EQMOD not responding glitch

[Ouroboros]

Occassionally my lap top loses contact with my mount resulting in the error message EQMOD not responding. This is usually the result of a dodgy connection - a USB plug being disturbed by cable movement etc.  

The only way I've found of recovering connection to the mount is a complete shutdown and restart of Windows 7, which is running as a virtual machine on my Mac, and a restart of the Mac too. This  is a real pain, especially if I'm mid-session. 

Anyone know a quick way to re-establish contact between EQMOD and the mount? Simply pushing the plugs back in isn't sufficient.  

I am controlling my AZ-EQ6 mount via a HiTecAstro USB EQ direct interface cable. I use  the Cartes du Ciel software. 

Many thanks for any suggestions. 

[Dr_Ju_ju]

I have  a similar issue with my focuser on my windows system... To recover the device, I disable the Comm port in device manager, wait 10 seconds & re-enable it again, which usually does the trick.

For a focuser its not so bad, but if Eqmod has lost contact with the mount then there is a good chance that positional info will be out...

[Ouroboros]

8 hours ago, Dr_Ju_ju said:

I have  a similar issue with my focuser on my windows system... To recover the device, I disable the Comm port in device manager, wait 10 seconds & re-enable it again, which usually does the trick.

For a focuser its not so bad, but if Eqmod has lost contact with the mount then there is a good chance that positional info will be out...

I assume it is.  I will give your a suggestion a try. I didn't realise you could disable the comm port. I assume that's straight forward to do.

[Dr_Ju_ju]

You do it in Device Manager i.e. Control Panel \ Device Manager \ Ports (COM & LPT)

[Ouroboros]

On 13 November 2017 at 07:55, Dr_Ju_ju said:

You do it in Device Manager i.e. Control Panel \ Device Manager \ Ports (COM & LPT)

Thanks. Well ..... your suggestion works (sometimes). I had a play this afternoon connecting to the mount, controlling it with Cartes du Ciels and then momentarily pulling out the USB connector to simulate the problem. I then tried to recover connection using your method. Sometimes it worked. Other times I found that Device Manager ended up in the "not responding" state after I disabled the device. Once or twice I found I had to force Windows to close.  I found it important to close down Cartes du Ciels before disabling and re-enabling the device. Interesting. I don't think I've completely cracked it. But at least I've got something to try before I resort to having to restart the computer during a real session.   I also need to ruggedise the USB connections so wobbling cables are less likely to cause a momentary disconnection.