Calling PGR Grasshopper (and EQDIR) users

[Twisted Lip]

Hi all

I'm currently struggling with a bit of a sticky problem with a new Grasshopper 3 and a HITEC Astro EQDir. 

In the laptop I have two USB ports one USB 2.0 and one USB 3.0. For some reason I've never managed to get the EQDir in the USB 2.0 port so I use it in the USB 3.0 port. Never particularly been an issue until now as, not only is the new grasshopper is USB 3.0 only but the drivers it requires entirely take over the USB 3.0 port (no other devices can ever be used in it!).

Question is, have you ever managed to get your GH working with other drivers or software? Unfortunately I need to use the USB 3.0 for other (non-astro) things but it is particularly problematic as the EQDir will only work with USB 3.0 too - it means I can't control the mount

Bad times and particularly frustrating so any advice would be very gratefully received! 

Cheers

Will

[Thalestris24]

Hi

Have you tried uninstalling the usb port?

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/817900

Alternatively, maybe this could help:

http://eq-mod.sourceforge.net/faqs/comport.html

Hth

Louise

[Davey-T]

No consolation to you I know, but I was advised against getting PG USB3 camera because of USB problems, so opted for ethernet version.

Dave

[Twisted Lip]

Hi

Have you tried uninstalling the usb port?

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/817900

Alternatively, maybe this could help:

http://eq-mod.sourceforge.net/faqs/comport.html

Hth

Louise

The USB 2.0 hub always seems to work (if you unplug the EQDIR and plug it back in it is always recognised, it just won't start). The USB 2.0 hub also seems to assign a port lower than 16 so there is no problem there.

To be fair to PGR, when you install the drivers for the Grasshopper (insane as it sounds), it does warn you that you'll only ever be able to use the port for the Grasshopper

Appreciate the suggestions though, I'm pretty desperate lol

[Twisted Lip]

No consolation to you I know, but I was advised against getting PG USB3 camera because of USB problems, so opted for ethernet version.

Dave

haha, yes I can see it's going to cause all sorts of problems. I've never come across any drivers in my life that overrode everything else like their software :/

[Thalestris24]

Hi

I see the camera has a 5 Gb/s bandwidth requirement hence the need for a dedicated host controller. They also recommend an i7-2600k 3.5Ghz system. So it's quite a demanding camera!

Louise

[Davey-T]

Where did you buy it ? perhaps they'll take it back.

Dave

[riklaunim]

Never heard of that USB3 takeover effect. Some people do use that camera, like Anthony Wesley - you can catch him on Facebook for example. Friend of mine had CMV4000 version (also bandwitch limited) and he didn't had any problems with it. Maybe you turned on idle state management or something with the Flycap installation and that caused a problem?

For the USB2 maybe it's under powered? Then a good powered hub could help, but that's just a guess.

[Twisted Lip]

Thanks guys, with a little help from Point Grey I've managed to sort out the problem. Ultimately its their driver/controller software that locks out the USB 3.0 port, rendering it - in effect - useless for any other devices. The intention is apparently that it requires so much bandwidth the port needs to be dedicated.

They've given me a method of rolling back the native USB 3.0 drivers whilst still retaining their drivers enabling both the camera and mount to remain controlled through the same powered hub. Instructions below (just in case anyone has this problem in the future and a search throws up this topic!)

Thanks for your help and advice guys!

Will

Using our DriverControlGUI, you can modify the drivers for the usb3 host

controller back to their native usb drivers. Attached is an image that shows

the location of the utility (it'll be in the bin, not bin64, if you installed

the 32 bit version of flycapture2 SDK).

Once the native driver's are reinstalled, the cameras can still be used, thanks

to the usb cam drivers that are available, that do not modify the connectivity

capabilities of usb3 ports.