Verifying the SD-card status prior to upgrade?

Lasse SM5GLC

Is there a way to verity that the SD-card will be OK for the new 3.3.29 upgrade? Or do I just buy a lottery ticket and keep fingers x-ed? Did all older radios suffer from the processor defect, creating the SD disaster? I'm still on the original card BTW.

Currently stuck at 2.4.10, so it is a major job to get both my old 6500 and my Maestro A up to date. The CW "fixes" makes me really eager to shell out $250 (inc tax 🤣 )but the risk of beeing left out of my radio for a few weeks makes me hesitate.

Mike-VA3MW

No, there isn't.

W2JV_

Mike might be able to verify my observation, from what I've read it appears that the 6400's with the original SD card suffered the most failures?

W2JV Peter

Lasse SM5GLC

Guess I somehow expected the answer from MIke... but still would like to know if all radios are affected or if it do differ between models or age, and if it is tied to specific f/w versions.....

Beeing across the pond, it is not just a matter of a day or two, rather weeks, to get a replacement, hence my questions.

KD0RC

According to Steve, N5AC "...we have encountered more of these than originally expected, predominantly in older radios that were subjected to the processor defect that was detected and fixed as mentioned above." (emphasis added by me).

The risk is not zero for any radio, but looks higher in the older ones. I think it is less about the model number than the age of the radio.

John KB4DU

Well, I didn’t see anything in the release notes that I need, so not updating. Not broke, don’t fix.

KD0RC

Another way to look at that is to choose when to risk an upgrade vs. a radio failure when you can least afford it.

Al_NN4ZZ

I wonder if the “AutoSave Profile” feature that writes out every small change could be a contributor to wearing out the SD Cards?

Maybe just coincidental but the SD card problems seemed to increase after that was added. 

I’m still on V2.4.10 of SSDR which is the last good version that did not have that feature.  (Waiting for the profile AutoSave ON/OFF switch feature)

Currently it’s been 10 years on my 6700 with the original SD card.

I’m not interested in any of the V3.x features and don’t plan on doing any updates until maybe some new features (and the Autosave ON/OFF switch ) come out in V4.x.

73…Al / NN4ZZ

Lasse SM5GLC

Summing up, I probably sit tight in the boat and stick to 2.4.10 at the moment. No need to upgrade, so I'll wait and see what will come out of this.

Given the scanty information from Flex, I can only guess what the root cause is, which and how it will affect me.

Of course I could do all sorts of things (not approved by Flex) to reduce the down-time if I was one of the unlucky ones, but it might be a good advice to wait a few more weeks :) Thanks for all input, both posts and PM's

73 Lasse SM5GLC

KD0RC

Hi Lasse, Mike, Va3MW posted an update from Steve, N5AC that detailed the root cause pretty well.

https://community.flexradio.com/discussion/8026416/notice-to-our-customers-regarding-smartsdr-v3-3-29-release-steve-hicks-cto-n5ac