AOX guiding freeze and other problems in Maxim

Hi there, I have been experiencing what looks like freezing of AOX guiding in Maxim DL 6.08. I have the latest drivers and firmware. Running STXL11002 and integrated guider head (setup as external remote with SBIG A/O)

To explain:

I locate a star, then calibrate the drive, then calibrate the AOX. Commence tracking with low RMS wander. All looking good. I have done this part successfully quite a few times, with guiding going on for several minutes before I commence the next step.

I then select autosave a preselected sequence and press start. The AOX autoguider then stops and appears to freeze with no updating. Main camera is exposing.

I have the exposure delay set between 7-10 seconds.

As an alternative the guider restarts after saying it is trying to reaquire the star and this is a duration of about 10-15 seconds, by which time the guide star has wandered. This type of error does not happen very often. More often the former happens.

Also if I disconnect the camera and restart the camera again, the guide camera captures a noise filled image and cannot locate a star. If I power off the camera and repower the camera, the guide camera captures an image with stars.

Any ideas on any of the above issues?

 

Ok and I will check again on the firmware. I checked it two weeks ago but will check again. I'll let you know what transpires.

 

Ok I checked firmware and it was up to date. Downloading Maxim6.09 right now and will install. The driver was out of date though. Has there been an update in the last week or so? I have updated the driver in any event. I will need some clear sky now to determine if the problem is resolved.

 

Ok, all updated and just waiting for clear skies at my obs. Might happen later in the week. Will report back once I do some testing. Thanks for your help Doug.

 

I did some testing tonight with the updated software and driver. The problems still seem to exist. The exposure delay does not work for some reason and the AO plugin seems to lock up from time to time whilst the exposure starts. With the former I am not using the autosave function but simply using find DSO with a longer time frame of 5 minutes. Any ideas?

 

Just to add. I re-powered the camera and then tried the autosave function with a delay of exposure of 5 seconds and that seems to have worked. Still more testing.

 

Now getting an intermittent Rx time out on camera 1.

 

And, a lockups. Camera 1 will not open unless I reboot the camera

 

Hi Doug, none of this happens when I don't run the AOX. I can guide normally and take images without error.

Last night I got the AOX running and the delay working but when the main camera downloaded the images, those were blank with only noise. This happened in the reverse the other night when the AOX images were blank with only noise. I don't think it is the USB cable but it might be worth just trying another cable to see what effect that has.

 

I changed the HDMI cable today. I had a spare new one, so I will test again once the cloud clears.

 

I reverted to Maxim 6.08 and all the above errors disappeared. Now however I am getting Star fade. See new thread.