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SD 788T Freeze Up while recording...


WhyOne

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Today, while rolling (do we 'roll' without any moving parts?), I changed the filename (which I do on the order of ten times a day for the last 14 months) and all of a sudden, the screen started toggling back and forth from the 'rename' screen to the HDD screen. The display was still red as if the machine was still recording, but ALL of the six tracks in use went dead. At the end of the take (after throwing a flag on the play) I rebooted (the only way to get out of the locked red screen) and replayed the take, and sure enough, the take ended at the event.

This has never happened to this unit before, nor have I ever heard of it happening. I intend to talk to Jesse at SD tomorrow, but wondered if any of my JW sisters or brothers have had any experience of this. The machine came right back and is running fine. I don't think I'll try to rename a file until I'm in stop, though, till I get to the bottom of it all.

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I've never heard of this either. My friend owns 2, and changes scene name while rolling all the time. I have never done this. I always wait until after. I don't like the idea of giving a computer a non-critical task while it's in the middle if performing a critical task.

Robert

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Have you broken any mirrors lately? Have you walked under any ladders? Has a black cat crossed your path? Did you upset an old creole woman who knew black magic?

I would check those things first. If none of them have happened there it's a good chance it's a fluke, unless it happens more in future, in which case go back through the list.

But, performing non-critical tasks while a critical task is happening is usually a bad idea. Personally, when I'm using a recorder, any recorder, I don't mess with any functions or parameters while it is recording.

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I just posted something about this in the 788t runs hot thread that just opened up.

Mine has frozen twice, from overheating due to the belly of the machine being obstructed, I believe. I don't recall specifically what I was doing, although I don't believe I was recording either time, because I was able to stop production easily.

What I remember clearly was that the lockup caused the controls to cease working and a tone to be emitted through all outputs including my headphones. I had to completely remove all power sources to shut down, but upon restart the machine was fine. I don't recall checking a file, but as I said, i don't think i was recording either time.

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Bizarre conicidence or what, exactly the same thing happened to me yesterday while renaming a file during recording on my 788. Quick reboot and everything is fine again. This is something i have done countless times over the last few years and never experienced it before.

Marty

Ditto, ditto, ditto. If you and I both have experienced this issue, I think it may be real....

I use clwifi and iOS app and update tracks while recording and haven't had any problems. Make sure you are running latest firmware. Also when You do get a crash save the setup file for SD to try to recreate your bug.

This has only occurred since the upgrade to 2.15. Yes! Always save settings for diagnostics.

I just posted something about this in the 788t runs hot thread that just opened up.

Mine has frozen twice, from overheating due to the belly of the machine being obstructed, I believe. I don't recall specifically what I was doing, although I don't believe I was recording either time, because I was able to stop production easily.

What I remember clearly was that the lockup caused the controls to cease working and a tone to be emitted through all outputs including my headphones. I had to completely remove all power sources to shut down, but upon restart the machine was fine. I don't recall checking a file, but as I said, i don't think i was recording either time.

Not the same issue, and btw, I've used the machine in 100 plus degree weather all day long, well ventilated, without issue.

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But, performing non-critical tasks while a critical task is happening is usually a bad idea. Personally, when I'm using a recorder, any recorder, I don't mess with any functions or parameters while it is recording.

I would usually agree with you Matthew but given the 788 is a professional product and the ability to do data edits while recording is enabled its something I would expect to be fully tested and fine. Again its the onlytime it has happened and not something i am overly concerned about at this stage. Its been fine today doing the same.

Personally i like Glens idea of sunspots...

Marty

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" performing non-critical tasks while a critical task is happening is usually a bad idea. Personally, when I'm using a recorder, any recorder, I don't mess with any functions or parameters while it is recording. "

+1

after all, one of the reasons we give for not recording on laptops tends to be about the fact that the computer does other things, and something like this could happen.

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I always wait until after. I don't like the idea of giving a computer a non-critical task while it's in the middle if performing a critical task.

I'm the same way. To me, it's easy to overtask any processor if you try to hit it with too many function requests at one time. I can recall quite a few piece of post gear that I could consistently crash if I pressed certain key combinations quickly. Sadly, I have a knack for figuring this out. The only cure I've found is sort of like the old joke: "Doctor, it hurts when I do this." "Don't do that."

I would advise both users to tell SD about it, and see if they can duplicate the problem. Once they can do this, the programmers can usually figure out some error trapping routine to avoid the crash. Either that, or rewrite the manual to say, "don't change the scene name while recording."

--Marc W.

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  • 4 weeks later...

My 788T SSD froze up on me yesterday for the first time ever while I was rolling, with the high pitch tone going to the headphones, and then again today on start up for the second time ever. Makes me nervous that it happened two days in a row, especially since I've already had keyboard and menu issues in the past. I love the machine, but I'm suddenly a little nervous to use it. Running 2.14, no CLWiFi attached when the problem occurred, didn't lose the 41 minute take I was recording when the freeze occurred.

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" Makes me nervous that it happened two days in a row, "

Crap happens

that is why so many run a secondary recorder, though even way back when we used Nagra's, crap happend then, too, and sometimes you lose a take. Crap also happens to cameras. Most professional recorders frequently close the files to prevent losing entire takes, and often only a few frames, if any, are actually "lost" or corrupted..

When crap happens happens twice, may something needs to be fixed: could be as simple as rebooting (probably not in this case), reloading the latest firmware, or a trip to the hospital.

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+1 on cameras can breakdown too

I hit Day 243 yesterday on current doco project. I've rolled the 788 on everyday without a single hiccup; from summer day temp of 42C (in the bag with only passive cooling).

In the same time the XDcam 800 has been to the doctors once, and the producer "panic cam" (EX3) has been three times.

Not empirical evidence but a reasonable observation.

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  • 4 months later...

Today, under VERY normal conditions, my 788T SSD froze. About 2 minutes into a take, three tracks, plugged into PowerMax Ultra, cool temps, no file renaming, simul record to SSD and CF and EXT CF on FW400 reader. Just froze.

Screen stayed red, as it does in record mode, but all display numbers froze. High pitch whine on the headphones. Needed to pull power and pull off battery and reboot.

Upon playing back, the audio is good up until about 45 seconds before the freeze. I know this because my 744T kept recording (not affected by the presumably frozen TC from the 788T, which makes sense).

Never had a freeze during recording on either SD machine. A lot of hours in all kinds of conditions.

Robert

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Never had a freeze during recording on either SD machine. A lot of hours in all kinds of conditions.

I had my 744t freeze up once, when I had temporarily mounted it as a Firewire drive on my Mac, then removed it for a voiceover session. Thing turned into a brick. No amount of restarting would fix it. Finally removed the battery, let it sit for a minute, then all was fine. Interestingly, when I had that crash sometime back with the Deva and Mix-12, it also emitted a high-pitch whine. Not had the problem since -- so I'm blaming it on phases of the moon.

I agree with Jeff: this is a concern, but I'm impressed that Robert had a backup and kept going.

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Just putting this out there:

Have not had freezing on the 788t-SSD, but occasional "I/O Media" errors which meant that the EXT DVD-RAM had stopped recording. Thankfully, the CF card and internal drive kept going. Phew.

In discussions with another mixer, we determined that this error was more likely when the internal hard drive was fuller, and we decided to keep the internal drive more empty than full.

Since then, have stopped recording to DVD-RAM but continued the practice of emptying the internal drive so that it always contains only 5 days' work at any given time (more or less), copying off oldest days to an external hard drive as we go along. No problems since.

Dunno if this is related, but adding to the information pool.

-- Ja

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My old 722 will freeze anytime I do a drive speed test (maybe I need a new HD). I think I had it freeze once, while connecting, ejecting and reconnecting to a lap top, in the hands of a finicky DP trying to make a flight. In either case, I have to remove the battery to get it going again. I never have any problems operating, though

Anyone wanna buy a 722?!

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A couple days ago my 788T froze while I was editing take info via CL-WiFi. Meters froze, timecode froze...everything. Pulled power and restarted and no issues since. Although we did have another 788T with a hard drive error. When you turn it on, it just randomly asked if I want to format the INHDD. Of course I don't!! We were a couple days behind on our backups, so we had post send us the days (from our daily CF delivery) that we hadn't backed up yet, which they happily obliged. Not sure of the cause(s).

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Oops, I was referring to harddrives in my computers. That may have something to do with my hd issues, but there has been a lot of "internet talk" of the lack of quality in harddrives, even the bigger, trusted brands such as Western Digital & Seagate.

I have had 4 drives stop working in 3 different computers, running 3 different (Windows) operating systems. Before these issues, I have never had to change a drive other than to increase capacity.

Out of curiosity, in what devices/computers that you have been using have all these drives "gone bad"?

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