How to know if the Lime Mini is bricked

General Discussion
1

I’m getting crazy with this Lime Mini.
Paid 300 USD (with casing) for something that doesn’t seem to work (or only randomly)
Reading the posts, one can see that I’m not alone.
Calibration in LimeSuiteGUI does not work half of the time
Same for the test in LimeQuickTest
Think is heating up like hell
Tried on Linux. MacOS, Windows 7, Windows 10, all the same
Spent hours

So, is there a simple way to reset all, and shortly find out that there is a hardware problem?

Thanks

2

Make sure you have the latest version of Lime Suite installed.

Run LimeUtil --update to make sure you have the latest gateware/firmware.

Ensure nothing is connected to the RF ports and run LimeQuickTest to test the hardware.

You generally shouldn’t need to use LimeSuiteGUI and calibration should be done automatically after tuning etc.

1 Like
3

Well, Daniel, maybe you have bad luck. On this topic you only see the problems but the Lime sdr’s who work properly you will never read about it here…
Untill now: I use the Lime SDR mini since half a year now as a transceiver for Oscar-100 (Es’hail-2) satellite.
It works very nice. No problems but you have to keep it cool. I have added a 5V fan on a cheap plastic ebay case for the Lime SDR mini.
In fact i don’t understand all those guy’s trying to do the Limequicktest because what will it tell you?
Just connect it to a windows 10 pc with usb 3.0. Install SDRconsole V3 and start experimenting.

4

Hi Hans,
Reassuring to learn that it works in a stable manner on your side because I’m planning to use it for the same purpose (HB9IIU), but via Gnu Radio for learning purposes.
In the meantime, I made some promising observations keeping the device cool, but with a peltier element attached to the alu case (I have the fully enclosed version which perhaps explains…). Could transmit a DATV carrier locally with a symbol rate of 2000 during 3 hours without any issues.
Should have posted this here earlier as it might help others…

5

I have two SDRs and two minis. All sort of worked when I got them a few months ago. I took a break to investgate LoRa radios and returned to Lime a few weeks ago. None of them work ! I went through all the docs and followed all the procedures as outlined in the docs, wikis and web sites but get nothing but a cascade of errors. This is on Windows Srv 2016, Ubuntu 20.04, Raspian Buster Pi 3b+ an Pi 4.
I submitted help requests and Zach asked me for LimeSuite logs which I sent three times but have not heard anything back yet.
It appears that I am SOL and might as well have flushed the 100s of $$$ down the toilet.
Despite the hokiness the LoRa T-beams and RAK2245 gateways work- and are way cheaper.
Bummer, bummer , bummer.

6

Dear @marisk,

I asked you to share LimeQuickTest log files three times, literally. And couldn’t get a proper answer - what you post is not LimeQuickTest log file. How can I help you?

7

Hi @daniel,

Share the log file here, please.

8

###########################################################################

COLD STATE

###########################################################################
[ TESTING STARTED ]
->Start time: Thu Nov 19 14:07:37 2020
->LimeSuite version: 20.10.0-g1480bfea

->Device: LimeSDR Mini, media=USB 3.0, module=FT601, addr=24607:1027, serial=1D4C20586F8373, HW=2, GW=1.30
Serial Number: 1D4C20586F8373
Chip temperature: 22 C

[ Clock Network Test ]
->REF clock test
Test results: 42292; 55489; 3150 - PASSED
->VCTCXO test
Results : 6711016 (min); 6711175 (max) - PASSED
->Clock Network Test PASSED

[ FPGA EEPROM Test ]
->Read EEPROM
->Read data: 13 02 0B 13 02 0B 02
->FPGA EEPROM Test PASSED

[ LMS7002M Test ]
->Perform Registers Test
->External Reset line test
Reg 0x20: Write value 0xFFFD, Read value 0xFFFD
Reg 0x20: value after reset 0x0FFFF
->LMS7002M Test PASSED

[ RF Loopback Test ]
->Configure LMS
->Run Tests (TX_2 -> LNA_W):
CH0 (SXR=1000.0MHz, SXT=1005.0MHz): Result:(-19.2 dBFS, 5.00 MHz) - PASSED
->Run Tests (TX_1 -> LNA_H):
CH0 (SXR=2100.0MHz, SXT=2105.0MHz): Result:(-17.0 dBFS, 5.00 MHz) - PASSED
->RF Loopback Test PASSED

=> Board tests PASSED <=

Elapsed time: 2.74 seconds

###########################################################################

AFTER 5 MINUTES WITHOUT ANY INTERACTION IN THE MEANTIME

###########################################################################

[ TESTING STARTED ]
->Start time: Thu Nov 19 14:22:07 2020
->LimeSuite version: 20.10.0-g1480bfea

->Device: LimeSDR Mini, media=USB 3.0, module=FT601, addr=24607:1027, serial=1D4C20586F8373, HW=2, GW=1.30
Serial Number: 1D4C20586F8373
Chip temperature: 52 C

[ Clock Network Test ]
->REF clock test
Test results: 1541; 14738; 27935 - PASSED
->VCTCXO test
Results : 6711087 (min); 6711243 (max) - PASSED
->Clock Network Test PASSED

[ FPGA EEPROM Test ]
->Read EEPROM
->Read data: 13 02 0B 13 02 0B 02
->FPGA EEPROM Test PASSED

[ LMS7002M Test ]
->Perform Registers Test
->External Reset line test
Reg 0x20: Write value 0xFFFD, Read value 0xFFFD
Reg 0x20: value after reset 0x0FFFF
->LMS7002M Test PASSED

[ RF Loopback Test ]
->Configure LMS
->Run Tests (TX_2 -> LNA_W):
CH0 (SXR=1000.0MHz, SXT=1005.0MHz): Result:(-20.5 dBFS, 5.00 MHz) - FAILED
->Run Tests (TX_1 -> LNA_H):
CH0 (SXR=2100.0MHz, SXT=2105.0MHz): Result:(-18.3 dBFS, 5.00 MHz) - PASSED
->RF Loopback Test FAILED

=> Board tests FAILED <=

Elapsed time: 2.80 seconds

9

Looks OK to me. This test is for cold state device - it is expected to get different loopback readings when device is hot.