CAT PORTS DISAPPEARED

Dawg Fan

I dont want to spend my time trobleshooting software.  I have two 6600Ms and this kind of continual software glitches is driving me away and making me consider less sophisticated radio optios.  I AM NOT A COMPUTER SOFTWARE PERSON NOR DUE I DESIRE TO BECOME ONE.

Pat N6PAT

I had the same problem last week and posted about it here. In 2 days I lost the CAT ports 4 times and had to restore them from a backup I made of the settings files. Everyone says to open a ticket.

How many tickets for this problem need to be opened before it gets fixed? Very frustrating.

https://community.flexradio.com/flexradio/topics/bsod-4-times-in-2-days-wiped-out-cat-ports

fyi...The CAT, DAX and SSDR settings files are in
C:Users(your PC user name)AppDataRoamingFlexRadio Systems

Dawg Fan

Im getting ready to have a 6600M fire sale.  I will greatly miss the flex features but i want to operate not troubleshoot software.

Dawg Fan

Pat,
Once I find the CAT file, then what?

Dawg Fan

this is what my CAT file looks like:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Settings>
  <Minimized>False</Minimized>
  <PortList>&lt;?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?&gt;
&lt;ArrayOfPortSettings xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"; xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"&gt;
  &lt;PortSettings&gt;
    &lt;Protocol&gt;CAT&lt;/Protocol&gt;
    &lt;PortCommType&gt;Serial&lt;/PortCommType&gt;
    &lt;SerialPortType&gt;FlexVSP&lt;/SerialPortType&gt;
    &lt;TCPPortNumber&gt;0&lt;/TCPPortNumber&gt;
    &lt;UDPPortNumber&gt;0&lt;/UDPPortNumber&gt;
    &lt;LifetimeSeconds&gt;0&lt;/LifetimeSeconds&gt;
    &lt;Name /&gt;
    &lt;SliceIndex&gt;A&lt;/SliceIndex&gt;
    &lt;ServerSerialPortName&gt;COM126&lt;/ServerSerialPortName&gt;
    &lt;ClientSerialPortName&gt;COM26&lt;/ClientSerialPortName&gt;
    &lt;SerialPortBaudRate&gt;9600&lt;/SerialPortBaudRate&gt;
    &lt;SerialPortDataBits&gt;8&lt;/SerialPortDataBits&gt;
    &lt;SerialPortParity&gt;None&lt;/SerialPortParity&gt;
    &lt;SerialPortStopBitsStr&gt;1&lt;/SerialPortStopBitsStr&gt;
    &lt;SerialPortStopBits&gt;One&lt;/SerialPortStopBits&gt;
    &lt;SerialPortFlowControlStr&gt;None&lt;/SerialPortFlowControlStr&gt;
    &lt;SerialPortFlowControl&gt;None&lt;/SerialPortFlowControl&gt;
    &lt;SerialUseRTS&gt;true&lt;/SerialUseRTS&gt;
    &lt;SerialUseDTR&gt;true&lt;/SerialUseDTR&gt;
    &lt;SerialPinActiveLow&gt;true&lt;/SerialPinActiveLow&gt;
    &lt;AutoSwitchTXSlice&gt;true&lt;/AutoSwitchTXSlice&gt;
    &lt;AutoRemoveSplitSlice&gt;true&lt;/AutoRemoveSplitSlice&gt;
  &lt;/PortSettings&gt;
  &lt;PortSettings&gt;
    &lt;Protocol&gt;CAT&lt;/Protocol&gt;
    &lt;PortCommType&gt;TCP&lt;/PortCommType&gt;
    &lt;SerialPortType&gt;None&lt;/SerialPortType&gt;
    &lt;TCPPortNumber&gt;5002&lt;/TCPPortNumber&gt;
    &lt;UDPPortNumber&gt;0&lt;/UDPPortNumber&gt;
    &lt;LifetimeSeconds&gt;0&lt;/LifetimeSeconds&gt;
    &lt;Name /&gt;
    &lt;SliceIndex&gt;A&lt;/SliceIndex&gt;
    &lt;SerialPortBaudRate&gt;9600&lt;/SerialPortBaudRate&gt;
    &lt;SerialPortDataBits&gt;8&lt;/SerialPortDataBits&gt;
    &lt;SerialPortParity&gt;None&lt;/SerialPortParity&gt;
    &lt;SerialPortStopBitsStr&gt;1&lt;/SerialPortStopBitsStr&gt;
    &lt;SerialPortStopBits&gt;One&lt;/SerialPortStopBits&gt;
    &lt;SerialPortFlowControlStr&gt;None&lt;/SerialPortFlowControlStr&gt;
    &lt;SerialPortFlowControl&gt;None&lt;/SerialPortFlowControl&gt;
    &lt;SerialUseRTS&gt;true&lt;/SerialUseRTS&gt;
    &lt;SerialUseDTR&gt;true&lt;/SerialUseDTR&gt;
    &lt;SerialPinActiveLow&gt;true&lt;/SerialPinActiveLow&gt;
    &lt;AutoSwitchTXSlice&gt;true&lt;/AutoSwitchTXSlice&gt;
    &lt;AutoRemoveSplitSlice&gt;true&lt;/AutoRemoveSplitSlice&gt;
  &lt;/PortSettings&gt;
&lt;/ArrayOfPortSettings&gt;</PortList>
  <ImportOldPortsDone>True</ImportOldPortsDone>
  <LogWindowPlacement>
  </LogWindowPlacement>
  <LastConnectedRadioSerial>5018-3692-6601-0014</LastConnectedRadioSerial>
  <AutoConnectSmartLink>False</AutoConnectSmartLink>
  <Advanced>False</Advanced>
  <LastBoundGuiClientID>98D334AB-CB56-446D-89C6-BFD3B08E218B</LastBoundGuiClientID>
  <RadioChooserWindowPlacement>&lt;?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?&gt;&lt;WINDOWPLACEMENT xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"; xmlns:xsi="" alt="" title="" name="" value="" type="">http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"&gt;&lt;length&gt;44&lt;/length&g...;
  <MainWindowPlacement>&lt;?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?&gt;&lt;WINDOWPLACEMENT xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"; xmlns:xsi="" alt="" title="" name="" value="" type="">http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"&gt;&lt;length&gt;44&lt;/length&g...;
  <LastBoundStationName>DESKTOP-70TB9FU</LastBoundStationName>
  <AutoConnect>True</AutoConnect>
  <LastConnectedRadioWasSmartLink>False</LastConnectedRadioWasSmartLink>
  <PortEditWindowPlacement2>
  </PortEditWindowPlacement2>
  <LastBoundProgramName>SmartSDR-Win</LastBoundProgramName>
  <RefreshToken>
  </RefreshToken>
</Settings>

Dawg Fan

looks to me like the ports are also missing from this file.

Joseph

I have the same issue.  It isn't always a result of a bsod though.  Once in a while, say once every two weeks (I reboot everything every 2-3 days) when I reboot the system, SSDR will not open the CAT and DAX files properly.  I close everything and try SSDR again and it sometimes comes up with a fresh CAT setup.  DAX is okay.  I don't bother with saving anything.  All I have to do is recreate the four CAT ports (one for each slice), which is pretty fast.  Not that I am saying this is okay, but I can live with that.  Btw, the reason I have to reboot every few days is that my FT8/FT4 audio goes to **** on transmit.  Rebooting the machine fixes it for another few days.

Pat N6PAT

You have to have copied them off before you had the port problem

If you do have a copy of those files from before the ports disappeared then you simply copy them back into that folder and replace the bad ones.

k3Tim

Dawg,

From the cat xml file it looks like the port com 26 + com 126 and TCP 5002 are setup.

I run Win 10 Pro + 6500 and latest updates. Very seldom a problem with DAX and none with CAT.   Any idea what triggered this? 

There was a Win 10 update in the recent past that caused a problem. After an update I give the system several minutes after rebooting to settle in. Afterwards, opening the Sound panel and going to the playback and record will shake out any problems.  The "recording" menu of the Sound panel caused a BSoD, after rebooting once more all was good and SDR/CAT/DAX were fine.

Best,
Tim - 

Mike-VA3MW

Hi All

This is a very unusual problem and there is nothing in the Flex SmartSDR code that will actually delete your Com ports.   That makes it a difficult problem to solve especially if our support teams cannot replicate the problem.  The CAT port deletion is the symptom of some other problem within the computer.  

BSOD's are an indication of some sort of hardware issue with the computer.  It is so bad that the core part of Windows is not able to handle the error.  If uninstalling and re-installing SSDR didn't solve the problem, then you may have to do the following.

If you want to solve it (and you won't like the answer), I would either replace the computer or totally rebuild the computer from scratch and do a clean install.  The odds of this resolving your issue in the shortest amount of time is very high.  You can get a great deal on new PC's at Costco.  

Case in point.  My XLY's computer would crash every time she tried to print on her HP printer.  We switched it for a Canon.  Same issue.   I spent days trying to solve it, but without luck.  The solution was to buy a new hard drive (hard drives have a finite life and her computer was older than 3 years--they start to go into a constant repair mode) and re-install Windows (I only use Win 10 Pro).  Problem solved.   And, it was noticeably faster.  Happy Wife.... Happy Life and I got to buy a new radio too!

I also had a serious issue with the Silicon Labs drivers that Icom and Yaesu use for their USB/CAT ports.  Days of work and debugging later, and the only fix was to rebuild the computer from scratch.  In hindsight, I should have done this in the first place.

I have more similar stories, but you get the idea.  I'm sure others have similar stories.

Mike

Pat N6PAT

Are you serious? Replace the computer? Rebuild the computer? This happened on 2 different computers that I have. One is a 1 year old Win 10 and the other is a brand new i7-9700 that cost me over $1,100.

Are you saying that everyone that has this problem has a faulty computer? That's the first thing that I was told by many here when I had decode problems last year. I actually replaced the computer and it turned out to be a bad XO in the Flex 6700 that required you guys to fix it.

Jon_KF2E

I'm with Pat on this. To suggest that the right way to fix this issue is to replace your computer is ludicrous. Also, while hardware issues certainly can cause a BSoD the much more likely cause is a driver conflict. As we all know Flex has a long history of driver issues with SSDR/DAX and SmartCAT. I'm sure these issues are both complex and difficult to solve but they are Flexes problem to solve. Flex chose to support the Windows platform and Flex needs to figure out how to get it to work. 

I just spent a long weekend of frustration trying to work the ARRL SSB DX contest. I had radio reboots, issues with spots, setting lost on band changes and a host of other pain in the **** problems. I've used Flex radios for almost seven years and I have to tell you it is getting worse, not better. 

Please Flex, stop trying to expand your software and focus on getting what we have working reliably. Resolve the DAX/CAT driver issues, get existing features working and help us not live in fear of updates. 

Dawg Fan

I think there are many flex owners that are having these issues along with other issues like audio dropouts with RTTY, FT8.  Perhaps you are correct we aren't smart enough to keep these software dependent devices going.  On the other hand, consider the amount of time you are spending keeping them going vice operating the radio.  I consider the time where I am rebuilding ports or troubleshooting audio drops to be wasted or lost time.  I am on the edge of selling my two 6600Ms and let the smart people keep flex going.

Mike-VA3MW

I am offering it as a suggestion if you want it resolved in the shortest amount of time.   If you read carefully, you would see that I told you you would not like it.  It was a bit of an elephant in the room suggestion.  

The CAT and DAX issues are not prevalent across the install base, but a small part.  And, unfortunately, it is some other component of the OS that is impacting it as there are many moving parts that can impact what you are seeing.    Who knows what other programs that are installed on these computers that could be impacting Layer 0 operations since Windows is not a closed operating system.  

These comments are my personal opinion based on my personal experience in the industry.   I'm a seriously active Ham and this is what I would do if it was me regardless of who I work for.  It is one of the few things I  personally have control over.  As it turns out, a total reinstall for my Icom issue only took an hour, some other weird problems disappeared (not FRS related) and like I expected, it is now a much faster computer.  In hindsight, I was really glad I did it.

From an FRS perspective, we continue to work on SmartSDR and its support products.  You are always welcome to open a support case to have us follow up on it.   I want to reinforce the comments are mine only as a Ham operator contributing to a conversation.  

Tim - W4TME

The post with the CAT.settings file contents is a default CAT.settings file.  There was corruption to the original file and a new default one was generated.  Following the procedure in the HelpDesk article How to Re-associate CAT ports with Virtual Serial Ports will recover from the CAT.settings file corruption issue.

This happens when Windows does a forced shut down with SmartSDR CAT still running.  This occurs if a Windows Update reboots the PC or if the PC crashes.

Dawg Fan

I just went into device mgr, deleted all the old disabled ports, restarted windows, then restarted SDR CAT, manually input all my ports.  I am back up and running.  My frustration is having to deal with it in the first place.

Pat N6PAT

The question is why does this happen when updates take place? Why can't the CAT app be coded to guard against this (auto backup and restore functions) ?

Why don't I experience this with any of my other apps but consistently with the Flex CAT app?

Tim - W4TME

There is logic in place to attempt to write and properly close the XML file when the app close WM is received.  In a forced shutdown situation, this doesn't always happen successfully.

Dawg Fan

I just lost all the ports i input this morning.  If you go into device manager and view hidden ports they show up as greyed out.  I ran the routine you offered in your post and all remain.  Not sure what to do but manually delete them all again one by one then reinput them again....

Tim - W4TME

The HelpDesk has lots of good articles for addressing common issues.  The one you just reported, there the hidden devices are grayed out is addressed using the procedure in the article Removing Hidden or "Ghosted" Com ports

Dawg Fan

did that procedure this morning.  taking a break and will delete them and add them back again later today.

Robert Lonn

As I have stated in the past,, Software is going to RULE our life going forward.. The more sophistication you want a radio to be, then one will need to live with these interactions with Windows, IOS etc. along the way...

A friend of mine just purchased a 2020 Jaguar XF,, I mean this is a Very Nice Car!!! But on Sunday the car would not start??? It kept telling him to step on the BRAKE first?? Naturally he was... Had to tow the car to the dealer,, and what did they do?? Well he told me they loaded New Software, and it should not happen again!! OH the good old days of a Starter Motor and a KEY,, :-),,

I think we all need a so called Backup Radio.. The list could be very long, I think mine is about 4 radios,, But when you need the absolute highest performance, FLEX is the only one I can go to to get top performance.. So yes we work with Flex to help us through all of this... Tim has helped me several times and his advice ALWAYS results in error free operations..

I guess it is time to go turn on my backup Radio and pull in some DX,, :-)

Robert

Jon_KF2E

Robert,

Would your friend be as understanding if he had to wait months(or longer) for the software fix for his car?

Bill -VA3WTB

Tthat is a very bad comparison. A car software, and SSDR software that is always in change?

Tim - W4TME

Since the poster has received advice regarding the recovery of a corrupted CAT.settings file and additional options have been expressed. I am inclined to close this post at this time.

AB8YZ

Where is the CAT XML file located at?

Erik Carling EI4KF

Is there such a file? Or do you mean CAT settings file? That one is at

C:\Users\computer-name\AppData\Roaming\FlexRadio Systems\CAT.settings