[Jahmedia]

We use the Aluminum 4-bay (fanless) chassis under a RAID 5 with no worries. The enclosure gets warm – hot but Granite Digital says that is what provs the heat sink is working and that the temps are far below the operating threshold of the drive specs. With that said though, they’re designed for studios where fan noise is a problem.

We also employ their SATAVue

[Jahmedia]

Thanks guys.

That is valuable info. Unfortunately, I think you’re both right. Machine has to go in on sick leave. Better it than me I guess…

JS

[Jahmedia]

Thanks guys.

It is well ventilated, no serious heat coming off the other two cards. On a battery backup system. I tried the previous LH’s unsuccessfully in slots 2,3,4 to check. Strangely, the SATA RAID controller works fine in all those slots. Slot Utility is in #2 setting. I was always careful to ground myself by touching the machine before touching the card. Pretty paranoid bout that.

Just took one more look at the card to find one little square jumper fried on the board – similar to a resister but not.

Was dreading taking it in again but you’re probably right.

Cheers,

JS

[Jahmedia]

Also, Granite Digital makes some great RAIDS along with High-point Technology RocketRAID control cards. Expandable RAID systems are their exclusive domain currently. Just keep adding drives to expand your RAID set. We run RAID 5 but 10 is possible as well.

Good bang for the buck.

[Jahmedia]

So, turns out it was the Kona card. On the 3rd card from AJA, it works fine so far. For a while got the other cards to work by seating the card from back to front before start-up but had to do it on every shut-down.

Whatever the reasons were, problem solved.

[Jahmedia]

Fair enough.

I would be happy with any progressive frame – just not an interlaced signal that is unviewable. In the Kona Control Panel there is a checkbox for pause on full frame or fields but that doesn’t seem to make a difference. I really got used to the Black-magic Decklink HD Card which seamlessly married video editing output with multi-tasking a 2nd desktop monitor in 60p. Was really nice. The AJA looks like shite in that regard.

[Jahmedia]

All LCD’s as I understand it are progressive scanning by nature.. I’m guessing the Kona simulates an interlaced “effect” to the desktop image. In Blackmagic Decklink Pro cards, you can turn off this “interlace” feature giving a smooth look we are used to in computer displays instead of the jittery spastic look of paused interlaced video. Was wondering if it is a software/ hardware design flaw in AJA or something I’m doing wrong. I’ve never had a monitor run below 60 hz before, even back in the Amiga days. It’s impossible to look at for more than 5 seconds.

I’m going to try inserting a jumper into the AJA HDP SDI/DVI converter and forcing an progressive image to the display although not sure how it will look when actually editing interlaced video…

Thanks,

[Jahmedia]

Thanks everyone for the valuable info.

Still battling the issues however have narrowed the field to possibly a hardware issue with the AJA card/ motherboard. The card seems very finicky on how it is installed. The only way I can get the computer to boot is by “wiggling” (very technical…)the AJA card from front to back until I get a successful start, otherwise its taxiing for takeoff without booting.

AJA is dumbfounded but has been very supportive. They’ve sent me a replacement card to make sure it isn’t a faulty card. Strange anomoly is that my SATA Rocket RAID PCI-e card (w/ same small 4-lanes of contact) works fine in any slot. Just the AJA card that causes the issue.

The Radeon X1900 is stock.

Mac Pro
Dual-Core Intel Xeon
2.66 GHz
Number Of Processors: 2
Memory: 5 GB
Boot ROM Version: MP11.005C.B04
Running with Highpoint-technology Rocket RAID 2320
FCP 5.1
OS10.4.8
All latest drivers of everything.

Thanks again,

[Jahmedia]

No – doesn’t start without the SATA card either. It’s a mystery. Only put in the SATA card after trouble shooting everything I could with just the AJA.

SATA in 4, Kona tried in 3.Strange…

AJA’s sending me a new card as a precaution.

[Jahmedia]

Thanks for the feedback guys. This is day 2 of troubleshooting…

In building this new system I installed all the latest drivers and updates, including the suspect EFI firmware update (10.4.8, FCP 5.1, Kona 3.2 drivers). In Expansion Slot Utility, tried option 1 (providing 8 lanes for added measure) & 2 (the suggested 4 lanes). Reset the PRAM. Installed the card in slots 2,3 (recommended) & 4.

Basically ran out of options. Only way the machine will boot is without the card. Running a SATA RAID controller which works fine (Highpoint-Tech RocketRAID 2320, so, know the slots are working anyway.

Ideas?