Hi, I have been asked to upgrade three avid edit stations.  One is currently Xpress Pro 5.2.1 and I have an MC3.0 upgrade kit purchased last year.  This system has a MOJO with it.  I think I have found on the guys email computer the .avd dongle updater, though I have to check somehow that it is the right one.

I also have a system with  MC2.8.1 currnetly installed and want to upgrade it to 3.1.1 , and then there is an Adrenaline system.  I have provided the specs for all three below. 

Xpress Pro system                                                                                                                             Inetl Xeon CPU 3.GHz                                                                                                                        2.99GHz, 2GB ram                                                                                                                           Nvidia Geforce PCX5750                                                                                                                       MOJO attached.                                                                                                                                  Currently Running Xpress Pro 5.2.1 - Upgrade kit to MC ver 3.0.                                                                QT verion 7.04

I have never used a MOJO before and I read that the upgrade can cause problems for the MOJO.  How do I find out what version MOJO I am running and is there anything I need to know about upgrading with this attached?

I have a feeling the Graphics card is going to cause me problems - anyone care to offer me an opinion about this card with MC3?  Apart from look at the compatibility pages.

I know I have to uninstall Xpress Pro before installing MC3 - and I believe the MC3 installer will give me the option to uninstall, but I also have a feeling that there are some other files that need to be removed.  I have the README file for MC3.0,  is there anything else I need to look into? 

System 2  Currently running VMC2.8.1  HPXW8600                                                                                                                                                                                        Intel Xeon CPU E5430 at 2.66GHz                                                                                                2.67GHz, 3.25GB RAM                                                                                                                       Nvidia Quadro FX3700                                                                                                                            QT 7.2

I presume this is a straightforward update from 2.8.1 to 3.0.5?,   ie uninstall the current version and install the new version, no dongle update needed.  Does the uninstaller in the download work or are there other files to delete.  I have the READme file for 3.0.5

Adrenaline System. -                                                                                                                              MC Ver 2.0.2                                                                                                                     HPXW8000                                                                                                                                      Xeon CPU 2.8GHz                                                                                                                               2.79GHz, 2GB RAM                                                                                                                           Nvidia Quadro4 980XGL

Not sure about this one at all.  The guys here said they have installed a newer version but "There were problems..."  I dont know what they were but enough for them to roll back to this version.  They didnt have the time or  inclination to look into it and work out what the solution was. 

Am I right to think that I cant simply upgrade the MC version, because it is intergrated into the adrenaline hardware?  If so can anyone point me in the direction of some instructions/procedures to upgrade the package?

I have found the Readme files for version  3 and 3.05, and I have also found a procedure for manually uninstalling Xpress Pro or Media Composer.  Any views on which is best - a manual uninstall or let the uninstaller do its work?

I am being cautious because these guys have just started shooting and they need working computers from next week.                                                   

Thansk for your time and any advice

Graham                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

Hi Graham,

I'll take a shot at some of these.

grayboy:

I know I have to uninstall Xpress Pro before installing MC3 - and I believe the MC3 installer will give me the option to uninstall, but I also have a feeling that there are some other files that need to be removed.  I have the README file for MC3.0,  is there anything else I need to look into? 

According to the Xpress Pro to MC FAQ, you are correct in that you must remove Xpress Pro.  I haven't seen anything tricky about this anyplace else (i.e. no registry edits or separate uninstall instructions).

grayboy:

I presume this is a straightforward update from 2.8.1 to 3.0.5?,   ie uninstall the current version and install the new version, no dongle update needed.  Does the uninstaller in the download work or are there other files to delete.  I have the READme file for 3.0.5

This one is a little trickier.  Take a look at this post from Marianna regarding extra steps you have to take going from MC 2.8 to 3.0.

grayboy:

Any views on which is best - a manual uninstall or let the uninstaller do its work?

Personally, I'd uninstall myself first, and depending on how much time you have, I'd consider reinstalling the OS before installing MC.  That's obviously not official guidance, that's just me.

You might also want to take a look at the Media Composer Download Tips.

Hope that helps, and hopefully some other people will come fill in the answers to your other questions.

good luck,
Carl

Thnaks carl,  and thanks for the pointer to the post from marianna. 

The versioner file isnt the correct one for the Xpress Pro system so I have just tried to download this, but I get stumped after I have entered the sys id and ser number and the upgrade key - I then need to provide the exact same forname and surname of the person who originally registered it.  Unfortunately nobody knows.  I have a choice of four - if I get it wrong do I get a second chance? - there are warnings that you can only use the upgrade key once.  Am I being overcautious? Is there a way to find out who originally registered?

Too many questions but thanks to anyone who can help me out

Graham

 her's a trick that i have used on all upgrades since the first one and has never failed me

install a new harddrive for the os  cost is cheep on line and you get a fresh install and a fresh hard drive  and you still have everything you had  before just incase good backstop for a production on a time frame

bump for the night people 

I have upgraded the 2.8.1 version to 3.00, no problems so far, although I am trying to get footage from the Panasonic HDC-SD100 to play nice with it. (Converting it using the Pansonic transcoder - the DV-avi files playback ok but are jittery when viewed on a TV, the P2 transcodes play but wont play out via firewire, so I dont know if they hav the jitters as well, New to P2/AVCHD so thats probably another thread in the making. )

Anyone care to venture an opinion about the Adrenaline system - whats the upgrade procedure?

Graham

Graham, the 8000 is going to be problematic for MC 3.x. I believe that the minimum supported CPU is the 8400 (at least a lot of the upgrades I'm doing these days for Avid are swapping out the 8000s for bigger CPUs to run 3.x).

I thought the 8000 was a bit long in the tooth.  Anyone know if I can just swap the 8600 for the 8000?  Not being familiar with adrenaline systmes I assume there is a dedicated card in the 8000 which I can just simply transplant into the 8600 and install some adrenaline software and the job is done!  Is this a project for a couple of reasonably handy editors/directors or would we be advised to leave well alone? 

Check the specs on those CPUs. I believe that they have different PCI bus configs.

Thanks Blkdog - The boss man here decided that he doesnt want to risk having two systems possibly out of action so he is going to keep the adrenaline on the 8000.   I am trying to figure out what upgrade they installed that caused the problems.  I'll no doubt be back in touch about this.

In the meantime is there anwyay I can find out the name of wheover registered the Xproess Pro package cos I cant get the versioner.avd without this, (or can I?) and nobody knows who it was?

Graham

Sure, email me the system IDs and Serial Numbers and I can get that for you.

Thanks Blkdog - I found a contact for warranty department and someone called Greg responded with the name  - all good for now.