Anyone else experiencing this problem?

[Wardr77]

Just last night scope would not align (LX90 ACF with GPS unit). Checked date and it read 29-Aug-2099, time was ok. When I changed the date all was ok and scope aligned fine. However in the past never had to add the date, the GPS unit always picked this up. Any one else experienced this problem?

Thanks!

[Wardr77]

Appears to be a GPS week number roll over issue that have affected number of older units possibly pre-2012. A bit of a discussion going on about this in the Celestron section of CN.

[wornish]

As said its the GPS equivalent of the millennium bug year 2000 role over that affects early GPS systems.

More details here

https://www.orolia.com/resources/blog/lisa-perdue/2018/gps-2019-week-rollover-what-you-need-know

[Cornelius Varley]

2 hours ago, Wardr77 said:

Appears to be a GPS week number roll over issue that have affected number of older units possibly pre-2012. A bit of a discussion going on about this in the Celestron section of CN.

Also here

 

[michael8554]

The StarPatch team have a history of Autostar updates that fix Meade's firmware bugs, and this GPS Rollover is going to be a case in point, although to be fair it's not Meade's fault.

Fixes for the AudioStar,  the 497 Autostar (ETX and LX90) and Autostar II (LX200GPS) are working and will be released soon.

https://www.stargps.ca/downloads.htm

You don't need to bother with the software and instructions for installing their replacement StarGPS units, just StarPatch  (SetupSP.exe) 

You'll find their loader is faster and much easier to use than the Meade ASU.

You will need to install the free StarPatch loader utility.

You can then use that to create and load the patch live ( best )

or you can use StarPatch to create a patched rom that can then be

loaded using Meades ASU ( not best )

Note, the std patch does not have this fix auto selected.

If you need the fix, just check the box

I'll post when news of the releases become available .

Meade seem to be totally at a loss ...........

Michael

[Wardr77]

Hi thanks for this. I see Andrew Johansen is already on the case. When the fixed version is released is it simply the case of paying for the registration key and going through the update process?

Also seems odd that some units have reverted to 1999 but mine/ meade has gone to 2099...

 

[michael8554]

No need to pay unless you feel obliged for their help....

The trial version is fine.

Meade used several manufacturers for the GPS  units,  so different results.

Michael 

[michael8554]

The patches are avaible, look for April 2019 issue

Gday All

Just a heads up, the GPS Rollover patches for the LX200s and 497 "Autostars"

are now up on the StarPatch ( many site thanks to Chris Carson )

http://www.stargps.ca/downloads.htm

The patch works in the same way as all others, but the new "Rollover"

option is not selected by default.

If you need that specific fix, just select the default patch options

as per usual, then select the GPS rollover option

and any others you might "like" to have.

I have tested best i can with both with my failing GPS lumps 

but have no ideas if there are any other oddballs out there , 

so all feed back on anything odd is welcome

Have fun

 

Andrew Johansen Melbourne Australia

[michael8554]

You can fix your scope's GPS problems by downloading and installing our free patch kit for the Autostar's firmware.

 

It requires a PC-to-scope connector cable and (depending upon your PC) perhaps a USB-to-serial adapter.

 

Then visit http://www.stargps.ca/starpatch.htm  to pick up the free (for this purpose) StarPatch program.

 

If you can have your PC attached to the scope and, at the same time, connected to the internet, it becomes a case of:

(a) hook it up, turn on the scope.

(b) fire up StarPatch and tell it what kind of Autostar/scope you have

(c) it will offer to fetch the newest patch kit (v21 for v4.2g in the Autostar) and firmware,  let it do so.

(d) you will be presented with a "tick list" of features in the patch ... scroll to the bottom of that and tick the 

[Fix GPS Rollover bug]                  choice.

(e) then tell it to proceed with the process ... it has a progress bar, and takes about 15 minutes.

(half of it goes very quickly, and half at "Meade speed" (paid-for copies of StarPatch do it all quickly).

(f) when it tells you it's done, you may exit StarPatch, turn off the scope and disconnect everything.

 

That's it.   The patch adds 1024 weeks to the (wrong) date it gets from the GPS receiver.

The receiver will properly work out your position.

 

have fun

--dick

p.s. "GPS Problem"?  No ... it was a known design compromise in the old GPS signal.  Some receivers (such as the Sony that Meade used in the early LX200GPS in 2002) handle it properly.   There are many work-arounds, and the Autostar's updateable firmware makes it relatively easy to address.

Our patch will also handle the problem if the Sony should mess up within the next few years.

[TonyA]

I have just bought a second hand iOptron MiniTower mount which is suffering from the same week rollover problem. They have advised me to enter the date manually after the GPS has updated, or buy a new GPS module which I consider unacceptable even at half price of $50 plus import duty etc. I tried a cheap Chinese U-Blox GPS module which should be OK for the rollover problem, but the mount doesn't recognise it  - perhaps the iOptron module has custom software. Having found this is a generic problem, I emailed iOptron again to see if they can release a software patch for the controller to get round the problem. They have just emailed me back to say no. For now I will keep resetting the date after the initial GPS setting of it. 

Tony

 

[michael8554]

Meade have issued a fix for most  of their mounts but not yet for the LX90 / ETX version of Autostar.

But reports are the fix is flaky, so hold off until they have fixed the fix !

Michael

[ollypenrice]

I wish I'd seen this thread earlier because last night our LX200 14 inch wouldn't align. Fortunately one of our guests had seen the thread so we stopped trying! It seems absurd that one cannot input the time, date and location without the GPS. Is this really the case? Time to see what the manual says on the matter.

Olly

[michael8554]

Go into the Setup menu and under GPS there are 3 settings. 

Select OFF

Power off and on again

First time only check in Setup / Targets / Sites / Edit that your location has been stored, not sure if you needed that info when GPS was on. 

Daylight Saving No? You can toggle to Yes if preferred. 

Time and date then only take a minute 😆 to enter. 

If you get around to applying the fix, the Star GPS guy's fix saves a lot of your settings, Meade doesn't. 

Michael 

[Bob C]

Updated firmware on my lX200 GPS from 2.0b to 4.2l last night. Fortunately, everything went very well.Used a Windows based laptop but I wonder if an Apple laptop would also be effective? Afterall, the Windows based laptop connected to the Meade website and the transfer was via WiFi........ Any thoughts on this?....bob

 

[MarsG76]

On 14/04/2019 at 17:55, Wardr77 said:

Just last night scope would not align (LX90 ACF with GPS unit). Checked date and it read 29-Aug-2099, time was ok. When I changed the date all was ok and scope aligned fine. However in the past never had to add the date, the GPS unit always picked this up. Any one else experienced this problem?

Thanks!

 

On 14/04/2019 at 18:22, Wardr77 said:

Appears to be a GPS week number roll over issue that have affected number of older units possibly pre-2012. A bit of a discussion going on about this in the Celestron section of CN.

Definitely the GPS Epoch week rollover issue... Check for updates for your system.