DDUH

Ok - so figured this out, sigh! I ALSO needed to download (and the run) the Firmware Loader for windows V1.74 I did look at this initially but was confused as below the driver download box, on the sky watcher site, is says "This application is used to update the motor controller's firmware of a Skywatcher GO-TO mount, with a SynScan hand control programmed with the SynScan Relay firmware, a SynScan USB dongle or a SynScan hand controller working in PC-Direct mode." None of which apply to the Star adventurer The installation manual bundled in with the loader also says that requirements for the loader include: - A SynScan hand control with EQ firmware version 3.22 or above, or a SynScan hand control with AZ firmware version 3.05 or above. - SynScan hand control’s mount‐to‐hand control cable and PC link cable. again none of which apply to the star adventurer. However ran the loader, selected the downloaded motor driver and it did it. So hey ho, lesson learnt!

Ok - so how to I update the firmware then?

Hi all Ok - so any help on this greatly appreciated. I recently purchased a sky watcher star adventurer (pro pack) - nice piece of kit and have managed to take some really good photo's whilst learning how to use it. I want to check the version / update the firmware on it, however my computer seems unable to recognise it. So - I have installed the Prolific Driver (v 1.20.0 - which I believe is the latest version) along with accompanying PL2303 Check Chip Version (v1006). When I plug the star adventurer into the computer via its mini USB "b" port and run the chip check I get a report that at COM8 "There is a PL-2303 SA Chip". So that all seems fine. However windows does not present me with any "device ready to use" type messages and I cannot seem to find anyway to actually access the device and query / update it (the device is also not appearing in windows explorer - I don't know if it should, but it isn't). I get nothing from windows at all, nada, zero, zip (yes I do turn the star adventurer on when I plug it into the computer, I've flipped it on an off a few times in fact - all to no avail, and yes I did restart the computer after installing the driver). The cable is also fine, its a new one and when I use it to plug it into an old Tom Tom sat nav I have (who uses USB "b" anymore?!) it detects it fine, is able to talk to it and update the firmware on the Tom Tom ok. So no cable issues. Device manager reports no errors from the COM port Am I missing something? I have also downloaded the latest motor controller for the star adventurer (V03_06) from the Sky watcher website - but this is just a .mcf file which I'm guessing I will need to load via an interface with the device - which I'm not being presented with. Am running latest version of Windows 10 on a pretty powerful gaming laptop with USB "2" and "3" compatibility - so should be no issues there. any advice / help greatly appreciated. Thanks