Thetis - 7000DLE MKII first drive

N7CXI
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Thetis - 7000DLE MKII first drive

Postby N7CXI » Sun Aug 30, 2020 9:20 pm

In the best engineering tradition: When I couldn't fix a minor issue with PowerSDR mRx, I changed everything out and started over...

I loaded the very latest Protocol 2 Orion MkII firmware (2.0b 10 Feb 2020" found by scrubbing these forums, and the matching 2.6.9 version of Thetis.

Thetis works fine, with the exception that every 3-5 minutes I get a SEQ error. (various packet types, no apparent pattern) The accompanying 250mS or so RX audio drop is annoying, but since it's ramped and I don't use digital modes much I can live with it until fixed or some other squirrel runs by and distracts me.

I set up a dedicated L2 switch port pair using two of my L2/L3 router's seven internal fabric ports instead of the 24-port L2 switch I normally use to connect all my doo-dads. I can stuff UDP sequenced packets between two PCs on that circuit until the line glows without losing any, but again every 3-5 minutes I'll see around 250 packets drop between Thetis and the radio.

I did go to the trouble of loading Windows 10 2004 on a literally brand new i9 9900K, (Gigabyte hi-rel mainboard with both Intel and RealTek NICs ) and loading Thetis on it for a second opinion. Exactly the same symptom. Everything works fine except for that data "hole" every 3-5 minutes. DPC latency on that machine rarely exceeds a fraction of a microsecond when artificially loaded.

Based on the above, it would seem that the drop is: (multiple choice)
(1) Caused by the Orion MkII firmware or Thetis or both
(2) Caused by some unknown interaction with Windows 10 2004

FWIW (and possibly not relevant) the latest version of SDRConsole on the same hardware has huge packet losses, with the audio sounding more like a welding arc than white noise. Not usable.

BTW: I had to use HPSDRBootloader to load the firmware. Discovery failed on both the command-line and web versions of the "Protocol 2" programmer. My router either failed to see or failed to respond to the DHCP request from the radio in bootloader mode, if that helps anyone. The radio does NOT show the "11:22:33:44:55:66" MAC when in "run" mode, but since the router apparently ignores it altogether in bootloader mode ( and I don't have time to reload WireShark) I don't know what MAC the radio bootloader uses - I assume the "fake" one.

One thread I haven't pulled - Both machines have AMD video cards. One a RX580 and the other a Vega 64. Both have built-in Intel GPUs as well, so if I find another hour somewhere I may pull one of the AMD cards and try that experiment. Uprooting other machines in the house would have ramifications, so I'll stick with these two for testing. As above, DPC latency on the 9900K is excellent with the Vega 64, but you just never know.

73,
Jim N7CXI
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w-u-2-o
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Re: Thetis - 7000DLE MKII first drive

Postby w-u-2-o » Sun Aug 30, 2020 9:59 pm

Can't speak to your dropped packet, but if you've read the firmware forums then you know that the ANAN hardware boots up with the 11:22:33:44:55:66 MAC in bootloader mode, that this is an illegal MAC, and that therefore no L2 or L3 switch I'm aware of will forward packets to it. You have to use a dumb switch or a direct connection to use bootloader.
DG1SGE
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Re: Thetis - 7000DLE MKII first drive

Postby DG1SGE » Mon Aug 31, 2020 5:26 pm

Hi Jim,

i had the same Problem here after this W10 Update to V 2004.
On my Laptop without the Update to V2004 everything worked fine even through a WIFI connection....
Tested everything out for Days, even downgrading to Firmware 1.9 on my 8000 DLE, changed switches an all the Cabling etc...
After all i installed W10 without this Update to V 2004 on a brand new SSD installd Thethis in V2.70 , imported my Database - going back to Firmware 2.0 b and everything works fine again.
These Guys at MS changed something generaly in this Update and the shit began....
but finally after a few Hours of headscratching and lots of Test´s to sort it out everything works fine for me again.

best 73 de Steve DG1SGE
N7CXI
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Joined: Sun Apr 09, 2017 5:20 pm
Location: Spokane Valley, WA

Re: Thetis - 7000DLE MKII first drive

Postby N7CXI » Mon Aug 31, 2020 7:42 pm

Hi Steve,

So after the rebuild you don’t see any packet drops?

Tonight I’ll pull the AMD card from the box I normally use for radio, load the Intel GPU driver package and give it another spin.

Come to think of it though, I have a Lenovo i5 mini-PC with good DPC ratings I can sneak in there - easier than pulling out the larger machine.

If and when I get this figured out I’ll post back here.

Thanks!
Jim N7CXI
N7CXI
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Re: Thetis - 7000DLE MKII first drive

Postby N7CXI » Mon Aug 31, 2020 10:41 pm

Ok, the SEQ error(s) are NOT being caused by the 7000DLE MkII or Thetis or Windows 10 2004.
I stretched a cable between the radio and the normal i7 shack PC today over lunch and things ran fine with no errors for a little over 30 minutes.

So... It's either the fancy $$$ MikroTik CloudCore router/switch having occasional spasms, or (more likely) there's a device that's causing a short UDP broadcast storm every 3 to 5 minutes. Even though I set up a dedicated port-to-port L2 connection between two of the router switch ports, it's on the same subnet as a lot of other devices - so subject to broadcast traffic from them.

The quick fix is to put a dedicated PCIe NIC in the shack PC tonight. After that, snoop the network and find the culprit - just because it needs doing. Knowing my luck, it's probably one of the wife's TV gadgets - they stream UDP like crazy. I would put the ground floor (my domain) on a different subnet, but then no TV or other UDP gadgetry without a bunch of messing about.

I'm glad this is going to work. I like the panadapter tweaks in Thetis, and overall it seems to operate more smoothly than PowerSDR mRx.
I haven't tried Diversity yet; I need to hook the RX loop up and see how it works as compared to PSDR.

73,
Jim N7CXI
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Re: Thetis - 7000DLE MKII first drive

Postby w-u-2-o » Tue Sep 01, 2020 12:11 am

Or just invoke port isolation or a VLAN on the fancy switch so that your PC and radio hardware live in their own broadcast domain.
N7CXI
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Re: Thetis - 7000DLE MKII first drive

Postby N7CXI » Tue Sep 01, 2020 4:27 am

That would work too, but part of my use model involves getting all those broadcast packets.

I put the 2nd NIC in tonight, it works fine. Thetis scared me a bit when I couldn't save any TX settings against the "Default" profile, I had to create one. So far I haven't hit any more show-stoppers.

Thanks for the help.

73,
Jim N7CXI
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Re: Thetis - 7000DLE MKII first drive

Postby K1LSB » Tue Sep 01, 2020 2:13 pm

Not sure why you're unable to save a modified Default profile, I overwrite the Default profile quite frequently (I'm also chasing a recurring stuttering audio issue).
N7CXI
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Re: Thetis - 7000DLE MKII first drive

Postby N7CXI » Tue Sep 01, 2020 3:26 pm

It may be that I'm not used to saving the profile manually.
If I change a setting and click "Ok", my expectation has been that the profile would be updated. Apparently that isn't correct?

Anyway - if I save the profile after making TX changes and clicking "Ok", it works fine. Whether that's a bug or a feature I'm not sure.
I do not have either of the associated checkboxes checked. (Autosave on change or Autosave on close)

73,
Jim N7CXI
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w-u-2-o
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Re: Thetis - 7000DLE MKII first drive

Postby w-u-2-o » Tue Sep 01, 2020 4:29 pm

Jim: you might consider the meaning of "Autosave on Change", just sayin'... ;)
N7CXI
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Re: Thetis - 7000DLE MKII first drive

Postby N7CXI » Tue Sep 01, 2020 4:41 pm

w-u-2-o wrote:Jim: you might consider the meaning of "Autosave on Change", just sayin'... ;)


Well, sure. Since the dialog has both "Apply" and "Ok" buttons, though the inference could be made that clicking "Ok" would be sticky, while clicking "Apply" would not be. That's why I qualified my comment with "bug or feature" - it isn't worth making a stand over. :-)

73,
Jim N7CXI

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