Trying to sort guiding - lodestar FAIL!

[rocketandroll]

Hi all

This evening is a prime example of why i don't like trying to do these things alone!!!

I have finally (I think) managed to get all the relevant software back on my laptop after a complete hard drive failure to try and get my guiding working again....

So far, it has taken me nearly two hours to get the drivers sorted out for the Lodestar (the only thing i forgot to install). I don't have the original CD of drivers here so i downloaded everything of SX's website...

After spending 20 minutes trying to find a way to TELL Windows 7 where the drivers were for this strange new hardware it had detected it finally claimed to have installed it... I plugged the camera in and it seemed to show light and dark when viewed through PHD... so i went outside and attached it to the guidescope, powered it all up again... and got the enclosed.

The camera now shows nothing but a white screen with noise and a load of diagonal lines moving across it... covering or uncovering the sensor makes no difference to the brightness of the screen.

I have tried plugging, unplugging and re-starting everything to no avail.

I am going to have to call it a night now... and I haven't even begun the mamoth task of trying to actually get the software working and it all guiding...

Can anyone tell me what might be up with the camera? Am i doing something stupid?

Cheers all

Ben

[Parallax]

Oh dear, Oh dear! It never rains but it pours. If it's not one thing it's the other.

I can't help you with this one I'm afraid but I'm sure, in the morning, you will be able to sort it. (And then tomorrow night it will be something else!).

Steve

[Jessun]

Ben, I haven't seen precisely this pattern but many others and it was time and time again down to either connection, or using too long a cable.

Does it behave like this even with the short supplied cable?

Does it come up as ECHO2 in the device manager?

[Merlin66]

I've been using a Lodestar for the past six months with PHD...no issues.

It sounds like PHD isn't connecting properly to the camera.

Which camera are you selecting?

Do you have any other imaging software to try it with....

I'm sure it's something simple...

[rocketandroll]

Cheers all

Ok, to tick off some of those possibilities...

Firstly, it has been working perfectly in exactly this physical configuration prior to my laptop kicking the bucket.... so I know (at least a couple of months back) the camera, cable, connections etc were all fine.

The cable is the same length as the one supplied (the original got it's mini USB plug snapped off it so I got an identical replacement, which worked fine).

I'm selecting 'Starlight Xpress SXV' as the camera in PHD, same as I was the last four or five months of it all working perfectly... again, I'm trying to keep everything the same as when it was all working back in Jan.

And yes, it does come up as 'ECHO2' in device manager... then I installed the drivers and finally got it to recognise them... and now it shows as 'Starlight Xpress Lodestar Guide Camera'... which I assume is a good thing :-)

I am off down the workshop this morning to find the original CD and try loading that as I recall there was some procedure to set it up originally which i didn't do this time.

The only other software I have which should be able to 'see' through the camera is the Lodestar software itself.... but I have no clue how that works and it seems to just come up with a black screen that doesn't change when you alter the light coming into the camera.

I am fairly sure this has to be a software issue... though WHAT software issue I don't know.

Ben

[rocketandroll]

Well.... seems, following a look at the problem by an SGL friend with significantly more IT know-how than me (thanks Chris)... there is a SERIOUS issue with my Lodestar....

I MIGHT be able to fix it by formatting my laptop hard drive and starting again from scratch... but I'd really rather not have to do that.

I am now struggling to find any contact details for SX so i can get some customer support.

Meh.... I am so close to giving up now... it's been three months now since I've been able to image :-(

[Merlin66]

Hmmm

What appears to be the basics of the problem??

[Dazza121]

i assume youve tried adjusting the gain control ? mine looks light like that when the gain is set too high

[rocketandroll]

Yep... tried all the settings for the camera (not that there really are any).

No matter where the gain or gamma are set it stays the same no matter whether the chip is covered or looking at a bright light source.

Seems to be something more fundamental than that :-(

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk

[daz]

Mine runs on XP, but I'll install onto my Win7 machine and see what happens with the drivers.

Be happy to test yours here, Ben....