ASCOM driver failed checking IsPulseGuiding....

[Dave Manning]

Hi folks.

Over the last few months, the attached warning message periodically raises its head while I'm happily guiding and imaging the night away.

I can be guiding for hours or even a whole night without this message coming up, then on other nights (last night being a case in point..) it must have come up 4 times through the night.

I've just been "disconnecting all" then "connecting all"  to get it working again after each occurance of the message.

BTW, when that message comes up guiding starts to deteriorate badly...

Before hand, guiding is going along VERY NICELY with a high degree of polar alignment accuracy.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Dave, 

Sydney, Australia

[Dave Manning]

Further to the above, my guide camera is an ASI 120MM Mini in a Skywatcher ED80 as per the attached pic of my current setup...

[bw_msgboard]

Hi Dave.  This debug log file isn’t the right one, it doesn’t show the error you’re talking about.  You should use the Help/Upload log capability described here:

 

https://openphdguiding.org/getting-help/

 

 

PHD2 creates debug and log files every time you run it, so you need to pay attention to the timestamps on the files.  Figure out what approximate time you saw the error, then look at the timestamps in the log files to choose the right ones.  The UI in the Upload Logs feature will show you what those timestamps are.   If we can see the error in the debug log file, we can tell you more about what went wrong.  That said, this is invariably a problem in the ASCOM mount driver – PHD2 does exactly the same things regardless of the type of ASCOM mount driver being used.

 

Regards,

Bruce

 

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[Dave Manning]

Thanks Bruce.

This has happened so often that I can't figure out which of the Debug/log files are the relevant ones.

I'll try and remember to highlight them the next time I get the problem..................... probably tonight actually.

The mount driver SHOULD be the latest ASCOM Celestron Mount driver that I uploaded only a couple of weeks ago.  I was getting this problem with the previous version as well.....

Regards,

Dave Manning

Equine Art & Photography

0402 848 127

Email: in...@davemanningart.com

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[Dave Manning]

Here are  the logs for my issue which has just now happened again.

https://openphdguiding.org/logs/dl/PHD2_logs_9C0s.zip

On Wednesday, May 15, 2019 at 11:06:53 AM UTC+10, Dave Manning wrote:

[Dave Manning]

It was guiding really well for over 1 hour before THAT message came up again.

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[Dave Manning]

In the Debug Log I found this line....

20:19:11.662 00.000 10468 Suppressed alert:  PulseGuide command to mount has failed - guiding is likely to be ineffective.

Hopefully you can locate the cause of this from somewhere around the time of 20:19:11..........

On Wednesday, May 15, 2019 at 11:06:53 AM UTC+10, Dave Manning wrote:

[bw_msgboard]

Hi Dave.  This is a bit unusual, but it looks like the Celestron driver has actually stopped running at the point you get the first of these ASCOM-related errors.  From that point on, PHD2 can’t communicate with the ASCOM driver at all.  I think you’ll have to take this up with whomever supports the driver.  The specific error PHD2 gets on these calls is this:  The RPC server is unavailable.

 

The ‘RPC server” in this case is the ASCOM mount driver.  Do you have other applications running that are also using the ASCOM driver?  What happens to them after this error occurs?  You will probably need to locate the log file from the Celestron ASCOM driver, the developer will probably need that.  I don’t know if logging is enabled by default or if that’s something you have to do in the driver UI.  One source of support is here: https://ascomtalk.groups.io .  The Celestron driver is quite mature and is used by many, many users, so this may turn out to be a problem in the mount firmware that is causing the driver to fail.  You will definitely want to make sure you’re running the latest versions of both the driver and the mount firmware.

 

Hope you can track this down quickly,

Bruce

 

 

 

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From: open-phd...@googlegroups.com [mailto:open-phd...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Dave Manning

Sent: Wednesday, May 15, 2019 3:47 AM
To: Open PHD Guiding

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[peter wolsley]

Dave,

I have written programs to talk to my Celestron CGEM via ASCOM and I have seen these RPC server error messages.  I believe I was trying to log too much data from my CGEM.  When I slowed down the rate at which I fetched data the problem reduced.  I also made sure that my computer was running at full speed. Windows likes to use a power conservation scheme that will slow down your computer.  In my case it is a Dell laptop that I need to keep plugged in to always have maximum CPU speed.  The other issue to watch for is that your computer's CPU is not overloaded.  Sometimes windows will download system updates or your antivirus will perform a scan at a very inconvenient time.  I believe the RPC server gets itself into trouble when the CPU is running at 100%.

Good Luck!

Peter

[Dave Manning]

Hi Bruce.

Thanks for all that mate.

The only application I have running during guiding is SharpCap Pro, but I even had this problem before upgrading to Pro.

I have just now updated the Firmware for my CGX hand controller as well (day time though, so I'll have to wait for tonight to test).

Also, I have the ASI120MM Mini Guide camera and ASI017MC Pro Cooled imaging camera running through a powered USB3 Hub into my laptop.  Might using a USB3 Hub be contributing to this ............. do you think ... ?

I've just also received a very detailed reply from Peter Wolsley who has suggested a couple of things that I'll also try.

Thanks so much for your help mate.

I'll keep you posted on progress ................ if any...

Regards,

Dave Manning

Equine Art & Photography

0402 848 127

Email: in...@davemanningart.com

Web:  www.davemanningart.com

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[bw_msgboard]

Hi Dave.  The advice from Peter is definitely worth paying attention to since he has seen this particular problem before (I have not).  The error we see in the log might very well be caused by a timeout condition, and that could in turn be caused by high processor usage on your computer.  When you see the problem again, you might want to run the Windows Task Manager and see if there’s heavy usage by one of the apps or a background Windows process.  You’ll want to be sure you’re seeing “all processes” when you do this and you might even want to have the Task Manager already running before the problem occurs.

 

Running some USB-2 cameras on a USB-3 hub is certainly a possible problem area – we have heard of several cameras, I think including some ZWOs, that don’t work reliably this way.  But I think it’s more likely in such a case to see camera timeout errors in PHD2 as opposed to COM problems with the mount driver.  But with the sort of problem you’re having, it’s hard to rule anything out.

 

Let us know how it goes,

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[Dave Manning]

While you're there/here... how do I go about "slowing down ..." the data in PHD2?

Regards,

Dave Manning

Equine Art & Photography

0402 848 127

Email: in...@davemanningart.com

Web:  www.davemanningart.com

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[bw_msgboard]

You don’t – that’s not where the problem lies.  PHD2 will talk to the mount after each guide exposure, so that will be on the order of every 1-3 seconds.  If you want to guide the mount, that’s what has to be done.  Other apps may be polling the mount driver at a very high rate and that can cause problems – for example, polling 100’s of times per second.  But since your problem is so intermittent, I don’t think that is likely to be the problem either.

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[Dave Manning]

Folks,

Asking the Google Gods about " RPC server is unavailable" has led me to this page https://windowstechies.com/-/en/filename-gen/?file=Rpc%20Server%20Unavailable&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI4arx0ouf4gIV2Q0rCh3KdwwlEAAYASAAEgKYRvD_BwE 

which contains a download of something called Advanced System Repair Pro.

Have any of you used something like this?

Would you recommend I give it a go to try and fix my RPC server problems while using PHD2?

On Wednesday, May 15, 2019 at 11:06:53 AM UTC+10, Dave Manning wrote:IV2Q0rCh3KdwwlEAAYASAAEgKYRvD_BwE

[Dave Manning]

In the mean time though, I've updated my mount's Firmware, double checked my laptop's performance efficiency and crossed my fingers and toes..................

Gotta wait until it's dark though before I can test everything ..... :(

On Wednesday, May 15, 2019 at 11:06:53 AM UTC+10, Dave Manning wrote:

[bw_msgboard]

Personal opinion – I would absolutely NOT do this.  Most of these “instant fix” tools are rubbish at best and malware at worst.  I don’t think you have a problem with PC integrity.  I suggest you follow the procedures we outlined and figure out what’s really going on.  If you are anxious to “repair” things, it would be ok to apply the Windows repair facility on the ASCOM platform and/or re-install the Celestron driver.  I wouldn’t even do those things but at least it won’t hose your system.  I think you’ll just have to have some patience and trouble-shoot the problem a bit.  Have you looked to see if you have a log for the ASCOM driver?

 

Bruce

 

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From: open-phd...@googlegroups.com [mailto:open-phd...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Dave Manning

Sent: Wednesday, May 15, 2019 8:27 PM
To: Open PHD Guiding

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[Dave Manning]

That's where I was leaning anyway Bruce.

I certainly won't be using it.

Regards,

Dave Manning

Equine Art & Photography

0402 848 127

Email: in...@davemanningart.com

Web:  www.davemanningart.com

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[Jay Landis]

Dave,

I have a CGX mount.  I use PHD2, and have been for a while now.  I have also had this problem and have resolved it without recurrence.

A quick question, do you use Plain Old Telescope Hub (POTH) in ASCOM to help manage your application access to your mount?

I would get this error whenever I was using POTH to connect to the mount, and then connecting PHD2, StellariumScope, and AstroTortilla to POTH for simultaneous access without having to manually disconnect from each application.

My interpretation is that I was having software conflicts with mount access which would cause a temporary disconnect to the service which could only be refreshed through a disconnect/reconnect like you see.

A powered USB hub can cause the same issue with temporary interrupts.  I had to get a computer with enough native USB ports with regular dedicated connections to keep my configuration stable.

Also, the length of USB cable was an issue for me for my synchronization with BYEOS between my laptop and my DSLR.  I had to shorten the cable to around six feet in order to maintain the right latency.  You could get into that problem with your mount as well.

Are you connecting your CGX handset to a USB2 or USB3 port?  I found it more stable on a USB2 for my uses.  I used the USB3 for my guide camera or imaging camera connections.

I agree with Bruce, do not use that kind of spamware on your computer.  Probably a malware beast wrapped in a pretty package that doesn't really help.

Hopefully there is a nugget you can use in my checkered history with my CGX mount.  About ready to head back to the Celestron factory with it to resolve my RA tracking performance issues.

Cheers,

Jay

Los Angeles, California USA area

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[Dave Manning]

Hi Jay.

I have no idea what POTH even is.

I'm using an ASCOM Standards Celestron mount driver.

How are you connecting to your laptop then?

Long cables from cameras to laptop?

To connect my USB3 Hub to my laptop I actually have to use a long USB3 extension cable.  I might try using a shorter extension and see if that makes a difference.

I've already updated CGX Firmware and increased the laptop's efficiency level but can't test anything until tonight.  It's still daytime here .... :(

Regards,

Dave Manning

Equine Art & Photography

0402 848 127

Email: in...@davemanningart.com

Web:  www.davemanningart.com

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[Jay Landis]

Dave,

Great, that simplifies the problem some.  Is PHD2 the only application connecting to the mount?

I have three USB cables running to my laptop.  One for the mount, one for my camera, and one for my focuser.  The guide camera is able to connect to the imaging camera and filter wheel with only on USB3 cable going to the computer.

I am able to position my laptop right by my mount and route the cables to reach.  I use a 6 foot (2-meter) cable for my USB2 connection to the mount.  A 6-8 foot SuperSpeed USB3 cable to my laptop from my camera.

I recently re-routed my cables to minimize drag and slack which was contributing to tracking errors.  It helped a little.

When I can get a picture of my cables and my setup, I will try to forward them to you.  I have also tried a USB hub with limited success.  I did not connect my mount to the hub, I always ran it directly to my laptop.

Then, for my setup, I remotely operate the outdoor laptop with an indoor laptop or desktop computer for monitoring and control using TeamViewer.

Cheers and to clear skies,

Jay

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[Dave Manning]

At present I'm connecting the mount via the Hand Controller via USB for PHD Pulse Guiding so that means that PHD is the only application connected to the mount.

My guide camera though (ASI120MM Mini) and imaging camera (ASI071MC Pro Cooled) as well as the Pole Master camera are all connected to the USB3 Hub which is connected the laptop via a "powered" USB3 extension.

I originally set it up this way for cable management but now you've got me thinking of how I can manage seperate cables into seperate USB ports.

At the moment it's all very tidy ....... but that's not much good if it doesn't allow me to do what I want to do..........

I'll see how I go tonight with the "fixes" I've done so far before thinking about seerate cabling.

I do see how that might help though.

Thanks mate.

Regards,

Dave Manning

Equine Art & Photography

0402 848 127

Email: in...@davemanningart.com

Web:  www.davemanningart.com

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[Jay Landis]

Dave,

So possibly during your image downloads from your ASI071MC while guiding and talking to your mount, the traffic could crowd the interface and cause the software driver to lose sync with your mount causing a temporary loss of server.  At least that is my simple logic.  Not a very technical answer or explanation, but possible.

Since the traffic collision could be random in how the interface works, you would not have a constant error and you would continue guiding.  Only when conditions are just right (meaning wrong) the traffic problem over the single USB connection could interfere with the ASCOM driver in an intermittent fashion.

Could still be other things.  Good luck tonight.  Best wishes,

Jay

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[Dave Manning]

RIGHT ........... After a few hours of imaging AND the same ASCOM Driver disconnection problem occurring roughly every hour or so, I tried using just a single USB3 cable from camera to laptop.

CGX hand controller was still connected to laptop for Pulse Guiding (i.e. USB from the bottom of the hand control).

GOT THE DAMN ASCOM DISCONNECTION STRAIGHT AWAY!!!!!!!!!

CPU was only running at 4% or less.

I think that I've pretty much eliminated the USB3 Hub as being even partially responsible and just about narrowed down the ultimate cause of the problem being a FAULTY/CORRUPTED ASCOM MOUNT DRIVER.

Would you guys concur?

I'm wondering if, after backing up that I should "Uninstall" every single ASCOM driver from my laptop then re-install them from their respective web sites.

It couldn't hurt ........ 

Off to bed now to contemplate the issue and dream of a perfectly guiding telescope mount ........ 

On Wednesday, May 15, 2019 at 11:06:53 AM UTC+10, Dave Manning wrote:

[Jay Landis]

Dave,

A bad cable can also cause an intermittent fault.  I had a bad cable to my imaging camera that kept causing me to lose connectivity.  SharpCap would drop the connection.  Changed the cable and no more connectivity problems.  Did you reuse any of your cables when you connected your mount directly to your laptop?  Could still be a source of the problem.  Just another lesson learned I’m passing along.

Jay

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[bw_msgboard]

Hi Dave, sorry you’re still having trouble, but I don’t think you’ve isolated the problem yet.  It’s very unlikely that the driver is “corrupted” or “faulty”.  Software isn’t like hardware, it doesn’t usually rust with age. J  It might have a bug but that’s not likely to just go away with a re-install.  You can do a re-install without any great risk but I doubt it will have any effect, and tearing out all the ASCOM drivers will probably be a waste of time.  Whenever you do these things, all the settings get lost and then you have to be sure you re-specify everything correctly.   I think you need to relax a bit and try to isolate the problem.  One thing I find bothersome is using the hand-controller for the mount connection.  I know that some Celestron mounts have alternative ways of doing the connection, maybe one of the Celestron guys can help with that. It would be nice to get that piece of hardware out of the picture.  I think you’ll need to strip things down to the most basic configuration that shows the problem.  If you want, we can probably give you a test app that will “pulse guide” the mount all day long without any cameras or anything else attached through your USB system.  That would probably help if you can initialize your mount in the daytime and get it in a state where it’s willing to guide.  Regardless of whether or not you see the failure with such a test app, you’ll learn more about where the problem lies.

 

Bruce

 

---

From: open-phd...@googlegroups.com [mailto:open-phd...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Dave Manning
Sent: Thursday, May 16, 2019 6:25 AM
To: Open PHD Guiding
Subject: [open-phd-guiding] Re: ASCOM driver failed checking IsPulseGuiding....

 

RIGHT ........... After a few hours of imaging AND the same ASCOM Driver disconnection problem occurring roughly every hour or so, I tried using just a single USB3 cable from camera to laptop.

--

[Jim CASSIDY]

The cable that runs to the handcontroller that delivers commands to your mount I think needs its own com port.  U can run your camera and phd from the usb hub but connect yr handcontroller to computer USB port that the driver has designated a virtual com port.  Might stop yr dropouts.  I had the same deal.  Fixed it. Always use the same computer port for the mount connection.  

Thanks Jim

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[Dave Manning]

Jim, I do currently have the hand controller going into its own port.  NOT via the USB3 Hub.

SO that's not it........... I don't think ....

Regards,

Dave Manning

Equine Art & Photography

0402 848 127

Email: in...@davemanningart.com

Web:  www.davemanningart.com

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[Jim CASSIDY]

Just a shot.  

Thanks Jim

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[Dave Manning]

Bruce,

I thought Pulse Guiding had to be done with the Hand Controller plugged into the laptop via USB.....

My CGX mount does have its own "PC" port (pic attached) that I use to use when trying out the CPWI.  Should I trying connecting that directly to the laptop, do ya think?

Regards,

Dave Manning

Equine Art & Photography

0402 848 127

Email: in...@davemanningart.com

Web:  www.davemanningart.com

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[Dave Manning]

Man....... I've  got a HEADACHE from all of the different things I've thought of that MAY or MAY NOT work .....

And I don't really know what I'm doing anyway ........

Regards,

Dave Manning

Equine Art & Photography

0402 848 127

Email: in...@davemanningart.com

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[Dave Manning]

Na.. that probably won't work.

Just reading the CGX manual and under USB Port and it reads ... "The USB port on the mount is not intedned to be used with ASCOM or third party telescope control software.  To control the mount via ASCOM, connect your PC to the hand control's mini USB port".

DAMN!!!!!!

Regards,

Dave Manning

Equine Art & Photography

0402 848 127

Email: in...@davemanningart.com

Web:  www.davemanningart.com

[Jay Landis]

Dave,

I have used the NEW CPWI ASCOM driver with PHD etc and it does work.  At the time of the manual writing, there was no ASCOM driver.  But, it requires running the CPWI software instead which has had its own challenges.  I had software hardware conflicts getting CPWI to play nice with my different apps.  Maybe after more time in the field it will be worth trying again.

You are right, the proper connection to the CGX is a USB cable from your computer to the handset for ASCOM control and pulse guiding.

Jay

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[Jay Landis]

Dave,

Jim is right though about COM port assignment.  The ASCOM driver requires you to designate the port.  I have had better luck with a consistent connection to my laptop USB port, with a good cable, than when I tried going through a USB hub with a virtual COM port assignment.  For the CGX, the current best USB connection is through the handset like you have it per my earlier email.

Good luck tonight,

Jay 

[Jim CASSIDY]

[Dave Manning]

Thanks Jim, but that's exactly (but without the Canon...) how I've been hooking things up....... all be it via a USB3 Hub.

More testing tonight with different USB3 cables, without the Hub....

Regards,

Dave Manning

Equine Art & Photography

0402 848 127

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On Fri, 17 May 2019 at 11:06, Jim CASSIDY <jca...@msn.com> wrote:

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[Jim CASSIDY]

Good luck

Thanks Jim

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[bw_msgboard]

Hi Dave.  I have an app you can use that will let you test continuous pulse-guiding during the daytime.  If you don’t find the problem tonight, let me know and I’ll send you instructions and the app.  If possible, it would be good to try replacing the cable between the PC and the hand-controller.

 

Good luck,

Bruce

 

---

From: open-phd...@googlegroups.com [mailto:open-phd...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Dave Manning

Sent: Thursday, May 16, 2019 6:37 PM
To: Open PHD Guiding

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[bw_msgboard]

One more point, Dave.  The error you are seeing could be caused by different kinds of failures, but one of those possibilities is the ASCOM mount driver terminating (crashing).  Once you are running, open up the Task Manager and find the process entry for the Celestron ASCOM driver.  It will probably start with “ASCOM” and have the Celestron id in it somewhere.  Then, if you see the guiding error again, look again in the Task Manager and see if the Celestron driver is still running.

 

Bruce

 

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[Dave Manning]

Oh wow. Thanks mate.  Will do.

I've already replaced the USB cable from Hand Control to laptop twice.  I've got one more I can try .... I think.

I'm assuming I'm not the only one with a HUGE COLLECTION of USB cables of every size & type ?????

Regards,

Dave Manning

Equine Art & Photography

0402 848 127

Email: in...@davemanningart.com

Web:  www.davemanningart.com

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/open-phd-guiding/719D9F8279FA40A8A5B977DA491134D9%40HomeDesktop.

[Dave Manning]

Will do.

Regards,

Dave Manning

Equine Art & Photography

0402 848 127

Email: in...@davemanningart.com

Web:  www.davemanningart.com

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/open-phd-guiding/65B1D15F356D4F848E3A2D312F4720CA%40HomeDesktop.

[Dave Manning]

OK.....  I don't want to CURSE the night .... but .......... guiding & imaging for the last half hour (with an almost full Moon and neighbour's fireplace smoke..) and THE PROBLEM has not raised its ugly head................... so far..... ;)

What I did before this test session was replace the rather long USB2 cable (from my hand control to laptop) with a really short, quality cable.

So far, so good.

I'm not going to change anything else unless THE PROBLEM happens .....

[Dave Manning]

OOPS!!!!!

Spoke too soon :(

Just happened again!!!

Bruce, checking Task Manager showed the ASCOM Celestron Mount driver during guiding .... BUT did not show it when THE PROBLEM happened.

What do you reckon?

[Dave Manning]

For this next test session :

1. Keeping the short USB2 cable from hand control

2. By-passing the USB3 Hub and running a single USB3 cable from imaging camera (with guide camera plugged into it) to laptop.

Wish me luck ....

[Dave Manning]

DIDN'T WORK!!!!

40minutes in and THE PROBLEM came back.

Going to now, change the USB2 cable from the hand control to laptop just in case it's faulty......

Thought ... could there be an issue with the hand control itself?

[bw_msgboard]

Ok, this is good information.  It probably means that the ASCOM driver got an unexpected error and crashed.  So the problem seems to lie in the hardware/software stack that’s comprised of ASCOM mount driver on your laptop, cable from laptop to hand-controller, hand-controller itself, cable from hand-controller to mount, then mount firmware.  I would guess by now you’ve replaced the cable from the laptop to the hand-controller but I don’t know about the 2^nd cable – maybe it’s permanently attached.  To take the next step, you must find the log file from the Celestron mount driver.  I’ve done some web-searching and this is a description from the guy who wrote the driver:

 

The default location that the ASCOM logging uses is “My Documents\ASCOM\Logs [date]”, for example “C:\Users\Chris\Documents\ASCOM\Logs 2016-01-25”. The log file starts with the driver name. Drivers that use the logging provided by ASCOM will probably not change this. The drivers I’ve been involved in all use this, including the Celestron, SkyWatcher, Atik, Moonlite Ash Dome, FLI and various others.

 

Once you have that log file, you can probably get help from either Celestron or the ASCOM-TALK support forum I mentioned earlier.  We can look at the mount log file for you but we won’t be able to fix anything we find there.  In the process of searching for you, I also saw that the latest Celestron driver is quite new, updated on the ASCOM web site this month.  Are you sure you’re running the latest version – it should be version 6.1.7059.

 

Cheers,

Bruce

 

 

 

---

From: open-phd...@googlegroups.com [mailto:open-phd...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Dave Manning

Sent: Friday, May 17, 2019 2:08 AM
To: Open PHD Guiding

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[Dave Manning]

Bruce,

Celestron have gotten back to me advising that there is not another Mount Driver to use.

They have strongly recommended that I use CPWI and not the hand control.

Is PHD2 able to be used effectively with CPWI?

How does one connect cameras properly for use with CPWI?

Regards,

Dave Manning

Equine Art & Photography

0402 848 127

Email: in...@davemanningart.com

Web:  www.davemanningart.com

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[Brian Valente]

Hi Dave

 

I would think that’s a question for Celestron?

 

CPWI is essentially their own control software that apparently does a ton of things, I could not find anything about guiding or guiding interface

 

https://www.celestron.com/pages/celestron-pwi-telescope-control-software

 

 

Thanks

 

Brian

 

portfolio https://www.brianvalentephotography.com/

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/open-phd-guiding/CABEGNOj-MnVhsPy_G8Kgjfxkatw_j19TyQc8LBZYnE%3DqhVoQ5A%40mail.gmail.com.

[Brian Valente]

PS here’s their user manual, which makes no mention of guide software other than in relation to PEC

 

https://celestron-site-support-files.s3.amazonaws.com/support_files/CPWI%20Software%20Manual_ENG_F.pdf

 

 

Thanks

 

Brian

 

portfolio https://www.brianvalentephotography.com/

 

From: open-phd...@googlegroups.com [mailto:open-phd...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Dave Manning

Sent: Friday, May 17, 2019 4:39 PM
To: Open PHD Guiding <open-phd...@googlegroups.com>

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[Dave Manning]

I've asked them and am waiting for their reply.

I'll let you know the result.

Thanks mate.

Regards,

Dave Manning

Equine Art & Photography

0402 848 127

Email: in...@davemanningart.com

Web:  www.davemanningart.com

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/open-phd-guiding/02b401d50d0a%249378a8d0%24ba69fa70%24%40gmail.com.

[bw_msgboard]

If CPWI implements an ASCOM-compatible interface, PHD2 will connect to it.  If not, then it is probably a proprietary solution that won’t be of any use to PHD2 users.  I don’t know anything about it.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/open-phd-guiding/CABEGNOj-MnVhsPy_G8Kgjfxkatw_j19TyQc8LBZYnE%3DqhVoQ5A%40mail.gmail.com.

[Dave Manning]

I think it does implement ASCOM interface.

I'm going to ask PWI directly but I think guiding with PHD2 is done with an ST4 cable from camera to mount.

I'm going to try it anyway.  I have what I need.

It might be fun ........................ or not.....

Regards,

Dave Manning

Equine Art & Photography

0402 848 127

Email: in...@davemanningart.com

Web:  www.davemanningart.com

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/open-phd-guiding/3A229A840541407DAD5668AC1F2FB4BC%40HomeDesktop.

[Brian Valente]

Afaik it does not. It makes no mention of ASCOM  or guiding in the user manual

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/open-phd-guiding/CABEGNOgrwxvt7F-tTXpyUTd5j54hWCxS%2BZgL-j85u-RZM7HtHw%40mail.gmail.com.

For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

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Brian 

Brian Valente

portfolio brianvalentephotography.com 

[bw_msgboard]

I think you’ve probably reached a fork in the road and you’ll need to decide what you want to do.  Celestron didn’t write the ASCOM driver that’s commonly used and whomever you communicated with might know zero about it or even understand what you’re trying to do.  If you want to proceed with the option of using ASCOM, you’ll need to branch out and engage with other people.  In particular, you should move the discussion to the ASCOM-Talk forum.  For example, here is a relevant post on your topic:

 

https://ascomtalk.groups.io/g/Help/message/40547

 

That post makes it clear that you now have two choices for using ASCOM, each written by different people and each providing different behaviors. You will have to be prepared to work with them to resolve your problem, including finding log files and submitting them.  Of course, this post also demonstrates that the answer you got from Celestron is simply wrong.

 

If you don’t want to do this amount of work, you can revert to the ST-4 style of guiding, with a specialized guide cable running from the guide camera to the mount.  Assuming the cable is wired correctly and not damaged, you should be able to guide.  This is all described in the PHD2 help guide.  If you operate this way, you will lose some number of PHD2 features and you’ll have to re-calibrate every time you slew the telescope, but you should be able to guide and take images.  Many users still operate this way.

 

In any case, I don’t think I can help you anymore at this point, but I wish you luck with whatever choice you make.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/open-phd-guiding/CABEGNOgrwxvt7F-tTXpyUTd5j54hWCxS%2BZgL-j85u-RZM7HtHw%40mail.gmail.com.

[Dave Manning]

Thanks mate.

I'll be sticking with trying to sort this out for Pulse Guiding.

I really do appreciate all your help and advice.

I've borrowed another hand control and will be trying that out tonight.  If the problem persists that will eliminate the hand control cable/connection as the cause.

Last night, I Slowed the USB Traffic in PHD2 for the guide camera and set it way down to its minimum of 40.  This did delay the occurance of the problem and sort of made it predictable to about every 45min to 1hr before it would occur.

I'll be getting on to the ASCOM forum soon.

Regards,

Dave Manning

Equine Art & Photography

0402 848 127

Email: in...@davemanningart.com

Web:  www.davemanningart.com

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/open-phd-guiding/9330C4B5797F49C5A18048459C866858%40HomeDesktop.

[bw_msgboard]

Ok.  Don’t forget, I can give you the test app which would be applicable even if you’re working with other people.  That would let you do a lot of this testing in the daytime when it might not be so frustrating.

 

Hope you can get this straightened out without too much more grief.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/open-phd-guiding/CABEGNOh5O6O9R_Fsuva-bY3bf%2BX7Tr9w1B9cnizHnD4PGAuiMQ%40mail.gmail.com.

[Dave Manning]

I think I should grab the test app.

Thanks

Regards,

Dave Manning

Equine Art & Photography

0402 848 127

Email: in...@davemanningart.com

Web:  www.davemanningart.com

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/open-phd-guiding/00B1114D708F49F0917A96D5011D9F9D%40HomeDesktop.

[bw_msgboard]

Ok, I’ll send you a test package shortly via private e-mail.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/open-phd-guiding/CABEGNOi9-%2BHPuSFxEpoJE0QTb6PGMLaMQ6DYNRWpt7Rgwc0Guw%40mail.gmail.com.

[Mitch Mitchell]

CPWI does implement an ASCOM interface but I don’t know if it will do PulseGuiding – I’ve not tried that yet, I use an ST-4 connection.  PHD2 does see it as an AUX mount though just fine.

 

Sent from Mail for Windows 10

 

From: Dave Manning
Sent: Friday, May 17, 2019 7:05 PM
To: Open PHD Guiding
Subject: Re: [open-phd-guiding] Re: ASCOM driver failed checkingIsPulseGuiding....

 

I think it does implement ASCOM interface.

I'm going to ask PWI directly but I think guiding with PHD2 is done with an ST4 cable from camera to mount.

I'm going to try it anyway.  I have what I need.

It might be fun ........................ or not.....

 

Regards,

 

Dave Manning

Equine Art & Photography

0402 848 127

 

Email: in...@davemanningart.com

Web:  www.davemanningart.com

 

On Sat, 18 May 2019 at 09:53, bw_msgboard <bw_m...@earthlink.net> wrote:

If CPWI implements an ASCOM-compatible interface, PHD2 will connect to it.  If not, then it is probably a proprietary solution that won’t be of any use to PHD2 users.  I don’t know anything about it.

 

Bruce

 

From: open-phd...@googlegroups.com [mailto:open-phd...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Dave Manning
Sent: Friday, May 17, 2019 4:39 PM
To: Open PHD Guiding
Subject: Re: [open-phd-guiding] Re: ASCOM driver failed checking IsPulseGuiding....

 

Bruce,

 

Celestron have gotten back to me advising that there is not another Mount Driver to use.

They have strongly recommended that I use CPWI and not the hand control.

 

Is PHD2 able to be used effectively with CPWI?

 

How does one connect cameras properly for use with CPWI?

 

Regards,

 

Dave Manning

Equine Art & Photography

0402 848 127

 

Email: in...@davemanningart.com

Web:  www.davemanningart.com

 

 

On Sat, 18 May 2019 at 01:23, bw_msgboard <bw_m...@earthlink.net> wrote:

Ok, this is good information.  It probably means that the ASCOM driver got an unexpected error and crashed.  So the problem seems to lie in the hardware/software stack that’s comprised of ASCOM mount driver on your laptop, cable from laptop to hand-controller, hand-controller itself, cable from hand-controller to mount, then mount firmware.  I would guess by now you’ve replaced the cable from the laptop to the hand-controller but I don’t know about the 2^nd cable – maybe it’s permanently attached.  To take the next step, you must find the log file from the Celestron mount driver.  I’ve done some web-searching and this is a description from the guy who wrote the driver:

 

The default location that the ASCOM logging uses is “My Documents\ASCOM\Logs [date]”, for example “C:\Users\Chris\Documents\ASCOM\Logs 2016-01-25”. The log file starts with the driver name. Drivers that use the logging provided by ASCOM will probably not change this. The drivers I’ve been involved in all use this, including the Celestron, SkyWatcher, Atik, Moonlite Ash Dome, FLI and various others.

 

Once you have that log file, you can probably get help from either Celestron or the ASCOM-TALK support forum I mentioned earlier.  We can look at the mount log file for you but we won’t be able to fix anything we find there.  In the process of searching for you, I also saw that the latest Celestron driver is quite new, updated on the ASCOM web site this month.  Are you sure you’re running the latest version – it should be version 6.1.7059.

 

Cheers,

Bruce

 

 

 

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/open-phd-guiding/CABEGNOgrwxvt7F-tTXpyUTd5j54hWCxS%2BZgL-j85u-RZM7HtHw%40mail.gmail.com.

[bw_msgboard]

Thanks, Mitch, this is very helpful – nothing like hearing from someone who has actually used the software. J  This is a new arrival on the scene, not something I was aware of, so it’s something we’ll have to be aware of going forward.

 

Thanks for the post.

Bruce

 

---

From: open-phd...@googlegroups.com [mailto:open-phd...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Mitch Mitchell

Sent: Friday, May 17, 2019 8:45 PM
To: open-phd...@googlegroups.com

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/open-phd-guiding/5cdf7fba.1c69fb81.a19a5.b41e%40mx.google.com.

[Jay Landis]

Bruce and all,

I have a CGX mount.  I have used the CPWI software, the version prior to this one that initially released the ASCOM driver.  It works.  PHD2 did connect and pulse guide with the interface active.  I had issues since I was attempting to use POTH to regulate my different interfaces.

Now that I use SGP, I only connect PHD2 directly to the Celestron ASCOM driver and SGP manages and interacts with my PHD2 connections without any conflicts, no more need for POTH.

I have a StarSense autoalign which did not interface well with the CPWI software, so I have not tested it extensively.  But I can assure everyone, a CGX mount can run the CPWI software with the USB cable connected directly to the mount, not through the handset, and provide a compatible ASCOM interface for PHD2 to use to guide.

Firsthand experience and testimonial,

Cheers and to clear skies, albeit very bright,

Jay

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/open-phd-guiding/6111549CD10246DB808E53E320C69C81%40HomeDesktop.

[Brian Valente]

nice update and info thanks Jay

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[Dave Manning]

Okey Dokey.......

Guess what ..... 

After running tests ALL DAY on my mount's pulse guiding capabilities, with different combinations of cables, etc. I think I've finally found what the problem is............ and almost made me cry ....

AUX Port #1 appears to be FAULTY!!!!!!

As soon as I plugged the hand control into AUX Port #2 I got almost 2 hours of uninterrupted pulsing before I decided that was enough.

I'm now diving straight back into imaging while pulse guiding with PHD2 and so far, so good........................ after 30minutes anyway... :)

[Jay Landis]

Dave,

Well then, a cautionary congratulations for now, and a good job at working through the troubleshooting aspect of this hobby.  Isn’t it fun?!?!?

Best wishes,

Jay

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[JohnS]

Just for the record and any future issues that might occur with Celestron kit - the Celestron driver found on the ASCOM site is well tried and tested, (as are all the other drivers to be found there).  It's written and supported by Chris Rowlands and his contact mail address is written into the driver interface and can also be seen by hovering the mouse over the install setup file (Windows).  As with most support people he will probably require a log file.  This can be generated by checking the "Trace" box in the driver interface GUI and, as Bruce indicated earlier in the thread, is written to "My Documents/ASCOM/Logs <Date> Folder".

Regards

JohnS

On Saturday, May 18, 2019 at 10:48:24 PM UTC+12, Jay Landis wrote:

Dave,

Well then, a cautionary congratulations for now, and a good job at working through the troubleshooting aspect of this hobby.  Isn’t it fun?!?!?

Best wishes,

Jay

On Sat, May 18, 2019 at 3:09 AM Dave Manning <in...@davemanningart.com> wrote:

Okey Dokey.......

Guess what ..... 

After running tests ALL DAY on my mount's pulse guiding capabilities, with different combinations of cables, etc. I think I've finally found what the problem is............ and almost made me cry ....

AUX Port #1 appears to be FAULTY!!!!!!

As soon as I plugged the hand control into AUX Port #2 I got almost 2 hours of uninterrupted pulsing before I decided that was enough.

I'm now diving straight back into imaging while pulse guiding with PHD2 and so far, so good........................ after 30minutes anyway... :)

On Wednesday, May 15, 2019 at 11:06:53 AM UTC+10, Dave Manning wrote:

Hi folks.

Over the last few months, the attached warning message periodically raises its head while I'm happily guiding and imaging the night away.

I can be guiding for hours or even a whole night without this message coming up, then on other nights (last night being a case in point..) it must have come up 4 times through the night.

I've just been "disconnecting all" then "connecting all"  to get it working again after each occurance of the message.

BTW, when that message comes up guiding starts to deteriorate badly...

Before hand, guiding is going along VERY NICELY with a high degree of polar alignment accuracy.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Dave, 

Sydney, Australia

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[Dave Manning]

OK ... This is just getting REDICULOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's all back to the original problem today!!!!!!

With the same configuration as last night (over 4hours of uninterrupted pulse guiding) and the successful test before that, all of a sudden I'm back to getting "RPC Server unavailable (Exception from HRESULT:0X800706BA)".

WHY DOES IT APPEAR TO BE A RANDOM THING??????

THIS IS SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO FRUSTRATING!!!!

I'm going to have to discuss with Chris Rowlands as soon as I locate the ASCOM logs (I found them last night actually...).

[Dave Manning]

One more idea before I totally lose it.....

Someone on this forum suggested I try using a different laptop and at the time I forgot that I actually still had the old laptop I started guiding with 3 years ago.

I've downloaded the latest ASCOM Platform then the Celestron Mount driver then the latest version of PHD2.

Started a fresh test at 09:12 and so far so good .... touch wood ....

If this works OK, does that mean the problem may have been caused by worn USB sockets and/or something on the other laptop I was using?

Anyway, we'll see how this goes before making anymore assumptions....

[Jay Landis]

Dave,

Prayers are up.  Fingers crossed.  Good thoughts headed your way.

Jay

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[Dave Manning]

AAAARRRGGGHHHHH!!!!!

You just cursed it....

Just kidding.  Almost an hour into the test and all is well.

If this does work I'll need to buy a power cable for the old laptop.  I have no idea where the original is....... DOH!!!!

Regards,

Dave Manning

Equine Art & Photography

0402 848 127

Email: in...@davemanningart.com

Web:  www.davemanningart.com

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[Dave Manning]

2 hours into the test with the old laptop ........................... and all is well .................... so far.

I'm still going to let this run a while longer though, at least while I go to the local electronics store to get some larger diameter cable management tube.

I'm going to have to run a seperate cable from the guide camera to this older laptop AND get a larger table for out in the field..... I can live with that .... :)

[Brian Valente]

Congratulations Dave

Yours is the first time we're I felt prayers was a legitimate suggestion on how to fix it lol

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[peter wolsley]

Dave,

I want to add my congratulations.  John S mentioned that the Chris Rowland is the author of the Celestron driver. Back in July 2017 I was E-mailing Chris about my woes in developing an app that communicated via his driver to my CGEM and was failing due to The RPC server is unavailable. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x800706BA.  Chris knew about the RPC server but couldn't point to a particular issue to watch out for.  I solved my problem when I discovered  my program was making rapid fire calls to ASCOM.  My program would not fail immediately...it would always take upwards of an hour.  When I finally slowed down my program's ASCOM calls to once per second the RPC server errors stopped happening.  The RPC server is sort of a generic information transfer mechanism that a lot of programs use...including ASCOM programs.  I also understand that the RPC server also uses the TCP stack which means that it also competes your computer's internet traffic.  It could be that one of the many programs you are using is not well behaved and is firing off RPC server calls way to fast.  The only way you have for testing this is to try running your system with some programs not running. A example of this would be to disable antivirus software.  This is not easy and may not be possible in some cases.  The only other diagnostic for you is to watch the CPU usage.  You can do this at any time by pressing cntrl-alt-del and then selecting task manager.  The window that appears displays list of all of the applications and services that are running along with how much services each one is using.

The sneaky aspect of this kind of testing is that sometimes a specific version of an application will have a bug in it which causes a problem.  If the version is old then updating to a newer version can solve this problem.  If the version is the latest then going back to a previous version can achieve the same success.  This might be what is happening when you use your old laptop.  It probably has older versions of programs on it and this might be making all the difference.

Regardless...fingers crossed that you have found a workable solution

Peter

[bw_msgboard]

 

 

---

From: open-phd...@googlegroups.com [mailto:open-phd...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of peter wolsley

Sent: Sunday, May 19, 2019 7:23 PM
To: Open PHD Guiding

Subject: [open-phd-guiding] Re: ASCOM driver failed checking IsPulseGuiding....

 

Dave,

I want to add my congratulations.  John S mentioned that the Chris Rowland is the author of the Celestron driver. Back in July 2017 I was E-mailing Chris about my woes in developing an app that communicated via his driver to my CGEM and was failing due to The RPC server is unavailable. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x800706BA.  Chris knew about the RPC server but couldn't point to a particular issue to watch out for.  I solved my problem when I discovered  my program was making rapid fire calls to ASCOM.  My program would not fail immediately...it would always take upwards of an hour.  When I finally slowed down my program's ASCOM calls to once per second the RPC server errors stopped happening.  The RPC server is sort of a generic information transfer mechanism that a lot of programs use...including ASCOM programs.  I also understand that the RPC server also uses the TCP stack which means that it also competes your computer's internet traffic.  It could be that one of the many programs you are using is not well behaved and is firing off RPC server calls way to fast.  The only way you have for testing this is to try running your system with some programs not running. A example of this would be to disable antivirus software.  This is not easy and may not be possible in some cases.  The only other diagnostic for you is to watch the CPU usage.  You can do this at any time by pressing cntrl-alt-del and then selecting task manager.  The window that appears displays list of all of the applications and services that are running along with how much services each one is using.

 

I think some of this isn’t relevant to the specific problem.  The ‘RPC’ in question (remote procedure call) isn’t using a network protocol stack, it is using the Windows COM architecture.  There are numerous ways to implement remote procedure calls, and COM (a very old mechanism) is one of them that doesn’t rely on TCP/IP or network protocols.  Also, I think we’ve verified in this case that the problem is not caused by rapid-fire calls on the ASCOM driver.  What we see in the ASCOM log file (eventually) is a timeout in the communication between the ASCOM driver and the mount firmware over the USB/Handbox connection.  Shortly after the timeout, the ASCOM driver exits, presumably because it hasn’t correctly handled the timeout error.  Once the ASCOM driver is no longer running, any COM calls made to it will fail with the error message Dave is seeing.  I think not all of this info has been posted on the forum so I just wanted to clarify.  Also, the failing condition has been triggered by nothing more than a simple test app that mimics PHD2 pulse-guiding using the ASCOM driver – no cameras, no network activity, no extra USB traffic, just a bare-bones test case.

 

A huge point of frustration here is that Dave can’t know for a long time whether the problem has really gone away.  He’s already run a successful test for hours, followed by a dark-sky session for more hours, all without having any trouble.  Then the next night out, he got a nearly-immediate error.  This sort of behavior can be caused by all sorts of hardware/firmware problems.  I really hope the latest testing works, but it will probably be weeks before Dave can close the book on this problem.

 

Bruce

 

The sneaky aspect of this kind of testing is that sometimes a specific version of an application will have a bug in it which causes a problem.  If the version is old then updating to a newer version can solve this problem.  If the version is the latest then going back to a previous version can achieve the same success.  This might be what is happening when you use your old laptop.  It probably has older versions of programs on it and this might be making all the difference.

 

Regardless...fingers crossed that you have found a workable solution

 

Peter

 

On Sunday, May 19, 2019 at 9:10:25 PM UTC-4, Dave Manning wrote:

2 hours into the test with the old laptop ........................... and all is well .................... so far.

 

I'm still going to let this run a while longer though, at least while I go to the local electronics store to get some larger diameter cable management tube.

I'm going to have to run a seperate cable from the guide camera to this older laptop AND get a larger table for out in the field..... I can live with that .... :)

On Wednesday, May 15, 2019 at 11:06:53 AM UTC+10, Dave Manning wrote:

Hi folks.

 

Over the last few months, the attached warning message periodically raises its head while I'm happily guiding and imaging the night away.

I can be guiding for hours or even a whole night without this message coming up, then on other nights (last night being a case in point..) it must have come up 4 times through the night.

I've just been "disconnecting all" then "connecting all"  to get it working again after each occurance of the message.

BTW, when that message comes up guiding starts to deteriorate badly...

Before hand, guiding is going along VERY NICELY with a high degree of polar alignment accuracy.

 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

Dave, 

Sydney, Australia

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[Dave Manning]

Well .... desperation being the mother of invention (is here, anyway...) this is my latest setup configuration.

It would appear, at the moment that my original problem of Pulse Guiding disconnecting was caused by faulty or worn USB ports..................... all 3 of them on my "better" quality laptop.

I dug out my older, "lower quality" laptop (took awhile to find the thing ..) and ran a 5 hour pulse guiding test with no issues........ 

THEREFORE, for the time being at least I have to use the seperate, older laptop for Auto Guiding alone and the newer, larger laptop for imaging, etc.

I must admit, it looks pretty cool but it's gonna be a bit problematic out in the field, not so much at the Manning Poolside Observatory .... :)

[Bruce Waddington]

Does your newer laptop have only USB 3 ports while the older one has USB 2?  I think the Celestron hand-box cable includes a USB-serial converter and that may use a low-ball Prolific chipset that doesn't work reliably with USB 3.  I'm just guessing, throwing out a possibility.

Bruce

[Dave Manning]

Doesn't explain though why it used to work just fine Pulse Guiding for over 12 months then NOT WANT TO about 3 months ago..

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[Brian Valente]

did something happen 3 months ago - a power brown-out, some other unusual electrical occurence that may have burned out the USB Ports?

or maybe you plugged in something new your computer didn't like too much?

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[Dave Manning]

I have no idea what happened mate.

All of a sudden (a few months ago) I couldn't pulse guide with it.

I took it into my local computer repair shop yesterday (they've been really good to me over the years) and the boss agreed that it's a physical/hardware issue and unfortunately it can't be repaired in a laptop.

While I've got you here ...... I'm now researching a suitable, yet not too expensive laptop to use solely for imaging and guiding (using 2 computers at the moment is a little problematic...) and was wondering what your thoughts are on what I should be looking for?

NOT A MAC!!!!!

Regards,

Dave Manning

Equine Art & Photography

0402 848 127

Email: in...@davemanningart.com

Web:  www.davemanningart.com

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[Brian Valente]

personally i bailed on laptops years ago. i use an Intel-NUC type device mounted on the telescope with windows 10 pro and remote desktop. I have minimal wires from the telescope, and I can remote in from my desktop, laptop, iPad, iPhone, etc. 

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[Dave Manning]

Never heard of it ................. but Googling it now :)

Regards,

Dave Manning

Equine Art & Photography

0402 848 127

Email: in...@davemanningart.com

Web:  www.davemanningart.com

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[sarg314 sarge]

Brian:

I never thought of a NUC - great idea! My ancient ( > 10 yrs) windows laptop is not going to last much longer.  I was thinking I'd have to replace it this year.  Apparently you can get NUCs to run on 12v too, which I've already got for my mount.  I will definitely look at that when I go to replace the laptop.

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--

Tom Sargent

[Dave Manning]

Right.... trying something now that I was avoiding......

Making PHD2 compatible with Windows 8 on the assumption that a Windows update about 3 months ago caused my Pulse Guiding issue.

Running ANOTHER TEST now so crossing all fingers, toes and anything else I can find.... ;)

[peter wolsley]

Dave,

Do you regularly perform windows updates?  If you don't then another path to pursue is to perform a windows update.  I remember some posts on this forum where a windows update messed up DCOM which is used by ASCOM.  This issue was resolved when a newer update was made available.

My two cents

Peter

[Dave Manning]

Well..... After a heap of soul searching and imaginary justifications to buy something else........ I've gone and purchased a new laptop, but with USB2 & USB3 ports in an attempt to rid myself of this pesky issue.

Thank GOD for the End Of Financial Year Sales!!!!!

THAT'S DONE THE TRICK!!!!!

I have my CGX Hand controller connected for Pulse Guiding into one of the USB2 ports while still having the imaging camera & guide camera connected  to the USB3 port (via powered USB3 Hub and USB extension).

All is GOOD now at the Manning Poolside Observatory.......(i.e. I just have my telescope setup next to the pool ....) :)

I've decided to put this whole issue down to "...... just one of those things...." :) :)

Thank you all for your input.

[Andy Galasso]

Dave, thanks for reporting back. Glad to hear everything is working with the new laptop.

Andy

[Dave Manning]

Thanks Andy.

My pleasure mate.

Regards,

Dave Manning

Equine Art & Photography

0402 848 127

Email: in...@davemanningart.com

Web:  www.davemanningart.com

On Sun, 16 Jun 2019 at 14:22, Andy Galasso <andy.g...@gmail.com> wrote:

Dave, thanks for reporting back. Glad to hear everything is working with the new laptop.

Andy

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