PC can't connect with the ST-i camera

I have an ST-8XME and an ST-i camera, each plugged into its own separate USB port on my Lenovo Thinkpad W530 laptop. I use CCDSOFT to get an image of a star spectrum, and use CCDOPS for guiding on the target star. Both programs are up and running at the same time I am getting a spectrum.

I need one more port than what the Lenovo has and so I am transferring all the telescope software to an ACES Veriton desktop. Both the Lenovo and ACES have Win 7 Pro 64 bit as the operating system.

I finally got the ACES pc to make a connection with the ST-8 camera and got an image. However, the pc cannot find the ST-i camera. When I click on Setup in CCDOPS (remember, I use CCDOPS for guiding with the ST-i), it lists both the ST-8 and ST-i cameras and I have to make a choice as to which one I want by clicking on it. When I click on the ST-i choice I get a message that says "No camera could be found." I know CCDOPS appears to be detecting the ST-i camera because when I unplug the USB ST-i cable from the pc and click on Setup in CCDOPS it immediately makes a connection with the ST-8 camera. Therefore, it appears to make a connection (in a sense) with the ST-i camera for it to be part of the list but, as I said, when I click on it I get the message that says "No camera could be found." It is also odd because after I ran the driver updater in the Diffraction Limited website and plug in the ST-i USB cable it gave a message in the lower right of the pc screen that said "Device driver software installed successfully." I know the ST-i camera is still good because just to make sure it is good I plugged the cable into the Lenovo and got a connection and an image of the spectrograph slit.

When I ran SetupDriverChecker64.exe from the Diffraction Limited website, it came up with an error message that said "Error on connecting to SBIG servers:0" The error message suggested that a firewall may be causing this, but ZoneAlarm and the Windows firewall were disabled. Does this error message mean there was an incomplete update of the drivers for the ST-i camera? The driver update worked okay for the ST-8 camera.
Stan

 

Hello Colin,
It didn't work, although this time when I updated I did not get any error messages. However, when open the Device Manager and expand the USB controller list and then plug the ST-i cable back into the pc nothing happens. I tried the whole procedure over again a number of times and after more than 10 minutes nothing comes up in the lower right hand corner saying the drivers did or did not install, and there is no USB controller that has SBIG as part of the name. I then attempted to click on Action and then Add Legacy Hardware, but when I finally got a list of choices for "SBIG USB Devices" none of the choices seemed right and so I cancelled doing this. Could it take more than 13 minutes for Windows to create an SBIG controller?
Stan

 

p.s., I forgot to mention that last night I had pasted the Diffraction Limited SBIG Driver Checker to my Desktop. This morning I clicked on Properties and it is the 4.05 version. Also, there are no unknown devices with a /!\ yellow mark in the USB Controller list. I also should mention that last night I installed the drivers for Starizona's Microtouch focuser. It works and the USB controller list has a controller Called Starizona Microtouch. So, installing the drivers is working but for some reason I am having problems with the ST-i camera. As I said, last night I plugged the cable into my Lenovo and launched CCDOPS. I clicked on Establish Link and it worked and I got an image of the spectrograph slit. So, it does not appear the camera has a problem.
Stan

 

Yes, it is ACER instead of ACES. I don't think another cable would make a difference because it works on the Lenovo laptop. I don't have a powered USB hub. Just now I plugged the cable into a port that had n0t been used for the ST-i camera. It failed to install the device driver software and said "USBI-CAM Engine X No driver found." Could it be that this pc cannot handle a camera that does not have an external power source`?

 

Good God, or maybe it is more politically correct to say Good Deity. I did a search on the internet to get more information about USBI-CAM Engine. I found out I had this same problem, although not identical, before and I had contacted Diffraction limited about it. See the last paragraph of the back and forth discussion I had before about this problem. Maybe Diffraction Limited did not act on this, or maybe I never did contact them as I said I would in the last paragraph. The responses are separated by dashes.

BEGINNING
I am using a CCD camera, SBIG ST-i, to get astonomical images with a telescope. When I hook up the camera to the laptop, the Found New Hardware Wizard comes up. It wants to search for and install USBI-CAM Engine. It cannot find it. I contacted the software developer that supports the software that reads this camera and they say it should work. In light of my previous problems of getting the appropriate drivers for WiFi and USB after re-installing Windows XP, I think this is another driver related issue. I had this software installed before I re-installed Windows XP and it worked. The laptop recognized the camera and I got images.

Is there another driver executable file I need to run to get the USBI-CAM engine?
Stan

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Hi:
It appears your camera needs a driver from the manufacturer's website.
http://diffractionlimited.com/product/st-i/
Probably the The SBIG Universal Driver, found under the downloads tab.

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Thank you. You may be correct. I'll give it a try. However, I did not have to do this before (before I re-installed XP), and last night in inserted the disk that came with the camera. The Wizard could not find what it needed there. Also, the software developer that I said I talked to this morning was Diffracton Limited.
Anyway, I'll see what happens when I download it.
Stan

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You're very welcome.
I hope it works because it isn't a HP device that needs the driver installed.
Might be a missing Windows XP component, but I would have no idea which one it could possibly be missing.

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Paul,
It worked, but it shouldn't have. I had downloaded the Driver Checker for the 32 bit machine I have and it updated all the drivers. The one you found was the driver checker for a 64 bit system. I should not have had to run the 64 bit driver checker. It should have been in the 32 bit driver checker. I think what happened is that Diffraction Limited had bought out SBIG (whose primary business was astronomical CCD cameras) and carried on the software, such as CCDOPS. They modified the installation program for installing CCDOPS, which also installed the Driver Checker. Apparently, someone goofed and failed to include all the drivers for a 32 bit system. I will call them and let them know what happened.
Stan

 

Hello Colin,
I reread the back and forth of the same problem I had in 2018. The discussion I posted was in the HP forum. You will notice that the person who came up with the solution that worked directed me to Diffraction Limited's web site, namely, http://diffractionlimited.com/product/st-i/

This web site no longer exists. Hence, it appears that the problem I am having is from Diffraction Limited's end. If DF does not have a solution, it appears I have an ST-i camera I cannot use, unless there is a way of getting what I need from my Lenovo laptop and transferring it to the ACER pc.
Stan

 

Hello Colin,
I really don't think the PC is messed up. I am having the same problem all over again I had back in 2018 that involved a missing USBI-CAM Engine. As I previously posted, back in 2018 the person that helped me in the HP forum suggested this

"It appears your camera needs a driver from the manufacturer's website.
http://diffractionlimited.com/product/st-i/
Probably the The SBIG Universal Driver, found under the downloads tab."

It appears back in 2018 Diffraction Limited had things set up differently. It looks like I had to download something, maybe the SBIG Universal Driver the person suggested, from the web link he gave.

I am the one asking for help, but why not we wait awhile for you, or anyone else, to think it over some more (and maybe looking more closely at the back and forth that took place in 2018) before going to the remote access into the ACER? To me it is significant that the same problem is occurring again that involves the USBI-CAM Engine, and so I cannot see how it could be the ACER PC. At this point it seems the remote access would be a waste of time. What do you think?
Stan

 

Hello Colin,
Rather than going over this as posts, I will give you a call at 1-613-225-2732. If there is another phone number, please let me know.

But before I do:
1. Yesterday, I had followed the exact sequence you gave and a did it a number of times to make sure I did the right sequence. I repeated it again this morning after getting your response. I had both camera cables unplugged when I ran the Driver Checker. The Driver Checker is the one that was downloaded when I saved and executed the program when I clicked on
"USB Port Cameras – STF, STX, STXL, STT, STL, ST
SBIG Driver Checker (Windows)". This is one of the choices in the legacy page.
2. When I went through the install procedure, it downloaded the "SBIG USB-64 Camera with Firmware" and it shows up in the device manager under SBIG USB DEVICES.
3. You say there should be an entry under Universal Bus Controllers that has the letters SBIG. However, I was successful in installing the drivers for the ST-8 camera and there is no such entry. Also, I have the camera drivers successfully installed for both the ST-8 and ST-i in my Lenovo laptop. There is no such entry and they work. Keep in mind this is a Win 7 operating system.
4. I checked to make sure the problem is not with CCDOPS by establishing a connection with the ST-8 camera. It established the connection and so it is not CCDOPS.
5. I was able to successfully add the drivers for the STARIZONA Micotouch focuser in addition to the ST-8.
6. From what I could gather from my communication with the HP techy in 2018, it appears Diffraction Limited at one time had separate Driver Checkers for both the 32 and 64 bit systems. Now there is only one that does both. Could something have been omitted when the current one was created? Again, remember this is a Win 7 OS.
7. I'm still not convinced that a remote access to my computer would do any good because everything points to some other problem, maybe in the downloads from Diffraction Limited. It seems instead the next best thing to do is to have a phone conversation with you while I am at the computer and you instruct me on the sequences to install the ST-i. Maybe a remote access amounts to the same thing.

I suppose I missed some points I consider important, but I will stop here.
Stan

 

I appreciate your efforts and I thank you for your help. I may know your boss if he is the same person I knew 20 years ago or so. I knew from the SAS and IAPPP meetings when he attended. We talked a few times but I did not personally know him. It has been so long I forgot his name. Maybe it will come to me later. I know from experience working with people really gifted in the area of computers and programming that they operate at a much higher level. While I can sort of muddle my way through programming and computers, it is no challenge to them.

It is unfortunate DL limited is taking the position that because Win 7 support ended in 2020 they no longer have any obligation to support the software for the ST-i camera, a camera by the way I spend about $250 maybe five years ago to have repaired since it all of a sudden stopped working. I did successfully install the drivers on a Win 7 laptop in 2018 which is only seven years ago. The position being taken by DL is also unfortunate because, except for the contemporary mindset of always being up to date, historically old operating systems and programs were used because the more up to date stuff was not needed. The fact that support ended in 2020 seems to be more of a convenient excuse to not provide support because using Win 7 has a narrow astronomical application. However, profit is the bottom line of the company, plus it has really expanded into many areas from what it used to be in its early years.

I will see what I can do to get it working. If worse comes to worse, I can have my two laptops sitting side by side. It is too bad that when the ST-i camera first came out, even the ST-8XME, that all the drivers and the program to install them did not come with a CD/DVD disk instead of having to do it over the internet.
Stan

 

I can understand having a problem with using old operating systems, but saying you will no longer spend time on this because his hardware is old and "obsolete" is poor customer service. He is still your customer and he still owns your product. Very poor attitude. We can't all afford the latest hardware.

 

This is just to let you know what I think the problem is in not being able to connect to the ST-I camera. I now think the Acer PC is the problem and so
I will be getting another PC. I need another one anyway and there are plenty of refurbished Win 7 machines in EBAY.

The following are some of the things I tried to correct the problem. They all failed which is one reason I think it is the Acer PC.
1. I disabled and enabled each of the USB Controllers in Device manage.
2. I ran an update on all the USB controllers in Device Manager. All were up to date.
3. I deleted SBIG USB-64 camera with firmware and let the Drive Checker recreate it.
4. I deleted SBIG USB-64 camera with firmware and recreated it in Action in Device Manager
5. I deleted the SBIG folder in Program Files (x86) and let the setup and Driver Checker recreate it.
6. And most importantly, I checked to make sure all the files in the SBIG folder in my Lenovo laptop
where ST-i does work is in the SBIG folder that the Driver Checker and setup created in the Acer PC.
7. I plugged the ST-i camera in each port to make sure it somehow was specific to a USB port

I probably did other things I don't recall at the moment, but one other thing that makes me think there
is a problem with the Acer PC is that at one time when I clicked on the CCDOPS icon to launch it, it asked me
if I really wanted to delete it. I had to uninstall CCDOPS and reinstall it. It also did some other squirrely. Also,
somehow the Starizona Microtouch USB controller got deleted.
Stan