Problem with Flex Control - 6400 - SSDR 2.1.32

Art - N4QNT

I just made the transition from my Flex 5K with the Flex Control witch always worked perfectly.

After uninstalling everything off my Win10 machine via uninstall programs and deleting anything and everything off the Registry Editor pertaining to 3rd party software for the Flex 5FK and PowerSDR software.  So hooked up the 6400 connections, Flex control to the PC, installed the latest SSDR 2.1.32 everything went smoothly except periodically tuning across a band with the Flex Control it freeze's, stutters, lags.. I'll wait 10 or 20 secs then it starts reacting fine again. Of course I reboot the PC and Flex but it's like rinse and repeat the same problem... Any ideas??

Thanks, Art N4QNT

Bill -VA3WTB

A comport conflict?

stevenab

Watch the internet quality. I know on the maestro there are bars, to check quality.

Mike va3mw

Hi Art

You should not have to delete everything as that seldom give you the result you wish.  

However, I would look in the Device Manager and review all your comports and make sure there are not conflicts.  The FlexKnob is a serial based device.


This can help:

https://helpdesk.flexradio.com/hc/en-us/articles/200883925-Removing-Hidden-or-Ghosted-Com-ports

Also, you can follow up with this:  https://helpdesk.flexradio.com/hc/en-us/articles/115000504463-Removing-In-Use-Com-Ports-for-Availabl...

Mike

Joe N9VX

It could the graphics processing in the PC. SmartSDR takes a lot more graphic resources than PowerSDR. My old core2Duo PC runs PowerSDR just fine, but will not run SmartSDR properly.

Mike va3mw

Hi Joe

SmartSDR does use a lot less horsepower than PowerSDR as all the processing is done in the radio and not the computer like the FireWire series of radios do.  I find it interesting that you are seeing it the other way around and it sounds like you have some Windows issues that need to be looked at.

Mike 

Art - N4QNT

Michael I certainly agree with you that SSDR does not need the full resources of a PC like PSDR does, but if the new 64 and 66 use more internal resources maybe through firmware or software upgrades in the future it would be easy just to plug and play the Flex Wheel into one of the 2 USB ports on the back of the radio..

Wayne

Caused by Windows 10 constant updates and checking causes everything to slow to a crawl especially network amd internet. Worst thing Microsoft ever done to windows.

Mike va3mw

Hi Wayne,  Like some others here, we have done a lot of work prying the covers off things to see what we get slow downs.   While Microsoft gets blamed for a lot, it isn't the case all the time and it takes some work to figure out just exactly what is going it.  The biggest slow down in laptops and desktops that I have seen is a failing hard drive.  The problem is, you just can't tell as it just gets slower as it is in a constant mode of repair.

As an example, for one of my friends, he said the same thing.  I took out his hard drive, cloned it to a new drive, and rebooted his computer.  His first words where... this is like brand new.  I have repeated this story for many friends.

Hard drives start to fail after 3 years and even sooner on laptops as they 'just wear out' and they just get slower as they wear out so you don't loose your data.

Your mileage may vary.

Mike

N4UW- Luther

Does SmartSDR use the same FlexControl USB driver as PowerSDR? If not, I would try unplugging the Flex Control, deleting the comport assigned to the FlexControl, and then plug the FlexControl back in to force the creation of a new comport with the new driver.  Doing so would likely give the FlexControl a new comport with a different number unless you delete the orphaned ghost port using the procedure linked above before plugging the FlexControl back in. I like to manually assign the FlexControl to com99 to keep it out of the way of other SmartCat port pairs.

My FlexControl works great with my 6400/SmartSDR 2.1.32 combo on an i7 Haswell desktop PC, but I did not have PowerSDR previously installed on the PC.

Good luck!
73,
Luther N4UW

Art - N4QNT

I will try that, great info... Thank you

Art - N4QNT

So just a heads up on my findings with this issue, I'm leaning towards Win-10 problem.. I just installed an extra 120 gig Solid State drive to my Tower I configured Dual Boot to the newly partitioned drive and installed good old faithful Win7 Pro.. This will be my FLEX only hard drive via SSDR.. For the last few hours the Flex Control has been Flawless.. I'm thinking most likely comport conflicts and bloated Win10 causing issues... Sorry but Win7 is my favorite IBM/OS but., can't wait for SSDR for IOS Mac...  

Tim - W4TME

Art, take a look at this HelpDesk article.  And try different USB ports if you haven't done so already.

https://helpdesk.flexradio.com/hc/en-us/articles/202118458-How-to-Mitigate-FlexControl-Latency

Art - N4QNT

Great thank you for that info Tim

Art - N4QNT

Tim, Thank you for the info.. Went back to Win10 on my other Boot Partition, changed USB ports with Flex Control, everything has been running smooth has silk now...