Anyone noticing any Radio lock-ups with 2.1.32?

Roy Laufer

I was quite happy with 2.1.30, but that cautionary notice regarding Maestro's draining their internal battery caused me to boot my Maestro up and it really wanted my 6700 to have the latest and greatest firmware...

THREE times in the past 24 hours while my 6700 was quietly just receiving radio waves, my 6700 locked up and required a forced shutdown.

No, it's not a PC issue, no it's not an ethernet/switch problem, and yes I am very happy to read resulting responses that amount to "it works great for me!".

I've been through this pony ride a lot of times before. the software is getting into some problem where it runs out of resources and crashes.

This did NOT happen with 2.1.30.

If 2.1.32 was a revolutionary update, I would go through the usual stuff of factory resets, partial re-installation of my usual set of profiles, sans "Preferences" (like I wrote, I've been here before).

But for now, I just went back to good olde 2.1.30.

It may just me, but then "me" is very important to me.

Maybe you guyz in FRS need a few more beta testers??????

Respectfully yours,
Roy AC2GS

KS0CW

I have have had two disconnects in the past day and have open ticket with FRS and exchange emails with Dudley

Pat N6PAT

This is exactly why I am still on 2.0.17

I really love my 6700 - best radio I've ever had - but I take a more cautious approach regarding upgrades than some folks who upgrade minutes after the latest release is available. Then they spent the next few weeks crying and complaining about bugs and cannot use their radio

I would much rather be able to actually use my radio with an older release than be dead in the water with a nice shiny new release.

Bill -VA3WTB

The only resources that are really used is the graphics on the pc. So there should be no problem with resources. It still sounds like a dropout in the Lan.
But not ever having this problem here with my radio I really don't know. I do know many people blame a software update for a problem when they are really having a network problem. If they find there is a problem as you are having, then they will fix it I'm sure.

Fred Lindsey

Me too. After upgrading to 2.1.32 with my Maestro, everything worked fine........for about 30 min. Then my 6300 locked up. Reverted back to 2.1.30, and everything worked again.
Fred - WA7NRX

Gonzalo

Me too. I get these lockups on my 6700 a couple of times a day. Tim, Dudley, any suggestions? Thnx.
Gonzo, AI1W

George KF2T

Hi Roy (and the others having this issue),

Can you guys provide some sort of overview of what else is running on your machines when this happens? What version of  Windows? Can you run the resource meter in Windows to see if some process is grabbing up all the good bits?

On the hardware side, what is your connection rate, type and length of cable, and is the connection directly between the rig and PC, or is a switch/router/something in between? Roy, you mention it's not a PC or LAN problem - how did you determine that?

I don't -think- this is a firmware issue, since I run DogPark SDR with 2.1.32 and haven't experienced any lockups. Anything else we can rule out? 

Bill -VA3WTB

Pat, I do understand why you say that. but I have not heard of anyone not being able to use their radio again after an upgrade.
Yes sometimes there are little bugs to work out, but it is usually best to keep up with the latest because of the benefits they give, mostly under the hood performance changes. If you stay way behind waiting for a perfect update then you will be waiting a long time.

Roy Laufer

ONCE AGAIN, I am speaking about inside the 6700 NOT my PC. My 6700 has resources as well, and occasionally faulty firmware versions don't correct for resource usage and eventually when the 6700 runs out of some programmed resource it crashes.

AGAIN, this is not a network problem. My network runs fine on a lot of IOT devices all over my house, and it works fine with firmware version for my 6700 that behave well!

As as I wrote previously, I am glad everything is working for you there.

FRS just should be more mindful that 1% of their base repeatedly sees these terminal crashes and try to address them in a timely manner, perhaps before they are in general release?

After all, it isn't like a new release pops up every other day???

Cordially yours,
Roy AC2GS

Roy Laufer

Thank you, George,

Unfortunately, these crashes have not been OS related in the past. In previous problematic firmware versions, my 6700 crashed when run by my Maestro as well as my iPhone, using SSR for iOS.

Many people running on Windows 10 have no problem. It is a complicated situation of how much a user "stomps" about with his 8 slices, and is impossible for me to narrow down to anything specific.

A LOT of fellow Windows 10 users will gleefully remark "nothing wrong here".

In MANY past episodes, I spent way too much time narrowing down the problem to that version of firmware.

This time I'll just go back to the previous version and hope that the next update does not carry through the firmware flaw.

Even Sherlock Holmes got tired of playing "detective"...

Respectfully yours,
Roy AC2GS

Bill -VA3WTB

Roy, should be fair here about this. Because this may effect very few people for what ever reason, it is possible none of the testers had it happen to them. But as hundreds of general public uses it, things get found. So 1% of hundreds of radios out of 50 testers lets say?

Also you have no idea what the radio has for resources and how that works. I don't know how you can say for sure the radio is out of resources.

Bill -VA3WTB

Roy, those questions are asked for trouble shooting reasons. As Flex owners it is good to give as much information as possible to help Flex reproduce the same thing there. Some times a fix takes some time because they just can't reproduce the same thing in the shop.

Roy Laufer

I can suggest the possibility because that was exactly the reason the technical staff, that writes this code,  told me during one of my previous snape hunts trying to stop my 6700 from crashing...

And if Apple felt comfortable writing code that worked well for only 99% of its user base, I question what kind of user base it would have.

Roy Laufer

I understand that, but as I've mentioned a few places here, this ain't my first Rodeo (or even my sixth). It wasn't the PC all the times before, it wasn't the Ethernet cable/switch all the times before. It was the 6700's firmware EVERY SINGLE TIME BEFORE...

This time I just don't have the time nor inclination for another trip to the Rodeo. I'm happy to be back on 2.1.30, and I hope that the fellows at FRS are a little better aware that there are others out there with similar problems.

I am sure that they will fix it, eventually. I just hope that they don't "break" it again (and again, and again, etc.).

Bill -VA3WTB

They do,,do you think their software is perfect? A year ago they put out an update that bricked phones, it happens.....

Bill -VA3WTB

I hope so too, as long as they can reproduce it.

Roy Laufer

I don't think anyone, or any organization is perfect (ever hear of "a Persian flaw"?). But Apple and FRS do not settle for 99% of their customers having a good experience with their products.

I am willing to bet that FRS' responses will never amount to, "well. it works for most of the other owners"...

I love FRS, I love my 6700, but no one is perfect, and every so often some people need to be reminded of that unfortunate fact.

Jim Runge

I have had two lockups in the previous two days.  Nothing today yet.  One slice, 6700, windows 10 with latest update.  Computer lost contact with the radio and the radio was putting out a tone.  Had to hold the off button for 4 seconds to get it to turn off.  Turned the radio back on and it worked fine until the next afternoon.

jim

well i am running  windows 7   and  i had several lock-ups   with   v2.1.32
so i went back to   2.1.30    and i have not had a lock-up  
running  all the same stuff  on my computer
does that tell us it is 2.1.32 ?
jim wb5aaa

Roy Laufer

Most crashes occur with me out of my shack, but the first time I encountered this problem it was so frequent that I could hear the tone during the crash.

I can't tell you what is causing the problem this time, but if it swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, and looks like a duck, well, it might just be a duck!?

Cal N3CAL

Roy,

From what I can tell over the past week since 2.1.32 has been released is that 6700 radios are having lock ups/freezes and require a forced shutdown to recover.  At the same time 6400/6600 radios are having internal software crashes and reboot on their own.  The common denominator is all radios are using the same internal software (2.1.32).   Different hardware but the same software can be challenging.  I know Flex is working the issues and I'm confident they can get it resolved. 

To me it appears the 2.1.32 release was driven by the new 6400/6600 radios but  to what extent does it effect the older 6300/6700 rigs????

Cal/N3CAL

jim

i forgot   i am using  6500

WX7Y

Flex has this in there BUG tracker and is aware of the issue from what Eric told us a few days after 2.1.32 came out so they are aware of it and tracking the issue down.
I'm sure there working on the issue and this is why you want to keep a copy of a older known well working version close by just in case you have to go back.

73's
Bret
WX7Y

Steve - N4TTY

Roy, I hope I'm not just beating a dead horse here, but in my case I stayed on 2.1.30 after reading a lot of posts about folks having issues with the 2.1.32.  Sure glad I did and hope going back to 2.1.30 gets you working again so you can enjoy the fine radio. And I'm sure I'll wait a good bit when the next update comes out.

Steve G./N4TTY

NM1W

The DAX corruption issues have yet to be addressed, but they have been acknowledged in the past as issues... so it does feel like "well. it works for most of the other owners"...

Paul M

The problem exsists  in the Back-Ported version, too.  1.11.12.   Random crashes both in recieve and transmit. No reproducable event at this time.

Paul -W4GPM

Bill -VA3WTB

I don't know, I am using a 6500, with Win 7  and I have never seen this problem, all working smooth here.

Tim - W4TME

This is a known issue that has been discussed in several recent Community posts.  This issue is in our bug tracker as defect #5942 and is currently under investigation.

Roy Laufer

Thank you.

I was unaware of it being a known problem.

I must have missed it.

Roy Laufer

And I have an Etch-A-Sketch that hasn't crashed on me once since childhood...

Ya see where comparing your apples to my oranges isn't that productive <grin>?

Cordially yours,
Roy AC2GS

Tim - W4TME

From a HAL (hardware abstraction layer) standpoint, it does not affect the 1st generation 6000s at all, but in the process of adding the new radios, there was low-level common code that was refactored and optimized. so it is probably that code common to all 6000s that is causing the problem.