Hi John, Bill, Dennis, and others reading along with us,
Having Dennis "dial in" sounds like a good idea.
I think you need to be looking around the "virtual system" you are running. You may like to describe it in more detail so we get a better idea of where the issues may lie.
That you describe "Win 7" errors stopping Logic is also a clue. The problem is most likely external to Logic.
While we are all "shooting in the dark" - so to speak - let me descibe my experience - I hope it helps.
Keep in mind "virtual ports" need to have some performance. What they do is "interrupt" the normal flow of control through the deep caverns of your Windows system. They run on your system as "windows services" - in the background. They do not turn-off just because you stop using the ports. One needs to "STOP" the service to get it out of the loop.
I assume that you are using LP-Bridge 2 and the Eltima drivers - as compared to the older LP-Bridge. The older LP-Bridge and it's virtual port drivers, and the Eltima virtual port drivers, do NOT mix.
NaP3 will be sucking the life from your PC when it is running.
From the comment by Bill W7OO - that Telnet is not involved in his similar problem - I am more convinced than ever that these issues have something to do with how the systems are configured - external to Logic. Logic is simply the "trigger".
I did not describe my system completely - but I too am using Eltima Serial Port software to create virtual ports.
One of the issues you faced I am sure, is that every bit of software wants to "run the rig", and you needed to use LP-Bridge, and the Eltima software, to give access to more than one peice of software.
You say you are running DXLab - which wants to control the rig - and Logic - which wants to control the rig - and NaP3 - that wants access to the rig. You stitched it all together with "virtual ports". If you are running the K3 at 38400, and there are multiple virtual ports at this speed, you may need to "slow down" the polling of the radios. See below.
Larry Phipps at TelepostInc solved the basic problem with LP-Bridge - ver 1 and ver 2.
From my experience getting the following to work - I would be looking seriously at the LP-Bridge/Eltima/virtual port system, and the all the software that uses them, for the problem.
I too wanted to do what you are doing. My system that I have described, runs "Eltima Serial Port Splitter". Two FTDI based USB ports come from RemoteRig devices (that's another story) into the PC. The Eltima "splitter_share_service" runs in the background and splits COM19 to COM1,9,10 and COM20 to COM2,11,12. It took me a while to get it all to work correctly.
N1MM or DXLab use ports 1 and 2, and OmniRig uses 9, and 11, and my "test tools" use ports 12, and 13 - all at the same time running at 38400 to the real K3s elsewhere at my QTH. OmniRig is used via COM by three or four peices of software - including Logic.
My system is pure Eltima - no other serial port software at all - just tools that use the ports. And as already described, I have no issues worth mentioning - now.
For obvious reasons all the ports have to run at the same speed - in my case 38400 - two real and six virtual ports. This proved too much even for my eight core Intel i7 - even with very little software running. I still run the ports at 38400, but, where I could, I had to slow down the polling of the radios to give the whole "system" a chance to function.
For me, the Eltima service simply stopped, and I had to restart it - constantly, randomly. Initially I elevated the "process priority" for the Eltima service to real-time, and slowed the radio polling to a very low level - and it all worked for many hours. Then, over a week, I slowly lowered the service priority back to normal, and increased the polling to where the system started to again crash. Then I backed the polling off a little and the system now runs without error for hours and hours - and I run anything and everything else as well.
One addage has stuck with me over my years with computers. It is ...
Systems that are backed into a corner - come of crashing.
Make sure your system has "room to breath", and time to "catch it's breath" - so to speak. As you see from my system, that has nothing to do with how many programs one runs. It is the nature of the work that each component is asked to do, and the environment in which they have to do it, that is of concern.
During my professional life I had many, many, long days and sleepless nights, with these sorts of problems.
I hope I have helped in some small way. I hope you and Dennis have some luck. Good luck with it. Just ask if you need help.
Peter VK4IU
Peter VK4IU
You can help by posting images of
any errors and including your
Logic version.