Windows Spring Update (1803) Tips and Tricks

Neal - K3NC

There have been several types of problems witnessed with the new release of Windows that has started to be distributed to customers as of 30 April 2018. We have seen several tricks that have helped in certain circumstances that we want to share with you. This is a living document, as more solutions become available (and we have tried them), we will update this document, so stay tuned! If you have seen something that has helped, add to the discussion, the more we know, the faster we can recover!

WSJT-X No audio

After the 1803 update, many WSJT-X users are losing input audio to their program. Usually, they can output tones, its just that the assigned DAX Channel does not cause audio to be received by the program.

The WSJT-X reflector has reported that a simple trick can solve this!

1. Go to the Settings page in Windows 10.

2. Click on Privacy.

3. Then select Microphone from the menu on the left side.

4. Check the box titled "Allow apps to access your microphone.

5. You will then have to decide which other, if any, apps need to be turned off or on (Camera, Cortana, etc.).

Missing DAX Sound Devices

Lou Detrich found that post-installation he was missing DAX IQ RX 1 sound device. He went to the Sounds control panel app and saw signal deflection on the reserved DAX device channel for DAX IQ 1 (DAX Reserved IQ RX 1) and that it has appropriate signal levels on it.

When he was looking for the DAX IQ RX 1, he saw that it was present, but mis-labeled as DAX Audio RX 1.

You can see that the descriptive text actually says the device is for DAX IQ but the name of it is DAX Audio RX 1.

Al, K0VM, had a similar problem and he just editted the name of the device after double-clicking it from the Sounds panel window. He changed it to the proper name.

Then, he clicked OK and rebooted his system. When it rebooted, it solved his problem!

DAX Devices do not load drivers correctly

We have seen one instance where the customer was uninstalling and installing his DAX drivers (he was getting the driver error dialog when DAX started). If you go to the Device Manager and look under Sound, Video and Game controllers, you would see the 4 DAX devices with a yellow triangle, indicated they were not properly loaded. If you double-click on one, you will see error text that reflects that the boot image was damaged or corrupted.

This can be caused by a new security feature, introduced in the 1803 release for Win10 Pro customers (and possibly Win10 Home customerms) called Device Guard. To see if you have Device Guard active, go to Settings and click on Updates and Security. In the left tab, click on Windows Security. In the right panel, click on Device Security.

If you see a window like below, you have no problem

There are several dependencies needed to support Device Guard, and you luckily do not qualify!

However, if you see something like below, you need to take action!

You can try to turn off Memory integrity by clicking the switch above. If it turns off, you are done. The system we saw with this would not allow us to turn it off. There is a reg file available that can turn it off.

https://bit.ly/2w8nv3b

Download and double-click the reg file, then reboot your system.

We will add more to this list as more knowledge becomes available.

Become part of this effort, let us know how you solved problems with 1803!

KENT HUFFORD

Very good detailed information on fixing the 1803 issue. 

I must have been lucky. I got the warning about 1803, 4 hours AFTER my computer did the update, and the radio and computer seem to be working fine.

HOWEVER, someone at FLEX should have been on the Windows Insider Program getting the Insider Preview builds and warning us about this in advance. Having end users of FLEX software report issues, THEN FLEX warns the rest is good. Would seem FLEX employees should know this ahead of time. 

Michael Coslo

There was a warning from someone on the insider program a while back. Remember, finding a problem with the insider edition does not mean Microsoft will fix the problem. Even then, another fix to another problem can introduce a third problem. 

This is just Windows being Windows. This update is wreaking havoc among many users besides Flex.  The "solution" is to delay updates as long as possible. I've also resorted to simply giving up and doing a scorched earth uninstall/reinstall with every W10 update. It may not be needed in every case, but it gets tiring, firing up the radio and troubleshooting again. 

Bob K8RC

This is NOT in any way shape or form Flex Radio's problem. It is Microsoft's lack of testing and poor quality control.

The Windows Insider program is not a formal beta. On many occasions, Microsoft has not listened to input provided well before the fact with chaos resulting when the defective code has been formally released.

It is not just niche programs & drivers that suffer for this lack of closed-loop testing either. The Win 10 Pro laptop I'm typing on wiped out all of my contacts & calendars when I allowed the 1803 update to occur. Are the People, Mail and Calendar apps mainstream enough for you? 

Bob N0IS

Well, the much anticipated spring update of Windows 10 Pro came and went without as much as a whisper of problems.  After the Windows update took place, I went and uploaded the latest version of software for the 6500 from the Flex web-site and all is good.  No dings, bangs or thumps in the middle of the night.  N1MM works as it should, WSJT modes work as they should, MMTTY works as it should and even DigiPan works as advertised.  What more could we possibly want?  Life is good.  No DAX failures and no CAT VSP failures.  WOW.

Bob, N0IS

Tim - W4TME

We do have exposure to the Insider program and Michael is correct, we really don't know what the final version will entail until we get it and then if it is like the 1803 release, it's all hands on deck mode.  This particular update is of a lot poorer quality than those of the past.  All we can do is react as quickly as possible to what we know rather than speculating about what we don't know.

Tim - W4TME

I'd like to ask folks that if they have tips or tricks they want to add, to add it to this post.  If you want to share your miseries or triumphs, how about starting another post for those.  I'd like for this post to be more informational than commentary so there is more signal than noise and folks do not have to go through a bunch of posts to get the helpful nuggets of information they need to resolve their issues..  Thanks

WA2SQQ

Excellent example of team work. Thanks to all!

Mike-VA3MW

On my Win 10Pro Remote, this is what worked for me:

I was able to clear this up pretty quickly, but I am not sure I want to share this outside this group yet.

1. I deleted all SmartSDR previous versions using add/remove programs
   
2. rebooted
   
3. ran ccleaner registry cleaner (when I mentioned this to a few, they cringed about  using CCleaner--I have had an issue)
   
4. rebooted
   
5. reinstalled SmartSDR
   

That was on the 6300 and making sure that RX 1 worked and TX.

Your  mileage may vary.

Michael Coslo

I use Revo to completely uninstall everything related to SSDR, then to a scan to remove the leftovers. Fixes the problem every time.

Bob KN4HH

Unfortunately, my problem persists in spite of trying all of the above tips including Tim's two procedures and doing a Revo uninstall and scan for leftovers.  I am able to receive audio from the radio into the pc speakers (Blue PC Audio illuminated in thew upper right of SSDR display).  However, the DAX Control Panel is grey'd out and "Slice Not Connected "  is displayed on all four slices.

Michael Coslo

What is showing on your audio tab on the W10 toolbar? And I might have missed it, but what does the DAX dropdown say on the slice? probably not the answer, but maybe?

Bob KN4HH

I wish it was that easy. SSDR dropdown is DAX ch1 (tried all four) and audio input on WIndows 10 is DAX RX1 audio (tried all DAX audio selections).

Gary w8vi

After installing 1803 and SSDR 2.1.33 I had a Flex error message pop up with a list of corrupted driver files.  Next I tried removing and reinstalling the DAX drivers and had the same corrupt driver message. 

Then I ran Revo Uninstaller on 2.1.33 and selected the registry entries the program recommended for deletion. Rebooted W10 1803 and installed 2.1.33 and all is working fine. Ran N1MM then FT8 and CW skimmer. Cleaning out the SSDR registry entries apparently has resolved the issue.

Gary L. Robinson

OMG Neil!!!   Your are a life saver!  After pulling an over nighter trying to get my DAX, FLDigi, and everything else working after the Win10 update - I was about ready to give up and put Windows 7 on my computer until I read your post.

All is now working well and normal as it should!   Thank you a ton Neil!

---Gary WB8ROL

Gary w8vi

Next time I will run Revo right after uninstalling the SSDR program and before updating the next Windows 10 major update.

Jim Osterling

From what I've read on this forum and windoze forums, this update is not ready for prime time. My radio laptop is running win 10 pro so no problem; just turned auto update off. When the update is really ready, then will look into updating....

Other computers, in the house/non radio involved, are win 10 home, can't turn auto update off as easily. There are instructions available that will suggest a system back up (which is a good idea in any case) and then a registry edit to stop auto update. I'll be doing that this weekend.

Jim

Matt NQ6N

Initially I though that my installation of the spring update went fine, but then I realized that DAX TX and DAX IQ were all broken by the update.  So I followed the procedure to reinstall DAX drivers for all of the types of DAX audio and it now works perfectly. 

It may be possible to have SmartSDR DAX test for proper driver installation when it starts, and then prompt for the re-registration of the drivers if an error loading the drivers occurs (followed by a forced reboot).  

Not sure what the root cause of this issue is, but at least for the case that I encountered where the issue can be resolved by unregistering and re-registering the drivers, something like the above would be very useful. 

73,
Matt NQ6N

Rich McCabe

Well doing the uninstall/reinstall of DAX fixed most my issues but  Slice C is showing driver error. Everything else works.

I have some items in the device manager that are a little suspect as far as names go.

Rich McCabe

Well DAX not right. Skimmer was jerky, etc.

So this ended up being the best fix

Tim - W4TME

Your DAX allocations are messed up to an even greater extent than what you have pointed out as you are missing DAX drivers (1/2 if TX and the MIC driver).  This is where you need the registry cleaned.

You can submit a HelpDesk ticket and we'll put you in the queue for repair or if you are comfortable with application cleaners, like Revo or the IObit uninstallers. there have been reports on the community that using them to remove SmartSDR and it associated drivers have been successful.  Once removed, reboot and reinstall SmartSDR for Windows.

Tim - W4TME

That is a valid recovery option.  Good luck.

Rich McCabe

Worked perfect.  I had already tried Revo and the DAX uninstall/reinstall with no success so this was my final option.

Getting ready for the 7th call QSO party. Glad to be back.

W2PP

OK, I had more wrong that I thought.  I found that under Device Manager, Audio Devices that their were many DAX drivers that did not belong.  Interestingly, they all worked.  I used 10bit and yanked all copies.  Rebooted, re installed SmartSDR and to my surprise, all my profile stuff was still there.  I'd exported it prior to removal so I do not know how it survived.   Regardless, under Device Manager, Audio Devices, I now see the correct compliment of drivers.  However, when I look inside DM 780 and the Configuration, soundcard, I see double DAX 1 through 4.  Now, their sorta are doubles right?  Some are DAX IQ and some are not.  Is that the reason?  Inside HRD you can't tell the difference.
What does anyone think?
Peter
W2PP

Tim - W4TME

https://community.flexradio.com/flexradio/topics/most-common-fix-for-dax-driver-errors-in-windows-sp...

W2PP

OK, I'm a little confused.  Above is my audio devices as seen inside device manager.  Are these correct????  If not I'll go to the other thread, but I thought these were OK.
Please let me know which, if any, of the above devices are not correct.
Peter

Bill W2PKY

Can not get the # "1" DAX IQ entries on this Surface Pro 5 Win10 Pro computer. 
Tried Uninstalling & Reinstalling SSDR 2.1.33 several times.
Any ideas?

Tim - W4TME

https://community.flexradio.com/flexradio/topics/most-common-fix-for-dax-driver-errors-in-windows-sp...

Bill W2PKY

Okay, fixed my Surface.

John AE5X

I'd been dreading the update but all went without a hitch. Following Tim's advice, I uninstalled SSDR, forced the 1803 update and reinstalled SSDR. Nothing had to be reconfigured, even WSJT and SSDR/DAX/CAT all spoke civilly and were as I'd left them.

Call me a Happy Camper.

John AE5X

Andrew VK5CV

1803 is tricksy and sneaky!

On the weekend I completely deleted SSDR from my Surface and activated the update.
Then I waited a day, checked for any more updates and reinstalled SSDR.
All working fine.
Last night I turned on and got the horror of an orange screen!
So now DAX is all messed up and I may need to join the queue for registry surgery in an 18 hour ahead time zone!
Andrew VK5CV