Problem With USB Devices Connected to FLEX 6600M after 3.3.29 Upgrade

Al Dewey

Yesterday I updated to 3.3.29 on my Flex 6600M. All seemed to go OK until I noticed that the USB devices connected to my FLEX were no longer working.

I have 5 USB devices connected (i.e. 2 WX0B band decoders, 2 Elecraft KAT-500 tuners, and 1 Elecraft KPA 500 amp). One is connected to USB Port #1 on the Flex, and the other 4 our connected to USB Port #2 using a hub.

Using SmartSDR, I can see the 5 USB Cable entries listed but they are greyed out. If I unplug all 5 devices, wait a minute or two, and then plug them back in one at a time, they show up in the summary and they now work. However, the next time I turned the radio off and back on again, the USB devices did not work and all entries in the USB list were greyed again.

I did try a factory reset (after saving my profiles) and re-entered the info for the 5 USB devices again in SmartSDR. It did not help.

Any ideas about what may be causing this problem? I thought about downgrading back to 3.2 but really don't want to do that.

Al Dewey, K0AD

Mike-VA3MW

Hi Al

I opened a support ticket for you. This is not normal.

Al Dewey

For anyone following this thread, I thought I would let you know that my problem is solved. It turned out that I really DID need a POWERED USB hub for the 5 USB devices I have connected. I'm not sure why it worked before (i.e. with previous Flex SW version) without using a powered hub but I am happy that all is working well now that I have a POWERED USB hub.

Thanks to Ken from the FLEX Help Disk for his assistance.

73,

😀Al, K0AD

KD0RC

Thanks for the update Al.

Mike-VA3MW

A powered USB hub is a must as the power available from the back of the radio is minimal.

Glad it worked out for you.

Randy KN4YBA

Boy, this was a home run for me. I also upgraded to 3.3.29 and really didn't test transmit function. After traveling and trying to catch up with my Home/Mother in Law House/ and Beach condo duties I figured it was a good time for my newest remote antenna relay system checkout. I ran into the same issue, I kept dropping my USB connection to my USB relay. I thought it was my design and went back to my MFJ Ameritron RCS-10 but quickly figured out I was having a similar issue. I looked into everything and finally figured to check the Flex community. Sure enough there it was. I quickly installed a powered USB hub and everything works as I expected. It is weird in the software upgrade I noticed there were improvements to the USB but never considered this was to be the issue. I remembered when I first installed my 6400 that the documentation recommended a powered USB but in the earlier version of software I did not have an issue without the hub.

Thanks Al & Flex!

73

Randy KN4YBA