I have a two-year-old AC4040 that tested fine when it arrived. It has been in a crate until this week. After unpacking the camera, I bench tested it and it all functions were good. The camera firmware was way out of date. The firmware 14 update process went badly. The installation process never completed, and the camera has become an expensive doorstop. The camera is no longer recognized by MaxImDL, and the firmware update application usually does not see it either. When the camera is recognized by DLConfig, the formware update process still does not work. One attempt at installing firmware 14 seemed to complete with a final message to unpower and restart the camera. However, it still did not function. When power is applied to the camera makes the usual noises - a click, the fan comes on, and the filter wheel rotates. I have tried it on 3 computers - a Windows 10 PC and 2 Windows 11 PCs with the same result. The cables are the same ones that worked a few days ago, prior to the failed update. I am out of ideas, has anyone seen this?
Thanks for reaching out. There's a couple things going wrong here, and am going to ask a few questions first, then myself and @Adam Robichaud will try to get you sorted. Questions: What version of MaxIm do you have? 6.30 is current. What filter wheel do you have? e.g. AFW-10-50SQ ? What guider do you have? e.g. SC-3-SHORT? Advice I can give without the answers: Your MaxIm configuration is wrong. DL Imaging Camera 1 should be your AC4040. Filter wheel should be DL Imaging+FW. See below for the first camera: If you have a SC-3 guider and optionally an AO-X: When everything is properly connected, there should be an SC-3 in the list (it will have 1300 in its serial number) as well. The AO will be plugged into the SC-3. DL Imaging camera 2 needs to be set for the AO on Sensor 1 of this second camera.
Hi Colin, Thanks for the reply. The equipment is: AC4040 FSI, FW7-STX, SC3 short, and AOX. MaxIm DL 6.30 is installed. All are connected and power is connected to the AC4040 and the SC-3 short. I have corrected the entries in the setup pages. The ac4040, filter wheel and SC3 have made the usual noises and the AOLX red light is flashing. When I click the Advanced button on the Camera1 setup form the DLConfig form opens, and no devices are displayed. clicking the refresh button also displays nothing. The PC has USB2 and USB3 ports. Neither one works here. neil martin
Quit out of all software. Check that the MaxIm program folder does NOT have "dlapi.dll". If it does, rename to "dlapi.bak". Check here: Reboot and try again. If there's still a problem after that, check that the Windows Device Manager is showing three USB cameras: SBIG Camera - this would be the AC4040 SBIG Camera A - first half of the SC-3 SBIG Camera B - second half of the SC-3 Let us know. If not resolved, we let's schedule a remote session to log into your computer and investigate.
The MaxIm program folder does NOT have dlapi.dll in it. I did find dlapi in Windows:\sys\Wow64 and in Windows:\system32. Windows Device Manager/Universal Serial Bus controllers shows a single SBIG entry. It is titled SBIG camera, FTDI Driver ver 1.3.0.4 on 6/22/2019 I am in the mountain time zone and can be available for a remote session at your convenience. neil
Ok Neil, could we try a remote session tomorrow, Thursday 19th, after 2pm ET/noon MT ? Let me know what time works for you. We're on Eastern (UTC-5), so I think that's 2 hours ahead of you. Or suggest another time and I will try to adjust my schedule. I'll need you to do the following: 1. Ensure your PC is up to date. e.g. run Windows update a few times. 2. Have your AC4040 and SC-3 cameras powered up (AC power packs plugged in), and both cameras connected via USB to the compuiter. 3. Download and run the RealVNC instant support tool: realvnc.help/ 4. Click "Send a Private Message" under my photo at the left, and include the RealVNC information and your telephone number. Then I'll hop on the machine and see if we can get it sorted out. I expect it will take about 30 minutes or less. Thanks Colin
Thanks Colin, Tomorrow noon MT is good. I will have everything ready and will send you the RealVNC, etc when I get home to the computer in about an hour. I just upgraded from windows11 home to the pro version to enable the remote functions. neil
For those reading the thread, I've got to hand it to Neil for being totally prepared, with everything ready to go. Short version: It's resolved. Firmware revision 14 is in and running fine. Long version: Update from an old firmware release did not go smoothly, likely because Windows USB Selective Suspend may have interrupted communication to the camera; the camera defaulted to original factory firmware, and for some reason, DL Config Utility would not see the camera when it got into this state. Cleaning up all system issues got us to the point where we were able to update the firmware to rev 14 with DL API Drivers 2.1.2.0 and then check DL API Drivers 2.4.0.0 and MaxIm were fine. System Issues: The computer sat for months. It then offered an in-place upgrade from Windows 10 to Windows 11. This was likely part of the problem. Things that had to be fixed: 1. Run Dell Update to update all Dell system software components, Intel Management Engine firmware and driver, and Dell BIOS update, and device drivers. 2. Fix Windows corruption per this article: https://forum.diffractionlimited.com/threads/windows-10-tune-up-fixing-pc-issues.8196/ 3. Run Windows Update. (This was done by the customer in advance, no new updates). 4. Update Windows runtimes: https://forum.diffractionlimited.co...talling-microsoft-visual-studio-runtime.9001/ 5. Fix Windows USB Selective Suspend issue: https://forum.diffractionlimited.co...connects-turn-off-usb-selective-suspend.7848/ 6. ASCOM Platform 6.6 SP1 to get current. I was surprised that every indication was Windows stuff was up to date. Manually running various tools shows us that this was not truly the case. Again, thanks to Neil for having spare cables, fast internet, and everything ready.
Hello @ndmartin747 We released an update on Friday May 19 to the DL API Drivers. This is recommended for all Aluma and STC cameras. You can read about it and download here: https://forum.diffractionlimited.com/threads/dlapi-2-7-1-0-released.9722/ Please install it and test it out. Let us know if you run into any issues.
