Halo Gremlin?

[Chris D]

Weird...

So yesterday I'm done in my theater for the night, turn off all equipment, and then do some paperwork in the room before bed. I get caught up in the paperwork, and end up sitting there for an hour or so. Suddenly, I hear "click" and a flash catches my attention out of the corner of my eye. I look over, and my C1 is powered on with an error screen with red word blocking on it that says:

ERROR: 00030200
Operation halted

Strange, I didn't turn on the C1, and am pretty sure nothing touched the remote. I grab the remote and try to cycle C1 power. Nothing. Same with power button on front of unit. So I flip the power switch on the unit back, wait several seconds, then turn it back on. Everything's great.

Never seen anything like this before--I've never even seen the error screen on the C1. And this seems to have happened spontaneously for some reason. Didn't notice any power surge.

I'm just a little nervous that this is happening now, as my theater grand opening party is this Saturday, 4 days away.

[Patt]

Wow,
That sounds odd....every now and then either one or both my recievers will come out of standby mode and play music, due to a power surge I guess.

[Peter Nielsen]

ERROR: 00030200

Chris,

I suggest you give Parasound a call and ask them what that error code means.

Peter

[David Meek]

I agree with Peter. Chris, I'd be wearing the phone lines out to Parasound about now. 3 days and counting, eh? Oh yeah, ring phone ring.

[Brian]

Funny, mine did the exact same thing about a week ago.
I just cycled the power on the back and it has been fine ever since.
I figure it's another bug in the software update that is causing it to do something fishy.

[NAV]

ERROR: 00030200
Operation halted

Chris,
My C1 had the exact same problem and symtoms as yours, twice in the last 3 weeks (after firmware upgrade) but with different error code:

ERROR: 00010000
Operation halted

I took it to Parasound last week, they could not reproduce the problem since it is intermittent so they replaced the DSP board. Hope this would fix it! I just pick it up yesterday so do not have sufficient time to see if it might happen again.

NAV

[Chris D]

Just got off the phone with Tony in tech support. He's not showing that error code of mine as being a valid code. Maybe I wrote it down wrong, but I thought I got it right. NAV, he did remember you, but he said you'd be a different situation since your error code is different. Anyways, we'll see if it happens again. Sounds like if an error like this happens, it's very rare, so I'm not too worried about it happening again, or even if it does, shutting down the party.

[Brian]

Just to clarify, I didn't make a note of my error code. Just got it, and cycled the power via the back switch and all was good.
I'm waiting for a hardware upgrade before I bother sending it back in (my volume knob quits working as well, once the unit heats up a little bit)

[Chris D]

Actually, Brian, I'm in the same boat. My rotary knob on the front of the unit only works intermittently, and has from the beginning. Since I use the remote for 99.9% of operations, it's not worth it to me to send it back in just for that. I'm waiting on a hardware upgrade as well.

[bhuskins]

This sounds like an AA meeting (no offense to any recovering addicts by the way.)

Because...I admit it too...I've seen the error message 3 times on my personal C1 (and not my C2) since the final release of the software.

I'll inquire with Parasound as well to make sure we don't have an epidemic on our hands...

The hard reset corrects the problem and the error occurs when the system is off (overnight for me.) Easy to temporarily fix with the reset, but likely hard for Parasound to troubleshoot unless it can be duplicated in their lab. Sure enough I've never written the code down, but I haven't seen it occur in 2 weeks now.

Brent Huskins
Media Design
HTGuide Sponsor

[Brian]

Chris,

I think there may be something up with the volume control's since you also have experienced the same thing. I already sent it back once and had the volume control replaced because of similiar problems. I have found that by keeping a fan blowing behind the equipment to keep the equipment cool, that the v/c works just fine. Turn the fan off and wait for the equipment to heat up a bit and the v/c stops working. But like you, I use the remote 99% of the time, so I can live with it.

[Chris D]

Wow, Brent. while I don't think we're seeing an "epidemic" of a fault, this is curious that multiple people are suddenly seeing rare faults.

What I can't figure out it, what in the world would make a piece of equipment spontaneously turn on ON ITS OWN and find and report a fault? Makes no sense to me whatsoever. Shouldn't equipment when off, even when in standby, do NOTHING other than monitor the IR input for a power-on command?

The good news is, I had my theater opening party tonight, and no problems whatsoever. The Parasoune equipment worked like a champ, and I didn't have to worry about it for a second. I knew I could drive it as hard as I wanted without clipping, overheat shutdowns, or anything else.

[nicholtl]

What movie did you play? How were your friends' reactions? Lots of jaws hitting the floor, I'm sure?

[Chris D]

Yeah, I'm still vacuuming drool off the floor today. I played a lot of The Incredibles, Pearl Harbor, and Saving Private Ryan. But mostly I ran a lot of demo material through, like THX demo discs, Michael Jordan to the Max, U2 Rattle and Hum (still my #1 favorite DVD of all time, and I get to go to their concert tonight!) :T Dr. Chesky's Amazing Show DVD-A, Norah Jones SACD, Super Speedway, Apollo 13 DTS, etc. I've got a custom DVD intro with my name and theater name (Globe Theater) on it that was a hit too.

[netarc]

Ok, I'm going to pipe in with my own Halo "gremlins." Occassionally, my C2 unit will *inexplicably* swap the front speakrs with the rear surrounds (I'm running 5.1, btw). I originally noticed this only happening with stereo sources, but recently have also seen the behavior with multichannel (from my LG LST-4200a HD tuner via optical). Very odd, very disconcerting to hear the main audio coming from behind you, and sound effects from the front!

A hard boot has always resolved the problem; what's infuriating is that the problem is intermittent and rare (thought the latter's a good thing) ... so it's hard to reproduce. Have talked to Parasound about this once or twice a year back, I'm sure they thought I was nutz

[Chris D]

That is strange. Must be the very uncommon Halo Gnomes known to infiltrate unsuspecting owner's houses late at night every so often and jack things up.

[Chris D]

Soooooooooooo... I get a new DVD player today, and come into my theater to hook it up before bed. I walk in my room... hmmm... strange, Halo C1 is on. Oh, no...

Yes, again. This time the Error code is "00030600". Just to prove I'm not crazy, and to show everybody what's going on, I took a picture. (okay, two--the first one had a flash reflection)

I'm sending the pics to Parasound, too.





Same symptoms. Unit is completely unresponsive. I power it off on back panel, pull the plug to be safe for 30 seconds. Plug back in, turn on, unit gives a click or two w/ no lights for about 10 seconds, then powers back on. All menu settings like speaker levels still saved, but unit stuff like the "dim" setting have reverted to default. Works fine, no problem noted.

[will1066]

Chris, is it possible to have your dealer get you another unit?

[Chris D]

Well, the unit's been fine, other than this error that's only popped up twice and a front volume knob that's intermittent. And since the error seems to be resettable without any effects, I don't know that it's worth the trouble to pull it out of the rack, send it in, and wait for repairs or a new unit. Now if we had a HARDWARE upgrade that could be done at the same time on the other hand... (hint, hint, hint)

But to answer your question, since I'm one of the few to get my unit from Parasound direct as part of the industry... yeah, I would guess it's possible!!! :T

[Peter Nielsen]

Chris, could Parasound not give a "meaning" to the error code #30600 ?

If not, that sounds strange. Usually an error code is used to show that a distinct error occured. That's how we programmers work... :B

Maybe I should give the programmers in Finland a call and speak to them in finnish? A few "Perkele", that should do the trick to reveal the meaning of the strange error code... :B :B :B

Peter

[FrankG]

I got the same error codes on my C2 .
Before the softwareupdate i had none, now once and agian overnight when its turned off in stand bye.
After a hardware reset everything is oke.

What is that error?

[Chris D]

I got a reply E-mail from Parasound the other day, just saying "thanks" for letting them know about the problem. They're looking into it with the engineers in Finland, and will get back to us.

NOBODY knows what that error code means yet. It's apparently not documented in any manuals or service literature Parasound knows of yet!

This would help -- anybody that experiences this problem, please send an E-mail to Parasound technical support at service@parasound.com to let them know EXACTLY what happened to you. Make sure you include the EXACT error code that your screen displays!

[Chris D]

I have no idea if this is related, but my C1 just had another random error today. I didn't do anything non-standard at all--last used my theater 2 days ago to watch SW Ep IV. (having a marathon to prep for Ep III) Turn it off afterwards as normal. Came in tonight to watch Ep V--theater still all turned off, no problems. I turn everything on okay, but suddenly I'm getting no center/main channel outputs, and the front channels are playing in my REAR surrounds. (I have a 7.1 setup) Turn everything off and back on with the remote, same problem. Try a different source, same problem. So I turn off the C1 on the back panel, pull the plug, then do a reset.

Now everything's back to normal. (I think) Weird.

[eraserhead]

Just to give this topic a bump.... here's what i've seen on my C1.

**00000040 Operation halted **

This has only happened to me since the recent firmware upgrade... never got it before with the older firmware release.

From what i gather - this error only comes up for me after a power outage. (maybe it has something to do with the new firmware and an unclean shutdown)

Usually if i let the unit sit for a few hours without power - and flip the main switch on the back on and off a few times all is well (although i must admit - one has to be vigilant about repeating the hard on/off cycle 3-4 times usually does the trick)...

just my $.02.

i was getting ready to call parasound on the issue - but it seems that i may not be alone in this matter.