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Decision Arena troubleshooting

Work through the troubleshooting method first. In this space the most valuable early observation is which segments are dark: a contiguous block of 4 or 5 adjacent segments usually points at a GPU in DECISION3, while all nine dark points at C-Play on DECISION0/DECISION3, the selected source computer(s), or the capture cards.

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 wrongWarping has been lost or disabled
Show will not start / display offline in WATCHOUTWATCHOUT display offline
No audioNo audio
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​

DECISION3's three RTX A4000 cards share the nine projector outputs, so a contiguous block of four or five adjacent dark segments usually means one of those cards (or its driver) has dropped.

  1. Count the dark segments. The block's position tells you which GPU's outputs are gone.
  2. Check that DECISION3 is powered, logged in and running as the C-Play node — see Computers.
  3. Check whether the affected GPU's 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 DECISION0 and DECISION3 up and logged in? Confirm C-Play is running with DECISION0 as the master and DECISION3 connected as the node.
  2. Is C-Play showing the intended WATCHOUT 6 and/or PresPC capture across the full screen?
  3. Check the selected source computer(s):
    • DECISION1 / WATCHOUT 6: if stuck at a fan warning on boot, press F1 on the wired keyboard in the rack. Check that the show is running.
    • WIN05534 / PresPC: check that it is running and showing the intended content.
  4. Are the Datapath capture cards still seeing the selected inputs? Each source uses two DP cables into its capture card in DECISION3.
  5. Do the projectors show their own on-screen menus? If yes, everything from the projector down is fine.
  6. Check for a shared power event across the arena's PDUs.

No audio​

C-Play controls audio connected to DECISION0. PresPC audio also works in stereo.

  1. For C-Play audio, check that C-Play is running on DECISION0, playback is active, and its volume is not muted or turned down. Check the audio connection at DECISION0.
  2. For PresPC stereo audio, check playback, mute and volume on WIN05534.
  3. Check the room audio system's power, mute and level.

Warping has been lost or disabled​

The warping is applied in the NVIDIA cards on DECISION3. It can be disabled by 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 warping and not a physically moved projector — warping loss affects a whole GPU's block consistently; a knocked projector affects one segment.

  2. Check whether a driver or display change has happened recently.

  3. Run the WARP Startup script as administrator from the DECISION3 desktop (right-click the icon on the desktop, then Run as administrator):

    The WARP Startup script on the DECISION3 desktop

    Check the display, not the screen

    Warping problems are not visible through TeamViewer or VNC to DECISION3. For remote troubleshooting, use the PTZ camera mounted above the cylinder, which can be controlled from DECISION0, to see how the display actually looks.

    PTZ camera for checking the Decision Arena display

  4. If the script does not restore the image, check that the output resolution is still 1920 × 1200 per channel and the display arrangement is unchanged.

Do not hand-adjust warp

Do not attempt to fix alignment by eye or by nudging projectors. A full recalibration has its own procedure — escalate.

TODO verify with senior technician

Record where the stored warping settings live and who is trained to run a full recalibration (VIOSO is installed on DECISION0).

A WATCHOUT display is offline​

DECISION1 runs Dataton WATCHOUT 6. Its output is captured by C-Play through a Datapath card in DECISION3. DECISION3 is the C-Play node, controlled by the DECISION0 master — see Computers.

  1. In WATCHOUT, check which display cluster members are online.
  2. Confirm network connectivity to DECISION1 (172.19.20.11).
  3. Confirm the WATCHOUT display software is running on DECISION1 and the correct show is loaded.
  4. If WATCHOUT is running but its image is missing, check that C-Play is showing the DECISION1 Datapath capture and that the two DP inputs are present.
  5. If DECISION1 was just rebooted, do Load Default Show and confirm the default background image appears around the cylinder before loading the session's show — see the operator manual.
TODO verify with senior technician

Record where the WATCHOUT show files live 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 warping was disabled — see Warping has been lost or disabled.
  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. Restart the affected source application on DECISION1 (WATCHOUT) or WIN05534 (PresPC) if the fault is limited to that source.
  2. Check C-Play on DECISION0 (master) and DECISION3 (node); restart the affected C-Play application if needed and confirm the master/node connection and selected captures.
  3. Restart DECISION3 if the fault persists there (for example, a GPU block is affected).
  4. Verify the warping (run WARP Startup as admin if needed).
  5. Projectors, respecting cooldown.
  6. PDU outlets — last resort.

When to swap hardware​

DeviceSwappable?
PDUYes — see spare units
Video cable to a projectorYes
DECISION0 / DECISION3 / DECISION1Only with a prepared spare; restore the affected machine's C-Play master/node or WATCHOUT role, plus warping settings on DECISION3
Epson EB-L510U projectorNo, not as a runtime fix — the VIOSO calibration is per-position and must be redone. Escalate.