I’m having a lot of trouble with my LimeSDR V1.4s.
I have not got a bare metal Linux machine atm so just wanted to get some spectrum displaying on a Windows machine.
On my Windows 7 64 bit ASUS i5 Ultrabook it will run as USB3 in Cubic but nothing above 100khz bandwidth.
I can use the Extio to run HDSDR at 30mhz bandwidth but it freezes every 5 - 30 minutes - again via USB3 (my Ultrabook only has USB3).
On my Windows 7 64 bit desktop i7 O/C I can’t get it to run at all via USB3 but HDSDR runs stable (via Extio) using USB2 at 30Mhz bandwidth.
Windows 10 Toshiba i3 laptop won’t run it at all via USB3. It runs at USB2 but in the background it is constantly being installed and uninstalled in the device manager.
Is it just that there is no real support for Windows and USB3 or does mine have problem ?
I have done all the updates via the latest Limesuite.
If I setup a bare metal Linux machine should that solve the USB issues ?
EDIT - I have had more success plugging the Lime direct into the USB rather than using a cable. So the cable may be suspect. I will order a new, shorter USB3 cable.
USB cables and/or ports are often the source of issues which, if they do not manifest themselves immediately, may do when running high bandwidths and current consumption goes up.
Thanks, yeah I have discovered its really sensitive to USB configs.
With my W64 Asus laptop I have been able to get Cubic working at 65Mhz although its a bit like starting an old car. The procedure is to select the LimeSDR when loading Cubic, then stopping via the menu and then starting via the menu and it runs a nice spectrum display all day long at 65 Mhz which is nice. Can’t get Cubic to demodulate anything though.
HDSDR works ok at 30Mbit (default for the Extio) and demodulates ok but does lock up sometimes.
SDR-Console works ok at up to 35 Mbit with demod (Can’t see how to run it without demod).
I’ve got the USB3 cable (1M) wrapped around a torroid choke … not sure if it helps. I have a short 30cm USB3 cable coming which I hope will enable it to work with my other PC’s. Also I setup a fan running in a case blowing over the Lime as it gets hot and USB seems to play up more when its been running hot for a while (eg in HDSDR).
Some more info re USB3 and a scary experience running external power into the Lime.
I have a small form factor PC that runs off a 12V power supply (batteries) and the will be running my Lime.
I could not get the USB3 ports to run the Lime on this PC so I put a USB3 PCI card in place … an Inateck and it runs the Lime very well however I could hear the fans in the PC go slower when the Lime runs at 65Mhz with the USB3 card in place. It’s a voltage sag … not good.
So I thought I would power the Lime via external power to reduce the load on the PC. I put 12 volts onto the Lime and the Lime powered up ok, but the PC would not run, it would start and reset within about 3 seconds over and over again.
It seems like the Lime is leaking power back into the USB port and the PC does not like it. So I took the external power supply off the lime and I have ordered a more powerful 12volt computer power supply and will need to power the lime via USB3.
I have been ok running the following set-up:
LimeSDR-USB (older 18.04 firmware) connected to USB 2.0 and also connected to a 5V 3.0A wall plug (like this one: http://a.co/d/4uw0Moo)
Thanks for the info. I have lots of 5V power supplies around but I see the specs for the LimeSDR that external power needs to be in the range of 6V - 12V ?
I also read something about a power switch on the Lime board to select external power ? Is that correct ? A jumper somewhere ?
