How do I stop it????

[Demonperformer]

First clear skies in ages. Outside, got everything going and captured my first 2m of data. THEN ...

My windoze10 laptop decided it needed to shut down and told me it was "collecting data" to enable it to do so. Well, 2m of imaging data lost, not the end of the world (I thought ... stupid boy!). Just restart everything, do a platesolve, go back to my target and robert is your father's brother (I repeat ... stupid boy!)

Everytime I try to reconnect the telescope it tells me that that program is already running. So I try using KillEqascom (both versions) ... program is still running. I unplug the software cable from the mount, reconnect it and ... program is still running .... GRRRR.

The one thing it will let me do is start the EQascom simulator ... well it would, wouldn't it?  Lot of help that is going to be for the rest of my imaging session.

I tried a complete shut down of the laptop and restarting it, reattaching the mount and ... program is still running.

HOW DO I GET THE WRETCHED PROGRAM TO STOP RUNNING????

Windoze is not going to tell me anything useful like that!! So, with one of the many clear nights we are all having at the moment ruined, I'm hoping someone here might be able to advise ...

I have attached screenprints. One shows what happens when I press the "connect" button. The other shows the result of running Killeqascom.

Thanks.

[johninderby]

What happens when you  open Task Manager and shut down the program?

[Charic]

Shut everything down, call it a night and have a fresh cuppa tea!

You've been successful before, its worked before, its just not working tonight?

After the tea has warmed your cockles, go back and re-assess. Hopefully you'll be able to tell others what the error was,  even by the end of this evening!

 

 

 

[Guest]

Has the program been set to run on startup?

[Dr_Ju_ju]

Lookup how to use taskkill….

hint:

Description:
    This tool is used to terminate tasks by process id (PID) or image name.

[Demonperformer]

Thanks for the replies.

Must admit, did not even think about running task manager at the time.  Have gone back in and there is no eqascom on the list.

1 hour ago, Charic said:

its just not working tonight?

It was even working tonight before windoze decided it needed to turn itself off. I took the setup down, but will get the mount out first thing tomorrow and see if shutting the laptop down for an hour has done something.

1 hour ago, Sland said:

Has the program been set to run on startup?

No.

11 minutes ago, Dr_Ju_ju said:

Lookup how to use taskkill…

I will do that, Julian. But if the task is not showing as running in task manager ...

[Thalestris24]

Sounds like bsod driver issue? I get them occasionally when I'm watching tv via a tv card and do something with video that seems to clash. I usually can't do anything until it's finished doing it's thing - which can take ages even on my fast pc  

Louise

[Guest]

4 minutes ago, Demonperformer said:

Thanks for the replies.

No.

As well as the "startup" folder in the start menu there is also a registry key that can hold startup commands for programs.  It can be found at 

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

Worth checking there as well

[Demonperformer]

Just run tasklist and it isn't there either.

[LightBucket]

Perfect reason to get rid of windows and get Linux.... ??

[johninderby]

Try googling Linux Sucks sometime. Never realised Linux was so buggy. Guess there’s no perfect system  out there. ☹️

[LightBucket]

5 minutes ago, johninderby said:

Try googling Linux Sucks sometime. Never realised Linux was so buggy. Guess there’s no perfect system  out there. ☹️

Totally agree there is not perfect solution, but here are much better ones..

[Guest]

35 minutes ago, Demonperformer said:

Just run tasklist and it isn't there either.

Could it be running as a service rather than a task?

[upahill]

Starting to see a lot of VB runtime errors after the latest windows update, which forces .net 4.7 and breaks some dependencies in certain older programs. Nothing astro has been affected for me yet but it could be related.

EQMod site suggests getting rid of your config files and recreating them to cure runtime errors:
http://eq-mod.sourceforge.net/faqs/runtimeerrs.html

 

[Ibbo!]

My suggestion is do a full 3 pin reset and leave everything off for 10 to 30 mins and try again.

 

[Dr_Ju_ju]

1 hour ago, Demonperformer said:

I will do that, Julian. But if the task is not showing as running in task manager ... 

EQMod may well not be the culprit, but the calling application has twisted knickers.... 

Usually a full power cycle should put thing to right, unless, as has been suggested, a config has gone awry, so deleting (usually best to re-name, so you have a reference) & re-creating.

 

[Demonperformer]

6 hours ago, Sland said:

Could it be running as a service rather than a task?

How would I know?

6 hours ago, upahill said:

Starting to see a lot of VB runtime errors after the latest windows update

My laptop does not (cannot) go online - I've set it up this way to prevent updates doing something stupid.

 

Trying to put everything together: my next steps, when I can face them later today: set up mount (indoors) and try to reconnect laptop. There has been more than 30 minutes since I shut it down, so it might have stopped sulking (oops, no, that was me, not the laptop!). If that fails I will move the three ini files into a separate folder and try again.

But, of course it's going to work now - the clear skies have disappeared for another three months.

 

 

 

[Dr_Ju_ju]

To find out if something is running as a service, open "Computer Management" by right clicking the start\window button, and clicking on it.

When it opens, expand the bottom section (click on 'right' arrow), then click on Services...

[Demonperformer]

Thanks, Julian. 

Vast numberof them. Can't see anything that is named  vaguely like eqascom. Certainly none that are currently listed as "running".

I will get the mount out again shortly and try it.

Thanks.

[Dr_Ju_ju]

EQMod doesn't run by itself, it is a 'helper' application, that gets called by other applications e.g. CDC\PHD2\SGPro\APT etc. and when it does start, it then runs a service, so that the other running apps. can all talk\interact with each other & it...

This is how my system is currently running:

[Guest]

Hello, see explanation & the solution here..

 

http://eq-mod.sourceforge.net/faqs/runtimeerrs.html

 

Cheers

Martin

[hughgilhespie]

I find with laptops that taking the battery out is often required to get them running again. For some arcane reason, we are not allowed to have a 'proper' on-off switch on computers and they are permanently set to warm the planet!

Regards, Hugh

[Demonperformer]

Thanks.

1 hour ago, Dr_Ju_ju said:

This is how my system is currently running

That is helpful ... it shows "eqmod.exe" which mine certainly isn't (now).

Backing up and deleting the ini files was easy enough with toolbox, so I just went ahead and did it. Space is a bit limited, so with a delivery due I am waiting till that happens to get the mount out again to make sure it is now functioning.

Thanks.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

I recently came across a tool called ShutUp10, which allows you to prevent Windows 10 from doing updates or gathering data without user approval. That might prevent the issue that started the whole problem.

[stash_old]

One possible solution if you have a fast PC and large amounts of Memory plus SSD is to create another Virtual Windows  10 (or other o/s) in something like Virtualbox or M/S own.

You set this "virtual" windows  system up as your Astro set up with all your programs and make sure that all is working. You must :-

1. Set up a shared folder so that images from the virtual o/s can be saved.

2. Back up the virtual to a Master copy in case of meltdown - only performed once unless you change something in the virtual o/s

3. Create a "Snap shot" of the Astro virtual system - again do this once unless your change something in the virtual system. This then becomes your day to day Master Astro system from which you ALWAYS start from.

A snap shot, a copy of the virtual system at a given point in time,  will always be at the exactly the same point and all files will be the same and never missing or corrupt. You will need to Google Snap Shot ,Revert  etc to see how to achieve this as it differs slightly from Virtual system to virtual system (Vbox,Vmware etc) plus this migh help https://www.howtogeek.com/196060/beginner-geek-how-to-create-and-use-virtual-machines/

Then you can start the virtual  system each time you want to do Astro work even "killing" the virtual should not cause problems as you will just be reverting to the same point in time that you created the snap shot.

It sounds more difficult than it is ! But like all things in life you have to put some work in nothing is for free ?

You can use this for Windows or Linux bu you must have a reasonable PC and check that all Astro Software works as sometimes there are problems with USB and / or Serial ports.