Resolved STT-3200 expensive paperweight?

Discussion in 'Legacy Models - Community Support' started by Geert Vandenbulcke, Oct 14, 2021.

  1. Geert Vandenbulcke

    Geert Vandenbulcke Cyanogen Customer

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    Hello,
    It looks like my SBIG STT-3200ME does not work anymore. During my normal starting procedure with MaximDL 6 I could connect, cool and focus with Focusmax , platesolve with Pinpoint but onceI had my target in the field of view and I wanted to calibrate the SGFW guider, connection broke and I got the error message that the camera could not be found.
    I restarted everything, upon powering up the camera I noticed that the filterwheel did not go through its filter cycle as usual and I could not connect.
    I ran the Driverchecker, updated to MaxDl 6.28 (from 6.27), tried another USB cable, tried everything on my laptop instead of the observatory computer: no go, the camera was not responsive.
    I tried CCDOps5, same problem.
    In Driverchecker I wanted to check the firmware, camera could not be found.
    I can maybe send it in for repair but as I am in Belgium, that's a lot of paperwork for customs etc., so I am not that happy for the moment.
     
  2. Geert Vandenbulcke

    Geert Vandenbulcke Cyanogen Customer

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    Addition: when I want to connect to the camera in Dual Chip Mode, I get Error opening camera in dual chip mode. Open device failed: 27.
    When I want to connect to the main camera only (not dual chip mode), I get Error opening camera. Open device failed: 27.
    In CCDOPS5 it gives No camera found.
     
  3. Colin Haig

    Colin Haig Staff Member

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    Sorry to hear this Geert. Any idea what changed? eg moved equipment, updated Windows, anything like that?

    Here's a way that might show you whether the camera and computer are talking:

    Start by powering everything off. (Computer, hubs, camera).
    Then launch the Windows Device Manager.
    View... Show Hidden Devices. (If you are on Windows 7, there is an environment variable to enable this, otherwise it doesnt work).

    Look for an SBIG Camera with Firmware (or something similar to that).
    It will be greyed out.
    Power on the camera.
    You should see it show up (not greyed out) in the Device Manager.
    sbig_devmgr.png

    If it doesn't, then there is a hardware problem OR device driver problem.

    If you see Unknown Device in the list, then that might be it, and you have operating system/driver issues.
    That might be fixable by removing the Unknown Device, unplug and re-plug the camera USB.

    Dual Chip Mode only works if the main camera is seen, it is the "Brain" and the guider is the second "Eye".

    Also, you may wish to review these articles:
    https://forum.diffractionlimited.com/threads/windows-10-tune-up-fixing-pc-issues.8196/
    https://forum.diffractionlimited.co...connects-turn-off-usb-selective-suspend.7848/
     
  4. Geert Vandenbulcke

    Geert Vandenbulcke Cyanogen Customer

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    Thanks. I allready went through the windows10 fixing pc issues and turn off usb selective suspend. When I look in Device Manager, hidden devices I see 4 instances of SBIG USB-64 camera with firmware. They remain greyed out when powering up the camera. I removed all four, then ran DriverChecker again and then it showed up once, not greyed out. Yet the filterwheel does not cycle on power up and the error initializing camera or filter wheel shows, error opening camera, establish link failed: 1.

    On a subsequent restart of PC and camera, I get an additional instance of SBIG USB-64 camera with firmware that is active while the other is greyed out. On the active one when I look in the properties, actions I see
    Device USB\VID_0D97&PID_0102\5&2108ad5d&0&1 was not migrated due to partial or ambiguous match.
    Last Device Instance Id: USB\VID_046D&PID_C31C\5&2108ad5d&0&1
    Class Guid: {36fc9e60-c465-11cf-8056-444553540000}
    Location Path: PCIROOT(0)#PCI(1400)#USBROOT(0)#USB(1)
    Migration Rank: 0xF000FFFFFFFF0023
    Present: false
    Status: 0xC0000719

    In the properties of the greyed out one I see
    Device USB\VID_0D97&PID_0102\5&2108ad5d&0&6 requires further installation.
     
    Last edited: Oct 14, 2021
  5. Colin Haig

    Colin Haig Staff Member

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    Ok, so the active one probably is your camera.
    Here's some possible remediate steps:

    1. Unplug the camera. (both USB and power).
    2. In Device Manager, remove all 4 instances - Right Click on each one, and Uninstall Device.
    3. Go into the SBIG Driver Checker, and click [Remove].
    4. This will remove the drivers.
    5. Reboot the PC.
    6. Run SBIG Driver Checker.
    7. Update
    8. If it asks to go to the internet, say [No]
    9. It will then install the device drivers.
    10. It should have sbigudrv.dll 4.99 build 7 or 5.0.2.0 in the list.
    11. [Done]
    12. Launch Device Manager again
    13. No SBIG stuff should be listed.
    14. Plug in camera AC power, and then USB.
    15. Windows should find the camera, install the drivers, and it make be a couple of cycles before it shows up again as SBIG USB 64 camera with firmware.
    16. At this point, the camera should work from CCDOps 5.66 or MaxIm DL Pro
     
  6. Geert Vandenbulcke

    Geert Vandenbulcke Cyanogen Customer

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    Hi Colin, thanks for this! I followed these steps but the problem remains, the camera does not link. It is also strange that when, in MaxDL, I click on the icon to open the camera dialog, it takes about 60s before the camera dialog is opened. When I click on connect the main camera dialog returns camera idle, the cooling knobs (on, of, settings) remain grey and after about another minute the error message appears. I checked also with a SBIG ST-i that I use as a guider on another system, this opens without problems.

    Best regards,

    Geert
     
  7. Colin Haig

    Colin Haig Staff Member

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    If you have another PC, I would try the other PC. This seems like operating system corruption is likely.
     
  8. Geert Vandenbulcke

    Geert Vandenbulcke Cyanogen Customer

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    Yes, Colin, I tried with my laptop yesterday already. Now I performed the same steps you described on my laptop. This gives the same problem. Both this laptop and the observatory PC got a Windows 10 update on 13 October but after that my observatory PC and the camera worked well last night until the camera threw this error after about 45 minutes into the session.

    Geert
     
  9. Colin Haig

    Colin Haig Staff Member

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    Is this resolved?
     
  10. Geert Vandenbulcke

    Geert Vandenbulcke Cyanogen Customer

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    I will post an update when available.
     
  11. Geert Vandenbulcke

    Geert Vandenbulcke Cyanogen Customer

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    So here's an update. Six weeks ago I decided to have my STT-3200ME repaired by Bill. So out it went with UPS. Due to an administrative error from my side and due to a complete lack of communication by the UPS customs department, the camera stayed all the time in an UPS warehouse in Brussels. I got contact in the end via customer "service" who promised that the camera would depart pas week. But then I saw that it was not resolved at all and this resulted in the camera being returned to me. Preparing for a next try to ship it now.
     
  12. Geert Vandenbulcke

    Geert Vandenbulcke Cyanogen Customer

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    To end this thread, I sent the camera again and this time it arrived in California in a few days. Bill let me know he has been able to repair the camera with a part from another camera as new digital circuit boards are not available anymore. So when this STT-3200ME is sent back to me it hopefully has some more years of use and I can continue to use my SG FW and filters.
     

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