scope card errors and temperature

An area for people to discuss Scope related problems, issues, etc.

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Joey
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Joined: Tue Jan 05, 2010 12:21 am

scope card errors and temperature

Post by Joey »

Does anyone know if there's a relationship between temperature of the card, and error messages that show up?
I know those have probably to do with capacitors that are too old, but I wonder if cooling the card, or perhaps making sure they are warm, could have a (hopefully positive) influence?
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garyb
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Re: scope card errors and temperature

Post by garyb »

probably not. dsps get really hot on their own, and unless it's really extreme as when there isn't good case cooling and the room is a sauna, it's not a problem.
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valis
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Re: scope card errors and temperature

Post by valis »

If a car gives errors when it’s cool, and they go away when it warms up this is likely a sign of solder cracks or failing components. At least this is been the pattern for me with each card that has failed. As a result, you can find repair services listed on these forums and on the front of the main website.
Joey
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Re: scope card errors and temperature

Post by Joey »

Well, I was just wondering. I have one card that's been recapped, but it's quite costly. The only service I know of is in the USA, and I am in Europe.
But that wasn't the reason I asked the question. I was just curious from a technical point of view.
nebelfuerst
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Re: scope card errors and temperature

Post by nebelfuerst »

I don't see a relationship between caps and temperature.
Temperature makes hardware stretch/bend. As valis stated, this might be inside a component, but also on the connectors.
So I recommend to check that your card is seated without any forces inside the pci slot. You could also clean the pci connector with alcohol, as in rare cases some corrosion shows on these connectors. (.. as it is just "dirty gold" sometimes)
To futher investigate you could do:

1) Load an rather empty project and wait some hours for the error to occur.
This is the test, for cool dsps, just the software talking to the board.

2) fully load the dsps with some synths, but no verbs.
This is a test for hot DSPs talking to each other.

3) fill in just masterverbs.
this stresses pci.

This are just some hardware ideas. Sometimes stupid windows messes around with energy savings, which might also cause errors.
\\\ *** l 0 v e | X I T E *** ///
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valis
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Re: scope card errors and temperature

Post by valis »

Recapping of course is NOT a guarantee, I have had multiple cards serviced and every card was restored except 1 which seems to have further issues sadly. So, some % of cards seem likely to see a similar fate although I will admit that my sample size is rather small (4 cards).
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