Flex upgrade 3.5.8 New CAT error

Mick W8BE

Hi, Just upgraded to 3.5.8. Now I am seeing the CAT error below when I shut down the program. Cat seems to work fine and this only occurs on shut down. This is the first time I have seen this error.

Regards

Here is my system info...

PowerShell 7.3.6

PS C:\Users\w8beu> systeminfo

Host Name:         W8BE

OS Name:          Microsoft Windows 11 Pro

OS Version:        10.0.22631 N/A Build 22631

OS Manufacturer:      Microsoft Corporation

OS Configuration:     Standalone Workstation

OS Build Type:       Multiprocessor Free

Registered Owner:     

Registered Organization:

Product ID:        

Original Install Date:   5/11/22, 1:59:08 PM

System Boot Time:     8/9/23, 7:06:00 AM

System Manufacturer:    Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.

System Model:       Z390 AORUS PRO WIFI

System Type:        x64-based PC

Processor(s):       1 Processor(s) Installed.

              [01]: Intel64 Family 6 Model 158 Stepping 13 GenuineIntel ~3600 Mhz

BIOS Version:       American Megatrends Inc. F10, 6/5/19

Windows Directory:     C:\WINDOWS

System Directory:     C:\WINDOWS\system32

Boot Device:        \Device\HarddiskVolume13

System Locale:       en-us;English (United States)

Input Locale:       en-us;English (United States)

Time Zone:         (UTC-05:00) Eastern Time (US & Canada)

Total Physical Memory:   32,703 MB

Available Physical Memory: 25,728 MB

Virtual Memory: Max Size: 37,567 MB

Virtual Memory: Available: 27,040 MB

Virtual Memory: In Use:  10,527 MB

Page File Location(s):   C:\pagefile.sys

Domain:          WORKGROUP

Logon Server:       \\W8BE

Hotfix(s):         9 Hotfix(s) Installed.

              [01]: KB5028948

              [02]: KB5007297

              [03]: KB5012170

              [04]: KB5015669

              [05]: KB5018863

              [06]: KB5023595

              [07]: KB5027397

              [08]: KB5029359

              [09]: KB5029361

Network Card(s):      2 NIC(s) Installed.

              [01]: Intel(R) Wireless-AC 9560 160MHz

                 Connection Name: Wi-Fi

                 Status:     Hardware not present

              [02]: Intel(R) Ethernet Connection (7) I219-V

                 Connection Name: Eth0

                 DHCP Enabled:  Yes

                 DHCP Server:   192.168.0.1

                 IP address(es)

                 [01]: 192.168.0.xx

Hyper-V Requirements:   A hypervisor has been detected. Features required for Hyper-V will not be displayed.

Mick W8BE

I figured out the issue. It seems that 3.5.8 was throwing the error for my PTT on COM3. I did not have the foot switch connected and this is why I was getting a null error. I connected the foot switch and then deleted the com port and now when CAT is working normally. However this has been introduced in 3.5.8. I have never been required to keep a connected usb port connected to the CAT program. I would speculate that the developers missed handling null values in the new code.

Mick W8BE

I opened a ticket with Flex and they advised this is not a bug as I was using a com port to send cat commands to SmartSDR. The issue of the program throwing an exception error due to a null device in my opinion is valid. If this was normal behavior this should have been occurring before 3.5.8. Exception handling is a normal coding issue that needs to be accounted for by the developers.

WX7Y

I lost about half of my MANY CAT ports from the Upgrade to 3.5.8 so check your SmartCat and make sure all the CAT Ports your Software uses are still there.

I always copy my CAT settings file when I make a change over to a different location so I can easily restore thing when they Break which they have done over the last 10 years a time or two.