Audio stopped working

W0QKL

Yesterday, we powered up the 6500 and switched from the 20m band to the 10m band and after about a minute the audio stopped on both the external speakers and the head phones. We switched bands and still no audio. Had to power down the 6500 to regain the audio. Has any one had this problem?

Tim - W4TME

This behavior has been reported previously on occasion. What version of SmartSDR are you using and is this behavior reproducible?

W0QKL

No it has not come back! SDR Ver 1.0, When I had the problem I even tried to Mute and un-mute both external speaker and phones but no change, I stopped and restarted the software with no effect, I switched bands also no effect. I then powered down and restored power that did the trick, Hope this helps. P.S. I think but I'm NOT 100% sure but. I think the sound started to decrease in volume till it went out which took just a few seconds. If it happens again I will take notes and investigate further, for you. Regards, W0QKL

Brian Morgan VK7RR

I have this problem relatively frequently. Smart SDR actually stops and needs a reboot of the Flex radio, or sometimes of the computer as well. I cannot make it happen, but it does occur every few days. Regards, Brian, VK7RR/4

Tom Hoflich

I have this problem from time to time. I just **** and restart SmartSDR 1.0 Tom KM5H

Tim - W4TME

W0QKL - please describe your network configuration?

Brian Morgan VK7RR

Hi Tim, Flex 6500, Win 7, DDutil, MixW, Dual Core PC, two monitors, fed via USB DVI adapter. It is usually precipitated by a warning that the graphics driver has stopped but recovered. In losing audio, you also lose contact between Smart SDR and the computer, necessitating a complete reboot. If you simply restart Smart SDR, you do not regain communications with the Flex 6500. A hard reboot of both is necessary. It is not related to transmitting, but will happen when no activity or when using the USB mouse to change frequency or some other parameter.

W0QKL

Tim my network is simple Flex 6500 connected direct to the Dell inspiration and the Dell is connected wireless to a internet router. Brian's problem might be different when I reloaded the smartSDR everything worked but the audio also when I rebooted the computer and started smartSDR everything worked except the Audio so the problem had to be in the Radio. But I have not seen the problem occur since. W0QKL

Tim - W4TME

It is possible that the radio needed a "cold" reboot to restart the SmartSDR firmware (inside the 6000). The software can occasionally get into a state where the cold reboot is necessary.

Tim - W4TME

This is a great conversation that's separate from the main topic, so I created a new problem topic to continue the discussion. Please reference the new topic here: PC and FLEX-6000 lose network contact

Nick

Just had the same problem with audio going dead after switching from 20 to 10 and back to 20. I thought the problem may have been with the speaker so I checked the headphones. They were working so the problem is isolated to the speaker output. Restarted S/W with no improvement, turned radio of and on with no improvement. Audio returned after removing power from radio and then restarting everything.

Tim - W4TME

What type of radio are you using?

Nick

6500. The radio continued to work as usual and the audio out of the earphone jack was fine.

k0eoo

This problem just happened on my 6500, V1.0.0, connected directly to PC, W7 pro, last night. I had two slices open, upper on 20m and lower on 40m. I also had DDUtil open and running DX4WIN. I tried clicking on a spot in DX4WIN to jump from 20m to 10m on upper slice. I lost the RX-A when I did the click so I reopened RX-A, it opened but the audio started to ****-up/distort and the more I tried to move volume sliders and mute/unmute the less audio came out until 10-20 seconds I had no audio at all... closing and opening SSDR did not resolve, had to close and power down 6500 to resolve. I might add, in the 4 or so months I have been banging & clicking on the code, this is the FIRST time I have ever had a problem with the audio.... Hope this helps Tim.... Dennis, k0eoo

Tim - W4TME

It does. With the FLEX-6500 in it current 2x2 configuration (2 panadapters / 2 slices) the radio can get into a state occasionally where resources are orphaned and can not be easily recovered except with a radio reboot or power cycle. Since the resources are limited to start with, one or two failures can put it into a fault state. This issue should be mitigated when we have the full 4x4 configuration code in a later version of SmartSDR.

Nick

In this case it was just a single incidence running. One panadapter. It is interesting that everyone that has seen the behavior mentions 10 and 20 meters. It sounds more like a memory management problem than a shortage of resources. Is the problem a null pointer?

george hinkle

I have the same problem I've done everything I know todo and also talked to Flex and still audio drops out. I give up put my flex in a box to give it a rest. What's taken me days probably someone who knows 10 minutes to fix.

W4EY

I have the same problem. Only after I Installed SmartSDR Beta v1.0.24 today. First problem was the Loss of Audio and all control to the FLEX 6500. Was not able to change bands, or move any radio controls. No functions or other controls for the FLEX from the SmartSDR panel.The PanAdapter did not show any signals. Basically appeared to have the Transmit and Receive status in the transmit stage. I Had to Reboot the FLEX and the Computer. After the reboot process completed, I was successful in restarting the SmartSDR program and the FLEX. This problem first appeared on the 10Meter band, Then it happened again on the 15 meter band. This only started after installing the new SmartSDR Beta version. Has this problem been resolved??

Tim - W4TME

No. It will probably not get resolved until the 6700 and the 6500 get their full compliment of slice receivers and panadapters.