Connection Errors

[Starwiz]

I can't think what's going wrong and it's driving me nuts.  I keep getting connection errors where it says it can't find the port.

I have both APT and PHD2 connecting to the mount using POTH.   I think the way it works is that POTH connects to the mount via EQMOD.

When I get it working, it seems fine for a while, but when it stops working, I have to delete the ini file and sometimes even reinstall ASCOM and EQMOD.

Last night, it failed again just as I was about to start imaging.  The guiding stopped working because the mount couldn't be guided.  Previous to this I'd performed a move to a target and done a plate solve.  The problem seemed to happen just after I ran PHD2 to start the guiding.

I'm connecting to my NEQ6 mount from a laptop via a Lynx Astro USB EQ Direct cable.

UPDATE:  It's not the cable.  If I connect my old laptop it connects immediately.

Any ideas?

Thanks

John

 

Edited March 1, 2020 by Starwiz

[geordie85]

Have you checked that you're using the correct port and that it is set correctly in Stellarium scope? 

[Starwiz]

3 hours ago, geordie85 said:

Have you checked that you're using the correct port and that it is set correctly in Stellarium scope? 

I think so.  It's Com 3 and had been  working fine for the past 8 months or so,

[michael8554]

If you use ASCOM drivers for all the kit you shouldn't need POTH. 

Michael 

[Starwiz]

9 hours ago, michael8554 said:

If you use ASCOM drivers for all the kit you shouldn't need POTH. 

Michael 

Thanks.

I seem to have it working again (for the time being anyway).

I opened device manager, then plugged in the cable several times.  Eventually it recognised it.

I suspect it's something to do with the way windows assigns the USB comm ports, so I'll run further trials in the daylight to see if the problem comes back.  No point in wasting good imaging time.

John