InstantFM

Hi,

I purchased this device and while the device driver loads and I can set up gnomeradio to access it, it picks up no radio stations, despite being the model with an external antenna. The log output says "software version 0, hardware version 7". I'm running Debian Wheezy and the output from dmesg is:

[66842.724036] usb 2-3: new full-speed USB device number 3 using ohci_hcd
[66842.936144] usb 2-3: New USB device found, idVendor=06e1, idProduct=a155
[66842.936150] usb 2-3: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2,
SerialNumber=0
[66842.936154] usb 2-3: Product: ADS InstantFM Music
[66842.936156] usb 2-3: Manufacturer: ADS TECH
[66843.275730] Linux media interface: v0.10
[66843.296811] Linux video capture interface: v2.00
[66843.321815] USB radio driver for Si470x FM Radio Receivers, Version
1.0.10
[66843.323136] radio-si470x 2-3:1.2: DeviceID=0xffff ChipID=0xffff
[66843.326127] radio-si470x 2-3:1.2: software version 0, hardware version 7
[66843.326131] radio-si470x 2-3:1.2: This driver is known to work with
software version 7,
[66843.326135] radio-si470x 2-3:1.2: but the device has software version 0.
[66843.326138] radio-si470x 2-3:1.2: If you have some trouble using this
driver,
[66843.326141] radio-si470x 2-3:1.2: please report to V4L ML at
[email protected]
[66843.338247] usbcore: registered new interface driver radio-si470x
[66843.407477] usbcore: registered new interface driver snd-usb-audio

Any help on what I need to do to get this working would be much appreciated.

Hi,

Quoted 33 lines · Ted To

Hi,

I purchased this device and while the device driver loads and I can set up gnomeradio to access it, it picks up no radio stations, despite being the model with an external antenna. The log output says "software version 0, hardware version 7". I'm running Debian Wheezy and the output from dmesg is:

[66842.724036] usb 2-3: new full-speed USB device number 3 using ohci_hcd
[66842.936144] usb 2-3: New USB device found, idVendor=06e1,
idProduct=a155
[66842.936150] usb 2-3: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2,
SerialNumber=0
[66842.936154] usb 2-3: Product: ADS InstantFM Music
[66842.936156] usb 2-3: Manufacturer: ADS TECH
[66843.275730] Linux media interface: v0.10
[66843.296811] Linux video capture interface: v2.00
[66843.321815] USB radio driver for Si470x FM Radio Receivers, Version
1.0.10
[66843.323136] radio-si470x 2-3:1.2: DeviceID=0xffff ChipID=0xffff
[66843.326127] radio-si470x 2-3:1.2: software version 0, hardware
version 7
[66843.326131] radio-si470x 2-3:1.2: This driver is known to work with
software version 7,
[66843.326135] radio-si470x 2-3:1.2: but the device has software
version 0.
[66843.326138] radio-si470x 2-3:1.2: If you have some trouble using this
driver,
[66843.326141] radio-si470x 2-3:1.2: please report to V4L ML at
[email protected]
[66843.338247] usbcore: registered new interface driver radio-si470x
[66843.407477] usbcore: registered new interface driver snd-usb-audio

Quoted 2 lines

Any help on what I need to do to get this working would be much appreciated.

Can you try with the (console-based) radio app from the latest xawtv release,
xawtv-3.103 ?

gnomeradio is not being actively maintained, so it could be your just hitting
a gnomeradio issue.

Regards,

Hans

Hi,

Quoted 43 lines · Hans de Goede

Hi,

Quoted 33 lines · Ted To

Hi,

I purchased this device and while the device driver loads and I can set up gnomeradio to access it, it picks up no radio stations, despite being the model with an external antenna. The log output says "software version 0, hardware version 7". I'm running Debian Wheezy and the output from dmesg is:

[66842.724036] usb 2-3: new full-speed USB device number 3 using ohci_hcd
[66842.936144] usb 2-3: New USB device found, idVendor=06e1,
idProduct=a155
[66842.936150] usb 2-3: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2,
SerialNumber=0
[66842.936154] usb 2-3: Product: ADS InstantFM Music
[66842.936156] usb 2-3: Manufacturer: ADS TECH
[66843.275730] Linux media interface: v0.10
[66843.296811] Linux video capture interface: v2.00
[66843.321815] USB radio driver for Si470x FM Radio Receivers, Version
1.0.10
[66843.323136] radio-si470x 2-3:1.2: DeviceID=0xffff ChipID=0xffff
[66843.326127] radio-si470x 2-3:1.2: software version 0, hardware
version 7
[66843.326131] radio-si470x 2-3:1.2: This driver is known to work with
software version 7,
[66843.326135] radio-si470x 2-3:1.2: but the device has software
version 0.
[66843.326138] radio-si470x 2-3:1.2: If you have some trouble using this
driver,
[66843.326141] radio-si470x 2-3:1.2: please report to V4L ML at
[email protected]
[66843.338247] usbcore: registered new interface driver radio-si470x
[66843.407477] usbcore: registered new interface driver snd-usb-audio

Quoted 2 lines

Any help on what I need to do to get this working would be much appreciated.

Can you try with the (console-based) radio app from the latest xawtv release,
xawtv-3.103 ?

Quoted 7 lines

gnomeradio is not being actively maintained, so it could be your just hitting
a gnomeradio issue.

Regards,

Hans

I had tried "radio" from the debian repository (version 3.102) but sadly it did not work. I also tried 3.103 from the sid repository and I get the following error:

Invalid freq '138650000'. Current freq out of range?

I can get it to start if I use the "-s" option but still, nothing plays.
Moreover, if I give it a specific frequency, it does not start at that
frequency.

Could the problem be that my device does not have version 7 of the firmware? Google has not been helpful regarding how this can be upgraded.

Thanks,
Ted

Actually, playing around with it some more (the version in the stable repository), it appears to be picking something up. "radio -s" produces the following:

$ radio -s

Station  0:  88.10 MHz - 4.00
Station  1:  88.90 MHz - 3.00
Station  2:  89.70 MHz - 2.00
Station  3:  91.50 MHz - 2.00
Station  4:  92.35 MHz - 3.00
Station  5:  93.10 MHz - 3.00
Station  6:  95.10 MHz - 3.00
Station  7:  95.90 MHz - 2.00
Station  8:  97.80 MHz - 4.00
Station  9:  99.10 MHz - 2.00
Station 10: 100.45 MHz - 2.00
Station 11: 101.90 MHz - 2.00
Station 12: 102.70 MHz - 2.00
Station 13: 104.25 MHz - 4.00
Station 14: 105.75 MHz - 3.00
Station 15: 106.50 MHz - 5.00

tuned 88.10 MHz

I assume that the last number is a measure of signal strength?

The problem is that no sound is produced. FYI, gnomeradio gives a 'Could not open "/dev/mixer"!' error. There seem to be some bugs reported regarding this problem.

Hi,

On 05/20/2013 08:38 PM, Ted To wrote:
<snip>

Quoted 5 lines

Actually, playing around with it some more (the version in the stable repository), it appears to be picking something up. "radio -s" produces the following:

$ radio -s

q> baseline at 1.00

Quoted 16 lines

Station  0:  88.10 MHz - 4.00
Station  1:  88.90 MHz - 3.00
Station  2:  89.70 MHz - 2.00
Station  3:  91.50 MHz - 2.00
Station  4:  92.35 MHz - 3.00
Station  5:  93.10 MHz - 3.00
Station  6:  95.10 MHz - 3.00
Station  7:  95.90 MHz - 2.00
Station  8:  97.80 MHz - 4.00
Station  9:  99.10 MHz - 2.00
Station 10: 100.45 MHz - 2.00
Station 11: 101.90 MHz - 2.00
Station 12: 102.70 MHz - 2.00
Station 13: 104.25 MHz - 4.00
Station 14: 105.75 MHz - 3.00
Station 15: 106.50 MHz - 5.00

Quoted 3 lines

tuned 88.10 MHz

I assume that the last number is a measure of signal strength?

Yes, more or less.

Quoted 3 lines

The problem is that no sound is produced. FYI, gnomeradio gives a 'Could not open "/dev/mixer"!' error. There seem to be some bugs reported regarding this problem.

Right, have you also tried with the latest version of radio ? The 3.103 version has digital audio loopbacking support, so it will read audio from the usb stick (which show up as a usb soundcard) and then send it to your default alsa device, also see radio -help output.

About setting the frequency not working, I've just tried with my own si470x device, and this works fine:
radio -f 97.6

As for the reported hardware / software version, my usb-stick has:

radio-si470x 4-2:1.2: software version 1, hardware version 7

Where as your has:

radio-si470x 2-3:1.2: software version 0, hardware version 7 radio-si470x 2-3:1.2: This driver is known to work with software version 7, radio-si470x 2-3:1.2: but the device has software version 0.

Since my device works fine, in the latest driver the software version check has been lowered to version 1. And if we can get yours to work too, we can lower it even further.

Which kernel version are you using ?

Hi Hans,

Quoted 1 line

Which kernel version are you using ?

3.2.0-4-amd64

I could try the liquorix kernel (3.8) if you thought it might help.

Quoted 2 lines

I could try the liquorix kernel (3.8) if you thought it might help.

Yes, if you could try that that would be great.

Hi,

Quoted 1 line · Ted To

Hi Hans,

<snip>

Quoted 4 lines

Quoted 1 line

Which kernel version are you using ?

3.2.0-4-amd64

Quoted 1 line

I could try the liquorix kernel (3.8) if you thought it might help.

Yes, if you could try that that would be great.

Regards,

Hans

I did a live boot from the most recent Ubuntu (kernel 3.8), installed radio and it worked!

Quoted 3 lines

Quoted 2 lines

I could try the liquorix kernel (3.8) if you thought it might help.

Yes, if you could try that that would be great.

If I may join the party, I too own an InstantFM USB device and I can't get it to play radio. All of this under kernel 3.9.3-gentoo.

dmesg:

usb 4-2.4: new full-speed USB device number 5 using uhci_hcd usb 4-2.4: New USB device found, idVendor=06e1, idProduct=a155 usb 4-2.4: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=0 usb 4-2.4: Product: ADS InstantFM Music
usb 4-2.4: Manufacturer: ADS TECH
radio-si470x 4-2.4:1.2: DeviceID=0xffff ChipID=0xffff

This, as well as the "Invalid freq '127150000'" and the "get_baseline:
min=65535.000000 max=65535.000000" messages seem to indicate that only FFFF is being read from all the registers of the tuner chip, so somehow the communication between the usb micro-controller and the si470x tuner chip is not working.

Quoted 6 lines

This, as well as the "Invalid freq '127150000'" and the "get_baseline:
min=65535.000000 max=65535.000000" messages seem to indicate that only FFFF is being read from all the registers of the tuner chip, so somehow the communication between the usb micro-controller and the si470x tuner chip is not working.

A disconnect-connect of the USB device reset its internal state and now I can confirm the device properly works with the 3.9.3-gentoo kernel, using the 3.103 version of xawtv.

Under the same kernel, the 3.95-r2 xawtv version shipped with gentoo fails to detect signal: “radio -i -d” outputs no channel and shows “get_baseline: min=0.000000 max=0.000000”.

Thanks for your good work on this, you know who you are,

Good to hear, your device has "software version 0, hardware version 7", right? If you can confirm then I'll lower the version requirement in the kernel too match (so that you'll no longer get the warning message).