Flex 6500 connect problem

Tom--W4FAS

I have been using ssdr 1.14.16 since it was released with no problems. When I tried to boot up my system yesterday everything seemed to proceed normally until I pressed the connect button. At that point the system started to connect but when it started to display the panadapter it froze and I got the message "connection to the radio lost." The Radio Setup window then appears and indicates the radio is in use and the right side of the window shows all the appropriate information. But the bottom button instead of showing a green connect button shows a yellow "Update" button. When I press the Update button most of the radio and radio ID information goes blank. My computer is an HP TouchSmart running Windows 8.1 Tried The Following in addition to more retries than I can count. Boot up the system using ssdr 1.11 Boot up the system after uninstalling and reinstalling ssdr 1.14.16 Boot up the system on a Dell Laptop running Windows 7 and using ssdr 1.14.16 All of the above resulted in the exact same failure as outlined in paragraph 1. Any ideas/recommendations will be appreciated. Tom

Bill -VA3WTB

how did you do the boot up,,it needs a cold restart.

George KF2T

I've seen that happen a few times. No need to press "update." Shut down SSDR and relaunch. Should be fine. PS, remove previous versions of SSDR. Old versions will try to downgrade the radio firmware, which is unnecessary.

Bill -VA3WTB

wonder if he used the wrong icon,,seen that before too

WX7Y

You my have to do a hard reset including pulling the power plug for 30 seconds, be sure to reinstall the later version of SSDR before you power the radio back on, if it asks do the update then do the update and then it should work. (After a firmware update I always shut the radio off then back on before I start using it) if you didn't save your radio profile you'll have to put all your settings back in the radio, if you've saved your profile then simply import it back in the radio. this may or may not work for you but but it has bee discussed MANY times before on here. 73's Bret WX7Y

Tom--W4FAS

Hi Bill, Thanks for your reply. If by cold restart you mean turn off the radio and turn off the power supply, I did that. I also totally shut down and rebooted the computer. I'm not sure what you meant by the "right icon"? Tom

Bill -VA3WTB

Sometimes people leave an icon from an older version and when they use it it wants to downgrade. Just make sure the icon is for the latest.

Steve W6SDM

I would uninstall all the SSDR versions, hard reset the radio, use a registry cleaner, if you have one, to get rid of any stray or leftover entries from SSDR, and then reboot the PC.  I will bet that if you re-install 1.4.16 after all of that, it will work.

This is the equivalent of a digital enema. 

Tom--W4FAS

Hi George, Thanks for your reply. I removed all older versions of ssdr. I removed ssdr 1.11 after I tried it to see if it would work. I have totally shut down ssdr, the computer, the radio, and the power supply numerous times. I uninstalled and reinstalled ssdr 1.16. You and Bill both seem to indicate that maybe I used the wrong icon. Which icon do you mean? You mentioned the radio firmware. I was thinking that since two different versions of ssdr,and windows, and two different computers had all produced the same failure that maybe the radio firmware had somehow become corrupted. Please don't assume that because I used the word firmware I have any idea what I'm talking about. Tom

Bill -VA3WTB

some time people leave older versions on the desktop. It is easy to click on an older one, so It will not start up as it should. but after uninstall is all done and you re install it should go fine. I hope you saved all your settings

k3Tim

for reg cleaner, ccleaner seems to work well without bad side effects.  You'll want to get it (free) direct form the pirifrom.com website.  Anytime I un-install s/w ccleaner finds registry entries the uninstallers left behind.  I am on the camp that says a bloated registry can slow the machine down.

I would also invoke a known good global profile to ascertain it's not something in the currently used profile.

Someone in the community advised keeping a global profile stashed away in a safe area as a back up.  Sage advise I must say!

Good Luck

Walt - KZ1F

I've had that happen too. It's one of those things that 'officially' doesn't happen. (maybe like UFO's?)

Turn off the radio.
Turn off the power supply.
Count to 60.
Turn clockwise 3 times.
Turn on the power supply.
Turn on the radio.
Turn on SSDR.

It completely awes me the amount of time 'factory reset' is the preferred solution. It it was a TV set or your car, or clock radio, people would be demanding their money back.
So either 'factory reset' is a completely frivolous non-productive thing to do, like turning clockwise three times, or there is some seriously bad stuff going on in the radio. Again, before the pitchforks come out, if Panasonic or RCA or LG or whoever (ford, gm, toyota, Kia, etc, support told you to do that to your TV or car what would be people's reaction?. Maybe factory reset is the correct resolution but, if so, then the swooning ought to stop and the serious questions (why do we need to do so many factory resets on a 2 year old mature product?) ought to start.

BTW, I've never done a factory reset. I consider that (regardless of who says it) to be worse than the 'reboot your system' as a valid solution. But, with the consumer OS, people got used to that as a valid resolution.

Steve W6SDM

I agree with CCleaner. I have used it for years. It's amazing how much leftover junk there is in the registry. Most of the time it is without consequence but sometimes the leftover stuff causes conflicts.

Steve W6SDM

Walt, the other stuff from Panasonic and LG is designed for consumers. The average housewife would probably have an issue with doing a factory reset on her dishwasher. Flex is designed for radio amateurs who, by their very nature, are adventurers and experimenters. The Flex and SSDR are cutting edge technology. Two years is infancy for this kind of software, some of which was only a concept a couple of years ago. Plus, everyone uses their station differently with different hardware and outboard software under a variety of operations conditions, unlike a kitchen appliance. Most of us wouldn't be able,to afford these radios if they went through the kind of long-term testing that made sure they never required a factory reset.

Bill -VA3WTB

A guy came in to fix my Samsong washer, he did a factory reset on it's computer.

Walt - KZ1F

'Two years is infancy...'? Steve, you really want to have that conversation with me??? I disagree on all your points, which just goes to the expiration time each of us put on the 'free pass' we've implicitly given FRS. I am intimately familiar with SDLC, as Tim apparently states himself now.

Walt - KZ1F

Bill... Gotta ask, where was that washer made and were you the least bit surprised?

Steve W6SDM

I've been married to my washer's computer for over 20 years and never have had to reset.

Tom--W4FAS

IT'S WORKING Thanks Guys!!!! Somebody mentioned holding the "OK Button" while powering up. I think that's a factory Reset and fixed the problem. I would thank the fellow by name that mentioned the OK Button by name but I cannot find his message. I have received 5 more messages while writing this so I need to get the word out now that my flex 6500 is back on line. 73, Tom W4FAS