Wierd PHD2 problem last night

[griz11]

I've been using PHD2 for awhile now with no problems. The last time I was out it crashed once. Last night while trying to do a drift align I'd get within 3 arc sec or so of having it aligned then it would suddenly say it was 15-20 out in the same direction I was going previously. After 2 or 3 of these episodes I rechecked with the polar scope and it was wildly off. In between this it was crashing frequently I had to re calibrate several times and after I'd start the drift it would crash. So I deleted it and reinstalled it and the ascom platform thinking that something was corrupted when it crashed the first time. Should be able to test it out tomorrow. Wondering if anyone has had similar problems and how you fixed them. Its worked flawlessly from day one till the other night. I only use that computer for AP so nothing has changed on it unless it was an upgrade from msoft. Doesn't have anything on it except the programs I use for imaging. All the auto upgrades and stuff like that are turned off. I have a couple of usb hubs so I'm going to try that as well.

Griz

[Thalestris24]

Hiya

First make sure you have the current version - v2.5.0 Did it calibrate ok? In my experience PHD2 'crashing' problems are nearly always caused by USB troubles. Hubs are a common source of USB troubles. TBH a PA error of only 3 arc secs would be remarkable. I'm happy if I can get mine within an arc minute... Sudden big jumps are likely to be caused by a mount, snagging  or balance problem or maybe wind.

Louise

[griz11]

Thats what I'm worried about. The notebook only has one usb port so I have to use a hub. Its been working great for months. Nothing has changed on the mount. I 3-d balance it every night. And you notice if its off balance the motors are much more noisy when slewing. So I'm hoping a switch of the hub will fix it. If not I think I'll get a silex wifi access point put the mount and guide camera into that and just have the DSLR going into the port on the notebook. It can get the other data from the mount and camera over the wifi that way. Everything is usb3 so bandwidth shouldn't be a problem. Just strange it would suddenly start acting up. Everything was bought about the same time nothing is old or worn out. I was running one version behind the current so maybe that is a problem as well. Supposed to be clear tonight so I'll see.

Griz

[Thalestris24]

Hi

I've read of others complaining about their Lodestar usb socket being fragile so don't know if that might be a source of trouble for you.

Louise

[kens]

Have you enabled the PHD debug log and ASCOM log? It wont record the cause of the crash but it will show the last thing it did. I was having problems with the drift align function and my DIY ASCOM driver and it turned out it crashed because the drift align feature needs to get Dec from the mount. So the last thing in the log was where did a declination request.

Not possible for my mount so I don't use the drift align function. Instead, I do a run with Dec guiding off and it shows me the PA error reading and circle anyway. I just don't get the step-by-step instructions and have to start and stop guiding manually which is no big deal.