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My new Software Defined
Radio was messing up my computer. A combination of software bugs
(because the application is still being written) and problems
with the USB ports is to blame, so I decided to build a small
computer for use in my workshop. This would be advantageous because
that's where the test equipment is located and it wouldn't matter
so much if that computer got messed up occasionally. |
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I dug out a case, a half
decent motherboard and processor, a power supply and some other
parts including a 250GByte SSD and installed Windows 10, but
I soon found the SDR applications used too much computer power
and either gave intermittent sound or just crashed the machine.
My i5 computer was running about 15% processor power to run the
Lime application but the new one was way over 60%. I checked
and the processor was only an E2200 (dual core running at 2.2GHz).
I decided to overwrite Windows 10 and go back to Windows 7, but
ended up with the same very high processor load. I looked around
for a cheap second-hand computer but unless one shelled out many
hundreds of pounds you'd end up with a slow machine so I decided
to buy brand new. |
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Above... First attempt
using an Intel E2200 dual core processor
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It's been some time since
I built a new computer. First a new processor, but these were
really expensive. I found that the terms i3, i5 and i7 are still
being used, but these chips are now on their umpteenth update
and I'd need a new motherboard with a Socket 1151 to use a new
7th generation product. Next I looked at benchmarks for various
Intel processors. My own computer is an i5-3570 rated at "3978".
Most older chips (even the quad cores) are rated at "1500"
and below (my dual core E2200 is a mere "1179") so
I ruled out all of these. I turned up the "G" series
in the local suppliers catalogue, checked benchmarks and found
that these were rated pretty high... for example the G3285 was
"3812" almost as good as my i5. I looked at my supplier's
pricelist and found the G4560. This is too new to be benchmarked
on the page I looked at but should be something over 4000.
The price of a G4560 was a third
of an i5 so I ordered one. A suitable motherboard posed a problem.
The new chip is called "Kaby Lake" and red warning
notices against the latest motherboards showed difficulties in
using this series. I moved to the very latest boards and selected
an Asrock B250. No red warnings and it was half the price of
similar boards. As it uses DDR4 RAM I ordered a couple of 4GByte
sticks and also a 120GByte SSD. This should be fast enough. |
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I set it all up in an
ancient computer case, put a Windows 7 DVD into a portable USB
DVD reader and proceeded to install the operatiing system onto
the SSD. It didn't work. After some checking, I swapped the portable
DVD drive for an old DVD reader. It's an IDE type so I used a
SATA to IDE converter. Things got underway but after a minute
or so I couldn't use the USB keyboard or USB mouse so proceedings
stalled. After some more checking and after some BIOS changes
I plugged in a PS2 keyboard and USB mouse and started again.
Things were ropey. The computer kept suddenly rebooting. Eventually,
after numerous attempts I stopped to consider what was going
on. It turns out that there may be a conspiracy. It's all to
do wth USB architecture and the necessary drivers. A Windows
10 DVD is equipped with the new drivers but anything older, such
as Windows 7 is not. Ostensibly, one cannot, or one is supposed
not to install an operating system other than Windows 10 on a
new computer. Fortunately, it turns out that the B250 Asrock
board has the necessary bits of code on its driver CD to allow
one to install Windows 7. |
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There's a lot of discussion
about Kaby Lake versus Windows 7 on the Net. The basic problem
is not dissimilar to one found in Windows XP when this was first
introduced and one wished to use an SSD. Installation failed
because the XP disk had no means of recognising your SSD and
so couldn't find anywhere to install itself. A hardware RAID
system option was also impossible to automatically install. In
both cases the operating system designers paused the installation
so one could add extra drivers. This pause in proceedngs may
be a mystery to lots of people installing a new operating system
but it's essential in some cases, like those mentioned, when
a floppy disk had to be introduced, and later a USB memory stick
to add extra drivers. A second method is also possible.. that
is to modify the installation disk by adding the extra drivers,
but this is messy. I don't know about other motherboard makers,
but Asrock's solution is to offer an additional option. The B250
motherboard has a PS2 port and this of course is recognised by
the installation program, however as it's only a single socket
you're faced with using either a PS2 keyboard or a PS2 mouse,
but not both. This leads to some confusion. You need a keyboard
so you can fill in your user name etc. and with some experimentation
you can fiddle with keys to shift the cursor around as you proceed
with the installation. Using a PS2 mouse will prevent you typing
your user name. |
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If you manage to work out appropriate
keystrokes and end up with a Windows 7 desktop on your Kaby Lake
setup, the USB mouse, and indeed any USB ports won't work. Asrock
have included a patch on their driver CD and this sorts out the
problem by adding the extra USB drivers to Windows 7. This step
is not altogether straightforward however as you need to navigate
around their driver CD without the benefit of a USB mouse. I
got round the problem by just installing all the drivers in one
go, a step which is offered automatically. I suppose you could
reboot and swap your keyboard for a PS2 mouse and then be able
to select what you want instead of installing everything... Buried
in the drivers is the USB patch and this got added with everything
else, so after an age whilst lots of superfluous things were
added the desktop eventually reappeared with a working USB mouse. |
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Despite understanding
the restrictions I had trouble. Installation always failed at
roughly the same point but I tried again and again and again,
until after a while the penny dropped. I'm using a newish-looking
power supply taken from the computer predating the i5 I'm currently
using. I was quite happy with the old computer but it occasionally
switched itself off. As I'd put this failure down to the processor
or motherboard, I'd relegated the box to the corner of my workshop.
I'd then cannibalised various parts and just now I'd transferred
the power supply to the new workshop computer. I wondered whether
the sudden loss of power, which I'd put down to a BSOD reboot,
could be a faulty power supply and may have nothing to do with
the B250/Windows 7 problem. I swapped the nice newish-looking
PSU for an ordinary one and surprise... the computer stayed switched
on. I wiped the SSD and proceeded to install Windows 7. All went
well until near the end of the installation when I got an error
message and the thing rebooted. I tried again... same error message
0x80070017, so I looked for an explanation and found it was probably
a bad DVD. I borrowed a DVD reader from another computer. This
is a SATA type, and after yet another attempt at installing Windows
7, the Windows Desktop appeared. Success... or not... the keyboard
worked OK but the mouse did not. |
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Above.. the new computer
in the process of construction
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I now need those pesky
USB drivers that are missing from the Windows 7 installation.
I decided to proceed by running the driver CD that came with
the motherboard. Having no mouse limited the options available,
but I was able to select "Drivers" and "Install
everything"... nothing else was selectable. I left the thing
running as it was taking ages and possibly stalled except the
hard drive lamp was flashing merrily. I came back after 30 minutes
to find the Windows 7 Desktop in place and a mouse pointer resting
in the centre of the screen. Wobbling the mouse showed the Asrock
USB driver patch had been successfully installed.
As the installation was using
a standard, low resolution graphics driver, I ran a new driver
downloaded from Asrock's website and after a while I got a high
definition picture. System Manager shows everything working correctly,
and I loaded an anti-virus and an Office package with no trouble.
The Internet works fine and I can even access my security cameras
and read my i5 computer hard drives over the local network. Next
I need to install the SDR software and drivers... the whole reason
for the exercise.
After carrying out some testing
using my Lime SDR I decided to add a graphics card. This will
help to reduce processor load by off-loading the work needed
to drive the display. Fortunately for the budget, I found an
unused graphics card (below) left over from a computer build
a year or two ago. |
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This computer worked fine
for the best part of a year. At this point I heard on the grapevine
that Windows 10 upgrades are still available although the programme
had been curtailed officially over a year ago. Being inquisitive,
and having decided it was time this computer was upgraded, and
now that I've handled lots of Windows 10 installations and found
the latest to be OK and much better than original, I decided
to go ahead... First I needed to clone the system. I'm not entirely
sure this is necessary, but at least it should preserve the drivers
for the SDRs I tried. I cloned the setup to an old 1GB hard drive
and then having tested that it worked, logged onto the site providing
the Windows 10 upgrade. After thirty minutes the computer was
being upgraded. The first hurdle was an Intel program that was
too old to work in Windows 10 and I couldn't proceed until this
had been deleted.. in fact I had to install a later version before
I could proceed. The upgrade then baulked at Vipre Antivirus,
but did allow me to continue. As several other upgrades had worked
ages ago I left Vipre in place, but alas the upgrade collapsed
in a heap that couldn't be resurrected. I think the problem may
be associated with the small partition allocated for bootup.
Vipre may have declined to allow this to be opened up hence the
Windows 10 bootup software (which uses more than double the reserved
space demanded by Windows 7) was never loaded. Surely Microsoft
should have double checked this failing... but no.. everything
had bashed on resulting in Windows 10 from crashing out and Windows
7 to be unrecoverable
I decided to try again.. but
this time after uninstalling Vipre, but Sod's Law rules and my
fully tested clone failed to work. I was now in the situation
of having a dead computer so decided to install an embryonic
activated Windows 7. This I achieved very quickly on the 240GB
SSD but to do this I decided to wipe the partitions from it by
plugging it into my main computer because, try as I might, the
Windows 7 installation procedure wouldn't delete the previous
small boot partition. I had to download the Asrock LAN drivers
before I could connect to the Internet, but the Windows 10 upgrade
worked flawlessly without a hitch. As always I declined offers
of improving my experience by deselecting Microsoft's kind offers
of assistance. These "helpful" options are now presented
sequentially during installation instead of one having to winkle
them out via "custom install". Within seconds (much
to my surprise) the new operating system had activated itself
and I'd erased all the useless boxes revealed when you click
Start. Apart from having to recall the hiding places for my favourite
features all is now well and ready for SDR driver installation. |
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First, I tried my Andrus
HF SDR which doesn't actually need a driver because it operates
over an Ethernet connection. Above is the Andrus connected to
a front panel USB3 socket. I've seen the interference before
on my main computer. It consists of a comb of spikes at 1KHz
apart and at almost exactly integer KHz frequencies. I tried
to discover the source of the noise and realised it was an internal
SDR problem because fitting a 50 ohm terminator to the aerial
socket left the spikes unchanged. I moved the USB connector from
the SDR to a rear panel USB3 socket mounted directly on the motherboard.
To my surprise I saw the picture below... |
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All I can think as an
explanation, are the front panel connectors which are wired to
the motherboard via 18 inches of unscreened cable are picking
up noise from the motherboard and the graphics card. I realised
that as the Andrus plugs into my ethernet switch in the workshop
where is also the Kaby Lake computer... why not try and access
the Andrus from my main computer? Interestingly, the rear USB
ports are powered from the standby 5-volt computer power supply
so even with the Kaby Lake computer turned off the Andrus is
powered. It works fine! I can now use the Andrus SDR remotely
which minimises further any locally generated noise. |
Now,
by July 2019 we have Coffee Lake
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So they can keep in business
the companies that make processors will bring out a new version
every couple of years. These are often accompanied by new motherboards
to make them work best and perhaps a new type of memory module.
What is of interest to a user of an SDR is just how well can
a new computer handle the software. When the designations i3,
i5 etc were introduced it was easy to reckon that the bigger
the number the better the processor but, every year or so a new
generation number was added to the original designation. This
means that an i7 which cost several hundred pounds when first
introduced may be rubbish if its performance is compared with
a modern cheap processor. If you're interested take a look at
this website:
https://www.cpubenchmark.net/singleThread.html |
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The score for the E2200
was 802, the G4560 was 1986 and the G5400 is 2182.
Compare these figures with the
latest i9-9900 at 2936 and what about that i7? The earliest i7
was rated at a mere 589. So you can see that it's worth checking
on the performance figure before splashing out pots of money
for only a tiny increase in performance.
Looking at the latest price
list (27th July 2019) I see the i9-7960X (rated at 2335) is £1267
and the G5400 (rated at 2182) is £55.
It's a no-brainer... you can
buy twenty three G5400s for the price of one i9-7960X to gain
a mere 7% increase in power. |
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Above a new computer I
built recently (July 2019) using a Coffee Lake 3.7GHz G5400 on
a mini-ITX Asrock motherboard (B360M-ITX/AC) in a really compact
ITX case. This computer was the second built into this case because
the first motherboard had failed after only a few hours of use.
The first inclination of failure was a bootup problem because
the lithium cell measured zero volts. A new lithium cell brought
the computer back to life, but only long enough to install Windows
10 from a new DVD. This then updated over several hours but after
a few tests the computer had failed to respond to the ON switch.
This time the lithium cell showed 2.9 volts so was definitely
being drained but whatever the fault causing this symptom, it
had far more reaching effect. A new motherboard restored operation
but Windows 10 activation had been removed. I followed the instructions,
obtaining the UK phone number then dictating a long series of
numbers to the robot and receiving an activation code in return.
This worked OK and activation was re-established. I made three
computers for this customer and a failure rate of a third is
not good. Once bitten twice shy...I'll buy Asus motherboards
next ...
It can take as little as an
hour or so to build a computer like this one, but to diagnose
a fault can take the best part of a day.. then returning the
faulty part, collecting a new part and of course the removal
of the old and refitting the good part completely wipes out any
profit. In fact.. I may send Asrock an invoice to cover the work...
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Comet Lake Oct 2020
Now, it's October 2020
and I'm building two new computers. I chose an Intel i5 10400
which has a benchmark of 2609. The motherboard I selected was
an Asus type based on the B460M chipset. I chose the particular
model (and not Asrock incidentally as one of this make had
failed a few months before) because I needed RAID and the
hardware type built into the motherboard architecture is better
than software RAID. In fact I notice the board uses the Intel
program rather than a proprietary version.
One machine proved easier to
build because the customer wanted Windows 10. The second I planned
to install Windows 7, activate this, then update it via Microsoft's
free download of Windows 10, but alas this wasn't too easy because
I couldn't work out the tricks offered by Asus soon enough for
my build schedule.
Both computers used a micro-ATX
case (rather than my initially preferred mini-ITX case) which
proved to be best because of the number of hard drives I needed
to install. Below is a picture of the PC during construction.
As two 3.5" hard drives are due to be fitted I mounted the
RAID system drives in the space allocated for a single SSD as
shown. The power supply is rated at 750 watts and has an awful
lot of cables which could probably be tidied up somewhat. |
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I mentioned the difficulty
in installing Windows 7. I tried booting from a USB DVD and got
as far as the screen showing the coloured dots circling around
but each time I tried the coloured dots would freeze. Intitially
I suspected a hardware problem such as a bad stick of RAM but
soon the penny dropped and I realised what was happening. The
Comet Lake B460M hardware is not compatible with the software
on the Windows 7 DVD. I even tried running the special DVD modification
program offered by Asus which rewrites a new compatible version
of the DVD onto a memory stick.. but that failed also. |
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Why try to intall Windows 7,
you might ask? Well, given an activated Windows 7, at the time
of writing (late 2020) one can still download from Microsoft,
a free upgrade to Windows 10 and in the current (late 2020) configuration,
this is pretty good. Despite free downloads Microsoft sell expensive
Windows 10 DVDs, which many customers are quite happy to buy.
However, it's still possible to use the free version if you're
prepared to wade through the technical obstructions. Both of
the i5 computers covered above (one with twin SSDs for RAID and
twin mirrored data drives and the other a single SSD with twin
mirrored data drives were finished and working well.
You'll note that Black seems
to be in vogue now! |
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