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When PowerSDR won't start or exhibits bizarre behavior (database reset/removal)

Posted: Wed Dec 19, 2018 4:50 pm
by w-u-2-o
All data, and the entire state of PowerSDR, is stored in a series of files. See "Where are my settings stored and how can I back them up?"

A corrupted database file can cause PowerSDR to not start, or to exhibit really bizarre behavior. The design of the database code in PowerSDR predates the openHPSDR development and suffers from some reliability problems. Hence it is always a good idea to make frequent backups of your database file (Setup > Export Database).

If things are going really badly all of a sudden, and for no logical reason, you can try to reset your database back to its defaults. To do this, first export your database by using the "Export Database" button in the Setup window, just in case you want to go back to it (use the "Import Database" button). Then use the "Reset Database" button and see if this fixes the problem.

In very severe cases it may be necessary to completely remove the folder containing database.xml file. All of the database and support files for PowerSDR are here:

C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\FlexRadio Systems\

You can simply rename the "PowerSDR mRX PS" folder to something else and see if things go back to normal, albeit with a completely blank slate of settings. If not, just rename that folder back to "PowerSDR mRX PS" and you'll be right back where you started.

All of the above also applies to Thetis. All of the database and support files for Thetis are here:

C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\OpenHPSDR\

Re: When PowerSDR won't start or exhibits bizarre behavior (database reset/removal)

Posted: Mon Jun 10, 2019 5:44 pm
by AB2EZ
An additional thing to try... that is less time consuming than deleting the entire PowerSDR mRX PS folder... in situations where the PowerSDR mRX application will not open (i.e. where you can't access the database reset function):

1, Open the PowerSDR mRX PS folder located at
C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\FlexRadio Systems\

2. Delete the file named "database"

3. Change the name of a recently-created back up (exported) copy of the database to "database"

4. See if you can now open the PowerSDR mRX application

Stu

Re: When PowerSDR won't start or exhibits bizarre behavior (database reset/removal)

Posted: Mon Jun 10, 2019 11:03 pm
by w-u-2-o
Stu,

How is that any different?

73,

Scott

Re: When PowerSDR won't start or exhibits bizarre behavior (database reset/removal)

Posted: Tue Jun 11, 2019 3:01 am
by AB2EZ
Scott

When I used the approach of deleting the whole folder, and then starting the SDR application, the application recalculated all of the real and complex FFT’s. That process took about 10 minutes on my computer.

When I used the approach of just deleting/replacing the “database” file, I avoided the FFT recalculations.

Stu

Re: When PowerSDR won't start or exhibits bizarre behavior (database reset/removal)

Posted: Tue Jun 11, 2019 10:28 am
by w-u-2-o
Very good, Stu, thanks.

Re: When PowerSDR won't start or exhibits bizarre behavior (database reset/removal)

Posted: Fri Sep 06, 2019 1:27 am
by WA3GIN-Dave
Since the latest WIN10 Security UPDATE the ANAN 7000DLE has fatal error upon start. Went to database and deleted. Restart successful but upon attempting to import profile application returns fatal error. This is getting old!

Re: When PowerSDR won't start or exhibits bizarre behavior (database reset/removal)

Posted: Fri Sep 06, 2019 9:26 am
by G3NPI
I seem to have stumbled across a cause for "PowerSDR won't start". I am running OpenHPSDR mRX v3.4.9 on an ANAN 10 and using Virtual Audio cable on both VAC1 and VAC2. With VAC 1 and VAC2 enabled and the Resampler of VAC 1 ON all is OK but if I then turn ON Resampler in VAC2 the program still runs OK, but if I leave both resamplers ON, then shut the program down in the normal way, the program will not restart until I do a replacement of the database.
I wonder if someone else could confirm this behavior so a bug report can be flagged.

73

Geoff G3NPI Buckingham UK

Re: When PowerSDR won't start or exhibits bizarre behavior (database reset/removal)

Posted: Fri Sep 06, 2019 3:06 pm
by WA3GIN-Dave
It appears all the saved ANAN7000 .XML files were corrupted by the massive security patches loaded on Terrible Tuesday.

Deleting the database and or the wisdom file did not solve the issue. However, starting from scratch and creating new .xml settings images is successful and can be successfully imported.

I wonder if anyone in the support group performs compatibility tests against WIN software updates?

I'm not a coder so I have no idea what specific impact the MS updates had upon the ANAN .XML files other than those files were deemed useless after the patches were loaded. All the other applications that I checked on the PC appear to be working just fine.

It does appear that starting fresh has improved over all performance of the ANAN. For example this is the first time the radio could be set to a sample rate in the AUDIO tab at 384,000 and maintain clear audio. Also, in the past, when changing stored frequency by clicking on the BAND button, when set to AM mode to a new freq set to SSB mode there was always a noticeable hesitation (several hundred milliseconds). After this new build there is no hesitation when hoping from one stored freq to another regardless of mode. I can only wonder why these performance improvements occurred but I presume that prior .XML builds were somehow slightly corrupted resulting in increased latency?

Go figure. I wish I could halt further WIN Updates until I figure out a way to protect the .XML files from being corrupted. Thoughts Welcome!

Re: When PowerSDR won't start or exhibits bizarre behavior (database reset/removal)

Posted: Fri Sep 06, 2019 3:26 pm
by WA3GIN-Dave
More info regarding the latency. I loaded an audio profile ( SSB 3.3k CFC ) and the receive audio got distorted and choppy/ pulsing). Dropped back from a sample rate of 384,000 to 192,000 and problem cleared. Yet another mystery to me! If I go back to 384,000 and set VAC to 512 buffer size clear audio is restored however as well the hesitation when switching from AM mode to SSB mode has returned...;-(

Re: When PowerSDR won't start or exhibits bizarre behavior (database reset/removal)

Posted: Mon Sep 09, 2019 1:07 pm
by WA3GIN-Dave
More fun... that effort to disable WIN10 UPDATE appears to be an older version of a WIN10 UPDATE solution. There are not two UPDATE programs and when the second program can't work with the 1st the PC locks up and requires a restart. So, I backed out the disable UPDATE option. Since it appears the source of the problem was a recent massive MS UPDATE I took a closer look and it seems the majority of the patches were for WIN OFFICE Pro 2010. I don't use it so I deleted that program. Time will tell if the issue was caused by one of the many recent OFFICE updates.

Re: When PowerSDR won't start or exhibits bizarre behavior (database reset/removal)

Posted: Thu Sep 12, 2019 3:12 pm
by WA3GIN-Dave
... worked a FLEX owner a few days ago who had FLEX files corrupted by recent WIN10 updates... so the problem may not be exclusive to OpenHPSDRmx . Since deleting WIN10 Office Pro there has been no repeat of corrupted XML files by Office Updates.

Re: When PowerSDR won't start or exhibits bizarre behavior (database reset/removal)

Posted: Fri Sep 13, 2019 12:13 pm
by WA3GIN-Dave
Somewhat related discovery this morning. Microsoft Update appears to no longer be involved in delivering updates that corrupt HPSDR .XML files.

The system has been stable the past few days. While checking this morning audio became distorted. I was running task manager in the "Performance" mode. At the time I saw big hits to the Ethernet throughput of the PC running HPSDR. Typically ,Power SDR uses about 55Mbps (version 3.4.9) but the hits were dropping throughput down to 20-30Mbps. As it turns out the PC running HPSDR is connected to a Gig switch which also serves a MacBook Pro which was running Chrome and at the time it streaming a news video. When I cancelled the video download the HPSDR PC throughput returned to 55Mbps and as you would expect the audio became crystal clear! I guess this is an example of network congestion. So, one must appreciate that there are external network factors, such as the MacBook Pro connected to the same switch but downloading from the Internet that can produce LAN congestion in the switch: even though the SDR PC and the ANAN are utilizing dedicated LAN connection theoretically not dependent upon unrelated Internet throughput on another port in the switch.

Re: When PowerSDR won't start or exhibits bizarre behavior (database reset/removal)

Posted: Fri Sep 13, 2019 12:52 pm
by w-u-2-o
Dave,

You need a "non-blocking" gigabit Ethernet switch. A non-blocking switch will deliver wireline speeds between any two ports regardless of what the other ports are doing. Such switches need not be expensive. There is a Netgear 8 port GigE non-blocking switch on Amazon for under $20. In other words, at those prices nobody should be using a switch that is not non-blocking.

73,

Scott