Lumpkin SDR (had a crash yesterday)

[Phil - NY4Q]

I am getting heavy use with only one crash thus far. The system peaked at 62 users online yesterday at one point.

What happened on my system was the waterfall was peaked (all red) and there was just noise.

I have applied both suggestions made by Bas (making it run as a service and the chat file rotation).

Below is an error I am seeing that may be the root of the crash.
---
Oct 23 08:16:22 phantomsdr bash[1507670]: [2024-10-23 08:16:22] [error] handle_read_frame error: websocketpp.transport:2 (Underlying Transport Error)
Oct 23 08:16:22 phantomsdr bash[1507670]: [2024-10-23 08:16:22] [error] handle_read_handshake error: websocketpp.transport:7 (End of File)

[Bas ON5HB]

What receiver?

How is the TOML file?

The websocket errors are normal, when a users is gone of the internet fails between the server and the user.

Peaking Red looks to me the receiver isn't sending samples properly or fails.

Check dmesg to see what happened on the USB-port.

[Phil - NY4Q]

Code Select Expand

[server]
port=80 # Server port
html_root="frontend/dist/" # HTML files to be hosted
otherusers=1 # Send where other users are listening, 0 to disable
threads=2

[websdr]
register_online=true # If the SDR should be registered on https://sdr-list.xyz then put it to true
name="Lumpkin County Schools SDR" # Name that is shown on https://sdr-list.xyz
antenna="Fan Dipole" # Antenna that is shown on https://sdr-list.xyz
grid_locator="EM84an" # 4 or 6 length Grid Locatlr shown on https://sdr-list.xyz and for the Distance of FT8 Signals
hostname="http://phantomsdr.lumpkinschools.com" # If you use ddns or something to host with a domain enter it here for https://sdr-list.xyz

[limits]
audio=100
waterfall=100
events=100

[input]
sps=58000000 # Input Sample Rate
fft_size=8388608 # FFT bins
fft_threads=2
brightness_offset=0 # Waterfall brightness offset. Reduce to negative if you see black regions in the waterfall
frequency=0 # Baseband frequency
signal="real" # real or iq
accelerator="opencl" # Accelerator: none, cuda, opencl
audio_sps=12000 # Audio Sample Rate
audio_compression="flac" # flac or opus
waterfall_size=2048
waterfall_compression="zstd" # zstd or av1
smeter_offset=0

[input.driver]
name="stdin" # Driver name
format="s16" # Sample format: u8, s8, u16, s16, u32, s32, f32, f64

[input.defaults]
frequency=7074000 # Default frequency to show user
modulation="USB" # Default modulation


[Phil - NY4Q]

This is all I see pertaining to USB in the dmesg files for the RX888 MKII.

Code Select Expand

root@phantomsdr:/var/log# cat dm* | grep "usb6" | more
[    1.428081] kernel: usb usb6: We don't know the algorithms for LPM for this host, disabling LPM.
[    1.428769] kernel: usb usb6: New USB device found, idVendor=1d6b, idProduct=0003, bcdDevice= 5.15
[    1.429315] kernel: usb usb6: New USB device strings: Mfr=3, Product=2, SerialNumber=1
[    1.429850] kernel: usb usb6: Product: xHCI Host Controller
[    1.430390] kernel: usb usb6: Manufacturer: Linux 5.15.0-124-generic xhci-hcd
[    1.430944] kernel: usb usb6: SerialNumber: 0000:0b:00.0
[    1.201680] kernel: usb usb6: We don't know the algorithms for LPM for this host, disabling LPM.
[    1.205692] kernel: usb usb6: New USB device found, idVendor=1d6b, idProduct=0003, bcdDevice= 5.15
[    1.206720] kernel: usb usb6: New USB device strings: Mfr=3, Product=2, SerialNumber=1
[    1.207732] kernel: usb usb6: Product: xHCI Host Controller
[    1.208704] kernel: usb usb6: Manufacturer: Linux 5.15.0-124-generic xhci-hcd
[    1.209676] kernel: usb usb6: SerialNumber: 0000:0b:00.0


[Bas ON5HB]

dmesg should show something like this:

[    6.608609] usb 3-1: new high-speed USB device number 2 using xhci_hcd
[    6.763255] usb 3-1: New USB device found, idVendor=04b4, idProduct=00f3, bcdDevice= 1.00
[    6.763259] usb 3-1: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
[    6.763261] usb 3-1: Product: WestBridge
[    6.763262] usb 3-1: Manufacturer: Cypress
[    6.763263] usb 3-1: SerialNumber: 0000000004BE
[    7.080878] usb 4-1: USB disconnect, device number 2
[    7.657129] usb 3-1: USB disconnect, device number 2
[    7.945922] usb 4-1: new SuperSpeed USB device number 3 using xhci_hcd
[    7.972581] usb 4-1: New USB device found, idVendor=04b4, idProduct=00f1, bcdDevice= 0.00
[    7.972585] usb 4-1: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
[    7.972587] usb 4-1: Product: RX888mk2
[    7.972588] usb 4-1: Manufacturer: sdr prototypes
[    7.972589] usb 4-1: SerialNumber: 000900220251191B

The device starts in High-speed (USB2) and then gets the firmware loaded and switched to Superspeed (USB3).
If your 888 doesn't do this, it's probably broken itself due to heat in the Cypress USB chip.
It needs thermal modification when used above 30MSPS. else it gets too hot and desolders itself.

https://ka7oei.blogspot.com/2023/08/improving-thermal-management-of-rx-888.html

Many are sold NOT modified and burn. Check that first, if modified the USB chip has a heatsink and thermalpad at the bottom of the PCB.
Just open the sidepanel, no need to remove the PCB, you can see it if it's there or not.

See here: https://www.phantomsdr.fun/index.php?topic=12.msg51#msg51

[Phil - NY4Q]

The device starts in High-speed (USB2) and then gets the firmware loaded and switched to Superspeed (USB3).
If your 888 doesn't do this, it's probably broken itself due to heat in the Cypress USB chip.
It needs thermal modification when used above 30MSPS. else it gets too hot and desolders itself.

https://ka7oei.blogspot.com/2023/08/improving-thermal-management-of-rx-888.html

Many are sold NOT modified and burn. Check that first, if modified the USB chip has a heatsink and thermalpad at the bottom of the PCB.
Just open the sidepanel, no need to remove the PCB, you can see it if it's there or not.

See here: https://www.phantomsdr.fun/index.php?topic=12.msg51#msg51

The one I have does have the thermal block between the USB chip and the case. I had read over those mods and that some of the units had that missing a while back. I didn't add Cliff's version of the mod since my unit seemed to be thermally sound.

[Bas ON5HB]

Ok, so when it crashes, what happens to the receiver, does it show both messages OR is it gone and fails to load the firmware?

We need to figure out if it's the receiver or somewhere else.

Also, what CPU do you have? Does it handle the 62 users?

Do you use the pipe-methode or the fifo-methode of delivering the samples?

Did you alter grub?

It's hard to help without much info, we do not see your machine or config.

[Phil - NY4Q]

Ok, so when it crashes, what happens to the receiver, does it show both messages OR is it gone and fails to load the firmware?

We need to figure out if it's the receiver or somewhere else.

Also, what CPU do you have? Does it handle the 62 users?

CPU = Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5-1620 v3 @ 3.50GHz
GPU = NVIDIA Corporation GP106 [GeForce GTX 1060 3GB] (rev a1)
System = 16GB RAM

It handled the users with no sweat. The crash came late in the day with far less users on.

Do you use the pipe-methode or the fifo-methode of delivering the samples?

fifo

Did you alter grub?

No

It's hard to help without much info, we do not see your machine or config.

I agree; I did not post much info other than the crash. It happened when I was away from the system and when I saw it, I just restarted the process and didn't give it much thought. If it happens again, I'll do better and gather more data.

Right now there are 32 uses on and here is top's report.
---
spectrumserver 61% CPU
rx888_stream = 15.6%

73,
Phil

[Bas ON5HB]

1: You may want to put this in grub: usbcore.usbfs_memory_mb=16384 as it will encrease the USB buffer size.

2: Your CPU has 4 cores and hyperthreading so it looks like it has 8 cores, you may want to turn HT off in the BIOS as hyperthreading isn't usefull for realtime computing.

More info on the matter here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyper-threading

I have allways turned it off for websdr applications.

[Phil - NY4Q]

1: You may want to put this in grub: usbcore.usbfs_memory_mb=16384 as it will encrease the USB buffer size.

2: Your CPU has 4 cores and hyperthreading so it looks like it has 8 cores, you may want to turn HT off in the BIOS as hyperthreading isn't usefull for realtime computing.

More info on the matter here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyper-threading

I have allways turned it off for websdr applications.

Will do Bas; thank you.