SX camera connection problem

[Astroscot2]

Hello,  I really hope someone can help me with the following problem that ive been unable to resolve.

A few nights ago I was out with the intention to gather more data from the previous nights imaging, a rare run of three clear nights in a row, Anyway fired up my kit in the usual way and received a message "Cannot connect to Camera USB" having never seen this before I powered all my kit down and tried a restart several times, still no luck.  Not wanting to start checking cables at night I decided to leave it until the next day in the hope that the problem would be obvious, 3 days later im still no further forward.

The kit in question is a SXVR H694 camera & SX filter wheel,  the camera and FW USB cables drop into an Orico powered USB hub and working off my windows 8.1 laptop. I run both Camera and FW on AA5.

So here is what I have tried.

Camera and FW have same USB cables, swapped these around and still no joy.
I can run the FW on SX own software with either camera or FW USB cables so I don't believe the USB cables are faulty.
Uninstalled and reinstalled SX latest camera drivers
Updated newest camera interface for AA5
Uninstalled and reinstalled latest AA5 camera control drivers.
Checked all USB plugs for rust, wear& tear
Im unable to connect to camera with SX own camera control software, receive camera not found message.

Something I had noticed over the last few months was when connecting to camera in AA5 it was taking a little longer than usual.

One oddity which is making me think that there may be a problem with the powered hub or a port issue is that when I plug in the hub USB into the laptop and switch on the USB
I hear the 2 confirmation pings and the LED lights next to the camera and FW ports light up, however a few seconds later the FW port LED turns off again, I can however still control the FW though the SX software?

Not sure what else to try other than to try another powered hub if I can get one.   I really don't want to have to take the camera off the scope as I need to take some flats for my recent date.

This is the worse type of problem as there is no obvious hardwear or software issue.

Any thoughts suggestions welcome.

Thanks

Mark.

 

 

 

[symmetal]

Hi Mark. Are you able to connect the camera directly to the PC, by-passing the hub to remove that as a possible cause. Have 'Device Manager' open while you plug it in and out so see what it reports it as. Do you have a meter to check if the 12V power supply to the camera is OK? I think if the 12V isn't there the camera will be reported as an 'IO Block Device' in Device Manager as it powers the USB 'hub' on the camera but nothing else.

Alan

[Astroscot2]

Hello Alan,  I dont have anyway of checking  the voltage unfortunately,  I did check the device manager when plugging in the camera USB into the hub, im sure i was showing as Sx camera and device  working, will check again in the morning and try the camera USB straight  into the laptop.

Thanks and have a good  NY.

[Astroscot2]

Hello Alan,   well somehow the camera seems to connect ok this morning,  nothing changed or different since my last attempt?  Very  odd, just wish i knew the cause rather tham putting it down to gremlins.

Clear skies

Mark

[symmetal]

Hi Mark. Yes, nothing is more annoying than an intermittent fault. I would still suspect a power problem. Are the camera and usb hub off different supplies? Sometimes switch-mode power supplies which are faulty can read fine with no load but the voltage drops significantly when current is drawn. You mentioned that the USB hub lights are different from what they were previously which could be down to power problems. It's probably worth buying a multi-meter to help with chasing faults. They are not expensive and can help take the guesswork out of trying to sort out problems.

Alan

[AngryDonkey]

If the problem persists I would also post your question on the SX Yahoo group. Terry (who probably designed the camera) is on there and has great knowledge.