Flex 6600 crash

N1DZ

I have a Flex 6600. Overall I like the radio but every couple of months or so the radio crashes and I have to do a hard reset and reload the saved global profile.

I have learned my lesson and I regular save and export the global profile. 

Unfortunately after today's crash I reloaded the profile and the TX band settings never recovered. 
A while back after another crash the equalizer settings never recovered. 

After the first time you say ok, I fix it again but in the long run it just takes all the fun out of owning this radio. A traditional radio just doesn't do this. My Flex 6600 just does not seem a stable, reliable radio.

What am I doing wrong?

73 Maarten N1DZ

Dwayne_AB6A

Its is certainly not normal and in my opinion, it sounds like a hardware issue. Open a support ticket with Flex. Worst case, you are going to have to send the radio in for service. There should be diagnostic info available to Flex to pinpoint the hardware issue.

Bill -VA3WTB

When you say a hard reset,,do you mean a factory reset? That is what you should be doing I think. shutting down and pulling the power cord is a reset type, but it does not clear all processors that may still have left over data.

Craig_KØCF

Saving the Global profile alone is NOT enough. The Transmit profile holds the TX band settings. Mic Profile holds microphone selection and equalization data. If you didn't save the transmit profile, that is why you didn't get the TX settings back.

Pat N6PAT

You should also back up the settings files. Many times I've lost all the settings including the CAT ports and have had to manually restore the settings files. They are located in

C:/users/(your computer user name)/AppData/Roaming/FlexRadio Systems. The files you want to copy (backup) are:

CAT.settings
DAX.settings
SSDR.settings

I agree with you about these issues taking the fun out of owning a Flex. I've already had to send mine back to Flex for repairs 2 times.

Patrick

Maarten, just a question.  Are you running 6600m or stand alone?  If stand alone, do you you run the screen saver on the computer?

N1DZ

Running 6600 not the M. No screen saver.

N1DZ

I feel your pain had to send a 6400 back b4. Exchanged it for the 6600.
When it works its great but I want a radio that I do not have to tinker with all the time.

N1DZ

OK so save TX, Mic and Global profile first.
After that go to import/export profiles select all and export them to my PC.

N1DZ

Factory reset. Hold on button until white light goes on.

N1DZ

What is normal? I never switch Flex off. How long should it run w/o crashing?

Dwayne_AB6A

I have not had a crash and run mine for days-weeks on end. I use very low power as I always will use my amp so max output from Flex is 1-10W.

Pat N6PAT

I agree. My 6700 has given me more grief than pleasure but to paraphrase: In for a penny in for $7,000

I certainly won't be recommending Flex radios to anyone and that's very sad because I really loved my 6700 in the beginning and was constantly telling everyone what a great rig it was.

N8AUM

I have same problem. Sometimes it runs days without pooping out. From what Tim told me its probably the router ? I keep my 6600 on 24/7 and screen saver has nothing to do with anything from my experience. Shortly after I changed from DSL to Wireless Internet and upgraded to the 6600 from the 6400 about the same time so cant comment if the 6400 would have had same problem. Anyways, From what i'm hearing you need a router that is "GAME RATED". 
Hope u get ur problem resolved !
Good luck, Vidas

Neil D Friedman N3DF

I use the standard router that Spectrum gave me when I bought their internet/phone/cable TV package six years ago.  I believe they issue these in the hundreds of thousands, if not millions.  No problems with my 6600M in 2.25 years.

N8AUM

MUST BE NICE to have something working without any problems! I started off with with the basic 5K about 12yrs ago and thought I died and went to heaven! 5 years later my brother found a fully loaded 5K so I sold my kidneys again. The 6K series was just coming out but the price was just way too much for me. Unfortunately I had some medical issues and the company I worked for had so many layoffs with 200 employees it got down to 10 but when everything started to convert to software instead of hardware I was last to go. It was fun ride working and getting paid for PLAYING with boards with 7 DSP's on it. WOW, sri 4 this long rant but my beef is if you buy something it should work as advertised! I love my 6600 and my Maestro, its a work of art when it works but when it doesn't, well its just a pretty paper weight. I wish FRS would fix some if not all the bugs but I suspect they are more interested with the government contract and not to us, the users ? I hope I am wrong ! Tim has way too much on his plate and does a great job helping us with advise and solving problems. HOLY ****, Sorry for this long rant again!
73 Vidas

Bill -VA3WTB

In many cases, if we remove the radio from the network and connect directly, the crashes go away.

Robert Lonn

Complexity is the nature of the beast!!! I mean cars today have 6 or more on board computers! I spent an hour trying to figure out why I lost audio when running HDSDR with my Icom IC-R8600 receiver..

Could be worse, could own a Icom IC-7610 with a bad display problem!

I guess if you want Raw Simplicity back to the Heathkit, Drake, Hallicrafters, Collins world,,, or those classic 1966 cars!!!

Robert

N1DZ

But than you loose a big part of the functionality. 

Bill -VA3WTB

Yes, you lose the internet, but at least you won't crash. And it shows that the problems are in your network.

N1DZ

So when I talk about a crash, I mean a hardware crash. Flashing red lights on the black box and needing to do a factory reset.
Also on occasion I have a software SmartSDR crash. BSOD. Not often but usually after a Win10 update. Restarting the computer fixes it.

Even closing SmartSDR on the computer and starting it again in the morning will sometimes change EQ, antenna, power settings.

This morning upon starting SmartSDR the RX EQ settings were all back to neutral. Not the way I had used it last night.

First couple of times, I thought it must be me. But 6 months into owning this radio it has become a frustrating part of owning this radio and I am starting to look at a more stable alternative.

Do I have have to save and back-up everytime I close the SmartSDR program?
What sequence of saving and backing-up?
Is there an option that the last used configuration is backed up and this configuration shows up again when starting the program?

N1DZ

The issues is not so much the crash but loosing all my settings. I save and export to computer file and when I restore after a crash its never the same. Also SmartSDR settings sometimes change w/o a crash.

Bill -VA3WTB

N1DZ, I don't know how your help desk went, you mush have been in contact with them lately? This sounds like a corrupt DATA BASE to me, there is a way to reset that and start a fresh one. Your settings are not being properly saved.

Ed Stallman

Bill , I have a Flex 6600 and a 6500 both connected to the network. The 6600 loses connection at least once a day and the 6500 never loses connection. I've bought a new router , new cat 6 , rebuilt the data in the radio ,, gave high preference to the 6600 and the computer it's on . It's never lost connection while transmitting . Always in receive... Any Ideas what I can try next ?
Ed N5DG  

Bill -VA3WTB

Try switching the network cables between the two radios. Just put the network cable for the 6600 on the 6500 and see if the problem reverses.

Dwayne_AB6A

Just an FYI, I have my radio, tuner, amp, etc grounded. A 1:1 Balun outside the shack to mitigate the possibility of RF inside the shack. I have not had a crash as described and normally run my radio for weeks on end... 6600.

Ed Stallman

Bill , I will try that in the morning before using the radios for the day .

Dwayne , tnx , yes good grounding here too and Mix 31 torodes for command mode chokes .. Like I said , Never a crash while TXing ... always happens when I leave the shack , see it when returning a few hours later 

Dwayne_AB6A

Really need to get to the bottom of the crashes - Not sure what Flex has had to say but bad ram or flash card? If could be external - malware or related. May make sense to put the radio behind a router with firewall enabled to isolate its network.

Ed Stallman

I too need my Flex 6600 to stay on . I leave things running all night on FT8 to see what I may have missed 

Pat N6PAT

Why do you need to see what was on while you were sleeping? You can always check the spot history with the clusters.

It seems to be a waste of electricity as well as possibly reducing the life span of the rig.

I always power everything down when not in use.

Dwayne_AB6A

A waste of solar/battery?