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Terra server problem -18Tb -any ideas?

Oldred

Well-known member
Hi,

Just bought a couple of the sale movies and saw the ‘one of your servers is missing error’ and the one that is missing is the newer 18Tb one of noisy fan fame. So movies were downloading to the older server that has minimal space left. I tried pinging the servers address without response. The switch itself looked ok though.

I waited until the first movie had downloaded and paused the download queue and took a look at the server. It looked ok and the green Ethernet port light was flashing like the other server but I couldn’t see the LH light on the port.

First of all I tried removing and replacing the Ethernet cable. No joy.
I then powered down the server (as I had been told previously when testing the fan issue). Waited a couple of minutes and powered it back up. Same start up noises but the green Ethernet port light was static now and hasn’t flashed since. This doesn’t sound good…..:(

I ‘think’ I could here the disk startup/checking routines but difficult to be sure.

So it remains offline and it seems unusable currently.

I will contact the supplier tomorrow to interrogate the network side and reboot all of that just in case but that solid green light sounds ominous to me.

Anyone seen/heard of this and Dan guess what it might be?

Will update the post later for info that might help others but any thoughts would be appreciated. Thx
 
Sent you a PM. For the benefit of others reading, this is the sort of thing that will probably require help from Kaleiescape Support to diagnose. Some startup issues can be corrected on site, and some are caused by a failure that requires repair or replacement. Hopefully this is the former!
 
Easiest test is to temporarily use the working Ethernet cable (from your other server). This will quickly tell you if there is a faulty cable/port at work.

Andy
 
Just to add that green light at top right of ethernet port stays static green even when I pull out the ethernet cable and so that sounds 'broken' doesn't it? have put in the request and awaiting a response from suppliers at the min.
 
update
OK - so dust not settled completely on this as I am not certain yet of what the supplier/K may have done remotely but I do know what I did.

I powered the server down yet again for 10 mins or more and disconnected the ethernet cable. After the 10 mins I powered it back up but still disconnected. The port lights appeared to behave normally now showing nothing because not cable is connected. Everything sounded familiar and so I left it for another 10 mins or more to do any startup routines/disk checking that I am sure it would be doing.

I then returned to the server and reconnected the ethernet cable. This time the lights looked a lot 'happier' flashing etc. and so I rushed back to ping the ip address and woohoo! the pings were successful. I refreshed the settings page but the 'poorly server' wasn't yet showing on the other servers page and it wouldn't load on it's own ip address. On returning to the physical server again I noticed that the light was again a solid green but I could hear disk activity similar to that I would hear on a restart. (I am trying to find out if they had remotely accessed it and did that or was this spontaneous). I waited a bit and refreshed the settings page and again an even louder WOOHOO! because now the poorly server appeared on the settings page. I rushed to start everything up and played a 'scene' from a movie that I was sure I had downloaded onto the new server and it was all fine.

I am scratching my head a little because I am not sure now if it was a server gliche that has been cleared by multiple power downs or restored by my slower disconnected restart or did they remotely seset a network switch?

The good news is that we appear to be back in action again without a return to base hardware fix - the bad news is that I am not too sure why yet and I only like mysteries in the movies themselves rather than about the server/player.

Thx everyone. Again if I find out more I will share because I know I have often found the answer to my problem in similar posts.
 
Just a further update on this one.

The new server (18TB) has now disappeared from the 'system' on 3 occasions since the first event.
The green ethernet light flashes like crazy as if it's receiving data and continues to do that even with the cable removed (odd).
Once it has disappeared - I can't ping it or access it and the only way I have discovered so far is to power it down, disconnect the ethernet cable, wait several minutes, power it back up, wait for it to have time to reboot successfully and then reconnect the network cable.
It is then reachable on the network and appears in the system.

A reboot of the network only has no impact at all.

Has anyone else encountered this issue since?

I have again raised it with the supplier but I am starting to get very uncomfortable with this and it knocks confidence whenever we go to watch a movie now. Not what I would be expecting.
 
There's actually a very simple answer, you have another defective unit. It has already been acknowledged that, unfortunately, K received a part that has a higher than usual fail rate, and that part is in some of the Terra 18TB models. Not all Terra 18TB's are affected, and some 18's that are still in the field may never exhibit the problem, so K is only replacing them on a case-by-case basis after confirming the defect is connected to this part. Unfortunately, there have been a handful of 18's that were replaced early on, before the part issue was identified, and a few unlucky folks ended up with a defective replacement unit as well. Once the problem was identified, K took corrective action and current Terra sales should not be affected by the parts issue.

Apparently, you are one of the unlucky folks that received a defective replacement as well. (That's my assumption based on all of your posts on this subject, but only K Support can confirm for sure, but keep in mind the issue could be elsewhere in your system.)

Contact your dealer again for assistance, and K Support directly if the dealer is unresponsive.

Jim
 
Thanks Jim. We (dealer) are waiting on a response from K currently.

As time has passed with these issues my understanding of the fault attributes and what fixes it has ‘firmed up’ and so I thought it perhaps useful to post that rather than the less precise posts as I was trying to track down the issue.

Fault
- server cannot be seen or accessed from the network (Not listed on K settings page, ping no longer works on it’s iP address).
- Ethernet port on rear of server flashes green constantly at highest rate.
- Notably this flashing continues even after the cable has been removed and doesn’t stop until server powered down.

Temporary fix
- power down server
- ensure Ethernet cable has been removed
- power up
- reconnect Ethernet cable

Server instantly visible and usable until next failure which can occur within either a number of hours or days.

For a layman’s perspective that seems a fairly specific and ‘hard’ issue that should be clear to K as regards to next steps. Whether that is likely linked to the ‘component’ you reference, I don’t know.
 
Help!

The server won't reconnect at all but I thought I would simply be able to download any movie on it to the other working box. I have selected one and asked it to download but it's just sitting there on 0%?

Is there something else I have to do? Surely I don't have to delete it first and can I ecen do that if I can't access the non working server?
 
Just out of interest. What happens if both servers have the same movie downloaded in the same system? Does it show up as 2 movies or does it just display 1 of them. Just keen to know what to expect if I can get the other one working again.

The Ethernet port is on a solid green as soon as I power it up now and so I assume it’s given up altogether now which is irritating. Waiting on the replacement date from K via the installer. With Xmas looming I am a bit gutted tbh and buying the second server hasn’t been a great experience. Just hoping they recognise that and pull their finger out to delight a currently disappointed customer.
 
My guess at the "same tile, multiple systems" question.

If you go to my movies on the web interface ...
Screen Shot 2022-12-03 at 10.58.20 AM.png

If you send a follow-up download instruction while adding to one of the systems, when the title already exists...
Screen Shot 2022-12-03 at 10.56.45 AM.png

If both servers are encore, you probably see one title. The exception might be a mixed encore/premier system where one version of a title may be a store download, and another is a catalogued item that needs to be inserted in a player or vault.
 
My guess at the "same tile, multiple systems" question.

If you go to my movies on the web interface ...
View attachment 3182

If you send a follow-up download instruction while adding to one of the systems, when the title already exists...
View attachment 3183

If both servers are encore, you probably see one title. The exception might be a mixed encore/premier system where one version of a title may be a store download, and another is a catalogued item that needs to be inserted in a player or vault.
Thx I did get the 'already downloaded' message but needed it on the other server and so pressed through that one. My question was more about what happens when in that situation both terra servers are turned on in the same system with the same movie on both of them?

Right now it's not a problem as the 18tb for the first time wouldn't recover at all :( but I am wondering if it was to be fixed and returned what might happen then or maybe if I get lucky and turn it back on and it starts up OK.

I assume it's a known circumstance and that it is catered for without a meltdown but thought I would ask.
 
Yeah, in the situation that the OP is describing, where a server is offline and so you download the movie again, you will end up with a copy of the movie on each of the two servers. Only one will show up in the UI -- the other is effectively hidden and wasting space. I don't recall what the browser interface does in this case. It might be possible to delete the extra from there, or you may have to do something like un-grouping one server, deleting the duplicates, and grouping it again. I think simply deleting the movie and re-downloading it would remove both copies and then download a new one.

Sorry to hear that this server is causing so much trouble. 😢
 
Quick update. The diagnosis last week was that the server required replacement and the process was initiated. Got an update today that it looks as if nothing has progressed on this at the US end judging by status. I had hoped with the decision made that it would simply be dispatched but that hasn’t seemed to be the case. Our installer is as keen as we are to get it here because they booked time for install etc next week and have a crazy pre Xmas schedule. So all our fingers are crossed and we just wait.

Bit surprised no uk replacement stocks are held but maybe they fast track shipping. Or am I kidding myself. Disappointed but hoping.
 
Well it's nice when a story has a happy ending. As I post this, the replacement server is downloading the movies like an express train having safely arrived and been installed this morning. Just in time for the houseful of folks we expect over the Xmas holiday period. Phew! Due to local installer (unrelated) challenges the install day has moved around as they had to rearrange things to ensure it was in before the celebrations started. Today, an early morning message was promptly followed by Santa's little helper pulling into the drive with a box marked K :)

The good news is that the new server is not only in but as quiet as a mouse too - so a bonus (see earlier posts).

Big thanks to 'our own' Mike K who unprompted intervened to ensure things went smoothly when there was some confusion. Greatly appreciated Mike - thanks.
 
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