windows 10 update 1809 and messed up DAX

N6WT Kent

I did not catch the latest Windows 10 update for 1809. It installed and it messed up my DAX. I had to uninstall SSDR as per Tim's instruction https://helpdesk.flexradio.com/hc/en-us/articles/204975589-How-to-do-a-Complete-uninstall-of-SmartSDR-for-Windows-from-your-PC. I then reinstalled 2.4.9. However after the install some of the DAX names were incorrect so I manually re-installed  https://helpdesk.flexradio.com/hc/en-us/articles/204017069-How-to-Manually-Re-Install-DAX-Drivers and fixed that.

Now the problem is when using Slice Master to start CWSkimmer the skimmer water fall looks like there is to much gain and the signals are obscured.   
I opened the settings in CWS and changed the Audio Sound Card Driver from MME to WDM and that seems to have fixed the problem.
But why? When SM starts it chooses MME so every time CWS starts I have to open the setting and change it. 

My feeling is this is some sort of DAX problem but I really dont know.

Windows 10 1809 
SSDR 2.4.9
Slice Master 0.10.5f
CWSkimmer 2.1

Kent
N6WT

James Del Principe

Sorry I cannot answer your issue but after this Windows upgrade, my Dax channel worn't stay selected.    Whenever I use FLDIGI, I need to enable a DAX channel and then it works fine until next time.    Gremlins?      Jim

N6WT Kent

I have discovered that all of my DAX IQ RX # are set to 1 channel, 24 bit, 48000 Hz. Are they not suppose to be set to 2 channel 192000 Hz? If this is the case what are the rest of the DAX audio devices suppose to be??? They are all set at 1 channel, 48000 Hz

How to fix?

Kent
N6WT

Dudley WA5QPZ

Mike and Kent, With the 2.4.9 version, these are different DAX drivers , and the default setting of DAX IQ , is 48k , you will have to reset to 192k should you want it that wide, but verify with settings in cwskimmer and / or slice master. slice master is one easy way to startup cwskimmer, but be sure you are using current version. Dudley WA5QPZ

N6WT Kent

Dudley

They are set to 1 channel shouldn't they be set to 2 channel??

Kent
N6WT

N6WT Kent

Im going to do a bump here since I did not get a reply to my last question. All of the DAX audio devices are set to 1 channel, 24 bit, 48000. I seem to remember them being 2 channel, 192000 at one point. Has something changed??

Dudley WA5QPZ

Kent,

192K  sample rate would be for DAX IQ not the normal DAX slice channels.   Does that make sense? 

Dudley

N6WT Kent

Dudley

What about 2 channel??

Kent

Dudley WA5QPZ

By default,  the DAX IQ  channels are at 48K,  but can go out to 192K..   But CW / RTTY Skimmer is about the only app that requires wideband IQ signals..   What application are you trying to run ?  

Dudley

N6WT Kent

Dudley

This thread is about DAX IQ for CW Skimmer

All my other questions have been answered. The only question I have now is should the setting be changed from 1 channel to 2 channel? 

Kent

Andy - KU7T

Kent,

I have the exact same issue (CW skimmer spectrum looks like it has too much gain).

What did you finally do to fix this so its back to normal and settings are persisted for consecutive launches?

73
Andy
KU7T

K1DBO

Andy, Did you check the settings for your DAX IQ drivers to make sure they were set to 2 channels, not 1. Im pretty sure this is what got Kent going again. In this thread, he was looking for confirmation that this was the right fix. So far.... no confirmation. —Don

Andy - KU7T

I think that was it. I had to switch all DAX IQ and DAX IQ RESERVED devices to 2 channel 192 manually.  All working now.

What a nightmare this whole DAX IQ issue is. I understand the root cause is with Microsoft. But, since it seems to be known how to fix this (helpdesk or with help of users), I suggest FRS take a look at automating 1) re-installing 2) renaming and 3) correctly configuring as part of the installer. This is just too difficult for many of the users and there may be users that simply cannot do this themselves. 

Slightly off topic, I found this great tool that allows me to be in control when and what Windows updates are being installed: https://github.com/DavidXanatos/wumgr. I am now running it on 3 computers to prevent any of this happen automatically without my control.

73
Andy
KU7T

K1DBO

Unless the driver setting specifies the upper limit, I don’t think the sample rate matters because it can be changed from the DAX Control Panel and still works at the lower rate anyways. Of course changing doesn’t hurt either. The 1 channel vs 2 channel thing is just weird though. One channel IQ makes even less sense than one channel stereo! Both the I and Q channels are needed for either to be useful. At the very least, the DAX Control Panel should be able to warn the user about the misconfiguration, but it would be even better if it forced it to 2 channel. —Don

Ed Stallman

As I posted to the community 4 to 5 days ago , after installing windows 10 on a new computer . The new installation brought me up to windows 10 build 1803 . My thinking was , let me check for updates before loading SSDR . This is when I received the MS windows 10 1809 build and although I can make DAX work, it will not work with Skimmer  in with MME drivers .. WDM drivers did work somewhat . As Kent stated , the waterfall was grainy as if I had QRN .
Eric an FRS says he's not familiar enough with what conditions trigger CWSkimmer to tune the incoming audio signal with a local oscillator.Eric go's on to say "CWSkimmer falls outside of our support responsibilities" 
I did try using DAX channels 2,3 and 4 with no luck  So for now I'm using my older windows 7 computer with hope to one day use my windows 10 computer 

Ed N5DG

K1DBO

Ed,

Have you tried to roll your Windows install back to 1803?  From there you should be able to choose to postpone the "upgrade" to 1809.

--Don

N6WT Kent

So I dont think my problem was with 1 or 2 channel, The problem went away when I found the Sampling Rate in CWSkimmer was  96kHz and changed the settings for "DAX I/Q RX #" from "1 channel,24 bit, 48000 Hz (Studio Quality)" to "2 channel, 24 bit, 96000 Hz (Studio Quality)". I did not change any of the "DAX RESERVED AUDIO RX#" as I have always heard "dont mess with that"

Kent
N6WT.

Ed Stallman

Don , I did a search to roll back to 1803 but haven't got to that just yet, taking a little break . I'll do another search and give it a try 
Ed 

Russ K5OA

1809 got me and was able to use Tim's write up and fix both DAX and CAT issues this caused once again.  Microsoft support has no clue what it is doing to these drivers.
Glad support is here to help.

N6WT Kent

After all the troubles I had with this I decided to do a fresh install of Windows 10. I then installed SSDR 2.4.9 and all the other radio related software. I must say things work much  better. The only problem is I could not get Windows to install 1809 so I am stuck on 1803 and waiting for the 1809 and crossing my finger.

Kent
N6WT