Troubleshooting Escient VS/VC system. Can no longer rip movies from VC-1 to server. Message about hard drive space comes up. It is as if the VC-1 is trying to rip to its own memory rather than send it to server. A number of VC-1 in the system behave the same way.

The other issue is that none of the VC-1 will play movies from the server. The titles come up and you click play movie and it hangs on the title screen....you can press back and continue using the machine so it is not locked up. It just will not play movies. The VS server will play the same movies fine on its own.

Escient TS says it is a network issue. We brought the server and one VC1 back to shop and it behaves the same on our network. All units are on version 1.2.3.72 which is the latest software/firmware available.

Audiophiliac,

I've got the same situation with a VS100 unit. I'm going to keep an eye on this thread to see if any experts have an answer. I've tried ripping to four empty VX600 servers and it still responds with the 'no more space available on hard drives' (not sure of the exact wording). Two VC1s, a VS200, and another VS100 all rip just fine connected to the same CAT6e cable, so it's not the network.

Escient tech doesn't have a solution and Panurgy said to send the unit in. I'm going to replace the drives; reinstalling the latest software didn't work.

Ron

Ron,

I talked with Escient tech support today and they were no help. They asked me to recreate media libraries and re-index. All of which we had already tried. Then they said the same thing....send it to Panurgy. I asked him what I should send....the VS, the VC1, all 4 VC1s and the server, just all 4 VC1s? He could not give me an answer. Since we have the same issue with the client's VC1s on our server and the client's server, it would seem that it is an issue with the VC1s, but having all of them go down at the same time? Bad coincidence if you ask me....and highly unlikely. I think it has to be software related but who knows.

Side note; do you know what the Customer ID# in the Escient system info. relates to? And would this have anything to do with this particular problem?

Hmm Kaleidascape loses in court, which effectively makes the Vision series illegal to use and now it doesn't work. Quick someone hand me a tin foil hat.

I almost got the Vision demo kit but heard a bunch of people having problems so I didn't. Are people still having that many problems with these?

Audiophiliac,

My problem is with one VS100 that I can't get to communicate with the servers; I haven't had the issue with any VC1s. The VS100 was working just fine, then one day it got the 'disc full' message and I have been unable to troubleshoot it.

I have had a VS100 & 200 hang on movie playback and the fix was a system restart from the menu. These units can be finnicky if they aren't connected to a UPS and a restart solves a lot of issues.

I installed one new main drive (drive 1) and rebuilt the raid; now I'm going to install a new second drive (drive 2) and rebuild the raid so the VS100 will have two new drives. I'll see if that does anything to restore communications.

I totally understand the dilemma with sending them to Panurgy; I don't think they're doing anything related to software troubleshooting. From what I can tell, they're able to repair hardware and reinstall software only; not find the root cause for the communication issue and provide a fix to folks like us. :)

I did the reindex and library rebuild to no avail also; the last resort is to restore to factory defaults. On the VC1 that wouldn't be a bad thing as it won't lose any media (I can't recall if that is an option in the Service Menu on the VC1, but should be). It is an option on the VS100/200; however, that'll mean all the stored data would be lost and I'm not ready to reload a 100 or so DVDs. :) But, I may just do it to see if it solves the problem.

Ron

Yeah we have tried all the above. I will say that we replaced the drives in the client's server. We also replaced the drives in our own server. Escient claimed that this should not have caused these issues. We thought maybe there was something in the software that knew the drives were not original or not upgraded by "Escient" and would raise some kind of flag. But they say that is not the case. Whoever is left at Escient cannot come up with any idea what could have caused this. So we are going to send our server and one VC1 back to Panurgy and see if they can come up with anything different. I will report back when we get it resolved.

The client is ready to throw in the towel and use the Escient as a music only server and do something different for movies. My guess is that he is buying only Bluray now and has no real need for a DVD server that does not support Bluray. Maybe we can sell him a Kscape. :)

Too bad about having to send them in. I would greatly appreciate any info regarding the unit and what caused the problem; or, if Panurgy can fix it.

I'm working on a Vision troubleshooting document with things like how to get into the service menus including how to reload the software onto the VX600s and how to use the RS407 in lieu of a VX600. This would be a good addition.

Audiophiliac,

Just spent numerous hours troubleshooting the client (VS100)/server (VX600) communication issue. Still have a few more things to try. Here is some of what I tried to no avail:

1. Server and client IP addresses set to static
2. Set static IP addresses outside the router's DHCP range
3. Set static IP addresses within router's DHCP range
4. Set DNS1 and 2 to same (Default Gateway)
5. Set DNS1 and 2 differently (DNS1 to Default Gateway/DNS2 to root 4.2.2.3)
6. Set DNS1 to Default Gateway and DNS2 blank
7. Turned all Early Detection Monitoring off
8. Turned all EDS on
9. Installed unoffical Escient BETA version of software (1.2.3.74)
10. Reindex
11. Reregister
12. Installed new hard drives/RAID rebuilds
13. Replaced CD-ROM cable
14. Replaced SATA hard drive cables
15. Numerous reboots :)

Still to try:

1. Set IPs to DHCP
2. Move CAT6e cables to different gigabit switch ports
3. Install new gigabit switch
4. Set to factory defaults (last-ditch effort as I don't want to erase content)

Some notes:

1. VS100 will rip to internal drive without issue.
2. Can import PC-ripped iso video to VS100 & VX600 without issue.
3. VS100 playbacks internal and VX600 video without issue; however, internal video playback has the intermittent video stuttering problem. Not sure if the BETA software (1.2.3.74) may have fixed this issue; gotta' watch a few movies to find out.
4. Tried another VS100, a VS200, and two VC1s to rip to the same VX600 server; all four ripped to server without issue using the same CAT6e cable, switch connection, etc.

Still clueless.... :)

Ron

Sounds like you spent some time on it. :)

We called Panurgy and they said to call Denon, so we did. There is a lady there that seems to understand the issue, although she has no clue what needs fixed nor how to fix it. Someone there piped up and said they saw the same issue on their boss's system and eventually it just magically started working again. So...no help.

In our troubleshooting, we eliminated the network as part of the problem by connecting the client straight to the server via a gigabit crossover ethernet cable. This did not behave any differently either.

I will post again as soon as we have a solution or at least a diagnosis. :)

Hello Audiophiliac,

Just checking in to see if Panurgy has provided any solution(s) to the 'no more space available on hard drives' issue.

Thanks,

Ron

Spinmd and audiophilliac - did either of you solve this problem - I am seeing the same issue with a VC1 getting the not enough disk space error.

Spireite,

Yes, I resolved it only by replacing the 1GB SSD with a new one. Luckily, I still have some stock of them. I couldn't figure out any other fix for the problem.

Ron

Are you guys still having an issue with this? I can probably help you out.

We got ours back from panurgy. They replaced the motherboard in the server. We still could not rip movies from the vc1s. Still got the no space error. We installed them at the client's home. For some reason, the vc1s took an update even though they showed the latest version (we had already updated them trying to fix it). After that and a reboot, everything worked. Next time it goes down though, we are taking it out for good and going office space on it!

Hi Tmontgomery,

Yes, I'm still experiencing the 'no more space available on hard drives' with some VS100s/VS200s & VC1s. On the VC1s I just replace the 1GB SSD and it seems to resolve it. However, I'm clueless with the 100/200 models that show this problem

Any help would be great. I would like to learn to do it myself and not send them in for repair if possible.

I also have found these other issues:

- VX600s only allow one Genre for a movie or album.
- Video playback from VS100/VS200 internal hard drives will stutter occasionally. Doesn't stutter when serving from the VX600, though. Escient says that if you leave the unit powered on, connected to a UPS, this happens less or doesn't happen at all; could be the hard drives; could be the IDE cable; they weren't sure.

Escient tech tells me to forget about these two issues as there will be no fix for them. They also tell me that some savvy techs are writing their own code to solve these problems and they've heard the units perform much better with updated, non-Escient software. Was told to search the Web for it -- searched for hours and had no luck finding any available modified software for the Visions. :(

I'd be willing to pay for a solution that I can implement myself... I'd also be interested if anyone has written an Android app for these.

My e-mail is ron 'at' mchsi 'dot' com if you'd rather direct e-mail.

Thanks,

Ron