Fresh 3.1 image randomly stops seeing most planes

FlightAware ADS-B Flight Tracking
1

Hey Gang,

I’ve been running piaware v2 on a Pi 2 for nearly a year now, and it’s been flawless. Last month I changed to piaware v3.1, and it’s been constantly dropping out after random time periods. It’s just a straight-up base image with no modifications other than a static IP address. After running for some number of hours, suddenly my msg/min from dump1090 will drop from 100+ down to 0-10. Sometimes it recovers on its own after the system notices no new messages and tries to restart dump1090 automatically, other times it won’t recover and I have to issue “sudo shutdown -r” for a reboot, after which it’s fine again. Check out the piaware log below; the problem is show starting here around 16:16.

I’m also running modesmixer2 on a separate windows box to receive positions from piaware. When the problem happens, I can see there that the connection is being dropped repeatedly (see end of post).

I’ve re-flashed the SD card a couple times, but am about to give up and go back to v2.15. Also, just another “feature” to mention: I’ve noticed that changing the password on the “pi” account doesn’t stick. It works for a while then reverts back to “flightaware”. Odd.

piaware.log
Oct 12 15:49:18 piaware piaware[435]: mlat-client(13566): Results: 20.4 positions/minute
Oct 12 15:49:18 piaware piaware[435]: mlat-client(13566): Aircraft: 5 of 6 Mode S, 3 of 5 ADS-B used
Oct 12 15:51:33 piaware piaware[435]: 131404 msgs recv’d from dump1090-fa (132 in last 5m); 131319 msgs sent to FlightAw
Oct 12 15:56:33 piaware piaware[435]: 131557 msgs recv’d from dump1090-fa (153 in last 5m); 131472 msgs sent to FlightAw
Oct 12 16:01:33 piaware piaware[435]: 131699 msgs recv’d from dump1090-fa (142 in last 5m); 131614 msgs sent to FlightAw
Oct 12 16:04:18 piaware piaware[435]: mlat-client(13566): Receiver status: connected
Oct 12 16:04:18 piaware piaware[435]: mlat-client(13566): Server status: clock unstable
Oct 12 16:04:18 piaware piaware[435]: mlat-client(13566): Receiver: 37.0 msg/s received 25.7 msg/s processed (69
Oct 12 16:04:18 piaware piaware[435]: mlat-client(13566): Server: 0.1 kB/s from server 0.0kB/s TCP to server
4kB/s UDP to server
Oct 12 16:04:18 piaware piaware[435]: mlat-client(13566): Results: 26.9 positions/minute
Oct 12 16:04:18 piaware piaware[435]: mlat-client(13566): Aircraft: 8 of 10 Mode S, 2 of 2 ADS-B used
Oct 12 16:06:33 piaware piaware[435]: 131811 msgs recv’d from dump1090-fa (112 in last 5m); 131726 msgs sent to FlightAw
Oct 12 16:11:33 piaware piaware[435]: 131952 msgs recv’d from dump1090-fa (141 in last 5m); 131867 msgs sent to FlightAw
Oct 12 16:16:33 piaware piaware[435]: 132016 msgs recv’d from dump1090-fa (64 in last 5m); 131931 msgs sent to FlightAwa
Oct 12 16:19:18 piaware piaware[435]: mlat-client(13566): Receiver status: connected
Oct 12 16:19:18 piaware piaware[435]: mlat-client(13566): Server status: not synchronized with any nearby receivers
Oct 12 16:19:18 piaware piaware[435]: mlat-client(13566): Receiver: 17.5 msg/s received 12.0 msg/s processed (69
Oct 12 16:19:18 piaware piaware[435]: mlat-client(13566): Server: 0.0 kB/s from server 0.0kB/s TCP to server
2kB/s UDP to server
Oct 12 16:19:18 piaware piaware[435]: mlat-client(13566): Results: 8.7 positions/minute
Oct 12 16:19:18 piaware piaware[435]: mlat-client(13566): Aircraft: 0 of 0 Mode S, 0 of 0 ADS-B used
Oct 12 16:21:33 piaware piaware[435]: 132017 msgs recv’d from dump1090-fa (1 in last 5m); 131932 msgs sent to FlightAwar
Oct 12 16:26:33 piaware piaware[435]: 132017 msgs recv’d from dump1090-fa (0 in last 5m); 131932 msgs sent to FlightAwar
Oct 12 16:31:33 piaware piaware[435]: 132017 msgs recv’d from dump1090-fa (0 in last 5m); 131932 msgs sent to FlightAwar
Oct 12 16:34:19 piaware piaware[435]: mlat-client(13566): Receiver status: connected
Oct 12 16:34:19 piaware piaware[435]: mlat-client(13566): Server status: not synchronized with any nearby receivers
Oct 12 16:34:19 piaware piaware[435]: mlat-client(13566): Receiver: 0.0 msg/s received 0.0 msg/s processed (0%
Oct 12 16:34:19 piaware piaware[435]: mlat-client(13566): Server: 0.0 kB/s from server 0.0kB/s TCP to server
0kB/s UDP to server
Oct 12 16:34:19 piaware piaware[435]: mlat-client(13566): Aircraft: 0 of 0 Mode S, 0 of 0 ADS-B used
Oct 12 16:36:33 piaware piaware[435]: 132018 msgs recv’d from dump1090-fa (1 in last 5m); 131933 msgs sent to FlightAwar
Oct 12 16:41:33 piaware piaware[435]: 132024 msgs recv’d from dump1090-fa (6 in last 5m); 131939 msgs sent to FlightAwar
Oct 12 16:46:33 piaware piaware[435]: 132031 msgs recv’d from dump1090-fa (7 in last 5m); 131946 msgs sent to FlightAwar
Oct 12 16:49:19 piaware piaware[435]: mlat-client(13566): Receiver status: connected
Oct 12 16:49:19 piaware piaware[435]: mlat-client(13566): Server status: not synchronized with any nearby receivers
Oct 12 16:49:19 piaware piaware[435]: mlat-client(13566): Receiver: 0.0 msg/s received 0.0 msg/s processed (0%
Oct 12 16:49:19 piaware piaware[435]: mlat-client(13566): Server: 0.0 kB/s from server 0.0kB/s TCP to server
0kB/s UDP to server
Oct 12 16:49:19 piaware piaware[435]: mlat-client(13566): Aircraft: 0 of 0 Mode S, 0 of 0 ADS-B used
Oct 12 16:49:19 piaware piaware[435]: mlat-client(13566): Out-of-order timestamps: 2

modesmixer2

2016-10-13 12:19:13.763 INFO inConnect(10.1.110.30:30105) connecting 10.1.110.30:30105
2016-10-13 12:19:13.772 INFO inConnect(10.1.110.30:30105) connected
2016-10-13 12:21:14.923 INFO inConnect(10.1.110.30:30105) BEAST data stream detected
2016-10-13 15:21:27.867 INFO inConnect(10.1.110.30:30105) disconnected
2016-10-13 15:21:27.870 INFO inConnect(10.1.110.30:30105) reconnect in 10 seconds
2016-10-13 15:21:28.636 INFO inConnect(10.1.110.30:30005) disconnected
2016-10-13 15:21:28.639 INFO inConnect(10.1.110.30:30005) reconnect in 10 seconds
2016-10-13 15:21:37.874 INFO inConnect(10.1.110.30:30105) connecting 10.1.110.30:30105
2016-10-13 15:21:38.644 INFO inConnect(10.1.110.30:30005) connecting 10.1.110.30:30005
2016-10-13 15:21:47.874 ERROR inConnect(10.1.110.30:30105) host 10.1.110.30:30105 connect timeout
2016-10-13 15:21:47.879 INFO inConnect(10.1.110.30:30105) reconnect in 11 seconds
2016-10-13 15:21:48.644 ERROR inConnect(10.1.110.30:30005) host 10.1.110.30:30005 connect timeout
2016-10-13 15:21:48.649 INFO inConnect(10.1.110.30:30005) reconnect in 21 seconds
2016-10-13 15:21:58.884 INFO inConnect(10.1.110.30:30105) connecting 10.1.110.30:30105
2016-10-13 15:22:02.389 ERROR inConnect(10.1.110.30:30105) connect host 10.1.110.30:30105 error No connection could
be made because the target machine actively refused it
2016-10-13 15:22:02.398 INFO inConnect(10.1.110.30:30105) reconnect in 27 seconds
2016-10-13 15:22:09.653 INFO inConnect(10.1.110.30:30005) connecting 10.1.110.30:30005
2016-10-13 15:22:09.658 INFO inConnect(10.1.110.30:30005) connected
2016-10-13 15:22:10.821 INFO inConnect(10.1.110.30:30005) BEAST data stream detected
2016-10-13 15:22:16.953 INFO Coverage area was determined
2016-10-13 15:22:29.403 INFO inConnect(10.1.110.30:30105) connecting 10.1.110.30:30105
2016-10-13 15:22:30.412 ERROR inConnect(10.1.110.30:30105) connect host 10.1.110.30:30105 error No connection could
be made because the target machine actively refused it
2016-10-13 15:22:30.421 INFO inConnect(10.1.110.30:30105) reconnect in 51 seconds
2016-10-13 15:23:21.426 INFO inConnect(10.1.110.30:30105) connecting 10.1.110.30:30105
2016-10-13 15:23:21.429 INFO inConnect(10.1.110.30:30105) connected
2016-10-13 15:25:22.041 INFO inConnect(10.1.110.30:30105) BEAST data stream detected
2016-10-13 15:29:23.309 INFO inConnect(10.1.110.30:30105) disconnected
2016-10-13 15:29:23.313 INFO inConnect(10.1.110.30:30105) reconnect in 10 seconds
2016-10-13 15:29:33.318 INFO inConnect(10.1.110.30:30105) connecting 10.1.110.30:30105
2016-10-13 15:29:34.325 ERROR inConnect(10.1.110.30:30105) connect host 10.1.110.30:30105 error No connection could
be made because the target machine actively refused it
2016-10-13 15:29:34.332 INFO inConnect(10.1.110.30:30105) reconnect in 21 seconds
2016-10-13 15:29:55.337 INFO inConnect(10.1.110.30:30105) connecting 10.1.110.30:30105
2016-10-13 15:29:56.343 ERROR inConnect(10.1.110.30:30105) connect host 10.1.110.30:30105 error No connection could
be made because the target machine actively refused it
2016-10-13 15:29:56.351 INFO inConnect(10.1.110.30:30105) reconnect in 36 seconds

2

I think you pasted piaware.log twice.

Regardless, it sounds like hardware problems (bad USB or bad power).

There is nothing in the piaware 3 images that resets the password after you change it.

3

Whoops, that’s what happens when you’re trying to go to bed! I did post the piaware.log twice and have removed the duplicate from the original post. I’ll try to get the syslog next time it happens.

If it were power problems, wouldn’t you think they would have shown up in version 2? Nothing about the hardware environment has changed except for the SD card.

As for the password, I was using “sudo passwd” instead of just “passwd”, which was the problem. Whoops!

4

Well, different software, different load; and power supplies can go bad. It’s worth checking at least. Simplest tests are to (a) try a different power supply and (b) check that the red LED on the Pi is solidly on.