Playback & media servers
disguise EX 2 troubleshooting
The disguise EX 2 problems live-event techs bring to Ask Roadie most (also called EX range, EX2). Pick your symptom, or describe your own in plain words, and get the likeliest fix first, with the manual page when there is one.
Common EX 2 errors & problems
What techs run into most, and what's usually behind it. The step-by-step fix for your exact unit is in Ask Roadie.
- Step-by-step fixGet the fix →
Can an End of Production EX 2 still run the current Designer version? Which Designer release do I put on it?
Likely cause: disguise separates lifecycle phase from software support, so the compatibility table (not the sales status) decides what a given chassis can load.
- Step-by-step fixGet the fix →
Cannot reach the EX 2 SMC / management web page. OLED shows MGMT IP: Link Down or stuck on Assigning IP.
Likely cause: These are the two states the SMC reports, and they map cleanly onto physical-layer versus network-stack faults, so the split above avoids swapping hardware for what is an addressing problem.
- Step-by-step fixGet the fix →
EX 2 front OLED screen is blank, frozen or showing jumbled data.
Likely cause: The OLED is only a display surface for the SMC; a soft restart of the controller re-initialises it independently of Windows and of Designer, so it is safe to do mid-show.
- Step-by-step fixGet the fix →
EX 2 is dropping frames or stuttering with too many video layers. How many layers will an EX 2 actually play?
Likely cause: The EX 2 uses a single removable NVMe media drive and an RTX 4000 Ada, so layer ceilings are set mostly by decode cost and disk data rate - which is why codec choice moves the number far more than layer tidying does.
- Step-by-step fixGet the fix →
EX 2 media drive is full, or a bigger media drive is needed. Will re-imaging lose the media?
Likely cause: The single-cage removable NVMe design is what makes a field capacity upgrade possible and what makes re-imaging safe for content, but it also means there is no RAID redundancy on the media drive.
- Step-by-step fixGet the fix →
Genlock will not apply on the EX 2, or Feed View shows Genlock: Present (unused) and the lock indicator never goes green.
Likely cause: Genlock on the EX 2 is applied by the sync card + GPU driver, and the GPU will refuse to lock heads whose resolution, refresh or timing differ.
- Step-by-step fixGet the fix →
Need a camera or SDI/HDMI feed into an EX 2 but there is no capture input. Video input not working on EX 2.
Likely cause: The EX 2 spec sheet lists video input as NDI only, and the disguise OS image notes tie the HDMI 2.0 / extra 12G SDI capture path specifically to the EX 2C and EX 3+ Deltacast card, which the EX 2 does not have.
- Step-by-step fixGet the fix →
Only two video outputs available on the EX 2 - where do the VFC cards go? Cannot add SDI or DVI output cards.
Likely cause: The EX range is built around fixed DisplayPort outputs rather than the modular VFC backplane used on the VX and GX ranges, which is the single most common spec misunderstanding when an EX 2 is substituted for a VX on a rental order.
- Step-by-step fixGet the fix →
Redisguise (OS re-image) of an EX 2 sits at 0% forever, fails, or the USB will not boot.
Likely cause: The re-image boots a UEFI image from the stick, so a stick built with the wrong partition scheme or file system is seen but never executes - which presents as an indefinite 0%.
- Step-by-step fixGet the fix →
Tearing or out-of-sync playback between EX 2 servers or into an LED processor / XR stage.
Likely cause: Tearing has three distinct causes - a server that cannot render at rate, a sync configuration that was never applied, and downstream gear that is not locked - and the READOUT/widget method separates them instead of guessing.
- Step-by-step fixGet the fix →
Which OS image should an EX 2 be running, and how do I check it?
Likely cause: Sync card firmware, GPU/Mellanox/Deltacast drivers and the SMC image are all versioned by the OS image rather than updated piecemeal, so the image name is the single number that tells you what a server is actually running.
Not on the list? Describe it your way, or paste the error code off the display. Ask Roadie works the problem with you until it's fixed or you have a clear next move.
How Ask Roadie helps with the EX 2
- 1. Pick the disguise EX 2. It's already in the list.
- 2. Describe what you're seeing. In your own words, or the error code off the screen.
- 3. Get the likeliest fix first. Steps in order, the manual page when there is one, and a note when other techs have confirmed it.
- 4. Still broken? Tap 👎 and it keeps going from where you left off.