Flex 6000 series radio crash and freezes

Patrick

I have been having problem with my 6500 occasionally crashing and becoming frozen. Normally this does not happen if I am constantly using the radio, but if I leave it running for 3 or more hours and the band activity is low to nil. The radio will crash to a frozen state and disconnect from the computer. The only way to recover is to hold the radios on/off button and forcing a total radio reset, after which, you then can reboot the radio. This action generally looses any persistence memory info. The radio starts with a blank Panadapter window. Selecting one of my profiles, gets the radio to operable condition. The radio otherwise works properly and the computer continues to function normally, with no data com errors, or computer warnings. My question is. Are any other 6000 series owners having this issue.

Bob Gerzoff

Lot's of questions:
How are you networked?  
Are you running any other software?
What's the speed and memory of the PC?
73, Bob
WK2Y

W9ILY

Which version of SmartSDR?

ctate243

the big questions:
what version of SmartSDR are you running?
Are you using Maestro?
What environment?  Smartlink?  local LAN in shack?

I have seen this, but it has been quite a while so I am curious on the version of SSDR 

if after gathering data, and you are not able to figure out the cause, I strongly suggest opening a support ticket and let the experts check things out.

Patrick

To answer your questions: SmartSDR V2.6 Local net via switch PC NUC i5. 4 core, Windows 7 The computer and network are not part of this problem. This problem had been around for a long time. Including pre v2 loads. Network does not sleep, computer does not sleep or turn disk off. Only the radio freezes into a hard crash. If I only have the computer on while in use, no problem. If it sits for 3 or more hours, probability of a freeze is high. I always turn system off, when not in use. For this reason I only see this problem.

John KB4DU

Pat;

Do you get a flashing light on the Flex, or a message on the computer?

Patrick

Flex goes dead, light stays blue, with messages from SmartSDR, before SmartSDR shuts down.

W9ILY

Pat, what messages? Have you checked to see that your USB port on your PC is not going to sleep to "save power"?

Dudley WA5QPZ

Pat,

You need to be able to tell us what messages are going on ..   Sure sounds like loss of network,  Do you see the network quality indicator drop at the bottom of the screen in SmartSDR ?   Could the message be "Loss of Radio connection"  ?    Next time you have SmartSDR up ,  double click on the Network Quality indicator to bring up the "Network Diagnostics"  window and monitor the number of dropped packets and the Latency rates..    Might help .   Also you can bring up the Network Performance in Task Manager to monitor the through put of the network ..     Just a couple of thoughts..  My radio here runs day and night 24/7   .. 

Dudley
WA5QPZ

Patrick

Hi Dudley, no not network loss. Only looses network after flex freeze. Network connection is excellent. Always max bars. Max packet loss for example last I looked was 47 lost packets, out of 57000. Lost packets are generally at startup. Never seen more then that. Yes SmartSDR indicates loss of connection, but that is the view from the computer end. If messages were available on the flexes display, that would be helpful, but that would be hard to do from a frozen platform. I am glad that yours does not freeze.

W9ILY

Pat, have you checked your actual USB connection between the PC and your Flex? If you are using a wired connection between your PC and your Flex and a switch as you said, identify the USB port used by the Flex in your Windows Device Manager. Go to Device Manager, Universal Serial Bus controllers, and find the one that controls the Flex. If you don't know, unplug the cable between the Flex and the switch and one of the connections will disappear. Plug it back in and one will reappear and you'll find the one that you need. Right click on it and scroll down to "Properties". Select it and you'll find a tab "Power Management". Select that one and UNCHECK the box "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power". Click OK and close Device Manager. This may be your problem.
John

Patrick

There is no USB connection between the PC and Flex. Only Ethernet, and I am very familiar with those Ethernet settings. I have monitored the connection and packet loss is not the problem as there is none. All those power, sleep, related have been checked. Issue is NOT Ethernet or PC related. PC continue run properly after loss of communications with the flex. Flex at that point is crowbarred. Pressing the shutdown button does nothing. Only a forced reset will shut down the flex and after the forced shut down, then the flex will startup again. After which all is good. PC continues to run and report all actions of the Flex. Remember you have two programs running. The Windows based SmartSDR and the Linux based sw running the Flex with its FPGA’s being controlled by the Linux sw and communicating with PC. SORRY, getting frustrated, as I am an experienced trouble shooter, with years of hardware, networking in my background.

W9ILY

Pat, I think that Chris' suggestion earlier about opening a support ticket is the next step for a successful resolution. Good luck.
John

Patrick

Yes, I may eventually do that. I am waiting on further info from others that have had this problem with early production Flex6500 radios. Thanks.....

Erwin Bender

I have the same issue, the easy way to crash SmartSDR v3.5.9 everytime is to tune Tuner Genius 1.1.20 on 30 meters... I get a Low Power message, and SDR has to be restarted.

KD0RC

Hi Erwin, I would submit a help desk ticket.

David Decoons, wo2x

Try cold booting the radio. Remove DC power for 30 seconds.

Set tune power on 30 to 25 watts and try. If it locks up and your SWR is high on 30 without tuner, it is possible you are getting common mode current coming back into the shack. Just a thought.

73

Dave wo2x