Latest build: after reboot frozen screen

[ON1AVO]

Colin,
I created a µSD card for an OM with PD4 and Langstone.
At first Langstone runs OK but after switching to PD4, made some seting changes, returned to Langstone and the screen is frozen without the waterfall and S-meter and no response from the buttons.
The only way to get out of this situation is to reboot or shutdown through SSH.
As a next step I only installed Langstone on the µSD card after formatting and a complete new install.
OK on start up but same behaviour as with PD4 installed after a reboot.
I followed your "Debugging Notes":
- ps -ax and kill -9 nnnn, all 3
652 tty1 S+ 0:00 /bin/bash /home/pi/Langstone/run
709 tty1 Sl+ 1:58 python /home/pi/Langstone/Lang_RX.py
714 tty1 S+ 0:00 /home/pi/Langstone/GUI
- pi@raspberrypi:~ $ cd ~/Langstone
pi@raspberrypi:~/Langstone $ python Lang_RX.py &
[1] 801
pi@raspberrypi:~/Langstone $ python Lang_TX.py &
[2] 802
pi@raspberrypi:~/Langstone $ ERROR: Open unlocked: -16
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "Lang_TX.py", line 227, in <module>
main()
File "Lang_TX.py", line 219, in main
tb = top_block_cls()
File "Lang_TX.py", line 49, in __init__
self.pluto_sink_0 = iio.pluto_sink('ip:pluto.local', 1000000000, 528000, 2000000, 0x800, False, 0, '', True)
File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/gnuradio/iio/iio_pluto_sink_swig.py", line 126, in make
return _iio_pluto_sink_swig.pluto_sink_make(*args, **kwargs)
RuntimeError: Unable to create buffer: -16

USB Audio dongle:
- Bus 001 Device 004: ID 1b3f:2008 Generalplus Technology Inc.
- hw:CARD=Device,DEV=0
USB Audio Device, USB Audio
Direct hardware device without any conversions

73's de ON1AVO
Freddy

[G8GKQ]

Hi Freddy

Is the Pluto that you are using on the default IP address of 192.168.2.1 ?

What happens if you disconnect the pluto and then reconnect it?

Dave

[g4eml]

I have seen the 'Unable to create Buffer' message before some time ago and I think it was due to the Pluto taking a long time to reset.
Dave's question is relevant because the Pluto would seem to be the problem.

When you built the SD card with just the Langstone you say "OK on start up but same behaviour as with PD4 installed after a reboot."
Do you mean it worked once but never again? I don't understand the comment about reboot. Do you mean a power off and on again did not restart correctly?

As this is on a new build it is possible that one of the required software packages has changed and is causing the problem.
I will need to build a new card from scratch to check that.

Colin

[g4eml]

I have just built a new Langstone SD card from scratch and can comfirm that it is working correctly.
Freddy, that would seem to say that your problem is something to do with your hardware.

Do you have any other SD cards you could try? I have seen problems before with some cards.

Colin G4EML

[g4eml]

I have also just built a new SD card for Portsdown 4 and installed Langstone on it from the menu.
All working as expected.

So I can confirm that the build processes for Langstone on its own and for Porstdown with Langstone are both still working.

Colin.

[ON1AVO]

Update:
- Pluto: default IP adress, F5OEO SW for the Brave, 2nd CPU enabled and freq. extension
- First try yesterday: OM SD card Kingston CANVAS select Plus 16GB class 10
- New build on a SANDISK MICROSDHC 16GB ULTRA A1 class 10
Installed PD4 and afterwards Langstone, no luck
With this new build it is even worse, not working at all at start.

Langstone start up screen

20200819_090900 (Small).jpg (130.07 KiB) Viewed 6541 times

Another test: changing the Pluto and audio dongle USB leads, same behaviour.
If the problem relates to the Pluto I've to postpone further tests because I have to visit the OM and try his Pluto.

BTW: an earlier build with Langstone and PD A27 worked fine, I showed this version to the OM.

When you built the SD card with just the Langstone you say "OK on start up but same behaviour as with PD4 installed after a reboot."
Do you mean it worked once but never again? Yes
I don't understand the comment about reboot. Do you mean a power off and on again did not restart correctly?" Yes

[G8GKQ]

Hi Freddy

Please could you check the supply voltage between pins 4 and 6 of the GPIO connector, and also provide another wider photo of how you have plugged it all together?

Dave

[ON1AVO]

Dave,

The power supply is an original one from Raspberry 5.1V/3A, used with a USB Y-cable to power RPI4 & 7" screen.
Measured voltage in operation between p4 & p6: 4,985V (showing Langstone screen)
Next test: powering the 7" screen from the GPIO pins, measured voltage 5,070V, but no change in behaviour, freezed Langstone screen.
USB connections: USB2 sound dongle and Dell scroll mouse, USB3 Pluto

complete setup

20200819_123818 (Small).jpg (152.91 KiB) Viewed 6494 times

Freddy

[g4eml]

As Dave suggests, it is worth checking the supply voltage. The Pluto is very sensitive to low voltage.

If you still cant get it working here are some suggestions.....

Debugging with both Portsdown and Langstone installed is difficult so I would suggest the first thing to do is to build a fresh card with just Langstone, using the instructions on the Langstone github page. (I have recently updated this to use the same Raspios image as Portsdown 4 although this makes no difference to the installation.)

If it does not work on its own then it is not going to work with Portsdown.

Locking up like you are seeing is normally caused by either Lang_RX.py or Lang_TX.py failing to start. So the first thing to do is check that both of these are running.

SSH into the Pi
cd Langstone
ps -ax

Make sure you can see the following programs in the list:-

/home/pi/Langstone/Lang_TX.py
/home/pi/Langstone/Lang_RX.py
/home/pi/Langstone/GUI

As your installation is failing I suspect one or more of these will be missing.
Try doing the following.

./stop
ps -ax Should show all three programs have stopped.
python Lang-TX.py & Should run the TX task. It will display a task ID Number and a message about the audio source.
ps -ax Should show the taks is running.
python Lang-RX.py & Should run the RX task. It will display a task ID Number.
ps -ax Should show both tasks running.
./GUI & Should run the GUI task and the screen should come to life.

You may see the following messages, these are normal..
Warning: the blks2.selector block is deprecated.
gr::log :INFO: audio source - Audio sink arch: alsa
len(audio_taps) = 231
ERROR: WRITE ALL: -9

You may see occasional aU messages, these are normal and caused by the audio Under-runs due to the small differences in sampling rates of the audio card and the Pluto.

If the above all works then try a normal restart like this...

./stop
./run

The run script does almost the same as the manual startup with a few additional error checks.

If you get significantly different results to above then it might be worth unplugging and re-plugging the Pluto. Then waiting some time for it to reboot.

Colin.

[g0mjw]

It could be a non-English OS causing problems. I have had issues with path-profile in the past where Francophones use a comma in place of a decimal point. This upsets some string functions trying to read numbers.

Secondly, the beta for the brave firmware needs the force compliant H264/265 checkbox set and saved to flash.

Mike