Troubleshooting

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Chapter 4. Troubleshooting

4.1. ./configure is unable to run to completion, complains of missing "foo"; exits with errors
4.2. make exits with errors
4.3. make install exits with errors
4.4. Error Message: Unable to access audio device.
4.5. Error Message: Cannot Open PTT Device
4.6. Error Message: 'inexact sampling rate: request for 8000 resulted in XXXXXX'
4.7. Blank/Black Waterfall, Audio Signal Present
4.8. Blank/Black Waterfall, Audio Signal Not Present
4.9. Error message: Unable to find dxcc database. Continue without it?
4.10. Blank logbook -- Where did my contact logs go???
4.11. Configuration settings have returned to application defaults -- what happened???
4.12. Other Error Message, Not Listed
4.1.

./configure is unable to run to completion, complains of missing "foo"; exits with errors

Read the end of config.log to determine what was not found. Locate the file or library on your system to ensure that it is installed. Re-make your 'configure' file by issuing make -f admin/Makefile.common and re-run ./configure

Read the help provided by the results of issuing ./configure --help

If ./configure cannot find Qt or KDE3, you will need to specify the location when running ./configure.

For example, the following is required on the author's machine (Mandrake):

./configure --enable-debug=full --with-qt-dir=/usr/lib/qt3 --prefix=/opt/kde3

4.2.

make exits with errors

The most common cause of errors during make is due to incorrect specification of libraries during execution of ./configure. Examine the error message to attempt to determine what is wrong. Run ./configure again with the appropriate options (see above).

Before attempting make again, run make clean.

4.3.

make install exits with errors

You must be root (or have permissions to write to kde/bin); login as root and try it again.

4.4.

Error Message: Unable to access audio device.

Common sources of this error message are:

  • You do not have read access for /dev/audio. See Sound-How-To (user must be in audio group or equivalent on your machine)

  • Another application is using /dev/audio or /dev/dsp. KDE is usually configured to start the aRtsd sound server when KDE starts, and usually will free up the device after a short period of time (default aRtsd setting is to free up soundcard after 60 seconds of non-use). If access problems persist, disable the KDE soundserver startup. To do this, su to root and access the KDE Sound Server application (from command line: kcmshell arts) and uncheck the 'start aRtsd soundserver at KDE startup' option and exit the application. The soundserver can remain on and peacefully co-exist with KPSK by unchecking the aRtsd checkbox “run with realtime priority”, and disabling KDE system notification sounds (as with Windows PSK31 applications, system sounds could be transmitted over the bands causing interference). If you experience performance problems while both KPSK and the soundserver are running, you may be able to eliminate the problems by setting a different system scheduling priority for KPSK. Change the system scheduling priority, exit KPSK and restart it using the following command nice -10 kpsk.

  • Your soundcard is not properly configured and installed. See Sound-How-To

4.5.

Error Message: Cannot Open PTT Device

Common sources of this error message are:

You do not have the computer interface connected.

You do not have the correct access permission for /dev/ttySx (where x = 1,2,3... depending on which port you are using). To find out which group owns /dev/ttyS0, simply enter ls -al /dev/ttyS0. Serial port permissions are often alloted to the uucp group. If this is the case on your machine, simply add your username to the appropriate group.

Another application is using /dev/ttySx.

4.6.

Error Message: 'inexact sampling rate: request for 8000 resulted in XXXXXX'

KPSK operates at a sampling rate (conversion of analog sound input to digital values) of 8000 samples/sec. Not all sound cards or on-board chips can change their sampling rate. For example the VIA VT82C686 "Southbridge" chip with on-board sound has a fixed 48000 sampling rate. This chip and typical Red Hat native drivers will not support KPSK. Simple Sound Blaster cards are capable of changing their sampling rate.

The ALSA sound drivers (http://www.alsa.org) compensates for the VT82C686 fixed sampling rates by software downsampling in the driver. This may be an effective solution for fixed rate hardware depending on processor speeds. The CPU must be able to keep up with all tasks and the realtime input of KPSK data. If you get this error code, give the ALSA drivers a try.

With the relative low cost of add-on sound cards, another alternative is to disable the on-board sound (in BIOS) and replace the fixed rate card with a low cost Sound Blaster type card.

4.7.

Blank/Black Waterfall, Audio Signal Present

Check and adjust waterfall sensitivity setting

Check and adjust sound mixer settings using the KDE application KMix (or your favorite audio mixer application). You may be “listening” on the wrong line or your mixer input levels may be too low; adjust mixer levels.

4.8.

Blank/Black Waterfall, Audio Signal Not Present

Check and double-check physical connections between antenna/radio/interface/soundcard -- if you've gotten this far, it is likely that the program is working fine but a signal is not being properly fed to the computer.

4.9.

Error message: “Unable to find dxcc database. Continue without it?”

This error occurs when the file dxcc.db is deleted, overwritten, or moved from its default installation path of KDEDIR/share/apps/kpsk/dxcc.db . This file contains the information that is used to display distance, bearing, and other information shown by Logbook Display QSO Information. Previously, KPSK could not continue without this file. KPSK is now able to continue without this file with reduced functionality in the logbook. The warning is to alert you to the missing file so you can find it or replace it on your system.

4.10.

Blank logbook -- Where did my contact logs go???

This will occur if you delete, overwrite or move your ~/.kde directory. The QSO logfile itself is stored in ~/.kde/share/apps/kpsk/log.db . If something happens to the original file and KPSK cannot locate log.db in the path described previously, it will create a new, blank log.db file in the correct location. In its current format the QSO logfile is not human readable. It is highly recommended for users to backup this directory and the files contained on a regular basis, just to be safe.

4.11.

Configuration settings have returned to application defaults -- what happened???

The file ~/.kde/share/config/kpskrc stores all of the application's configuration settings. This file has either been moved, deleted, or damaged. A new file will be generated when KPSK is executed and you will need to re-establish your settings and preferences. The logbook and fixedtext contents are stored separately, as detailed previously in this section.

4.12.

Other Error Message, Not Listed

Please report the error to <kspk-users@lists.sourceforge.net> after attempting to determine and solve the problem--this will enable you to get assistance and by doing so, it will help others who may have the same problem (now or in the future). Be sure to include information about your distribution, any error messages received and anything else that you feel is important.

If you have the application gdb installed on your machine, you can obtain backtrace debugging information for program crashes by starting the program from within gdb. To start the program within gdb, issue the command gdb kpsk and then run (you should do this from within the directory that the KPSK executable is located). After the program crashes (exits abnormally), issue the command bt. Copy and paste the backtrace information into an email and send it to <kpsk-users@lists.sourceforge.net>.

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