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What happened?

Bug report: Serial CW keying stopped working, high CPU usage, and blurry panadapter on AetherSDR 26.6.3

Summary

After running AetherSDR 26.6.3, I am experiencing several issues:

1. Serial CW keying no longer works, although it was working before with the same station setup.
2. CPU usage has increased significantly, from around 20% to around 70%.
3. The panadapter/spectrum display looks blurry or less defined than before.
4. The log shows suspicious entries related to serial port access, D3D11/QRhi rendering, main thread stalls, and panadapter resolution.

I am attaching the full AetherSDR log file to this issue.

Environment

• AetherSDR version: 26.6.3
• Radio: FLEX-6300
• Connection type: Local LAN
• Operating system: Windows
• CPU: AMD Phenom II X6 1055T
• GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GT 220
• Serial CW interface: USB/serial CW keying interface
• Previous behavior: serial CW keying was working before
• Current behavior: serial CW keying does not work

Steps to reproduce

1. Start AetherSDR 26.6.3 on Windows.

2. Connect to a FLEX-6300 over the local LAN.

3. Use the same station setup that previously worked with serial CW keying.

4. Open the serial CW configuration.

5. Select/configure the serial CW interface.

6. Try to key CW through the serial interface.

7. Observe that serial CW keying does not work.

8. Check the AetherSDR log.

9. Notice that AetherSDR reports:

   SerialPortController: failed to open "COM1" Win32 error 5
   

10. Also observe that the slice initially appears as CW/QSK enabled, but later changes to USB/QSK disabled:

slice 0 ... mode=CW ... qsk=1 ... tx=1

followed later by:

slice 0 mode=USB ... qsk=0 ... tx=1

11. During the same session, observe that CPU usage is much higher than before, around 70% instead of around 20%.
12. Observe that the panadapter/spectrum display looks blurry or less defined than before.
13. Check the log and notice D3D11/QRhi-related entries:

D3D11 smoke test: Failed to create vertex shader
SpectrumWidget: QRhi initialized, backend: D3D11
MainThreadWatchdog: event loop stalled ~2376 ms

14. Attach the full AetherSDR log file to the issue.

Expected behavior

• Serial CW keying should work as before using the configured serial interface.
• AetherSDR should open the selected CW serial port successfully.
• The slice should remain in CW mode when operating CW.
• QSK should remain enabled when using CW if configured that way.
• CPU usage should remain similar to previous versions under the same operating conditions.
• The panadapter should remain sharp and properly defined.
• GPU-accelerated spectrum/waterfall rendering should either work correctly or provide a clear fallback/diagnostic message.

Actual behavior

• Serial CW keying does not work.
• AetherSDR appears to try to open COM1 and fails with Win32 error 5.
• The slice appears to start in CW mode with QSK enabled, but later changes to USB mode with QSK disabled.
• CPU usage is significantly higher than before.
• The panadapter/spectrum display looks blurry or less defined.
• The log shows a D3D11 shader test failure.
• The log also shows a main thread stall during startup.

Relevant log entries

AetherSDR version

Starting AetherSDR "26.6.3"

Serial port / CW keying issue

SerialPortController: failed to open "COM1" Win32 error 5

This appears to be related to the serial CW keying problem. Serial CW keying was working before, but now the port cannot be opened.

Slice initially appears in CW mode

slice 0 ... mode=CW ... qsk=1 ... tx=1

Slice later changes to USB and QSK disabled

slice 0 mode=USB ... qsk=0 ... tx=1

This may be related to the CW issue, because the slice does not remain in CW/QSK state.

D3D11 / QRhi rendering warning

D3D11 smoke test: Failed to create vertex shader

QRhi still initializes with D3D11

SpectrumWidget: QRhi initialized, backend: D3D11
SpectrumWidget: waterfall pipeline created
SpectrumWidget: overlay pipeline created
SpectrumWidget: spectrum pipeline created

Main thread stall

MainThreadWatchdog: event loop stalled ~2376 ms

Panadapter initially appears with very low resolution

display pan ... x_pixels=50 y_pixels=20
display waterfall ... x_pixels=50

Panadapter is later resized

display pan set ... xpixels=1622 ypixels=801
display pan set ... xpixels=1622 ypixels=729

Panadapter averaging / FPS

average=36
fps=19

and elsewhere:

fps=5

Questions

1. What does the following error mean in AetherSDR?

   SerialPortController: failed to open "COM1" Win32 error 5
   

2. Where is the selected serial CW port stored?

3. Is there a way to reset the serial CW configuration completely?

4. Could AetherSDR be trying to open the wrong COM port after an update?

5. Could another internal component or external application be opening COM1 before the CW keyer tries to use it?

6. Why does the slice appear to start in CW/QSK enabled but later change to USB/QSK disabled?

7. Is the following D3D11 warning expected on older GPUs?

   D3D11 smoke test: Failed to create vertex shader
   

8. Does this warning indicate that QRhi/D3D11 rendering is not working correctly?

9. Is there a way to force OpenGL instead of D3D11 for testing?

10. Could the failed D3D11 shader test be related to the increased CPU usage?

11. Could the initial panadapter resolution of 50x20 be related to the blurry/low-definition panadapter display?

12. Could the high averaging value or FPS reassertion affect panadapter sharpness?

Attached files

Full AetherSDR log attached:

15f379a7-89b7-47f0-a12b-68617e021500.log

What did you expect?

No response

Steps to reproduce

Steps to reproduce

1. Start AetherSDR 26.6.3 on Windows.

2. Connect to a FLEX-6300 over the local LAN.

3. Use the same station setup where serial CW keying was previously working.

4. Open AetherSDR with the saved configuration/profile.

5. Select the active slice and set it for CW operation.

6. Try to key CW using the serial CW interface.

7. Observe that CW keying through the serial port does not work.

8. Open the AetherSDR log.

9. Notice that AetherSDR reports a serial port error:

   SerialPortController: failed to open "COM1" Win32 error 5
   
   

Notice that the slice initially appears in CW mode with QSK enabled:
slice 0 ... mode=CW ... qsk=1 ... tx=1
Notice that shortly afterwards the same slice appears in USB mode with QSK disabled:
slice 0 mode=USB ... qsk=0 ... tx=1
During the same session, observe that CPU usage is much higher than before, around 70% instead of around 20%.
Observe that the panadapter/spectrum display looks blurry or less defined than before.
Check the log and notice the D3D11/QRhi-related warning:
D3D11 smoke test: Failed to create vertex shader
Also notice that QRhi still initializes with the D3D11 backend:
SpectrumWidget: QRhi initialized, backend: D3D11
Attach the full AetherSDR log file to the issue.

AetherSDR version

26.6.3

Radio model & firmware

Flex 6300

Operating system

Windows

OS version and hardware

Windows 10