I recently noticed that my dump1090/PiAware web ui stopped loading. The unusual thing was that part of the webapp appeared to load but then it would hang with the ‘please wait’ spinner.
Looking in dev tools in Chrome, there’s a bunch of 404s on the data feeds:
A quick search found a couple of useful posts, especially this one, suggesting to first check the logs, with:
sudo journalctl -u dump1090-fa -n50 --no-pager
And here’s what I found:
Apr 22 20:24:02 raspberrypi systemd[1]: dump1090-fa.service holdoff time over, scheduling restart. Apr 22 20:24:02 raspberrypi systemd[1]: Stopping dump1090 ADS-B receiver (FlightAware customization)… Apr 22 20:24:02 raspberrypi systemd[1]: Starting dump1090 ADS-B receiver (FlightAware customization)… Apr 22 20:24:02 raspberrypi systemd[1]: Started dump1090 ADS-B receiver (FlightAware customization). Apr 22 20:24:02 raspberrypi dump1090-fa[27365]: Wed Apr 22 20:24:02 2020 PDT dump1090-fa 3.5.1 starting up. Apr 22 20:24:02 raspberrypi dump1090-fa[27365]: rtlsdr: no supported devices found. Apr 22 20:24:02 raspberrypi systemd[1]: dump1090-fa.service: main process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE Apr 22 20:24:02 raspberrypi systemd[1]: Unit dump1090-fa.service entered failed state.
Here’s your problem, right here:
dump1090-fa[27365]: rtlsdr: no supported devices found.
Quick fix, pushed the rtl-sdr usb dongle back in (it had come slightly loose) and rebooted, problem solved:
-- Logs begin at Wed 2020-04-22 20:27:02 PDT, end at Wed 2020-04-22 20:27:55 PDT. -- Apr 22 20:27:05 raspberrypi systemd[1]: Starting dump1090 ADS-B receiver (FlightAware customization)… Apr 22 20:27:05 raspberrypi systemd[1]: Started dump1090 ADS-B receiver (FlightAware customization). Apr 22 20:27:05 raspberrypi dump1090-fa[571]: Wed Apr 22 20:27:05 2020 PDT dump1090-fa 3.5.1 starting up. Apr 22 20:27:05 raspberrypi dump1090-fa[571]: rtlsdr: using device #0: Terratec T Stick PLUS (Realtek, RTL2838UHIDIR, SN 00000001) Apr 22 20:27:05 raspberrypi dump1090-fa[571]: Found Elonics E4000 tuner Apr 22 20:27:05 raspberrypi dump1090-fa[571]: rtlsdr: enabling tuner AGC
Problem solved – look at that empty sky over Sacramento!