QHY268M & QHY268C Users Thread (Please share your knowledge and tips)

[Rob_Jn]

That’s very helpful thanks. Of the files you mention none are familiar to me when I browsed through all the usual folders for a driver so I suspect the all in one package isn’t installing correctly. I’ll give it a go tomorrow and see if I can connect it to the driver if it’s there on my system.

The odd WestBridge entry does disappear when I disconnect the camera.

[Stuart1971]

1 hour ago, Rob_Jn said:

That’s very helpful thanks. Of the files you mention none are familiar to me when I browsed through all the usual folders for a driver so I suspect the all in one package isn’t installing correctly. I’ll give it a go tomorrow and see if I can connect it to the driver if it’s there on my system.

The odd WestBridge entry does disappear when I disconnect the camera.

I think it may be to do with the boxes you are selecting or not selecting during the driver set up process…

You should select the cameras and the ASCOM driver ONLY when installing, whatever happens do not select any of the software boxes, such as NINA or Sharpcap, as it uninstalls the proper SDK for the QHY and re installed the one included with the driver, and the NINA devs will tell you this is bad….really bad…

Also if you forget to select a certain box, it will assume that you want that particular item uninstalled, if it is already installed, it’s an awful driver and QHY will not change the way it works as the NINA devs again have tried to tell them on numerous occasions…

[Oddsocks]

Just as a sanity check try the camera again on your Win 10 computer.

A quick web search turned up that the WestBridge device name seen in Windows Device Manager is a Cyprus Semiconductors boot loader chip that is waiting to upload firmware, or the device firmware is already loaded but is corrupted.

If the camera still works ok on your old Win 10 computer you’ll know that the camera is ok and problem is with the new Win 11 computer, OS or the QHY driver package.

Win 11 no longer includes Visual C/C++ shared runtime libraries and assumes the device driver will install them if required but not all do so, or install versions that are incompatible with Win 11, but because the libraries are shared you only need to add one device driver that does have the correct C/C++ libraries for all drivers that need them to run properly, which is sometimes why a device works ok on one machine and not another that is in all other respects identical.

It won’t do any harm to download and install the two Microsoft Visual Studio C/C++ Redistributable packages linked below, you need to install both the x86 and x64 packages on a 64Bit Windows OS. The packages are just regular installers and you only need to reboot after running the installers for the libraries to be made available to any driver that requires them.

Probably won’t be the answer but it’s another possible crossed off the list.

https://aka.ms/vs/17/release/vc_redist.x64.exe
 

https://aka.ms/vs/17/release/vc_redist.x86.exe
 

 

[Rob_Jn]

Ok thanks for all the helpful information. So I did an imaging run with the camera on Friday and all good on the old PC, checked camera again yesterday and all working fine on Win 10 so I’m confident about the camera.

Looked in the drivers folder on Win 11 and nothing at all there for QHY so the installer hasn’t worked correctly.

A lot of effort but I’m thinking to set Windows back to factory settings and start again as I’ve installed the all in one about 3 times so something is messed up somewhere.

Ive only ticked drivers on the install nothing else apart from the EZCAP, no NINA etc.

re fresh start ASCOM first then all in one?

 

[Oddsocks]

Try this QHY Beta installer.

https://www.qhyccd.com/file/repository/publish/AllInOne/240109/QHYCCD_Win_AllInOne.24.01.09.17.exe
 

Make sure the camera is not connected then mouse-right-click on the installer and select “Run as administrator”

After the installation is complete reboot before connecting the camera.

[Stuart1971]

I really wouldn’t go down the QHY beta route, the stable drivers from QHY are pretty dire at the best of times, hence why I don’t upgrade from a 2022 version, it’s not worth the trouble….especially with latest windows 11…

But that’s just me….🤷🏼‍♂️

[Rob_Jn]

The beta version was what I installed originally but anyway went ahead again with admin this time and I was very hopeful because for the first time oddly the QHY5III appeared with the QHY5II, so ticked both boxes, restarted and alas again no drivers installed and camera wouldn’t work. In device manager this time ‘Wireless game pad F710 appeared stays up when camera disconnected no WestBridge. Time to roll back 🤔

Edited April 21 by Rob_Jn

[Stuart1971]

1 minute ago, Rob_Jn said:

The beta version was what I installed originally but anyway went ahead again with admin this time and I was very hopeful because for the first time oddly the QHY5III appeared with the QHY5II, so ticked both boxes, restarted and alas again no drivers installed and camera wouldn’t work. Time to roll back 🤔

Not sure if it will help, but I would install all the camera drivers available in the list when installing the driver, as I have a feeling I did the same as you and it didn’t work when I first got my camera…

[Rob_Jn]

Tried installing all 8 cameras available but no difference I’m afraid.

 

I’ve raised a ticket with QHY but not sure if they will keep to their 24h reply promise.

Edited April 21 by Rob_Jn

[tomato]

I had a cooling control issue which I raised with QHY, I got a reply the next day.

[Oddsocks]

Spoke to a colleague last night who had similar issues a few years ago and it was a problem with AV software deleting the QHY driver installation files at run time but with no warning, only discovered by looking at the AV logs.

If you have third party AV installed, or only Windows Defender, try temporarily disabling and then run the installer again.

I'm currently running the QHY All-in-one 20230509 beta on Windows 11 Pro and a 268M and did not experience any issue installing the original stable version or the 20230509 beta, which I upgraded to only for the new extended 2CMS acquisition curves. I have had no problems at all with the QHY camera running under the ASCOM driver for MaxIm DL and ACP, or Mount Wizard 4, or with my previous mount and TheSkyX Pro or PemPro.

If you want to verify that your Windows installation is ok before going to all the bother of reinstalling Windows then run the built-in Windows test and repair commands, which will either diagnose and automatically fix any Windows corruption or file system corruption, or report that the OS is damaged and unrepairable and should be reinstalled.

If you don't know how to access and run the built-in Windows test and repair tools see below.

-------------------------------------

Test and repair Windows using Windows built-in tools SFC and DISM.

Open an Administrator Command Prompt window.

At the search box on the Windows task bar type: CMD then from the pop-up menu mouse-right-click on the shortcut for Command Prompt App and select "Run as administrator".

At the command prompt C:\Windows\System32> type: sfc /scannow then hit enter then don't interact at all with the PC until the scan is completed.

(   that is,  sfc<space>/scannow   )

For a new PC with virtually no installed drivers or apps the file system scan and repair will take about 10 minutes, for an old PC with lots of drivers and apps installed the scan can take over an hour. After the scan is completed a status message will appear in Command Prompt window saying  problems found and successfully repaired or no problems found, or problems found that could not be repaired. If the latter, problems found that could not be repaired, then restore the computer from the original backup partition or media.

If the scan status message was problems found and successfully repaired, or no problems found, then next run the DISM tool to verify that the Windows OS itself is ok.

While still in the Command Prompt window.....

At the command prompt C:\Windows\System32> type: dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth and hit enter.

(  that is, dism<space>/online<space>/cleanup-image<space>/restorehealth  )

The DISM tool will inspect all the Windows OS files and if any are found to be damaged it will replace those with undamaged copies from a built-in backup.

After the DISM tool reports completion, at the command prompt C:\Windows\System32>  type exit and hit enter to close the command prompt window.

----------------------------------------

Assuming that both the SFC and DISM tools completed successfully and no unresolvable errors were found then reboot the computer, temporarily disable any AV software, then try running your preferred choice of QHY All-in-one package again.

HTH.

Edited April 22 by Oddsocks

[Rob_Jn]

I had a reply from QHY who sent me the same all in one file to download...tried and failed

Went through all of your ideas @Oddsocks and sfc did find a corrupt file which it repaired, dism didn't find any errors.

ran the installer again and no luck...

BUT on a bit of a whim I tried different USB ports on the Mele 3 and guess what the camera connected straight away!! The port I connected to is the single one on the side with HDMI and not the side with 3 USB ports on. I couldn't believe it, so what is different about that port?

I want to thank everyone especially @Oddsocks for helping me with so many ideas, thanks guys!

[Rob_Jn]

Seems now it has connected once it works on all the other ports too, very strange but glad to have the camera working.

[Oddsocks]

1 hour ago, Rob_Jn said:

….BUT on a bit of a whim I tried different USB ports on the Mele 3 and guess what the camera connected straight away!! The port I connected to is the single one on the side with HDMI and not the side with 3 USB ports on. I couldn't believe it, so what is different about that port?

Probably nothing different in hardware but failed and incomplete driver installs are logged in Windows to a specific port# and moving the camera to a different port appears to Windows as if it is a different device and the driver install (for Windows driver registration) will begin again right from the start.

Once the camera driver is successfully installed on the new port# then the driver registration is updated for all the previous failed ports (but not added to as yet unused ports).

Good to hear that QHY responded promptly and that the problem is solved.