Bizarre issues with zynthian V5.1: Hardware or software related?

Hardware
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42

I haven’t had any xruns with overclocking off, so in my case I may not need it. However, I am using zynthian as a sound module and effects processor - I don’t do any sequencing. I do push pianoteq pretty hard though.

I did go through a bunch of the pre loaded snapshots and played them with zynpad and everything was fine.

If there’s any testing I can help with since we know mine is “one of those” just let me know. I was planning on replacing the pi5 in it but I probably won’t as its been so solid now, and I don’t want to risk breaking the cables or my exquisite thermal pad work.

43

Pictures are, of course, required…

44

Unfortunately, I didn’t take any. It was sort of like when people see a bigfoot, and when asked why they didn’t take a picture, they say they were too overwhelmed and forgot all about their camera.

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45

It’s a never, once, many thing.
The next thing you build like this will probably generate a few.

it’s such fodder we feed to the developers.
It’s better than the soup…

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46

Would you please send the output of the command cat /proc/cpuinfo which may provide some info on different RPi5 versions? Anyone else can also provide this info and tell us whether they experience this issue or not.

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@riban sure thing!

(venv) root@zynthian:~# cat /proc/cpuinfo
processor       : 0
BogoMIPS        : 108.00
Features        : fp asimd evtstrm aes pmull sha1 sha2 crc32 atomics fphp asimdhp cpuid asimdrdm lrcpc dcpop asimddp
CPU implementer : 0x41
CPU architecture: 8
CPU variant     : 0x4
CPU part        : 0xd0b
CPU revision    : 1

processor       : 1
BogoMIPS        : 108.00
Features        : fp asimd evtstrm aes pmull sha1 sha2 crc32 atomics fphp asimdhp cpuid asimdrdm lrcpc dcpop asimddp
CPU implementer : 0x41
CPU architecture: 8
CPU variant     : 0x4
CPU part        : 0xd0b
CPU revision    : 1

processor       : 2
BogoMIPS        : 108.00
Features        : fp asimd evtstrm aes pmull sha1 sha2 crc32 atomics fphp asimdhp cpuid asimdrdm lrcpc dcpop asimddp
CPU implementer : 0x41
CPU architecture: 8
CPU variant     : 0x4
CPU part        : 0xd0b
CPU revision    : 1

processor       : 3
BogoMIPS        : 108.00
Features        : fp asimd evtstrm aes pmull sha1 sha2 crc32 atomics fphp asimdhp cpuid asimdrdm lrcpc dcpop asimddp
CPU implementer : 0x41
CPU architecture: 8
CPU variant     : 0x4
CPU part        : 0xd0b
CPU revision    : 1

Revision        : d04170
Serial          : 0e6e86ab6f621a69
Model           : Raspberry Pi 5 Model B Rev 1.0
48

I setup a recent Oram version with WIFI, used it in studio for a week, went on a gig → ERROR! Why? It insisted on connecting to my home WIFI… on the gig! Stopped me dead there. Luckily I had a backup keyboard, but all my presets for the show were unavailable.

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Hi @cguerin!

Since it is a full Z5.1 kit with onboard screen, I surmise you don’t need headless functionality with VNC external control, therefore I don’t recommend bringing your Zynth to a gig with the WiFi activated, which also entails a bit of CPU usage.
It should be ideally switched-off, whenever you carry it around for performance purposes, unless you want to control it from a smartphone or tablet through VNC, but in this case you’d need to connect to a local net of WiFi service, which is not entirely handy to figure out beforehand.

Regards :slight_smile:

50

Wifi does add some considerable gotcha’s of this sort.

It’s always wise to test any rig you are taking anywhere outside of the wifi zone you normally work in.

I have a bag of just in case items for such eventualities.
Network cables, a USB Mouse and keyboard, a small Ethernet switch and a small HDMI monitor.

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51

Hi @cguerin !

It’s adviced to disable wifi and vnc before going to gig. It can be easily done from the admin menu. Also testing the snapshots after the change

Anyway It shouldn’t fail as you explain and i would like to understand what happened. Could you reproduce the issue and send more details about it?

Thanks

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52

Sorry just noticed you all replied! :slight_smile: Thanks!

The issue was pretty clear, if it expects WIFI, it won’t let you get past the splash screen and presents an arbitrary IP address on the screen. And a giant ERROR text. Its very reproducible, just set your WIFI so that it connects to your WIFI. Then turn off your router or WIFI, and reboot.

53

Sorry @cguerin !

I can’t reproduce your issue. My several zynthians don’t get blocked when WIFI is not available. They simply boot without connection and no error is displayed.

Your error is probably due to some bizarre condition we need to trace-back before fixing. If you don’t give us more detailed feedback it’s quite difficult to know where the problem is…

Thanks!

54

When Wi-Fi activity blocks the Zythian, it could be caused by the power supply.
How:
Wi-Fi actively scans for AP by transmitting probe requensts, due to crappy internal antenna and surrounding electronics and enclosure does not receive an answer, ramps up power for probe request transmission, the bad atenna reflects back transmission power, power supply current increases, up to a point when Wi-FI BRCM fails with current runaway, SDIO fails and takes down the entire bus. SD card access adds up to power consumption. Ths all can easily reach several amperes, power browns out and more parts of the Pi5 starve away.

Overclocking the RPi5 mangles the power supply even more.

First remedy to try: Do not overclock the RPi5.

Second remedy to try: Use a USB Wi-Fi/BT dongle with RTL8821CU chipset. It’s driver is now in-kernel, no need to install anything. TP-Link Archer T2UB is a working example.

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