Flex 6300 problem jumping panadapter and stuttering waterfall

GI4FZD

problem with new Flex6300 delivered today.

K6OZY

How is the Flex 6300 and your computer connected?  We need details about the network cabling between the two in good detail.

Also, please tell us about the computer you are using.   We need to know CPU, memory, resolution you are running, and the graphics card that is in the computer.   There isn't anything wrong with the radio, but there is a data flow issue between the radio and the computer that we need to figure out.

GI4FZD

Connected via switch, I used this 3 weeks ago with another 6300 with ddutils switching amp atu rotator lp100a without issue.its an 2.3ghz i5 laptop with 1920x1080 external display

GI4FZD

Its a 1gb switch, 8gb memory ati radeon 6700 mobile graphics adapter and i did try another network cable.

K6OZY

It's good that these are connected via a switch.   If this is running 1.3.8, after you connect and you experience stuttering, you should open your Task Manager and inspect the CPU usage of your computer to see if anything else may be stealing CPU time.   Is this Windows 7 or 8?

GI4FZD

cpu is about 17% running win 8.1..this radio was just substituted for a machine that was working 3 weeks ago, same computer same cables. i can't work it out,
It's getting late here i will have to sleep on it.
Thanks for the help so far.

Steve W6SDM

Assuming you're running WiFi, is there a chance something is **** up bandwidth on your network?  Something streaming, maybe?  It may be worth process of elimination of anything else plugged into the switch, and then anything plugged into the router.

GI4FZD

Hi Steve,
I am not running wifi, adapter is disabled, DPCs are all below 1000, I have tried different cables, different switch,direct cable between computer and flex6300, still no joy. cpu usage is around 17% sunet and mask are ok.
network usage on smartsdr is 2.9Mbps
This was a direct replacement for another 6300 that was 100% working with the system, that I stupidly sold.
I retired last month and have worked in IT in the television facilities industry for a long long time but maybe i have missed something.
Cheers
Paul

K6OZY

I think he was meaning if you were running wifi anywhere in your network not necessarily on the computer running SmartSDR.   I agree, it's hard to diagnose this remotely when it seems like a weird gremlin somewhere.   You could try resetting the persistent database in the 6300.  Besides that, since you are IT-aware, I'm not sure what else to recommend.

Larry Benoit

Although unlikely, one possibility is that SmartSDR is not optimally interfacing with the ATI Radeon 6700 graphic card. On the SmartSDR Startup window, check to see if  “GPU Capability” is set to “Maximum Graphics Acceleration”. If not, SmartSDR is having a problem with your GPU.  Whatever the case, you might want to check with ATI to determine if an updated driver is available.

Good luck and 73,

Larry KB1VFU

 

Tim - W4TME

Can you make a short video of the panadapter behavior?  Looking at what is happening make give me a clue as to what is happening.

GI4FZD

Hi Tim,
I have sent you a video at your qrz email address.
cheers
Paul

GI4FZD

I did try resetiing the persistance database also downgraded to 1.2.17 then back up through 1.3 to the current 1.3.8.126 still have same fault, I was able to run my last 6300 from 2 locations in my house without problems (not at the same time of course), my main computer is an I7 that i use
for video editing and my house is cabled for network.
Lot of head scratching going on here ,I can't say I am pulling my hair out because its practicaly non existant.

Anthony Bowyer

Have you tried forcing the laptop NIC to 100mbs? 1gb can be a strain for some cabling or configs. Try making the laptop 100/Full (turn off autonegotiate), restart the laptop and the 6300 (this is necessary), see if it makes a difference.

GI4FZD

Hi Anthony,
I have just tried your suggestion, it made no difference

GI4FZD

Here is link to video of the problem
http://we.tl/Qqo6y8Oux7
cheers
Paul

Anthony Bowyer

One issue is that you can't force the 6300 to 100/full, but you could force it on the laptop and directly connect to the 6300 for a bit to test.

Mike W9OJ

I didn't see any jumping panadpter in that video.
I had a jumping panadpter with my 6300 and 1.38 and downgraded SSDR to 1.21
Probably didn't have to go back that far but did so anyway.

73 de Mike W9OJ

GI4FZD

No its harder to video the jumping panadapter but you can see the disturbance in the waterfall
cheers
Paul

GI4FZD

Tried to send you video but it didn't recognise your qrz email

GI4FZD

there are a few blips on the panadapter at around 10 seconds and a large one center right at end of video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNuFC8WLSH8

Tim - W4TME

I looked at the video.  From what I can tell, there is no loss of audio when the waterfall has a low signal event that shows up as a light colored band.  Also I can't tell if the panadapter is freezing at the same time that the waterfall is showing the light colored bands. And, if the network was dropping packets that contained spectrum data, the lines on the waterfall would be black, not a lighter color of blue. All this indicates that the network isn't dropping packets.

I noticed that you have PRE (preamp) on.  Does it show the same behavior is the preamp is off?

Barry N1EU

57% cpu utilization

GI4FZD

here is another of the waterfall
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cspLOhaoXk

Tim - W4TME

If you slow down the waterfall rate in SmartSDR do you still see the issue?

Ken - NM9P

Probably not related, but just in case... I get white line pan dropouts every time my wife turns the lights on or off in the room next to the ham shack.  Apparently a momentary electrical surge is getting transmitted through the power supply of either the computer or the rig.  Or perhaps it is getting picked up by the CAT6 cabling.  Could you have some electrical impulse going through your AC lines that are being transferred to the rig/computer but are not being radiated to the antenna?

Ernest - W4EG

I am sorry that I opened these video links.

Now, I have access to so much video garbage that I sure like to know how to delete then off my forum page.

Tim - W4TME

I can see the black lines now; that is probably packet loss.  What kind of gigabit Ethernet switch are you using?

GI4FZD

Pre amp doesn't seem to make a difference,knocked waterfall back to 82 speed still glitching and horizontal lines on waterfall, another thing is that when i change say the scale at the right hand side of panadapter the trace takes about to seconds to follow it and glitches a lot until it finds its new position on the display...I better not link anymore videos ,Ernest is complaining.

GI4FZD

yes

GI4FZD

I have tried 2 ways, one is a netgear gs308 but my previous 6300 was working fine through my Asus Rt-N66U which has 4 gigabit ports, I have also tried direct computer connection to the radio with the same result,