Heat related lockup

Barry Isseks

Flex 6500 v1.4.0.53  -- A hot day in the schack (90+) causes the the Flex to randomly lock up, forcing a hard reboot. A fan on the case helps but freezes still may persist. I have not seen this on cool days, so it appears to be heat related. Lockup may happen on receive or transmit.

George KF2T

Same radio, no problem in Vegas (A/C set to high temp when away from home, operate remote). Are the side vents clear and clean? Can you confirm the fan's turning?

Bill -VA3WTB

It sounds like the computer is having trouble with the heat. Lose of connection to the Flex?

Walt - KZ1F

Computers standardly get well above 90. I'd guess well over 100. When I was running PSDR on the laptop sitting in my lap, it would get too hot to have in my lap. How hot is that?...more than 90. Granted, that was mine. So a good question for Barry is what is his computer, age etc and is there any ventilation in the shack? Where he says it is the radio, I'd take him at his word. On the computer, what else is running on it and do they experience any issues?

Barry Isseks

Great comments ! Thanks for the insightful replies.. So the computer is fine, running windows 7, very low processor utilization with the i7 processor. Only other big app running is chrome browser which happily plays on.. Also the radio lockup happens first then connection is lost which points to radio. And yes, the flex fan is running. As noted, a clampon fan blowing on the case reduces the lockup incidents. Other info,.. A buzz may precede the lockup, or not. All freezes require a hard reboot.

Reg

The lost connection might be a LAN problem.  Unless the radio is directly connected to the computer, without a switch in the path, it could be other LAN components failing in the heat.

Tim - W4TME

I strongly recommend upgrading to SmartSDR v1.4.16 - you are using an older version of software.  The new versions have better thermal management features.

Also make sure the radio is not in a cabinet or enclosed space there there might be restricted airflow.

Barry Isseks

So.. have updated to v1.4.16 today and the radio freezes as often as before, about every 5 minutes on average. So.. at this point I have submitted a help desk request as this can't continue. Thanks for all your suggestions... this is a great community.