paulears Posted June 11, 2013 Share Posted June 11, 2013 Today, odd things have been happening. In the middle of an edit session, the normally solid PC lost contact with the graphics card, and crashed on me. It started up ok again, but I'd lost the long renders it had done. I decided to work on an audio project in the studio, so went in there and discovered that computer was off? Which it wasn't in the morning. It refused to come on at all, just the motherboard splash screen. Fault tracked down to a 4 way USB hub, and eventually to a 8 port midi interface. Removing this, allowed normal start up. Back to the edit computer and another different project. Video import from a Sony DVCPRO and no picture and no VT control - it makes the usual bing-bong when connected. The driver shows a questionmark, which it didn't before because it doesn't need a driver! Tried a JVC VT too and same thing - questionmark on the driver which again, isn't normally needed. Tried to search the net but no network connection. A quick check of the other computer in the edit room and no internet there either - the edit suite feeds from the sound studio, so checked the two in there and no internet there either. The source for these outbuildings in in my house, so eventually discovered the hub in there had all lights lit solid - not flashing. It was frozen. Disconnecting and plugging back in fixed the internet problems. What on earth caused all these things - all failed within an hour, that's the maximum time scale. So a dodgy MIDI usb interface, frozen hub and two computers. I had the lights on and saw no flickering or odd behaviour, electricity wise. All the dodgy kit is connected to the same mains and the same network. Any ideas? There's nothing else connected I can think of that has failed, but it's too much a coincidence for all these failure to happen at the same time? Stumped. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeepSpacePenguin Posted June 11, 2013 Share Posted June 11, 2013 I've had people call me with similar problems which turned out to be the result of a low (or even high) mains voltage. Might be worth a quick check but still odd that it's only noticeable on computer equipment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robin D Posted June 12, 2013 Share Posted June 12, 2013 I think its power related Paul. You are in East Anglia and I've been seeing issues in Norwich and Ipswich outskirts that even top quality UPS/conditioner units are failing to cope with. There is a lot of work going on with transmission lines for all the offshore generators and although its denied, I'm sure that's the issue. I had a server just stop dead last week. It's in a rack with several others and shares a large UPS with two others of differing types. This one stopped, the others carried on. The server management software told us it was an over voltage. Two others in the next rack (on a different UPS) also logged an over voltage at the same time but didn't shut down! The remainder reported nothing! It's a real PITA, but proving its power is difficult. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulears Posted June 12, 2013 Author Share Posted June 12, 2013 I was thinking about spikes and stuff like that, never gave any thought to under/over? Thanks for that, we'll see how it goes today. Appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeepSpacePenguin Posted June 12, 2013 Share Posted June 12, 2013 If you PM me your postcode I can have a look to see if we're doing any HV/LV work in the area that may be causing it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigclive Posted June 12, 2013 Share Posted June 12, 2013 It does sound like power drop-out or transient issues. That's not always visible in the ambient lighting, particularly if compact fluorescents are being used as they ride over voltage issues quite well. It might be worth resetting other equipment in the building just in case it's continuing to run despite rogue data corruption from a mains incident. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nb705 Posted June 12, 2013 Share Posted June 12, 2013 Or it might just be a coincidence. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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