Cause of overnight crashes

[Robert Nickels]

This may be a dumb or odd question, but I'm not sure what's going on
with my HL2 and/or SparkSDR.     I just completed a H-L2 build 6 board
that I've had a couple of years, and it seems to be working as it
should.  As a shakedown, I've been running wspr on various bands with .1
and 1 watt power levels and good success. Never a glitch during the day
when I'm using the PC where SparkSDR is running, but for the past two
nights I've left it running unattended and both times something has
crashed when I look at it in the morning.

SparkSDR shows no activity from the radio and start/stop and discovery
both fail - the radio does not show up in discovery. At least one of the
LEDs on the radio is blinking (sorri I didn't make note of the pattern)
but it takes power cycling to restore normal operation.

I'll try again tonight and pay closer attention but thought I'd post
this to see if anyone might have experienced this and can identify the
cause.   I'm not sure if it's the HL2 or the software - and can't rule
out the PC but according to the spot database the crashes don't
correlate with times after I'd gone to bed where the PC might go to
sleep or something.

Thanks and 73,

Bob W9RAN

[Steve Haynal]

Hi Bob,

Since this is an older build6, is it also running older gateware? There were problems with DHCP renewal which have been fixed then. I suggest updating to the latest gateware. It works with builds 5 and later. 

SparkSDR does have a log. On linux it is usually somewhere under .local/m0nnb. It may contain helpful information.

I and others run SparkSDR with a HL2 for days without issue skimming FT8/FT4/WSPR. See www.pskreporter.info. Several stations in the top 20 run SparkSDR. 

You should also post to the SparkSDR group:

https://groups.google.com/g/sparksdr

73,

Steve

kf7o

[Robert Nickels]

On 9/9/2023 1:56 PM, Steve Haynal wrote:
>
> Since this is an older build6, is it also running older gateware?
> There were problems with DHCP renewal which have been fixed then. I
> suggest updating to the latest gateware. It works with builds 5 and
> later.

Thanks Steve.  I wasn't sure whether to look for a HL2 or SparkSDR issue.

I'd like  to update the gateware using SparkSDR, but having spent 20
minutes hunting all over Github, can you please give me a direct link to
the latest RBF file that will work with my build 6 board?     I've found
lots of stuff but nothing resembling an RBF file.

[Steve Haynal]

You can search this group via the web interface:

https://groups.google.com/g/hermes-lite/search?q=%22gateware%20release%22

All files are hosted on github. I recommend this release:

https://github.com/softerhardware/Hermes-Lite2/tree/master/gateware/bitfiles/stable/20210730_73p2

73,

Steve

kf7o

[Robert Nickels]

On 9/10/2023 11:48 PM, Steve Haynal wrote:
>
> All files are hosted on github. I recommend this release:
> https://github.com/softerhardware/Hermes-Lite2/tree/master/gateware/bitfiles/stable/20210730_73p2

Thanks Steve.  I did find reference to that being the most recent
version and downloaded hl2b5up_main.rbf from Github.   But when I try to
update to that version using SparkSDR it shows "Erasing" for about a
minute, then "Programming Failed".   I've repeated the attempt several
times per the wiki  but the same failure results.

I can still run the HL2:   the connection shows it's using protocol 1
v6.0 and SparkSDR Radio Settings menu shows firmware version 60, patch
0, board ID 0, and 3 receivers.   The HL2 board is marked "build 6".

The problem does seem to be related to network access as it won't make
it more than a day without locking up until power cycled. The last time
it locked up while I was supposedly watching, but it locked up while
transmitting and got really hot before I noticed, so I need to update
the gateware before using it again.

Can you suggest how I should proceed?    Maybe I need to update to an
older version of gateware first?

[Steve Haynal]

Hi Bob,

I think your gateware is too old to support the ethernet update. You have to update via USB blaster or Raspberry Pi. I can send you a USB blaster loaner if you like. Contact me off list.

73,

Steve

kf7o