Angelbird media overheating on Komodo

[Nick Gardner]

My komodo was the c-camera on main unit while I was off being 2nd unit DP with my Gemini. Periodically I would get reports of a "media write speed error" from 1st unit. Sent log files, to red, etc, they sent new firmware (this was like last september). Never really solved, But I never got the error again after that show. Remember it was september, so getting colder.

I was on a shoot last week, I got the same error after rolling for around 30mins without cutting. AC commented how hot the card was when he changed it out. The card with the error later wouldn't mount on a computer, had to be red undeaded.

So today I try to replicate the problem. Switched to 6k 16x9, 40fps, HQ r3d, and let it roll on the same type of 512gb cards. Within the last minute of rolling, I got the error. Popped the card out, put another one in and did the same thing. This time as I got towards the end I started measuring temps. The hottest parts on the body were around 110-120 (around the base at the back and the battery mounting plate). I opened the media door and shot the laser at the card area - 140 degrees F. This card made it to the end without any error messages, but I had the door open for the last bit, so I probably helped it cool off a bit.

I only for a brief second got a yellow temp warning, then it went away. exhaust port on the camera was reading like 110. Latest firware, Just updated 2 days ago.

Anybody have any thoughts? Client wasn't super happy about the extra time to get the footage off the card.

No way to adjust fans on the komodo right?

Anybody at RED have an opinion?

Thanks in advance,

Nick

 

[Phil Holland]

I haven't experienced this. Only thing I can think of is if you have any stickers or labels on the card.

 

[Nick Gardner]

Nope, cards are just like they are from the factory except for a number written on them in sharpie. The camera is a storm trooper version, so not sure if that makes it an earlier version. I bought it used for a job almost a year ago when they were hard to get.

Nick

 

[Alex Zeder]

Nick, was it the same card back in September and last week or two different cards? From my experience so far, it seems more like an issue with particular cards than with the camera.

The write speed error happened to me once on a Komodo last year and three times within three months with a Raptor, but so far only with one 1TB card there. My Raptor firmware was 1.2.6 since February, Komodo also at latest when it happened. Haven't used this CFast card with a Komodo anymore since then and had no issues with six other cards.

With the Raptor, it was the primary card I used all the time and I only started using another card three weeks ago after consulting with RED support and sending the logs. So far, the other one hasn't had any error. At least in my case, it doesn't seem to be an overheating issue because one time I got the error even after rolling for only 50 seconds right after a cold start but most other times the same card took one or 1½ hours a piece without problems. The temperatures you mentioned also don't seem too extreme, mine are usually around 90-100 but 140 isn't really in the red glowing range either. RED also didn't find anything at fault in the camera logs but they're going to check this more in depth when I send it in for the sensor split fix.
For now, I only use the other cards to see if they eventually show the same error and if not, I'll contact Angelbird for a replacement.

 

[Nick Gardner]

Hi Alex,

Thanks for the info. It is different cards, and seems to be totally random. I will cycle all my cards and see if I can get it to repeat. How have you been getting the media off of the cards? Do they mount on a computer after the error?

Let me know what Red says. I would like to avoid sending the camera in.

Thanks,

Nick

 

[Alex Zeder]

Hi Nick, it was random here too, the same card worked for weeks, then failed once but not again under the same conditions for some more weeks. Apart from the interrupted clip, I also had no problems getting the completed clips off the card.

Troubleshooting suggestions from support were concentrating on latest firmware and what could have been caused by the PC, especially anti-virus, and whether it's a third-party reader, however, since I use the RED reader and keep the reader on my PC always read-only, there wasn"t much what could potentially have written to and affected the card on that side. Nevertheless, we tried low-level formatting the card but even after this it failed the third time later.

If you cannot read the card even on the PC after the error, it doesn't really look like a problem caused by the camera. Do you format the cards in the camera or does anything on the PC eventually write to it? If it really gets more hot than usual, I'd first of all think of fragmentation as a potential cause, followed by file system structure being out of order, but the latter shouldn't be something that the camera can cause while writing the clip stream.

Would be interesting what CHKDSK might tell where it sees a problem (can analyze even with reader toggled to read-only) - unless it doesn't mount at all, of course.

 

[Nick Gardner]

Regarding not being able to get the card to mount, now that I think about it, I think I hit OK on the error message, and then popped the card out without ejecting it. So at least maybe that mystery is solved. I can live with the occasional random error where I only lose one take, but ifthe cards were consistantly unreadable, I wouldn't be able to take it out on jobs. I mean, I am not crazy about taking it out on jobs with an unsloved issue, but yeah.

Really hoping there is a solution to this.

Nick

 

[Alex Zeder]

FWIW, I took two 1 TB cards through the test you mentioned in two Komodos SBS, 6k 17:9 40fps HQ, rolling 30 minutes and measured them immediately after stopping. The cards only reached 95 even in the left side Komodo which got preheated air through from the other one, but not 110 to 140 as you had. I measured the cards directly, not the slot in the camera, because the temperature of the card could affect the write errors. The only point where it reaches 140 is the logic board as shown in the system status.

Just some ideas for further narrowing down the cause: with your higher than unusual temperatures, I'd look at what else could cause this apart from the cards. Maybe also compare it to the temperatures when shooting with the lowest data rate at 23.98/5.99 2k LQ + lens cap, with which I get 86 for the cards but the same temperatures for the other values like boards and sensor. If that doesn't result in lower card temperatures, it might be caused by the camera heating up the card too much, not the amount of data written to them and processed in the card.