I have had an issue all night with an STi and Phd2 guiding software...at first I couldn't get it to connect because of an error 27...so on a whim I just switched to a different USB cable. I finally got it connected...I heard a noise that sounded like a shutter...so I finally got it rolling but after a couple minutes the camera would disconnect itself and I would get an error on phd saying error getting info from camera and I would have to attempt to reconnect everything all over again. I also had problems getting it focused with my 50mm Orion guider scope...can u please help me! Thanks Dan
Dan, I'm a fellow customer with an STi. It would be good to get some more details on your setup. For example on the software side, are your running Windows 10 64bit? Did you download the latest SBIG Driver Checker? Did you use it to update the drivers - can you provide a screenshot with driver details? On the Firmware tab, did you check that camera has the latest firmware? Which version of PHD2 ? On the hardware side, is the STi connected directly to your PC using a USB 2,0 cable? How long is the cable? Or is it going to a powered USB hub? How is it powered? Using a laptop, if so, what make/model? Have you tried just grabbing some images using CCDOPS, to ensure things are reliable? As far as focusing goes, how is the STi connected, is there a focusing mechanism on the scope? (need a description of how you've set it up). Often its good to use a big bright target like the Moon to get very close to perfect focus, and then move on to perfecting it on stars.
Hi Colin, Thanks For your Reply...I spent 2 hours on this to no avail. Here is more on my setup as requested. Thanks for your help! I did download drive checker I tried to do the firmware upgrade...but I couldnt get camera connected I am using the latest version of PHD2 I Connected directly to an onboard usb port cable was the original but I got better results wit a 6' Cable so I switched to that but camera only connected for a couple minutes. The guidescope is a 50mm orion mini autoguider...It focuses by moving the front lens back and forth on the threads...I got a first image but was white snow...I changed the gain slider on PHD2 then I got dark snow at 2s exposure...But perhaps I need to focus on the moon as you mentioned first...I was trying a star (Vega) Thanks for your help! Dan
Ok, sorry, forgot the STi doesn't have updatable firmware. Have you disabled windows power management on the USB devices, and USB root hubs? (It's called USB Selective Suspend, you can find it under the device manager). Another thing to try is if you have a powered USB hub handy (one that has a wall plug adapter), try putting that in between the PC and STi. The STi can be a bit power hungry, and sometimes this is an issue.
