Resolved STXL-16200 with filter wheel, no images from guider

Hello, any help appreciated. Camera serial number is X16120001. Filter wheel serial number is a bit scratched up but I believe it is XZ14030061.

I'm running a fresh install of MaxIm 6.26, my last paid version, after a few years away from imaging. I may upgrade to the latest version soon.

Everything seems to be working, except any light, dark, or bias images taken using the guider chip come back blank, all pixel values =0.

Things I've noticed that seem odd or questionable:

1) The SBIG Driver Checker reports that all of my drivers are up to date, all dated 9-15-23. But when I get the Firmware version, I get this, which looks odd as one of my firmware files is newer than the release version, and one of them is unknown:



2) In MaxIm SBIG Universal Camera Setup, I see this. I can apparently only connect to the (unknown?) firmware version stx????.bf2.



3) Filter wheel setup is odd. For Camera 1, filter wheel setup is per the manual:



But for Camera 2, I have to choose model CFW-8 to (seemingly) establish a camera connection. If instead I choose Standard, then this error is thrown when I try to establish a connection to the camera:



Ideas?

 

I had a similar problem with my STT-8300 and self guiding filter wheel, any images from the guide camera had a value of 0 for all pixels. It turned out to be a bad HDMI cable between the camera and filter wheel. I bought a cheap replacement HDMI cable and despite being brand new it did not work, same result. I had to use a hood quality cable for everything to work properly.

Also the tension pins that keep the cable tight on both my camera and filter wheel had become loose and the cable would not stay properly seated. I took a tiny screwdriver and very carefully bent these pins out just a very small amount, now the cable stays securely in place.

 

Thanks, Joshua. I was hopeful you were right about the HDMI cable, but sadly I just tried 2 others and no luck, I still get the error message when trying to connect to a Standard filter wheel.

Before I start buying new cables I think I'll see if the good folks at DL, or anyone else, has another idea.

 

Thank you Colin. I've been away from home so my response is a bit delayed.

Now that I'm back, I first fixed my Camera Setup options in MaxIm. I should have interpreted the manual as saying to set up the guider as External Remote. It would be 100% clear if it simply showed all the settings for an STXL camera with FW8G wheel, or better yet, a simple table with all legacy models and their settings. Just a suggestion, perhaps not practical for old cameras.

Next I confirmed that the driver checker is version 4.05, Build 0. Not too surprising as this is a new/refurbished PC (running Windows 10 with 16GB RAM) with a fresh download of the Driver Checker.

Next I tried removing all of the drivers and downloading them again. Once again, it downloaded and installed the 9-15-23 versions shown in my original post.

Just for yucks I uninstalled the Driver Checker, downloaded it again, reinstalled it, confirmed it as 4.05 Build 0, removed all the drivers, downloaded the latest (again) and installed. STILL 9-15-23. And still the unusual firmware shown.

FWIW this camera was used briefly in 2021 , although I never got the guider working. Then life intervened. When I fired everything up again a few weeks ago, it was still working OK, and I even got the autoguider working. But then 2 things happened, not sure in what order: 1) the machine updated to Windows 10, which stressed the RAM, and 2) I downloaded the latest Driver Checker and ran it. Now the old machine exhibits the same behavior as on the new/refurbished PC.

From here it seems there may be something wrong with either a) the latest checker or files on DL.com, or b) Windows 10, or the SBIG software running on it. But I'm open to any other suggestions. Thanks for your efforts.

Craig

 

Sorry, I missed something. I just looked again at the firmware showing on Driver Checker on my old machine, and it now shows this:



Should I Update Camera Firmware?

 

I followed all your steps, slowly and carefully, on my new/refurbished PC. At Step 9, it updated the drivers, but once again to 9/15/23 versions:



I continued on. Did not get a USB beep at step 11 but after unplugging and replugging the camera USB cord I did, and confirmed that Windows recognizes the device, which it reports as "USBX-CAM Engine".

Sadly, at step 13 I still show the odd firmware:


Stumped. FWIW I have a 6" long 8K HDMI cable on order, arriving Sunday, but don't expect it to help.

I'm going to go through all your steps on my old machine next, just to see if the behavior changes.

 

On my old machine, which runs like a slug, I get the same 9-15-23 drivers installed at step 9:



I continued on, and now, at step 13, it shows the same wonky firmware as the new/refurbished machine:



Still stumped.

 

I did not see your post of 3:27pm until after my last two posts. Here's what happened when I followed your updated steps:

Steps 1-6, no problem, except I had to run the driver checker as an administrator to get it to delete sbigudrv.dll 4.85 Build 1. I don't recall having to do that before, but it worked.

View attachment 14031

Then went on a hunt for the files you listed, here's what I found:

C:\Windows\SBIGDriverChecker64.INI -- found and deleted
C:\Windows\System\sbigudrv.dll -- not found
C:\Windows\System32\sbigudrv.dll -- not found
C:\Windows\System32\drivers\
sbigfcam.hex -- not found
sbigfga.bin -- not found
sbiglcam.hex -- not found
sbigpcam.hex -- not found
sbigu64.sys -- not found
C:\Windows\SysWOW64\sbigudrv.dll -- directory not found

For good measure I did a global search for sbigudrv.dll and found nothing. Rebooted. Reinstalled the checker and ran an update, and...



Rats. Perhaps sbigudrv.dll 4.85 Build 1 dates back to an ST7 I once had (my first camera). In 2020 I hooked that camera up to my (now old) computer, before deciding to buy the used STXL-16200.

Just for yucks I will go back again to my old PC and will run your new steps there. Will report back in my next message.

 

p.s. forgot to say I continued on with steps 11-13 and once again got

 

Now back on my old machine. Ran steps 1-6, no problem. On the file hunt:

C:\Windows\SBIGDriverChecker64.INI -- found and deleted
C:\Windows\System\sbigudrv.dll -- not found
C:\Windows\System32\sbigudrv.dll -- not found
C:\Windows\System32\drivers\
sbigfcam.hex -- not found
sbigfga.bin -- not found
sbiglcam.hex -- not found
sbigpcam.hex -- not found
sbigu64.sys -- not found
C:\Windows\SysWOW64\sbigudrv.dll -- directory found, but no such file

Rebooted, reinstalled Driver Checker, ran update, and...



and same wonky firmware files.

Working on my 2nd glass of wine, might need 3 or 4 tonight. ;-)

 

Hi Craig.

You probably know this already but just to recap.

By default, searching for a file by name in the search box of a file explorer window uses the Windows Index service, which is always running in the background and monitoring where files and folders are located but Windows Index does not monitor all possible Windows directories, moreover, Windows Index can become corrupted and periodically require a reset to rebuild the index.

But first...

With Windows 10...
Open a File Explorer window, (shortcut, press the Windows key and the E key) click the "View" menu at the top of the File Explorer window, click the upper section of the "Options" menu over on the far right of the View ribbon.



Click the "Search" tab of the "Folder Options" window, then, under "How to search" check (tick) the box for "Don't use the index when searching in file folders for system files (searches might take longer)" and then under the section "When searching non-indexed locations" check (tick) the boxes for "Include system directories" and "Always search file names and contents (this might take several minutes)".
Click the "Apply" button to action the changes.



Now search for the SBIG driver files again, the search will take much longer this time, maybe an hour or more if the computer is old and has lots of files and directories to search through.

After you have found the missing files you can return to the Folder Options, Search tab, and deselect those additional search options, or just click the "Restore Defaults" button if you want to speed up future searches but remember that by default not all files can be found with the default settings.

--------------------------

To reset a bloated or corrupt Windows search index is best done overnight as it can take many hours.

Press the Windows Key and the S key then in the search box of the task bar type "Indexing" then click the "Advanced" button and finally on the "Index Settings" tab under "Troubleshooting" click the "Rebuild" button.

The Windows Index will then be deleted and rebuilt, which should shorten future searches and make them more reliable.

While the Index is being rebuilt the computer will run much slower and it is best to not interact with the computer until re-indexing is complete as that will slow down the process.

HTH

William.

 

Many thanks, William. I have many skills, but you wildly overestimated my abilities with Windows.

Colin, after following William's directions, I did a search of the C drive for sbig*.* It found C:\Windows\SBIGDriverChecker64.INI, which I deleted. It did not find any of the other files on your list. However, it found 39 other files, most of which look innocuous e.g. .zip or .txt files, or duplicates of downloads. There are some that look suspicious, however. I can send screenshots of the file list if you want them.

 

Many thanks, William. I have many skills, but you wildly overestimated my abilities with Windows.

Colin, I did a global file search on sbig**., using the Everything app, because I got sick of Explorer deciding it needed to wipe out the results and spend another 3 hours searching just because I clicked on a file name.

C:\Windows\SBIGDriverChecker64.INI was found and deleted. None of the other files on your list were found. You should be able to see all the files it found at

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1kcDVA4ISwvvg-AgPZZchcyXfiXOYIH3bSTE2HQswChA/edit?usp=sharing

Craig

 

Barring any further input, my plan is to delete the obvious SBIG files and retry Colin's steps, and if that doesn't work, uninstall MaxIm, delete any remaining DL files, and retry Colin's steps. At that point I may have to assume the camera and filter wheel are bricked.