I'm trying to take my first set of darks with an STF-8300M. Unfortunately, after a handful, I tend to get a Camera Error (8) when it attempts to download. I'm using a known good USB cable (that has worked with my ST-8300M for several years). I did run the latest SBIGDriverChecker64 and updated to the latest drivers and firmware. The Firmware upgrade seemed to fix my issue with getting black frames (maybe 3-4 in a set of 50 bias) but I'm still getting the Camera (8) error. Any ideas? Dan
Dan, This is an RX timeout error, when the driver waits for some data from your camera, usually during image transfer. Can you establish link to your camera ? Does this happen after you uploaded firmware to your camera ? Is this error permanent or just random ? Jan
Dan, I have the same camera running on Win 8.1, but do not see blank images at all. There has to be something bad in your setup if you see so much blank images you have mentioned above. Could you please let us know your firmware versions of GA - gate array and USB firmares shown in DriverChecker64 including windows version ? Thank you, Jan
Jan, replying to both of your messages. The blank frame issue was fixed with upgrading to the latest firmware. It appears to be a known issue once I started looking around the net. I'm on firmware usb 2.45 and ga 2.16. I have no problem connecting to the camera, updating the firmware, etc. I've only received the RX (8) error after an exposure right as it looks to be downloading (using Maxim). I don't lose connection to the camera. Once I click out of the error, the camera is still connected and I can just start another exposure. I setup a run last night and it threw the error after a couple of 30 minute exposures. I had the same issue this morning. I've since replaced the USB cable and I haven't run into an error since. I'm guessing the STF is a little harder on the cable that my older ST-8300 that has never had an issue. Thanks for the help, Dan
Dan, your fimrware versions are all right, please do not change them to the higher versions (GA 2.17 or 2.18). Yes, we know about this error 8 which happens sometimes quite randomly and we are trying to fix it, of course. This may depend on PC machines and their USB hardware, operating systems, etc. As I said, I do not see such problems on my site, but I run my STF-8300 via industrial USB powered hub. Jan
Try putting a 5 second delay between exposures and see if that helps. I've had to run my 8300M this way for quite a while as it seems to get confused when it has a filter wheel attached. You may be seeing another symptom of the same timing problem. Just a thought. Rgrds-Ross
