6400M's screen is black when booting up

Franksr-N9GQR

After booting up and the green light is solid, I start the SDR software and it is working
perfectly. My 6400M's screen is black and I'm wondering if there is something I did to make the screen black? I like it black while using the SDR but wondering if I caused that or something happened to the 6400M to make the screen black?

Ted VE3TRQ

My 6600M never has a blank or black screen when it is powered up. I suggest you put in a help-desk ticket.

Franksr-N9GQR

Many have viewed my question but not one comment or answer?

John Orjias

i have same problem, only works after shutdown of everything including the power supply. my guess is the screen is never really turning off on power button shutdown. and then when you hit the button to start it again its really turning off the screen at that point. the radio and the screen (tablet) are really separate things that are both triggered with the power button. so you can have them get out of sync like this. in the beginning i only ever had it happen if i happened if i accidentally double pushed the power button on start up. but now it does it every time i shut down unless i **** the power supply also

does windows auto update on the table (regarding windows updates? on the tablet) or are updates of windows disabled? not sure how that works, wondering if a windows (ON THE TABLET) update is causing this. its not a radio issue its a software issue, you will never notice if if you are shutting down your power supply after you turn of the radio

John Orjias

Its an existing issue, you will never see if you shut off your power supply after you shut down your radio. the power button is just a switch on a relay that turns on the radio and the tablet but they are separate devices. in fact you can turn off the radio while the table is booting and the light will go off and the radio will shut down but the tablet will still start up but can not connect.

My guess is for what ever reason when you shutdown the radio does turn off. but the tablet never shuts down all the way (windows hanging on shutdown) then really even though the led shows the radio as off and smart sdr can not connect so the radio is really off, the tablet is on. and then once you hit the power button again its not going to do anything to trigger the tablet to start up correctly again because windows is hung.

It did not use to do this. So my question is, does the windows on the tablet update automatically. did MS install some update that jacked it up? still trying to figured out the cause on my end, but really its not a hardware issue, this is clearly a software issue, but i don't think its a flex software issue, i think its the typical issue where windows refuses to shutdown all the way. even though it turns the screen black

I have reset to factory and the problem still exists. Would others please test shutting down your radio and restarting with out switching your power supply off and report your results back? i think it would be helpful for support to see if this is a wide spreed issue. (also your radio has to have internet access if this was a windows update issue again thats assuming windows updates automatically on the tablet) because if your radios is just connected to your computer then it would never have a chance to download a windows update, again that's a huge assumption. i'm just taking shots in the dark. if windows does not auto update then i'm not sure why this is a new issue with even my radio when it was not there before

Again this issue will more than likely never present itself if you switch off your power supply after shutting down.

John Orjias

Found the issue, for me at least... ok let me ask you this are you using the hdmi? i tried to think of any possible changes i had made since the problem started and i realized i did not use to use the hdmi on the radio. I disconnected the hdmi from the radio and now it shutdown and restarts normally. there is some kind of shutdown issue with windows or the table its self when hdmi display is connected on the radio. i have tried it with 3 different displays, all with the same results.

John Orjias

Follow up... I have been searching online and while it's not exactly the same issue or the same hardware others are reporting a similar issue with windows tables and external displays. So this is more then likely a windows issue, beings people just running various computer configurations have ran into similar problems when using more then one display

Franksr-N9GQR

The problem was determined to be a hardware problem and it was returned to Flex and they replaced the
PIPo Display. I've only had it back now 3 days. Working fine so far.

Franksr-N9GQR

> @"Ted VE3TRQ" said:
> My 6600M never has a blank or black screen when it is powered up. I suggest you put in a help-desk ticket.

I did exactly that and after a month of resets and working with the Flex Tech, it was determined the problem was a hardware problem and it was returned to Flex and they replaced the
PIPo Display. I've only had it back now 3 days. Working fine so far.

John Orjias

so I wonder if I have a hardware issue, mine defiantly resolves once I disconnect the hdmi. are you using hdmi?

Franksr-N9GQR

Yes, I was using the HDMI port.

John Orjias

ok and now with your hdmi connected if you power off the radio with just its power button (not your power supply) it will power up normally?

Franksr-N9GQR

No, the black screen remained. I had to do a reset to get it to come back on.

John Orjias

reset? your reseting your firmware? or did you just mean power cycling your main power supply? all you need to do is power cycle the power supply. I suspect windows just does not shut down all the way when hdmi is connected. so now the power button gets out of sync and then next time you hit it it only turns on the radio. but just powering off your power source and then back on will resolve the issue

Maybe thats what you meant, but just wanted to be sure. reset can mean so many things :-)

John Orjias

anyway thanks for letting me know , I will not worry about the issue beings you are seeing it also. my guess everyone is (but they have to notice it) . I think its a windows issue.

Franksr-N9GQR

Didn't you get my first message?

I turned in a help-desk ticket.

After a month of resets and working with the Flex Tech, it was determined the problem was a hardware problem and it was returned to Flex and they replaced the PIPo Display. I've only had it back now 3 days. Working fine so far.

John Orjias

I guess we talked passed each other. I'm referring to now. Have you tried it now with your hdmi connected? since you have got it back?

Franksr-N9GQR

I've only had it 3 days and yes I'm using the HDMI port.

I've got a new problem that started tonight.

Tune up Radio and AMP and now it will not transmit with

or without the amp. I can hit TUNE and it puts out 100 watts

using just the radio or 1100 watts with the amp...But it will not

transmit?

John Orjias

ok so tune will transits but you can't transmit when keying the mic, correct? how about digital modes are those working.

This can be caused by the mic profile. I have ran into this issue when switching back and forth between the computer and using the radio directly.

Are you trying to transmit using your computer? or the mic connected to the radio?

John Orjias

one last question when you said this "No, the black screen remained. I had to do a reset to get it to come back on." you were meaning before you sent your radio back, right? just to be sure, thats where I was confused, I though you meant you were still seeing it now after getting it back.

Franksr-N9GQR

Yes, using the mic connected to the radio. It was working fine up and until this evening.

I think I had mentioned earlier that the Black Screen would go away if I did a reset on the radio.

John Orjias

so at any point did you use smartsdr to transmit?

Franksr-N9GQR

Yes, using the mic connected to the radio. It was working fine up and until this evening.

I prefer the SDR software but it wouldn't with it or the built-in Maestro.

I think I had mentioned earlier that the Black Screen would go away if I did a reset on the radio.

John Orjias

I use smartsdr with the 6600M it works fine with it but it can be confusing at first with the different profiles switching back and forth.

So my guess is the mic profile got changed. let me go to my radio and send you some screen shots. stand by. I have to get on a different computer

John Orjias

press the mic knob on the radio, to pull up this screen

John Orjias

the main things that matter are

DAX does not have to be off, but just to make sure there is no issue there for now leave it off (you use that when you want to use your computer to transmit)

John Orjias

can you let me know what settings you were seeing for those 4 items. level does not have to be exactly there either, just make sure its not turned all the way down

Franksr-N9GQR

It was my fault, for some reason I switched the MIC input to KEY on back of radio...it's working now.

I'm running a Heil PR40 Mic, using the PR781 ESSB_3 2K setting.

I do get a lot of compliments on my audio.

Level is at 53

No Processor.

John Orjias

glad you're back up and running