smartSDR sudden shutdown

Khalid AlRiyami

SmartSDR suddenly closes then immediately reopens And connection lost window shows it happens time to time for unknown reason. I just downloaded the latest firmware v3.1.11 but it’s still happening FlexRadio 6400M Windows 10 Did anyone face this problem and what’s the possible reasons?

Tim - W4TME

Have you cold booted the radio after upgrading as recommended in the Release Notes?

Khalid AlRiyami

yes I did but this issue being happing even before upgrade

Tim - W4TME

That error indicates that the PC is losing the network connection between the PC and the radio.

Khalid AlRiyami

It keeps happening every now and then the SmartSDR window freezes for a second then closes and the connection lost window display while the SmartSDR window reopens by it self??! I noticed the network indication on the SmartSRD sometimes drops from excellent to poor few seconds the comes back. It’s very annoying you can imagine specially during pail ups and contest.

Khalid AlRiyami

So what can the reason for that to happen?

Tim - W4TME

How are the PC and FLEX-6000 connected to your network?

Khalid AlRiyami

Ethernet cable pulled from main router to network switch in shack then from switch one LAN goes to radio and one to PC

Tim - W4TME

RRR.  What is the make and model of the Ethernet switch?

Khalid AlRiyami

TP-Link 5-Port Gigabit desktop switch TL-SG1005D

Ted VE3TRQ

I was running my 6600M through a small 5-port Netgear switch (105E) to my Mac. It would mysteriously drop the xCat and xDax connections (I don't run a GUI on the Mac) randomly anywhere from several times per day to several times per week, sometimes only once per week.

I stopped using the Netgear 5-port switch between the Mac and radio, and have not had a disconnect in two months. I'm using a 24-port smart switch (commercial grade) now.

Mark_WS7M

Interesting.  I have two switches between my radio and my PC and I do see disconnects.

I might have to try something different just to see how it works.

Ted VE3TRQ

Mark, the 5 port switch in my case was connected to the Mac, but that switch was then connected to the switch to which the radio was connected - so there were two switches between the computer and the radio. Exactly what you just described - and it caused me no end of grief. I'm just happy i decided to eliminate the little cheap switch.

Tim - W4TME

Khalid - I looked up this Ethernet switch.  I see that it has the "Green Ethernet" feature.  This feature will reduce the power on the UTP transceivers to save power.  This feature can also cause issues if it temporarily shuts down the port, which is another feature of Green Ethernet.

One test would be to power off the PC and the radio, connect them together with a single Ethernet cable, and then power on the PC first and then power on the radio.  Operate in that mode and if you do not have any disconnects, then the switch Is causing the problem and you should change it. 

Remember when making any network changes, always power off the radio, make the physical cabling change and then power on the radio to ensure it gets the correct IP address.