[WT-support] Winkey not working

[Joe Subich, W4TV]

You *MUST* disable all power saving/sleep settings in Windows.
Without activity, Windows will cause the virtual ports to sleep
and since you did nothing to "wake" the ports they were not
open.

In general, Win-Test continues to poll the radio ports even if
the radios are turned off.  However, there is no periodic polling
of either WinKey or the MK2R "control" port so Windows will close
both during a long "off time" depending on your power saving and
sleep settings.

> The MicroHAM Winkey was working OK when testing from the router.

Testing from Router does not utilize the virtual ports.  The Eltima
VSPAX virtual port engine is used as a "front end" for applications
to access Router.  Router handles all communication with the the
hardware.

Again, putting a computer to sleep or into hibernate rather than
performing a full power down shut-off is bad practice.  If you must
do so, at least perform a *restart* when resuming operation so that
all drivers (including the Eltima VSPAX virtual ports) are refreshed
and reloaded.

73,

    ... Joe, W4TV


On 2/17/2014 6:17 AM, Guy Lemieux wrote:
> Hello all, This weekend during the ARRL DX CW, I did close the
> program and the radios for a night rest. The computer was still
> running (I let my CPU's run 24/7).
>
> When I turned on the program and radios (SO2R) in the morning, the
> MK2R+ would not key the transmitters. The MicroHAM Winkey was working
> OK when testing from the router.
>
> I tried several things like shutting the MK2R, Win-Test and even the
> radios but to no avail. BTW, this is the first time something like
> this has happened and I have been using Win-Test for 10+ years.
>
> After several shutdowns on the program, I noticed a message at the
> bottom of the logging screen: Winkey Device Init Error . It took a
> while to see the message as it disappears after about 10 seconds. I
> searched the online documentation (a long process when you want to
> get back into the game) but could not find an explanation.
>
> I finally decided to shut down the computer and everything started
> working again (after over an hour of frustrations). The last
> Microsoft update and computer restart happened last Wednesday (W7
> Pro).
>
> My question: Is there an easier way to diagnose and restore Winkey
> communications with the program? I tried shutting down after the
> contest and the message (Winkey V23 Detected) appeared and the
> program worked as usual.
>
> Guy VE2BWL
>
>
>
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