V2.0 still crashes my 6700

Rick W7YP

Like 1.10.16 before it, 2.0 still randomly crashes my radio; however, when it does, my panadapters and slice receivers aren't missing and/or scrambled, as was always the case with 1.10.16.  As before with 1.10.16, no tones have been emitted and the radio will shutdown with a short push of the on/off switch, albeit 60 seconds later.  I was really looking forward to the remote operation features of 2.0, which is why I coughed up the $200 for the upgrade; however, it's useless to me as long as the radio continues to crash.

Now that a back-port will be done next to create a 1.11 release, I imagine it will be a long time before this bug gets addressed.

ctate243

Rick
Perhaps you should open a helpdesk ticket with flex.  This is not typical behavior and may be a local issue rather than a bug.  Im sure the gang would be happy to try and figure out whats going on.

Bill -VA3WTB

I have never seen this ever, I wonder if it is a drop out in connection. Yes I would use help desk and work with them on it.

Mack

Rick,

Open a help desk ticket. This is not typical. My radio and various clients have been connected continuously for weeks. Try a direct LAN cable connection between your computer and the radio and test there. Also be sure your ethernet adapter is not going to sleep in power saving mode.

Mack
W4AX
Alpha Team

Tim - W4TME

Now that a back-port will be done next to create a 1.11 release, I imagine it will be a long time before this bug gets addressed.

That is an incorrect assumption.

I am working with Rick via his HelPDesk ticket.  If anyone else is experiencing an issue similar to this one, please submit a HelpDesk support ticket for issue resolution.

Rick W7YP

Chris, Bill and Mack,

This is not a 'local issue'.  The radio is receiving extremely clean DC power and there's no RFI making it into my shack (I'm an EE who's worked in RF and embedded systems for 30+ years.)  A very fast 6-core PC is controlling the radio through a high end gigabit managed switch.  Crashes occur even when directly connected to the radio.

Since the Signature Series has a client-server architecture, NOTHING on the client side should cause the server (6700) to crash.

I do perhaps have a somewhat unique setup in that I have the DEMI 2m LPDA amplifier hooked up to one of the 6700's USB ports and an SPE Expert 1.3K-FA on the other USB port.  I also have the internal GPSDO.  So, system timing in my setup is undoubtedly different from that in many others.  Based upon my years of experience in embedded systems, this has the feel of a timing-related issue.

But thanks for the suggestions.  I appreciate the desire to help.

Rick, W7YP

John G3WGV

I just had a crash with low level continuous tone on my 6500 running V2. The radio was muted and I was doing something completely different on another PC at the time. I think Flex has quite a few of these reports now but happy to lodge a help desk ticket if you want me to, Tim.

Tim - W4TME

Yes, please open a HelpDesk ticket so we can collect specific data on your issue.

John G3WGV

Done.

Tim - W4TME

TY

Steve Jones gw0gei

Hi John, sorry to hear you have had the crash problem too despite upgrading to v 2.0. I was hoping that the new code would have finally got over the random crash problem that many of us have experienced with 1.10.16. Hopefully your helpdesk ticket info may help frs get nearer to the root of the issue in the new code before it gets back ported into a maintenance release for those of us who are waiting for resolution before upgrading to 2.0
73 steve gw0gei / gw9j

Andy M5ZAP

Hi Steve / Rick

Rick - Sorry to hear your problems persist.

I have upgraded to V2 and so far been lockup free, that said my lockups were quite intermittent and tended to be grouped together. Also my operating conditions / setup are different at the moment running V2.with me testing remote operation.

Have you had the lockup when running remote?

Tim - Would it be worth a separate post asking people who suffered the 1.10.16 lockup to post just there experience on V2. Plus ask that the post is restricted to that response with no diversion of the thread topic. Might help you understand if Rick's problem is the "Normal" flex lockup if other users have the problem carry over to V2.

Tim - W4TME

Here is the reality of the situation.  When you do not have definitive knowledge of the root cause for all the issues, there is the possibility that one or two particular types of crashes may not have been fully addressed. 

From the short time that SmartSDR v2 has been out, the incident rate of the crashes has decreased dramatically, meaning we addressed a majority of the issues causing problems.  But it looks like we may have a lingering issue or two we need to deal with.

The situation has improved and that is a step forward in the right direction.  We just have a little more work to do to resolve these outliers.  

Rick W7YP

Hi, Andy;

I haven't attempted to operate 2.0 in remote mode due to the still frequent lock-ups.  God forbid that such a lock-up occur while in transmit mode.  At this point I'm not inclined to make the additional hardware investment in the added items I'd need to ensure that I could still shut down the radio from my remote location under virtually all circumstances where that might occur.

Are you still crash free?  May I ask what panadapters and slice receivers you normally have configured?

73,

Rick

Frederic HB9CQK

Hi Rick

Like Andy I have been crash free since I installed V2 the day it came out. With Version 1.10.16 my lock-ups were several times a week (as reported). I am running 8 instances of WSJT-X with my 6700 24hours for several days now. I have done some remote, but only SSB with my iPad with no issues. So far so good.
73, Frédéric, HB9CQK

Andy M5ZAP

Hi My normal setup on my 6500 was 2 panadaptors and 3 slices. SSB and WSJT on the one pan. CW feeding a skimmer on the other. But as I said I have been testing the remote quite a lot with one pan and slice only. I will let you know if I experience any problems but so far so good.

Ken - NM9P

V.2.0 includes a built-in watchdog timer in the Radio Setup tabs that you can engage for additional protection in case of a loss of control.

Rick W7YP

With 1.10.16, I never had any crashes with only one panadapter and one slice receiver.  It was only once I'd gone to multiple pans and slices that my crashes started.

I'm glad to hear that some of you appear to be stable on 2.0.  I hope that remains the case.

73, Rick, W7YP

Steve Jones gw0gei

Sounds like some good progress has been made with 2.0. I havnt experienced a crash on my 6300, which is still on 1.10.16, for around two months now, and it's been on for days at a time and been off and on every few days. Seems to have been stable since i last had to do a full uninstall and install due to a dax corruption issue again. However i no longer have a kuhne transverter attached to it and neither have i been using wsjt or wsjt-x modes in rx or tx, so my operating practices have changed. I will give wsjt-x another go on 6m next weekend to see if its still crash free after hours of wsjt mode monitoring. I have been using a pair of k3 radios or a ic7800mk2 in recent contests such as iota but hope to regain confidence in the 6300 before the September hf contest season restarts. Hope frs can sort out your crash problem Rick and put this issue finally to bed in the new code. 73 steve gw0gei / gw9j