DSDPlus FMP24 keeps going into "evil mode" (high CPU load)

[rolypolyman]

Roughly every day I have a problem with FMP24 going into what I call "evil mode", which is: the signal plot for the frequency vs. amplitude graph changes from white to red (as shown), and my CPU load goes up to 15% and the fan runs hot. I can usually tell when it's doing this because the computer fan starts whirring loudly.

To fix it, I have to shut down FMP24 and bring it back up, and that clears it, for another day, until it does it again. I do get signal and decodes, but as mentioned the CPU load goes off the scale. In the past I've had it creep the offset to ridiculous values like 20,000 Hz until it loses the signal, but it doesn't seem to be doing that lately.

Any idea how to go about figuring out what's wrong? I am using the RTL-SDR Blog receiver, and I have a very strong signal just 2 miles away from a local PD transmitter.

 

[cg]

In the screen shot you posted, one line says I/Q data loss detected, auto-enabling extra CPU loading. I would try starting there. A quick search for "CPU" in the Notes file brings you right to the info.
Perhaps it is because the incorrect bandwidth is set?

 

[rolypolyman]

Thank you... I didn't have any -b parameter set. In the screenshot above it says BW: 7.6. That value is not very high and I don't think that would cause high CPU loading. In any case I have set it to -b12.5 and will see what that does.

 

[cg]

Did you fix the auto-enabling of High CPU load with the command in the Notes file? I don't know if incorrect bandwidth would cause I/Q data loss so it may well be something else.

 

[lukemester]

Do you have a notebook with battery management settings?

I recently had this exact problem on a notebook computer. It was because I had changed the battery power management settings to increase battery life.


When set to "Best performance" I had no I/Q data loss warnings.



When set to "Better performance" or "Better battery" I would get the intermittent I/Q data loss warning.

 

[maus92]

Based on the spectrum display, gain is set too high.

 

[rolypolyman]

This is a desktop computer, it's always in high performance mode and always on.

Bandwidth -b didn't fix it... this morning I found the CPU overloaded again.

I'll try adding this command from the Notes.txt:

"-e0: Extra CPU loading disabled; FMP24 will report I/Q stream dropouts in console window"

 

[TheButcher]

So, 'Task Manager' reports that 'FMP24' is using all the CPU? Asking as it could be another "evil" program doing it??

 

[KE5MC]

Consider FMP24 is when the symptom of a problem shows up, but the real problem might be lurking elsewhere. Task manager I think its called is a good tool to see what else is going on by program and function like disk access or memory access.

 

[slicerwizard]

So, 'Task Manager' reports that 'FMP24' is using all the CPU? Asking as it could be another "evil" program doing it??

Consider FMP24 is when the symptom of a problem shows up, but the real problem might be lurking elsewhere. Task manager I think its called is a good tool to see what else is going on by program and function like disk access or memory access.

Ok, enough of the conspiracy theories. FMP24 will rev up the CPU when PC hardware goes to sleep and starts dropping I/Q samples. The OP has chosen to read the docs and disable that functionality in FMP24 and now he's a happy camper again. End of story.