Defective NooElec RTL2832U/R820T?

[eorange]

I am wondering if I have a defective NooElec RTLSDR?

First: on the same machine, I also use a Newsky RTL2832U E4000. Installed Zadig, got RTL1090 working, use HDSDR and SDR#, all works, very reliable, no problems. So I think I have the driver and software side down pat.

My problem: I cannot get the NooElec RTLSDR to reliably stay online. I plugged the device into a different USB port and installed zadig, just like for my Newsky. It worked for a while (less than a day), then it went south. Since last Saturday, the following happens in any random order:

- plugging it in results in absolutely nothing happening (no windows "ding") or
- the device is not recognized and requires a driver reinstall (??) or
- The driver reinstalls, but RTL1090, HDSDR, etc cannot connect due to various errors, or
- It actually works for a few minutes, then stops. Windows 7 pops then up a dialog that says the device has malfunctioned.

My intuition tells me maybe it's a 2-devices-on-1-machine problem, even though I read that's entirely possible and supported. I've shown the hidden, offline devices in the control panel and uninstalled the zadig drivers, and started over.

Every time the Newsky comes back and works flawlessly, and the NooElec RTLSDR fouls up per above.

Any thoughts? Thinking of asking for a replacement from NooElec.

[mtindor]

Originally Posted by eorange

I am wondering if I have a defective NooElec RTLSDR?

First: on the same machine, I also use a Newsky RTL2832U E4000. Installed Zadig, got RTL1090 working, use HDSDR and SDR#, all works, very reliable, no problems. So I think I have the driver and software side down pat.

My problem: I cannot get the NooElec RTLSDR to reliably stay online. I plugged the device into a different USB port and installed zadig, just like for my Newsky. It worked for a while (less than a day), then it went south. Since last Saturday, the following happens in any random order:

- plugging it in results in absolutely nothing happening (no windows "ding") or
- the device is not recognized and requires a driver reinstall (??) or
- The driver reinstalls, but RTL1090, HDSDR, etc cannot connect due to various errors, or
- It actually works for a few minutes, then stops. Windows 7 pops then up a dialog that says the device has malfunctioned.

My intuition tells me maybe it's a 2-devices-on-1-machine problem, even though I read that's entirely possible and supported. I've shown the hidden, offline devices in the control panel and uninstalled the zadig drivers, and started over.

Every time the Newsky comes back and works flawlessly, and the NooElec RTLSDR fouls up per above.

Any thoughts? Thinking of asking for a replacement from NooElec.

You don't happen to have them plugged into a passive (non-powered) USB hub do you? Remember, those devices do require power. And if you are plugging them into a USB hub which is getting its power from the PC usb port, you'll probably run into difficulties.

Mike

[eorange]

Good thought, but nope...using the 3 USB ports right on the laptop.

Tonite I am going to try the NooElec on my desktop, which has never seen an RTLSDR ever, and give it a try.

If it doesn't work there, then I'm convinced it's a dud.
If it does work there...then I'm not sure what the problem is.

The Newsky always works, and the NooElec never worked right after the 1st day.

[nickcarr]

Are the laptop USB ports USB 3.0? I've heard of a lot of issues with devices plugged in to USB 3.0 ports that fail to detect and/or detect-with-problems.

[eorange]

I am nearly positive they're USB 2.0; it's an older (2-3 years old) lower end HP laptop. Will confirm.

[rbm]

Just a thought.
You should check your 'USB Selective Suspend' and 'Sleep State/Power Saving/ settings.
That is dependent on your specific computer make & model.
I 'suspect' it will work fine on your desktop.

Rich

"The USB selective suspend feature allows the hub driver to suspend an individual port without affecting the operation of the other ports on the hub. Selective suspension of USB devices is especially useful in portable computers, since it helps conserve battery power."

USB Selective Suspend (Windows Drivers)

And some additional info.

HP PCs - Troubleshooting USB Connections (Windows 7)
HP EliteBook 2560p Notebook PC*-* HP PCs - Troubleshooting USB Connections (Windows 7) - c01893385 - HP Business Support Center

How to See Available Sleep States on Your System
Sleep States - See Available Sleep States - Windows 7 Support Forums

[Pape]

instability with the dongle is usually related to power issue

[DaveNF2G]

I gave up on trying to do SDR on a Windows 7 machine. It works flawlessly under XP, and not at all under Windows 7.

[eorange]

Originally Posted by rbm

You should check your 'USB Selective Suspend' and 'Sleep State/Power Saving/ settings.

Good thought! I disabled the selective Suspend, but unfortunately no improvement.

So...installed the NooElec on my desktop with Zadig and RTL1090, and it worked...for about 2 minutes. Then same behavior: heard the USB "ding" and Windows 7 reported a device malfunction. A restart of RTL1090 could not find the device. I wasn't about to troubleshoot further.

Then I installed my Newsky on my desktop, and I am rocking as I type, with RTL1090 and Virtual Radar Server.

I'm convinced I have a bad NooElec RTLSDR. Back to Amazon it goes (they don't do replacements for these, only returns), and I'll order another and see what happens.

Thanks everyone for your help.

[rbm]

Originally Posted by eorange

I'm convinced I have a bad NooElec RTLSDR

Yep, sounds that way. Sorry to hear that.

[moonbounce]

Originally Posted by DaveNF2G

I gave up on trying to do SDR on a Windows 7 machine. It works flawlessly under XP, and not at all under Windows 7.

You and me both, I will wait to see if a paid for version comes out, SDR Sharp almost caused me my computer.

[mancow]

This is strange. I have two of the same RTL dongles and use Windows 7 Professional and Ultimate both as well as XP. I have zero issues with any of them. I ran the Zadig installer and installed for both dev 0 and 1. I have used them with SDR# (old and new versions) as well as SDRConsole with no issues. I wonder if it's a USB power bus issue since the RTL devices get a bit warm with use and must consume more power than most USB devices. I know it definitely depletes my phone battery quickly when I run it with the Android SDR application.

[rbm]

Originally Posted by mancow

This is strange. I have two of the same RTL dongles and use Windows 7 Professional and

Same thing here.

I can't say what I did right, but I've had as many as five instances of SDRSharp running on one Windows 7 (64 bit Professional) computer at one time.

I also have had them running flawlessly on my XP machines.

I can run SDRSharp on ten of my eleven computers without any problems.

The only computer I had problems with was my laptop and I didn't spend any time trying to find out why.

Rich

By the way, I should mention that there's something I don't like about the R820T dongles.

I have multiple antenna systems.
I switch between them depending on what I want to listen to.
ONLY with the R820T dongles do I have a problem in that when I unplug the antenna, the dongle stops working. (Happens EVERY time)
The only way to get it running again is to shut down that instance of SDRSharp, unplug the dongle, wait a few seconds, plug the dongle back in and restart SDRSharp.
If I don't disconnect the antenna, they will run for days without a problem,
This problem occurs with EVERY R820T dongle I have.
I have a few more E4000 versions on the way.

[eorange]

I am leaning towards bad hardware.

As far as Windows 7 in general...I have absolutely no problems using my Newsky RTLSDR: RTL1090, VRS, ADSBScope, SDR# (which is awesome), HDSDR...they all work great, and the hardware works great.

It's hard to tell with so many layers where the problem was, but:

- Newsky works flawlessly on laptop (Win7 64) and desktop (Win7 32)
- NooElec never worked reliably on laptop and desktop.
- Other people are using NooElec on Win7

So to me that = a bad stick.

Already returned it to Amazon, and gonna try again. Which brings me to:

If you search Amazon for "nooelec rtlsdr", there are 2:

"NooElec Brand RTL-SDR" - this is what I bought (and returned)
"NooElec TV28T" - how different is this one? has ESD protection, but otherwise looks kinda the same.

[moonbounce]

Originally Posted by eorange

I am leaning towards bad hardware.

As far as Windows 7 in general...I have absolutely no problems using my Newsky RTLSDR: RTL1090, VRS, ADSBScope, SDR# (which is awesome), HDSDR...they all work great, and the hardware works great.

It's hard to tell with so many layers where the problem was, but:

- Newsky works flawlessly on laptop (Win7 64) and desktop (Win7 32)
- NooElec never worked reliably on laptop and desktop.
- Other people are using NooElec on Win7

So to me that = a bad stick.

Already returned it to Amazon, and gonna try again. Which brings me to:

If you search Amazon for "nooelec rtlsdr", there are 2:

"NooElec Brand RTL-SDR" - this is what I bought (and returned)
"NooElec TV28T" - how different is this one? has ESD protection, but otherwise looks kinda the same.

I would like to blame the dongle but I haven't been able to get the proper parameters in the software to get the dongle to work. I have the latest version downloaded and my understanding is that the sound card drop down menu should read RTL-SDR/ USB my version reads RTL-SDR/ TCP all of the pictures that I have seen show the drop down menu to be RTL-SDR/ USB, how did we arrive at that?

On an older version which I had downloaded you where supposed to go into SDRSharp.exe config file and correct the line parameters to allow the USB to work, I changed the parameters ( as given to me by another RR poster )saved them, went back into SDRSharp.exe config and saw that the appropriate change was made. I go back into the program to the same dropdown menu and I see the exact same thing I saw before I made the change?

Downloading Zadig drivers, another fiasco. I had a web page that gave point to point instructions on how to download and instal the drivers at one point the computer froze and I had to start the computer twice in safe mode to get my computer ( running Windows 7 ) backup and running. Also got a lot of warnings about downloading the driver? So now I have the latest version sitting on my desk top and my dongle is in my drawer. Maybe a new version will come out.

[rbm]

Originally Posted by moonbounce

all of the pictures that I have seen show the drop down menu to be RTL-SDR/ USB, how did we arrive at that?

That line IS in the SDRSharp.exe.config file BUT it is commented out.
It will not show up until it is UNcommented.

This line:
<!-- <add key="RTL-SDR / USB" value="SDRSharp.RTLSDR.RtlSdrIO,SDRSharp.RTLSDR" /> -->

MUST be changed to THIS:
<add key="RTL-SDR / USB" value="SDRSharp.RTLSDR.RtlSdrIO,SDRSharp.RTLSDR" />

Once it's in the config file, it should stay there.
I'll create a zip file that contains my config file and attach it here for you.

Ok, the attached zip file contains my good config file and a listing of the files in my SDRSharp folder.
(You may have a mixture of files from different levels)
My config file works on all of my computers.

[moonbounce]

Originally Posted by rbm

That line IS in the SDRSharp.exe.config file BUT it is commented out.
It will not show up until it is UNcommented.

This line:
<!-- <add key="RTL-SDR / USB" value="SDRSharp.RTLSDR.RtlSdrIO,SDRSharp.RTLSDR" /> -->

MUST be changed to THIS:
<add key="RTL-SDR / USB" value="SDRSharp.RTLSDR.RtlSdrIO,SDRSharp.RTLSDR" />

Once it's in the config file, it should stay there.
I'll create a zip file that contains my config file and attach it here for you.

I made th change like you said but the drop down menu does not show the change. Here is how the SDRSharp.exe config file looks now after I made the change.

Due to some nomansland in the way SDR# interfaces to RTLSDR, I decided to drop this functionality.
This move will preserve SDR#'s integrity and will allow further development away from License trolls.
Is this the end of RTLSDR support? Of course no! You can always do something! Just ask ;-)
-->
<add key="RTL-SDR / USB" value="SDRSharp.RTLSDR.RtlSdrIO,SDRSharp.RTLSDR" />
<add key="RTL-SDR / TCP" value="SDRSharp.RTLTCP.RtlTcpIO,SDRSharp.RTLTCP" />
<add key="SDR-IQ" value="SDRSharp.SDRIQ.SdrIqIO,SDRSharp.SDRIQ" />
<!--
Not yet ready. This driver actually uses the original Realtek driver to stream baseband IQ data.
-->

[rbm]

I've attached a zip file to my last post for you.
You should be able to unzip that file and place it in your SDRSharp folder.

If SDRSharp doesn't run at that point, let me know the exact wording of any errors you get.

Rich

By the way, if you have an E4000 chip, you can run rtl_test
Plug in your USB dongle, open a DOS window, type in the following line, and press enter.
rtl_test -t
If you get errors, the driver isn't loaded or your dongle is bad.

If the driver is loaded, and the dongle is good, the results 'should' look like this:

[moonbounce]

I have the r820T. I checked in the config file and it still looks like this:

Is this the end of RTLSDR support? Of course no! You can always do something! Just ask ;-)
-->
<!-- <add key="RTL-SDR / USB" value="SDRSharp.RTLSDR.RtlSdrIO,SDRSharp.RTLSDR" /> -->

<add key="RTL-SDR / TCP" value="SDRSharp.RTLTCP.RtlTcpIO,SDRSharp.RTLTCP" />
<add key="SDR-IQ"

I can change it but it will not change anything when I run the progra? Does everyone have to go through this?


I downloaded SDRSharp again and saved your zip file into the folder but I don't see any difference. My drop down menu still shows RTL-SDR/ TCP there is no RTL-SDR/ USB. So when I start the program I am not hearing any voice communications. My understanding is that I need to have the RTL-SDR/ USB?

[rbm]

Originally Posted by moonbounce

I downloaded SDRSharp again and saved your zip file into the folder but I don't see any difference. My drop down menu still shows RTL-SDR/ TCP there is no RTL-SDR/ USB. So when I start the program I am not hearing any voice communications. My understanding is that I need to have the RTL-SDR/ USB?

Did you UNZIP the zip file and place the config file from my zip file into your SDRSharp folder?

In your post above, the "RTL-SDR / USB" line is still commented out so it will NOT run.

You absolutely need that line NOT commented out.
You ABSOLUTELY must select "RTL-SDR / USB" in the dropdown box.
Until you do that, it WILL NOT work.
Rich