Admin connections reloading/crashing? Read here! (v1.708,709,710 => v1.800)
I've made changes to the update that should automatically fix many Kiwis out there and get them updated to v1.800 (which does not have the admin connection problem). But if your Kiwi still has problems there are some options:
1) Assuming your Kiwi has Internet access, email the link/URL and Kiwi admin password to support@kiwisdr.com and I will fix it manually. It can take a couple hours to fix depending on various factors. If you've never setup an admin password, probably because you just automatically connect without one from the local network, then there is a way to set one in spite of the admin connection problem. Email me (I need to use an admin password to connect from the outside Internet).
2) Some people have asked if they can try fixing this themselves. If you have ssh access to your Kiwi (NB: different from Kiwi admin access) you can try fixing it.
3) If your Kiwi does not have the looping admin connect problem, but you'd like to force the v1.8xx transition manually by typing commands into the admin console tab, you can follow the instructions below. But there are a few differences as noted (don't use the msd or ku commands and use the admin control tab "server restart" button).
4) Another way pointed out to me by a customer: If you have another Kiwi that is running v1.800 just use it to make a backup SD card. The re-flash the broken Kiwi using it. Reconfigure afterwards.
Proceed as follows:
ssh in and get a root shell. You will probably have to login using the "debian" account with a password of either "temppwd" (note two "pp" characters), the Kiwi admin password, the Kiwi serial number or a password you may have set yourself. The do a sudo su to get a root shell before continuing.
This procedure can take a long time. Some ssh connections require periodic user-side input otherwise the connection will be closed. So hit the return key periodically during the "mc" "m" and "mi" steps.
cd
dog (shows Debian version -- remember for future reference)
ls
Most likely there will be no Beagle_SDR_GPS directory but will be a KiwiSDR directory.
df. (check that there is at least 500 MB of free filesystem space)
If no KiwiSDR directory do a: "gclone KiwiSDR"
cd KiwiSDR
gup (git update)
There may be an incomprehensible warning from git at the beginning. Ignore it.
WARNING: if you happen to be using these instructions from the admin console window do not use the "msd" command shown next. Just skip it and move on to the "dpkg"command.
msd (stops the Kiwi server to speedup build time)
If you're running Debian 8 (ONLY!) then preemptively repair a possibly broken package system using these two commands. If one of those text-based window pops up asking for permission to restart some stuff just hit the return key. This may happen a few times.
dpkg --configure -a
apt-get -f install
Now try building the Kiwi server:
mc (make clean)
There may or may not be a lot of activity besides simple cleaning in this step depending on how far the process got last time.
There could be a bunch of Debian package installs. There will be a run of "lftp" to distro.kiwisdr.com to initially populate the static file cache.
This can potentially take a long time if your path to kiwisdr.com (California) is slow.
m (make)
mi (make install)
"lftp" is run again, but should be faster this time as all files should be cached.
WARNING: if you happen to be using these instructions from the admin console window do not use the "ku" command shown next. Instead, on the admin control tab use the "server restart" button.
ku (starts Kiwi server)
v1.800 should be running at this point.
Ask if there are any serious errors at any step.
Comments
v1.709 attempts the git rebase on a larger subset of Kiwis: Those having admin passwords starting with the letters "a" through "d". This is to limit any possible damage as well as test the loading on the forum server which is the new source of the large static files (rather than Github).
Fast binary updates will resume once everyone is converted over to the new scheme which begins with v1.800
When doing the rebase to v1.8xx the build time is very long. At least 1.5 hours depending on the speed of your Internet connection. This is because all the cached files must be rebuilt and the large static files initially downloaded.
Do not interrupt the build. Otherwise you're going to lose everything and have to re-flash from scratch.
Went out this morning a 08:00 UTC and my V1 was working and on 1.708.
Came home at 14:00 and is constantly reloading.
When the radio page stays up long enough to read it it says it is still on 1.708 and the Admin status page says the same, then it reloads with the message "Server has closed connection. Will retry." then it reloads.
No power outages here, etc.
Edit: the server runs until I open the admin pages, then the server closes.
@barneyuk That's very odd. In general the latest update has been working fine.
Since an admin connection is not stable about all we can do here is to allow me to ssh into the Beagle directly and see what's going on. But that requires you to NAT-map a port on your router to port 22 (ssh) at the local IP address of the Kiwi on your local network.
Then email support@kiwisdr.com your public IP address, the Internet-side port number you used, Kiwi serial number, and any password if you happened to change the "debian" account password on Linux. Typically you won't have done this and the default password will be "temppwd" or the Kiwi's serial number.
Thank you
Ok I will have to do this tomorrow sometime as the serial number can't be seen on the outside.
I have to say that I only noticed this because the Ant switch extension wasn't working. It also had become disabled on my V2, that is now switched back on.
.
@jks I have emailed the information requested, hopefully you will be able to crack this.
Thanks
I've re-enabled the v1.709 update, which should do a v1.800 upgrade, for all Kiwis except those running Debian 8 (and also limited to those with admin passwords beginning with the letter 'a' through 'h'). The fix to prevent admin connection looping is included in this current snapshot of v1.709.
v1.800 removes the /root/Beagle_SDR_GPS git clone subdirectory which had grown to anywhere between 500 and 1600 MB and replaces it with a new clone called KiwiSDR (current size 55 MB).
And also a new directory /root/KiwiSDR.files updated from kiwisdr.com (i.e. not part of the Github clone) containing large static files (current size 88 MB).
As a result the new KiwiSDR clone should grow much more slowly over time as it will mostly contain only source code changes and not historical copies of these huge binary files. So things now look roughly like this and there is now plenty of free filesystem space:
root@kiwisdr:~# du
4.0K build.log
35M kiwi.config
55M KiwiSDR // new git clone
88M KiwiSDR.files // updated from kiwisdr.com
104M build
This certainly worked my end. Thank you.
Today we're going to try rebasing all Kiwis (except those running Debian 8) to v1.800.
Please be patient. This is a long update as the file cache has to complete a one-time load which takes extra time if your Internet connection to kiwisdr.com happens to be slow.
Debian 8 Kiwis will update to v1.710 which has no other changes except the version number change.
If your non-Debian 8 Kiwi ends up running v1.710 that means the transition to v1.800 failed and I need to look at it.
Starting with v1.801 we can resume with binary updates and get rid of these ridiculous update times.
If your Kiwi has the problem where admin connections repeatedly reload a few seconds after you connect I now have a solution for this that doesn't require the hassle of opening an ssh port on your router.
Just email support@kiwisdr.com the Internet link (URL) to your Kiwi and the Kiwi's admin password.
I have some browser magic that stops the reloading long enough to repair the build of v1.800 and get things back on track.
I want to thank John for solving the v1.800 update issue for my kiwi.
Excellent support, thanks.
ik4mtc,antonio,italy
Early morning here now. I have email from five of you with the admin connect looping problem. Will get started on fixing those.
Of the public Kiwis looks like about 280 of them have updated (so far) to v1.800 without any problem.
Okay, these 5 have been fixed. Others are in the queue.
Anyone else, assuming your Kiwi has Internet access, email the link/URL and admin password to support@kiwisdr.com. It can take a couple hours to fix the build depending on various factors.
Some people have asked if they can try fixing this themselves. If you have ssh access to your Kiwi (NB: different from Kiwi admin access) you can try fixing it. Don't ask about the browser procedure to restore admin page access. It's complicated and I don't have time to walk people through it.
Follow the instructions given in the first post of this thread.
My KiwiSDR2 is on 1.699 yet. So the next time I'm on site there, in a couple weeks, I'll go ahead and let it update unless you say otherwise. Will there be any issue if I don't have 1.800 installed before 1.801 comes out, like trying to go from 1.699 to 1.801?
-Nate
N8BTR
http://21040.proxy.kiwisdr.com:8073/
Yes, this problem can occur anytime in the future a Kiwi first crosses the barrier between pre- and post-v1.8xx. That's the point at which the git repo rebase occurs. So going from v1.699 to v1.8xx qualifies (even if v1.800 itself is skipped).
In your case it sounds like you have a Kiwi at a remote site with automatic updates turned off so you can more carefully control the update schedule (an entirely reasonable thing to do). It would be better if you just let me manually do the update to v1.800 now and save you any potential problems when you're next out there. Just set a temporary admin password and email it to support@kiwisdr.com and I'll be happy to do that.
The image you download to create an SD card for re-flashing a BBG/BBB-based Kiwi-1 or Kiwi-2 has been updated from Debian 11.9 to 11.11 and Kiwi software release v1.690 to v1.800.
Full instructions here: http://kiwisdr.com/info/#id-net-reflash
Today we're enabling an auto update to v1.711, and thereby on to v1.800, for Debian 8 Kiwi's with admin passwords starting with the letter "i" through "l". If this is successful the next update will be applied to all D8 systems.
What's different with v1.711 is that it preemptively attempts to repair the Debian package system to lessen the chance of the build/update failing. This is based on the experience gained repairing D8 systems by hand over the last several days.
This update will of course not affect systems already updated to v1.8xx.
Well, I still can't figure out why some Debian 8 systems get stuck updating to v1.800. I keep testing new systems and the updates keep working. So today I'm just going to enable all of them to update and see what happens. There are about 375 public D8 Kiwis that need to update. So let's see how it goes.
So far I have repaired about 30 systems by hand. Painful, but it's the most direct approach.
On Saturday evening I finished installing the linear regulator in place of the LMR10530 and connected this KiwiSDR to the internet for an update. The default version was installed on BBB, as I was told. I'm not sure, but it was Debian 11 or 10 version 1.690. But definitely not 8. The update went quickly, but version 1.800 had a reloading of the admin page. I followed your manual assembly instructions and it worked. But the assembly took a long time. About 1.5 hours. Although the sources from git downloaded very quickly.
v1.800 does not have the admin page reload problem. v1.800 fixes that problem. I want to state this so people don't get the wrong idea and start complaining to me (this happens all the time when inaccurate information is posted on the forum).
What you probably saw was the state of the sources in /root after a failed v1.8xx transition. When v1.7xx decides it needs to transition to v1.8xx a few things happen. Remember that it is running out of /usr/local/bin/kiwid and uses only the configuration files in /root/kiwi.config. So the state of the sources don't matter.
The sources in /root/Beagle_SDR_GPS are removed to make disk space in case the filesystem is full. Which is why we are in this mess to begin with. Then the new KiwiSDR repo is git cloned. Then a build of v1.8xx is attempted. If the build fails for any reason the source files will look like it is on v1.8xx. But if you
cd; cd KiwiSDR; msthe log will show it still running on the v1.7xx out of /usr/local/bin/kiwid because the build never finished and installed the v1.8xx version. And if the Kiwi restarts same thing.The problem with Debian 8 and the v1.7xx to v1.8xx transition has been found. And the transition update for Debian 8 has been enabled. No guarantee it will all work. But so far things look pretty good. Roughly 100 D8 systems have made the switch.
Thanks for all you do, John. Both Kiwi's look fine now.
Another 100 publicly-listed Debian 8 systems updated to v1.800 successfully overnight. So the transition continues to work well.
However if your system is still stuck please email support@kiwisdr.com your Kiwi's Internet access link/URL and admin password (set a password if it is currently blank/unset) and we'll fix it for you. Thank you.
My two v1 Kiwi's updated just fine. My v2 got the admin connection loop. I did the manual update and everything is now fine. Thanks!
August KG7BZ
My V1 is stuck, going from V1.710 to V1.711 with the following on the Console monitor build progress:
Restart services during package upgrades without asking?
Is there an easy way to enter a Yes or Y?
-Zyg- AF4MP
Is there an easy way to enter a Yes or Y?
No there isn't. And you don't want to do that anyway. It isn't sufficient.
You can try the instructions in the first post of this thread. But instead of from an ssh shell do it inside the admin console window. But do not, do not, do not type the
kucommand at the end. Otherwise your Kiwi is toast if it's at a remote location. Because it will take a power cycle to get it back. Instead, on the admin control tab use the "server restart" button instead of theku.I have amended the instructions to mention this.
Thank you for the quick reply. I'll give it a try from the admin console.
I used the Admin Control server restart and the Kiwi came back happily to V1.710. 😊
I'll leave things as they are for now.
Thanks again,
-Zyg- AF4MP
Did you do the entire procedure though or just click the server restart button? If you did the entire procedure you should be running v1.800