redThing/blueThing Troubleshooting

Click here for general trouble shooting technique

Click here to trouble shoot power supply

Click here to trouble shoot web interface

Click here to trouble shoot input

Click here to troubleshoot DVI/RGB output

Click here to troubleshoot audio output

Click here for details of how to reset DVI/RGB output to known state.

Click here for details of how do I reset the Ethernet interface to a known state.

Click here for details of how to reset the entire unit to defaults.

General trouble shooting technique

If you are having troubles with your redThing or blueThing trouble shoot items in the following sequence;

 1. Power supply

 2. Web interface

 2. Input

 4. DVI/RGB Output

 5. Audio output

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Trouble shoot power supply

If Thing status LED on front of unit is either flashing red, solid green or flashing greed then power to Thing is good, power supply OK.

If Thing status LED is not illuminated and power supply LED is illuminated then possible cable fault between supply and Thing.  Try another power supply and if Thing status LED still not illuminated then faulty Thing return for repair.  If Thing status LED illuminates when using another power supply then power supply faulty return to repair.  If another power supply not available then return Thing and power supply for investigation.

If Thing status LED and power supply LED are not illuminated then check mains power is connected to power supply input using know good IEC power cable.  If power supply LED still fails to illuminate then faulty power supply. Contact us for RMA to return return power supply for repair.

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Trouble web interface

To use the web interface both the Thing and you compute should be on the same network.  Contact your network administrator prior to connecting Thing to your network to ensure that there are no address clashes with existing network devices.

Once both computer and Thing are connected to the same network in order for web interface to work correctly you will need to ensure that Java is installed on your computer.  This can be downloaded from www.java.com.  If not present Thing web interface will tell you that it needs to be installed.

Provided that you know the IP address of the Thing you should be able to point your browser at the Thing to view the web interface, e.g. http://192.168.0.100 (default address).

If this does not work then ensure that connection to your network is OK by looking at network port on Thing.  The light on bottom right of network connector should be illuminated if it is connected to your network.  If it is not illuminated try another network cable. 

If connection between Thing and network is good ensure that IP address you are using is correct by using ping command.  If there is no response to ping command then Click here for details of how to reset Ethernet interface to known state.

If at this point you are still unable to use web interface then contact us for further help.

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Trouble shoot input

Check status LED on the front of unit.  If this is not illuminated trouble shoot the power supply.  If LED is flashing green then input to Thing is an unsupported format or no input is present.  If input to thing is known to be good and a supported format then contact us to arrange repair of thing.

If status LED is solid green then input has valid format, input OK.

Use the home page of web interface to check the input format that has been detected is as expected.  For blueThing only the home page of web interface will also report if it has detected embedded audio.

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Trouble shoot DVI/RGB output

The video output of a Thing can either be DVI-D or analogue RGB which are available on a DVI-I connector.  One type of signal is available at any one time on this connector.  If you have the wrong type selected for your monitor then you will get no picture.

If you want to trouble shoot the output independently of input then disconnect input from Thing which will give a black output.  If you press the menu button on front of unit you should see an on screen display menu appear at bottom of screen.  Alternatively use the control setting page of web interface to output test pattern.

If you do not see selected test pattern or on screen display then output may be in wrong mode to suit your display.  This can happen if output resolution has been manually configured and setting is not compatible with your monitor.  Or if frame rate setting has been changed from default giving output frame rate unsupported by you monitor.  Or you may have RGB output mode selected when using a DVI monitor and visa versa.

You can check all these settings using the Initial Setup tab of user interface.  The defaults are auto for resolution, follow input 60Hz for frame rate and DVI for display drive.  If you are not using the web interface then click here to find out how to set output to default mode using front panel buttons.

If you find that picture from Thing is not positioned correctly on display then try changing frame rate on initial setup tab of web interface to monitor rate.  In this mode EDID information from display is interpreted differently to give a different formatted output which tends to suit larger TFT displays.

If you still are having problem with DVI/RGB output then contact us for further help.

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Trouble shoot audio output (blueThing only)

The three audio outputs on the blueThing are all active at the same time. If you hear no output the first thing to check is that embedded audio is present on input.  If status LED is flashing green then no SDI input is present so there will be no audio output.

If status LED is solid green then a supported SDI signal is present.  Use status tab of web interface to check that embedded audio is present.

If embedded audio is present on input then check that embedded group and pair within group for each output has been set to an audio pair that is present on input.

If you are still having problems with audio output then contact us for further help.

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How do you reset the DVI/RGB output to a known state?

Remove power from redThing/blueThing and wait 30 seconds.  Press and hold down the menu button, apply power, and keep the menu button pressed. 

Provided that the menu button continues to be held down, the redThing/blueThing display size will be reset to auto, and frame rate will be set to follow input 60Hz during the initialisation of the redThing/blueThing. 

Once redThing/blueThing has initialised status LED will be solid or flashing green.  If you continue to hold down the menu button down past this point the display drive will toggle between DVI and RGB modes approximately every 10 seconds until the menu button is released.  Once you see your input image or the words "picture settings" at bottom of screen, release the menu button to select the current display drive.

Having selected you display drive press the menu button again to remove the words "picture settings" from bottom of screen.

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How do I reset the Ethernet interface to a known state?

Remove power from redThing/blueThing and wait 30 seconds.  Press and hold down the "+" and "-" buttons, apply power.  Keep the buttons pressed down until at least 5 seconds after the redThing/blueThing has initialised, i.e. 5 seconds after status LED goes solid green or starts to flash green. 

Doing this will disable DHCP and set the redThing/blueThing to have an IP address of 192.168.0.100.  Firmware releases 2.01 and later make this change a permanent one but firmware changes prior to this release only retains these settings until unit is reset or power is removed and reapplied.

Once in this state you can point a web browser at the IP address and use the initial setup tab to reset the IP configuration to the desired settings, click here to see default settings.  Once you have selected your desired settings click on restart to save settings and reboot redThing/blueThing so that these new settings take effect. 

NOTE : You will have to shutdown and restart your web browser when changing the IP address of the redThing/blueThing.  Once both redThing/blueThing and web browser have restarted ensure that you point the web browser at the new IP address you have selected.

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How do I reset the entire unit to defaults?

Run up the latest upgrader and check that the unit you wish to be reset is detected by the upgrader.

To ensure it has detected the correct unit check the mac address of the devices detected against that on label on under side of unit you wish to reset to defaults.

If after 5 minutes upgrader has not detected your unit then follow procedure to set Ethernet interface to known state and then try this procedure again.

If firmware version reported does not match the latest firmware upgrader then upgrade the firmware in your device to latest release.  Click here for details of how to do this.

If unit has latest firmware installed then select from list the device you wish to reset to default settings and select "set defaults" option from special menu of upgrader as shown in image on right. 

After a short delay a message will appear to say that upgrader has loaded defaults successfully.

This will reset all parameters to default settings with the exception of Power save and ID Multicast on initial setup tab, the default settings for these are unchecked (disabled) and 1 respectively.  Also, local control enable setting on control settings tab is not reset to default state of checked (enabled).

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