NovaStar A10s Plus: replacing and recalibrating a receiving card

The A10s Plus is one of the most widely deployed receiving cards on fine-pitch LED walls installed since 2021. Unlike a player or a processor, it is never a plug-and-play swap: each card carries, from the factory and again after the wall's calibration pass, a set of coefficients tied to the colour drift and brightness uniformity of its own LED Image Booster circuits. A technician who simply screws in a new card without reloading that data ends up with a visible rectangle on the wall, even with an identical model.

This tutorial is written for maintenance teams working on an existing fleet: diagnosing a failed card, telling the A10s Plus apart from the A10s Plus-N before ordering the spare part, then bringing the wall back to full service by reloading the cabinet configuration file and the calibration coefficients through NovaLCT. Each card accepts up to 512 × 512 pixels, with 512 × 512 pixels at 60 Hz confirmed on the -N variant's PWM circuits.

All figures come from the official NovaStar specification sheets: A10s Plus Receiving Card Specifications V1.0.5 (18 August 2021) and A10s Plus-N Receiving Card Specifications V1.1.2 (28 July 2023). No unpublished figure is used, and any point where the two sheets differ is flagged explicitly.

1. What the A10s Plus does in the display chain

The receiving card takes the video stream sent by the sending card or multimedia player over Ethernet and drives the LED modules directly. The A10s Plus stands apart from entry-level cards through its LED Image Booster technology: it multiplies the number of displayable grey levels by 64 and applies gamut and grey-scale calibration specific to each output chip, cutting the banding visible in slow gradients on stage and broadcast screens.

On a wall already in service, each A10s Plus keeps in non-volatile memory the cabinet configuration (wiring map) and the pixel-by-pixel calibration coefficients obtained at commissioning or during a recalibration campaign. That on-board memory is exactly what makes replacing a card trickier than a plain like-for-like swap.

• Maximum load: 512 × 512 pixels per A10s Plus card.
• 512 × 512 pixels at 60 Hz confirmed on the A10s Plus-N PWM circuits.
• Brightness and chrominance calibration performed per pixel.
• Gamma adjustable independently on red, green and blue channels.

Before touching anything, record the failed card's serial number and its exact position in the cabinet (row, column). NovaLCT uses that position to find the matching calibration file in the project history.

2. Official technical specifications

The table below reproduces the common figures published in the A10s Plus V1.0.5 sheet. They also apply to the A10s Plus-N unless noted otherwise in the comparison section.

These figures cover the A10s Plus hardware as published in V1.0.5. Do not apply them to another card in the range without checking its own specification sheet.

3. Diagnosing a failed card and dead lines

A failing A10s Plus usually shows up as a block of up to 512 × 512 pixels that stays black, freezes on one colour, or displays horizontal or vertical dead lines inside that block. The first step is to open NovaLCT, select the affected screen, then run the mapping tool to see which card corresponds to the faulty area: the software shows the position of every card in the wall's grid.

A single dead line on an otherwise working card usually points to a faulty solder joint or high-density connector rather than a calibration failure; in that case cleaning or reseating the connector is sometimes enough. A whole block that is dark or shows inconsistent colours, on the other hand, points to a card that needs replacing.

• Run NovaLCT mapping to pinpoint exactly which card is at fault.
• Check whether the defect is a single line (connector) or a whole block (dead card).
• Verify the cabinet's local power supply before concluding the card has failed.
• Compare with neighbouring cabinets to rule out an upstream Ethernet cabling issue.

Photograph the screen before intervening: the exact shape of the defect (line, block, colour shift) helps tell a hardware failure apart from a calibration issue that can be fixed without swapping any part.

4. A10s Plus or A10s Plus-N: identifying the right spare part

Before ordering a replacement card, confirm the exact reference installed on the wall: A10s Plus (sheet V1.0.5) or A10s Plus-N (sheet V1.1.2). Both cards share the same LED Image Booster technology, the same per-pixel calibration and the same EMC Class B compliance, but the -N sheet explicitly documents a 512 × 512 pixel load at 60 Hz on its PWM circuits, along with the fast calibration coefficient upload introduced in V1.0.4 on the A10s Plus line.

On site, the exact reference is printed on the label on the back of the card, and NovaLCT also shows it in the hardware information for the selected module. Never rely on the physical look alone: two revisions of the same family can share the same housing.

• Read the exact reference off the card's label before ordering.
• Cross-check the reference shown in NovaLCT's hardware information.
• Confirm the replacement card runs the same firmware revision as its neighbours.

Mixing A10s Plus and A10s Plus-N cards on the same wall without checking may work electrically, but risks subtle rendering differences between cabinets during a future recalibration: keep this only for temporary fixes, never for a new installation.

5. Preparing the intervention and backing up existing data

Before disconnecting the failed card, export from NovaLCT the wall's cabinet configuration file and, if possible, the calibration coefficients of the still-working neighbouring cards. That backup is your fallback if the file specific to the replaced card cannot be found in the project history.

Cut power to the affected cabinet before handling the high-density connectors: they are built to resist dust and vibration, but unplugging them live can still damage the calibration circuitry held in memory.

• Export the full wall's cabinet configuration file before starting.
• Back up the calibration coefficients of adjacent, working cards.
• Cut power to the cabinet before disconnecting high-density connectors.
• Prepare the NovaLCT link cable (USB or Ethernet, depending on the site setup).

6. Replacing the card and reloading the cabinet file

Once the new card is mechanically installed and its high-density connectors are properly seated, power the cabinet back up and check it appears in the NovaLCT mapping. Without the cabinet configuration file, the new card has no knowledge of the wiring direction or the position of the LED modules it drives: the image stays inconsistent until that file is sent again.

Load the configuration file backed up in the previous step, or the one archived in the project folder, then send it specifically to the replaced card. NovaLCT lets you target a single card instead of the whole wall, which limits the risk of disturbing cabinets that are already calibrated.

• Confirm the new card appears in NovaLCT mapping after power-up.
• Load the cabinet configuration file archived for this wall.
• Send the configuration targeting only the replaced card.
• Visually check image alignment against a test pattern.

7. Re-sending the calibration coefficients

A new card leaves the factory without the calibration coefficients specific to the wall it is fitted into: its raw brightness and chrominance do not match the corrected values of the neighbouring cabinets. NovaLCT lets you resend an existing coefficient file if the wall has already been calibrated and archived, or run a targeted calibration limited to that cabinet with a compatible calibration camera.

The fast coefficient upload feature, introduced in V1.0.4 on the A10s Plus line, noticeably speeds up this step compared with earlier card generations, particularly on walls with several hundred cabinets where sending data card by card would take too long.

• Load the calibration coefficient file archived for the replaced cabinet.
• If no archive exists, run a targeted calibration with a compatible camera.
• Use fast coefficient upload to limit the wall's downtime.
• Compare the repaired cabinet with its neighbours on a low-brightness grey pattern.

The most visible calibration mismatches show up on mid-grey at low brightness, not on full white. Always test a 10-20% grey pattern before considering the job finished.

8. Final acceptance and stability check

Once the configuration and calibration have been reloaded, let the wall run for about ten minutes while watching the repaired cabinet's temperature: a poorly seated card or a badly reconnected high-density connector can cause localised heating that does not show up the moment power is restored.

Finish with a check on real content, not just a test pattern: a slow video gradient reveals an imperfect calibration far better than a flat colour fill, thanks to the eye's sensitivity to grey-scale transitions.

• Monitor the repaired cabinet's temperature during the first few minutes.
• Check for any residual dead line on the replaced area.
• Verify the result on a real video gradient, not only on a test pattern.

9. Preventing recurring faults across an installed fleet

Across a fleet of several screens, systematically archiving each wall's cabinet configuration files and calibration coefficients, filed by card serial number, sharply cuts the time needed for a future repair. That archive should be refreshed after every full recalibration, not only at initial commissioning.

High-density connectors, although built to resist dust and vibration, remain the most frequent failure point on installations subject to repeated vibration, such as advertising poles or mobile rental structures.

• Archive cabinet files and calibration coefficients by card serial number.
• Refresh the archive after every recalibration campaign.
• Inspect high-density connectors first on vibration-prone installations.

Replacement procedure

1. Diagnose the failed card

   Run NovaLCT mapping to locate the failed card and tell a single dead line apart from a whole block that has gone dark.

2. Identify the exact reference

   Check the label and NovaLCT to confirm whether the installed card is an A10s Plus or an A10s Plus-N before ordering the spare part.

3. Back up the existing configuration

   Export the wall's cabinet configuration file and the calibration coefficients of still-working neighbouring cards.

4. Replace the card with power off

   Cut power to the cabinet, remove the failed card and seat the new one on the high-density connectors.

5. Reload the cabinet file

   Restore power, confirm the card appears in NovaLCT, then send it the archived configuration file specifically.

6. Re-send the calibration coefficients

   Load the existing calibration file or run a targeted calibration, using fast coefficient upload.

7. Accept the repair

   Check the cabinet's temperature, confirm no residual dead line remains, and verify the result on a real video gradient.

Frequently asked questions

Official documentation

• A10s Plus Receiving Card Specifications V1.0.5 (official PDF) — Specification sheet
• A10s Plus-N Receiving Card Specifications V1.1.2 (official PDF) — Specification sheet
• Official NovaStar downloads (NovaLCT and receiving cards) — Software

Related tutorials

• NovaLCT tutorial: configuring an LED screen
• NovaStar calibration tutorial: evening out an LED wall
• NovaStar A8s Pro tutorial: thermal compensation and free rotation
• NovaStar A5s Plus tutorial: entry-level high-end receiving card

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