Staff Assigned: Adam Robichaud CCDAP Issue

Discussion in 'STX and STXL Series Cameras' started by Paul Haese, Jul 4, 2019.

  1. Paul Haese

    Paul Haese Cyanogen Customer

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    Ok thanks guys. Having now sorted that problem, another has arisen. It seems that intermittently that CCDAP cannot open the guider and it now aborts very frequently. That unfortunately leaves the dome open and in an unprotected state. Do I need to update the firmware on the camera. One of the drivers appears to need updating (STX???), it appears second on the list. Is this a communication problem between CCDAP and the camera or CCDAP and Maxim?
     
  2. Colin Haig

    Colin Haig Staff Member

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    Paul, what's your guider hardware, main camera, and versions of CCDAP and MaxIm (This might be better in a separate thread).
     
  3. Doug

    Doug Staff Member

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    Okay I’ve moved these posts to a new thread.

    I doubt this is a firmware issue. Firmware doesn’t suddenly stop working - it doesn’t get Windows Updates.
     
  4. Paul Haese

    Paul Haese Cyanogen Customer

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    Colin the guider hardware is an integrated filter wheel with guide camera on an STXL camera and AOX guiding.
     
  5. Colin Haig

    Colin Haig Staff Member

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    And versions of software?
     
  6. Colin Haig

    Colin Haig Staff Member

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    Can you talk to guider from MaxIm manually and take an image using the guide chip?
    IF that doesnt work, then I'd power everything off, and remove/replace the cables between the self-guiding filter wheel and camera body. The "HDMI" type connector may need to be pulled and reseated on both sides.
     
  7. Doug

    Doug Staff Member

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    If you pull the HDMI altogether you’ll still be able to connect and take images; they’ll just all be black. Most of the guide camera electronics are inside the STXL itself.

    I think this must be some kind of software configuration issue.
     
  8. Paul Haese

    Paul Haese Cyanogen Customer

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    Software versions are MaximDL 6.20 and CCDAP 5.10.7 which are both the latest. Drivers are all the latest, firmware has one driver not up to date, so I might update that driver. I will try pulling the cables. That will necessitate a drive to the observatory but I need to make a visit in any case.

    The systems are powered down at the end of every session including computer. Everything is powered by IP power switches. Nothing is left running.

    John Smith from CCDware has said this is a Maxim problem that has cropped up from time to time. He suggested it was a driver related problem. Thoughts?
     
  9. Doug

    Doug Staff Member

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    To my knowledge we haven’t had any reports of that symptom, so I don’t know what he is referring to.

    Please zip and upload your MaxIm DL settings folder, it’s under Documents.
     
  10. Paul Haese

    Paul Haese Cyanogen Customer

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    Please find the zipped settings folder.
     

    Attached Files:

  11. Doug

    Doug Staff Member

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    Paul - under Camera Control Setup - Options please turn ON:
    • Access camera from a separate thread
    • Access filter wheel from a separate thread
    Those check boxes are only there in case some third-party peripheral doesn't work properly with threading. Our plug-ins including SBIG Universal DO work properly with threading, and NOT using threading can actually cause problems.
     
  12. Paul Haese

    Paul Haese Cyanogen Customer

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    Doug - I had already previously tried that and got the same problem. I'll check those anyway but I don't think that is causing the problem. This problem did not arise until I updated the drivers and the software the other day. Any other ideas?
     
  13. Doug

    Doug Staff Member

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    What exactly did you update?

    And yes turning off threading absolutely can cause problems. The current plug-ins are all designed to run threaded.
     
  14. Paul Haese

    Paul Haese Cyanogen Customer

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    I updated one of the drivers of the camera. Being in line with the idea that when updating the software the camera ought to be updated too. One was out of date. It was sbigudrv.dll that was out of date. So I updated that.

    Previously I did not have the threading check boxes ticked and things work well. However, that is not to say I should not have had those checked. I did not know that was a necessity. I have now checked them and will leave them checked. In any event it does not seem to be what is causing this problem.
     
  15. Paul Haese

    Paul Haese Cyanogen Customer

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    Just prior to the error occurring this seems to happen. First it the warning is listed in the log as Error- Error in plug in call back (400) - could not activate relay - already active. The plate also does not recenter either, it has to work its way back from 100% in one axis or the other.
     
  16. Doug

    Doug Staff Member

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    One of our support people will look into this on Monday. They'll probably want you to turn on extra logging and send us the results.
     
  17. Paul Haese

    Paul Haese Cyanogen Customer

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    For the interim I have rolled back to 6.17 so I can get some imaging done. I am happy to do some beta testing if need be. I'll wait for the support person to help.
     
  18. Paul Haese

    Paul Haese Cyanogen Customer

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    I am now getting take image failures. Maxim id crashing. Do I need to do any extra logging?
     
  19. Doug

    Doug Staff Member

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    I'll get @Adam Robichaud to help you with that.

    Meanwhile I'd take a close look at the USB interface hardware - cables, hubs, root hub in the computer.
     
  20. Colin Haig

    Colin Haig Staff Member

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    Also check you have fully disabled Windows Power Management - USB Selective Suspend [ ] Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power.
    You must do this for all USB devices in the chain - you can use show devices by connection in devmgmt.msc Device Manager.
    If you have recently run any windows updates or upgrades, this will be turned back on.
     

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