Empty spectral display when Spike starts up

I’m using my SA44B for the first time. According to the user manual, when starting Spike, I should automatically get a full span scan displayed. Instead, I just get a blank (white) graph (see attached capture). However, if I select Interference Hunting analysis mode, I get a full scan displayed. Other functions seem to work OK (though I’m just learning to use them), just not sweep. Self-test is all green too. Is there something else that needs to be set up for sweep mode to work? Thanks, Chris

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[Andrew]

Hi Chris,

This is a common issue related to graphics card incompatibilities. There are a couple reasons you might see this. The Spike software for certain rendering modes requires the GPU to support OpenGL 2.0 or greater. You will see this issue with either an older GPU that does not support it or sometimes with a newer GPU that might have outdated drivers or drivers that have issues providing this functionality(rare).

Can you let me know what type of PC you are using? Preferrable make/model/CPU model and the GPU model(which you can usually find in the device manager under the display adapters).

I look forward to your response.

Regards,
Andrew

• This reply was modified 7 years, 2 months ago by Andrew.

Hi Andrew,
Thanks for the quick reply.
ASUS M4A785TD-V EVO motherboard with an AMD Phenom II X6 1090T Processor 3.2GHz, 4GB RAM, running 64bit Win7 with ATI Radeon HD 4200 display adapter with the latest driver (circa 2009)per windows update driver search. I see AMD has a 2013 driver listed ( https://support.amd.com/en-us/download/desktop/legacy?product=legacy2&os=Windows%207%20-%2064 ) but it would be good to know if that would solve the problem before mucking with an otherwise perfectly ryunning system. It’s my lab computer that runs all other lab equipment. Sure hope it will run this too. Have no plan to replace it. Hopefully there is some way to get the SA44/Spike to work correctly for a simple spectral analysis display (my main need). Thanks, Chris

Hello Chris,

I can’t say for certain that the driver will fix these issues you are seeing. I have been able to find a few forums that talk about similar incompatibilities, but nothing conclusive. (With regards to this series of cards and the functionality of OpenGL we use (Vertex Buffer Objects)) The older age of the GPU does worry me since we utilize functionality that was standardized around that time that the hardware itself would have to support.

This is generally why we recommend the newer Intel i3/i5/i7 CPUs since they have integrated graphics we have tested against. Unfortunately I don’t have access to a system like yours to test.

If you are unwilling/unable to update the driver or the driver does not fix the issue, contact me directly at aj@signalhound.com. We do have a 30-day money back guarantee. I wouldn’t want you to be stuck with a unit you cannot use.

I look forward to your response.

Regards,
Andrew

I’ve got Labview on this computer. It seems to have no problem with graphics (live plots, etc). I haven’t looked at your Labview drivers yet, but is there a simple VI included that would give me the spectrum sweeps for now while I figure out what to do? If so, what should I look for?
If there isn’t I’ll see what happens if I change the drivers. It’s just that there are so many other instruments that all work now, that I then have to test to make sure they still do.
Thanks,
Chris

Hi Chris,

The issue specifically is the how the Spike software renders the plots. The issue isn’t with the hardware(SA44B) itself, which means you would not have the same issue if you were to utilize the hardware through LabVIEW. Our LabVIEW project functions as a wrapper for our C API that we provide for all of our receivers. There are examples for configuring the device for sweeping.

If you have questions while getting set up in the LabVIEW project contact roger@signalhound.com

Regards,
Andrew

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