PHD woes

[michaelmorris]

I used to scoff at people who had problems getting PHD to work.  It was easy, use the default settings, adjust the calibration steps to suit your guide scope focal length and away you go.  It works fine on my HEQ 5 PRO and up until a couple of months ago, it worked fine on the LX200 Classic in the observatory.

I don't recall altering any of the settings, but now PHD won't calibrate on my 80ED piggy-backed on my LX200 mount.  It used to work fine.  I've tried calibration steps all the way up to 9999 ms, but it still times out.  HELP!

PS - the term you're looking for is 'Hybris' - ( see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hybris_(vice) )

[wavydavy]

Sounds like you have the same issue as me...........driving me nuts.

[red dwalf]

i`ve been told that the best thing is to re install Phd again

[michaelmorris]

I've re-installed .net, ASCOM, the scope drivers and PHD. It seems to make no difference. Tomorrow night I'll see if using my windows vista laptop makes any difference

[wuthton]

I feel your pain, the infuriation when things just stop working for no apparent reason.

[Zakalwe]

Have you checked to make sure that the PHD guide commands are getting to the mount?

To check this, go to the PHD ‘Tools’ menu and select ‘Manual Guide’. You will see four buttons to send short guide commands in North, South, East and West Directions. Push one of the buttons and see if the image is moving in the guide camera. When I used to use ST4 guiding on my old EQ6 I had a problem like this that I eventually found to be a dodgy ST4 lead with a damaged cable that was intermittently connecting.

If the guide commands are getting through and the mount is responding, then I'd be looking into the guide camera.

[Tinker1947]

I had lots of hassle getting the guiding to work, spent some time doing the PA and it works nicely now......

[michaelmorris]

I had lots of hassle getting the guiding to work, spent some time doing the PA and it works nicely now......

PA?

[hobsey]

PA?

Polar Alignment.

[michaelmorris]

Polar Alignment.

Thanks.  The scope is permanently mounted in an observatory.  I suppose there is a risk that the polar alignment may have been knocked out of alignment, but it seems pretty good. (Last night I was getting nice sharp stars with a 50mm lens on my DSLR piggy-backed on the scope with 5 minute unguided exposures).   I'll check the polar alignment with Alignmaster next time out. 

I'll also check that the commands are getting to the mount.  I'd be surprised if this is a problem as the same ASCOM drivers drive the GOTO just fine in Cartes di Ciel.

[Zakalwe]

I'll also check that the commands are getting to the mount.  I'd be surprised if this is a problem as the same ASCOM drivers drive the GOTO just fine in Cartes di Ciel.

Are you using ST-4 guiding or pulse guiding? If the former, then ASCOM GOTOs will work but commands via the ST4 port might not...

[michaelmorris]

Are you using ST-4 guiding or pulse guiding? If the former, then ASCOM GOTOs will work but commands via the ST4 port might not...

Pulse guiding

[tony210]

Hi - very frustrating - sounds like a driver issue to me if you have changed nothing - may haveto reinstall programs - I had a problem and had to upgrade EQMOD and PHD - don't like Vista- Windows 7 or XP - best wishes - Tony.

[Skipper Billy]

My son - who knows about these things - tells me that a recent Windoze update had a catastrophic effect on some unsigned drivers - if you have run update at about the time the problem started this could be the root cause. No idea how to fix it though as the update corrupts new installs of some drivers. Mayeb roll back to a previous point in time via system restore??

[Pete Presland]

My son - who knows about these things - tells me that a recent Windoze update had a catastrophic effect on some unsigned drivers - if you have run update at about the time the problem started this could be the root cause. No idea how to fix it though as the update corrupts new installs of some drivers. Mayeb roll back to a previous point in time via system restore??

this sounds like great news

[Uranium235]

It may have been mentioned above, but check your ST4 cable as they do tend to fail after a couple of years (im on my third) - even USB cables give up the ghost after a while. Easiest way to check is to slew to a star, enable manual giide and tap the n/s/e/w buttons to see if it moves the star about (N/S will have a little backlash normally). Hope you get it sorted, it can be a bit frustrating when something you take as given suddenly stops working for no logical reason.

[michaelmorris]

Okay, I think I'm getting there. It appears there are two issues.

1 - PHD works fine when I'm not running APT, so my guess is I need to update my older version of APT and give it another try.

2 - I've realised that I've been slowly adding more and more 'stuff' on to my LX200. My guess is that I'm overloading the mount.  I need to review my set up and try to reduce weight. 

[libraryman]

Hi Michael, I would assume that once your star I selected in PhD; you see no drift over a reasonable period, I.e. pa is o.k.

You are using pulse so no st4 cable!

If corrections are getting to the mount, then balance is the most likely culprit.

Ray