are visible​

Bright or dark bands where projector images overlap.

  1. Bands appearing suddenly usually mean the blend was invalidated — see VIOSO warp or blend has been lost.
  2. Bands that were always slightly visible and got worse may be projector brightness drift between units as the lasers age. That is a calibration task, not a runtime fix.
  3. Check that no projector has had its own picture settings changed — brightness or gamma changed on one unit will break a blend that VIOSO computed for the old values.

Nothing responds at all​

  1. Check the arena's PDUs on PDUs before assuming a building-level power problem.
  2. Check for a UPS alarm — see UPS information.
  3. If a breaker has tripped, stop and escalate.

Restart order for the Decision Arena​

  1. WATCHOUT show / playback application
  2. The affected playback computer (the 4-output or 5-output machine)
  3. Verify VIOSO warp and blend
  4. Projectors, respecting cooldown
  5. PDU outlets — last resort

When to swap hardware​

DeviceSwappable?
PDUYes — see spare units
Video cable to a projectorYes
Playback computerOnly with a prepared spare; VIOSO calibration and WATCHOUT display role must be reapplied
Epson EB-L510U projectorNo, not as a runtime fix — the VIOSO calibration is per-position and must be redone. Escalate.