6300 locking up just sitting there on receive

Delbert McCord

I have a Flex 6300 that is a year and a half old. I leave it powered up 24/7 so I can use it in my pole barn (cat 5 cable). When its working it works great, no problems and all green bars on the network status. 

To get the 6300 to reset I have to remove DC power from it. After I do that I can simply just press the front power button and it comes on no problems. I have gotten to the point that I only access it to check into a 80 meter net once a day. Today I had accessed it with no problem and had been listening to the pre net and it just stopped. The radio is not showing up on my network. To make this a real problem for me is my shack is in my basement and my knee is giving me real problems so I am now off the air until my knee gets a little better. This has been going on for a couple months now. 

Has anyone else has problems like this? If so does anyone have any idea how to correct it? I do not think sending it in to Flex because I can not tell them how to make it happen sometimes it takes a week to happen.

mikeatthebeach .

Have you tried to reset your Flex 6300 to factory default settings with a reset
Page 20 of Flex Hardware Manual
Press OK Button, while keeping the OK Button Depressed, Push the Power On button
Your should see a 5 second Countdown on the Display and Power Lite will be White, not 
Green !

Try that 

73 Mike

mikeatthebeach .

P.S. : Got the same Knee problem, wish there was
a reset for that ! Hi ! Hi !

Keith Flint

I had a similar problem, but since my 6300 is in my shack, i saw the problem. And heard it. Turned out to be bad fan bearings in either the CPU or RX chips, which are hidden inside the shielding, so not replaceable while in warranty, so it went off to Flex - Twice. It arrives back here tomorrow, so we will see. Great Flex support, BTW. Gave over-temp fatal errors and shut down to protect the chips etc.Support said it would just get worse until it would not start up at all.
Keith
W7ZAC

Mack

Please tell us more so we can help. This doesn't sound like a Flex issue to me but a networking issue.

What software verision?
What interface (PC or Maestro)?
How is the LAN configured? Router, CAT 5 (length) to pole barn, switch at the pole barn?,Router/switch models, etc?
What is the termperature where the radio is located in the pole barn?

From there perhaps we can help more.

Mack
W4AX
Alpha Tester

Jim Gilliam

During the power reset, be sure the radio is powered off first. That important point was not mentioned in the above reset instructions.

Jim, K6QE

Tim - W4TME

Delbert,

You have omitted some of the most important information when submitting a problem report.  Namely, what version of software are you running and did this issue become worse after loading a particular version of software?

When the radio stops being seen on the network, if you press and hold the power button for 5-10 seconds, will the radio reboot without having to remove DC?  

Answering all of these questions will help in the troubleshooting.

Delbert McCord

Thanks for all the information!
I have tried holding the button down for over 10 seconds and that did not do any good. I had a funny thing happen to me this morning. I had a document I had to scan and send to one of my employees so I had to do down stairs to my office/shack and scan it and email it to him. I was sitting there waiting for the scanner and I pressed the power button on the Flex and nothing happened. I would have to stand up to get behind it to unplug the power from it. I finished what I was doing which took around 5 min. I looked at the rig (was going to stand and unplug it like I have done many times before) and the rig had turned off. I do not know how long it took because I was dealing with other things. I pressed the button and it came back on. I am not in the barn about 3 hours later. The rig is on with no problems, I dissconnected (do not want to push my luck).

Here is some of the info you asked for. I am running Smart SDR V 1.6.17 (Software works fine, I am not big into upgrading something that is working, why take the risk?) On the bottom right of the software screen it says "Network Excellent Latency (RTT): < 1ms  All the bars are green. The only time I have ever had any network problems with my Flex is when running it with my laptop Wireless. I have 2 Flex 6300 rigs (one at my cabin) both have worked great except when I run them wireless. They work wireless just not all green bars and like every 4 hours they would dissconnect but I could always reconnect with no problems. (I like to listen to talk radio and I used to use the Flex's where ever I was at to listen to AM talk radio all day.) Last year I built a bridge over our creek for my Grand Daughter to use and I had the Laptop sitting on the back of the Gator laying all day with my listening to talk radio. 

The heat Idea makes sence, my shack downstairs is warm most of the time (there are 4 computers running down there on my network for my employees to use remote) Its normally 75 to 80 degrees down there (I have a thermometer sitting there at the same level as the rig is). I do not hear real good so the fans in the rig could have been making noises and I would not hear it. 

I wonder if Flex sells the fans? are they user replaceable I have had to replace lots of them on computer power supply's over the years.

This problem has happened when I am downstairs and at that time I am only a few feet from the rig only going through less than 30 feet of cat 5 cable. When I am in the barn I am going through about 400 feet of cat 5 cable. Its good cable and I buried it myself and it is the cable designed to be buried. I do not think its the network. 

I want to say thank you to all the people that have taken their time to give me some ideas!

Tim - W4TME

If heat was an issue, you would receive an error messaging stating so.

You are running old code.  I suspect that you are experiencing a firmware crash.  I would upgrade to the latest general release (1.9.13). 

Delbert McCord

What are the risks in upgrading? What if it locked up in the middle?

Mack

Delbert, I was one of the first two external Alpha testers back in the days when the radio would barely receive on one panadapter and no transmit. Much of the radio was hand wired. I've flashed my firrmware no less than several hundred times. You won't have an issue. Go ahead. If the radio appears to hang during the update, like after 10 minutes, just power off the radio and it will self recover, probably to the latest firmware. That is a very rare instance though. Tim's right, we've fixed a LOT of bugs since the version you're running. Mack W4AX Alpha Tester

Delbert McCord

OK Thank You. If it has a auto restore than I should be ok, I will download the newest software and give it a try. Thank You.