EQMod Comms Issues

[Gina]

Thanks for the info on Task Scheduler I have now been through the library and either disabled or rescheduled any tasks either unwanted or taking place during my imaging activitise. I have also enabled the Internet Time task to be performed every day insead of once a week.

[Gina]

I would but yahoo and me have a chequered history with my account getting hacked leading to me losing loads of images when they took over Flickr.

Although my Yahoo account is still active in that I get updates via email from a couple of groups, I can no longer log on to access info in other groups or to add groups to my list. Hence I have no access to the EQMOD group or the observatory automation group to which I would like to subscribe

[Daddystu]

I've been unable to get Remote Desktop to work either with XP or Win 7 - I have a feeling you need the Professional edition for this to work. OTOH TeamViewer works with any edition and any OS platform so I can use my MacBook to watch the Win 7 machine in the warm room. Also, this problem has only arisen recently - in the past the same setup has run for the whole night and still running in the morning (except guiding doesn't work after dawn ). EQMOD ASCOM was still working and I could park the scope remotely via TeamViewer. So like Daddystu something has changed recently. Unfortunately, I never thought of doing a system save after I'd got everything working (aanother sign of getting old I suppose).

I've rolled back the ASCOM software from SP2 back to SP1 and it seems the problem is resolved. I just plugged in the DSLR and everythings ok. It may be worth checking your ACOM version Gina. I'm guessing SP2 is a little buggy. All good for now but lets see how long it lasts!

[Gina]

I'm on SP1.

My PC "clean-up" today has caused more trouble than it solved! ASCOM errors now EQMOD ASCOM Telescope connects fine from CdC and from the ASCOM Diagnostics app. CdC slewing is fine as is parking from EQMOD ASCOM. I have reinstalled ASCOM Platform 6 SP1 and EQMOD ASCOM to no avail. I've now given up for tonight as I need my sleep, I get this window when I try to connect to EQMOD ASCOM Telescope with both AT and PHD.

[Gina]

Looks like one step forward and three steps back!

[Daddystu]

Yes didn't go as well as I was hoping here either. A lot of crashes/reboots but fortunately as long as you leave the mount powered it holds its alignment. Just need to remember to park/unpark when reconnecting. DSLR connection issue still ongoing. I'm looking at newer laptops now. Lets see if brute force will solve it Sounds like you need to re-install those programs you mention too.

[Gina]

Oh dear

I bought a new laptop because the netbook was underpowered for the job. The laptop is much faster and handles TeamViewer better but I'm not sure Win 7 is any better than XP. I think I'll uninstall the suspect software and reinstall. Telling ASCOM to reinstall caused it to "Repair" so there was a fault there and it was a bit better after the repair but with two apps bringing up the same errors it seems to me that ASCOM is still at fault.

[malc-c]

If you google "clean uninstall of Ascom" there seems to be several reasons why the platform becomes corrupted, or how other applications can cause issues.

If you think the machine is screwed you could always search the registry for any reference to ascom and remove it so that it stops the repair option coming up

[kirkster501]

Well, I am rebuilding my Laptop PC (Dell Latitude D630 4 Gig/Core2 Duo) with Windows 7 x64 and ASCOM 6 SP2. I had not the slightest issue with ASCOM 6 on XP, it worked brilliantly (upgrading for other reasons). So lets see if I get these problems too. The machine is exactly the same, just upgraded the operating system.

Just a thought... You guys use USB hubs? I don't.

Lets see.

[Gina]

Not for the mount.

[ncjunk]

I have a spare windows 7 license so i aim on creating a virtual machine with all the astro software on and once its all working save a copy of the vm in case of failures.

I've had similar problems to gina before now and its nice to be able to copy a vm machine over one thats stopped working. Saves on hasle.

Sent from my GT-I9003 using Tapatalk 2

[Gina]

I have had a read of the ASCOM info. Following the recommendation there I have downloaded and installed Win 7 updates (except for for one which failed to install). Then I uninstalled the ASCOM Platform 6 SP1 and reinstalled it. I've now switched on the power to the mount, run CdC and connected with that, then tried AT and no errors then tried PHD and again no errors When the sun moves round a bit and the Eagle isn't so low underground, I'll try letting AT slew to it. I can't try guiding of course until it gets dark (I'm not trying guiding on the sun as I haven't got a sun filter for the MN190). So fingers crossed

[Gina]

I managed a small amount of imaging last night. AT and PHD worked fine for nearly an hour then the mount started moving off target and EQMOD had stopped responding. That was about 12:30. So as the sky was still clear I rebooted and set everything up again. All started up well and AT was solving very quickly (on Ha 5nm filter, 30s binning 8x8) after initial slew and solve it did a meridian flip and continued to solve and slew until the thaget was within one minute of arc. I then went to the sequence schedule but only got one 5m Ha sub before the clouds came in. At that stage with the time fast approaching 1am I closed everyhing down, shut the roof and went to bed.

I seem to be managing about two or three subs of each colour per night and the Eagle image is very gradually improving With the nights drawing in I should be able to start proper imaging at about 11pm and continue until 3am on a clear night. I'm running Ha x 2m, SII x 8m, SII x 8m, OIII x 10m, OIII x 10m and repeat - total 41m ie. 5 x Ha, 10 x SII and 9 x OIII approx.

Now I'm wondering if the problem is to do with time or meridian flip. But I've never had a problem with going past the meridian before. Maybe I'll uninstall EQASCOM and reinstall but I've a feeling that this isn't it as it's running fine for an hour or so. I could check whether the meridian flip is involved by trying a different target so crossing the meridian occurs at a different time. I may give tonight a miss as I really need an early night.

[r3i]

Now I'm wondering if the problem is to do with time or meridian flip. But I've never had a problem with going past the meridian before.

Hi Gina,

You've probably ruled this out but just in case, do you have limits set in EQMOD?

[Gina]

Just been looking into this and YES "Apply Limits To Gotos" was ticked. Must have returned to the default I guess, because it was turned off. I think this may well have been the cause of the problem. I guess that would turn tracking off as well as guiding.

[chrisshillito]

Apply limits to gotos has nothing to do with tracking. It simply means that if limits are active tnen any goto slew that takes the mount into a limit zone (as set by the horizon limit profile) will stop at the first limit point it encounters. You would have this set if your horizon limits define some physical, rather than visual obstruction. If the horizon limit is visual only (such as a distant tree line etc.) then there is no need to prevent goto slews traversing a limit zone when moving from one target to another.

If EQASCOM ever tracks into a limit it really should be quite obvious as it will flash the limit type over the main coordinate display.

Chris

Chris

[Gina]

The recently acquired problem does seem to have been due to the mount going past the meridian. Last night I set up for imaging on the Bubble Nebula which didn't pass the meridian during the night. So I think that's solved

I'm still losing the EQMOD mount control every so often as always. In fact I'd just set everything up last night when it stopped responding. So I rebooted the laptop and set everything up again for imaging the Bubble Nebula and it ran all night perfectly. EQMOD was still working well and I was able to park the scope remotely using TeamViewer.

[Daddystu]

The recently acquired problem does seem to have been due to the mount going past the meridian. Last night I set up for imaging on the Bubble Nebula which didn't pass the meridian during the night. So I think that's solved

I'm still losing the EQMOD mount control every so often as always. In fact I'd just set everything up last night when it stopped responding. So I rebooted the laptop and set everything up again for imaging the Bubble Nebula and it ran all night perfectly. EQMOD was still working well and I was able to park the scope remotely using TeamViewer.

After reading forum posts here and on cloudynight I've finally managed to resolve my issue (thanks to BlueAstra). Firstly I updated windows 7 including the latest 3.5.1 .NET update then and probably more importantly I separated the mount and laptop power lines - running each on its own extension cable. So EQMod comm is quite sensitive to power drops it would seem and im unable to image off 1 single 30m 4 plug 13A extension cable. Still, its all out there now with PHD guiding for about 2 hours and APT gathering 5 min exposures of M51... as a test really as the sky is far too bright. Time to check in on teamviewer.

[Russe]

In the simulator mode I'm really confused... I pic an object in Stellarium and slew to it. It is spot on, than I do Ctrl+1 and click sync telescope. This adds a point in my sync list in EQMOD, but the reticle suddenly moves away from my star and a tad to the side in a stellarium. What the h...???