qhy5, banding, drivers and software.

[beamish]

I have to agree with Brendan.

My lappy is only 1.6Ghz with 2Gb RAM and has never had this problem and I've had a 4x port powered USB hub, Eqmod, SN 5 Pro, PHD, DSLR Focus (with USB/serial and USB lead), and even K3ccdtools plus wireless network etc etc....

As frustrating as it is I'd consider one last try B4 going back to Bern.

Strip everything to do with QGvideo and Qhy5 off the puta and ensure the registry is cleaned.

I'm happy to e-mail you the drivers I'm using if you want Reggie.

Karlo

[Reggie]

Hi Karlo, I've already pre-empted that and done a complete reinstall on the laptop and yes, in the past I've had phd running, with eos utils, starry night, polar finder, celestron gps software all at the same time without issue.

I did have some odd things happening last night, internet explorer just deciding to close, no error message, no event log messages, nada. whilst in the logs I did notice a raft of ati2mtag errors, so that could be the source of some issues, so it appears to be a driver issue of some sort, a quick google tends to suggest it might or might not be easy to fix. Whether that has any bearing on the qhy5 issue I don't know. Only one way to find out, cover me, I'm going in.........

On a side note, if things don't go rosy with the ati stuff I might well grab those drivers off you karlo.

[George]

Just to throw a spanner in the works, my QHY5 runs thru a 7 port powered hub and for 99% of the time I have no problems, also the DSLR uses the same hub. Occasionally I have had PHD freeze and I mean occasionally, restarting the program always cures the fault. I have noticed tho that PHD consumes a lot of processor cycles so Im guessing that people who do have continual problems may have PHD and some other program competing for those cycles.

[Reggie]

I think I have resolved the crashing, fingers crossed

Up until last night I couldn't get it to run properly with either program (phd my preferred app., guidemaster retailer suggested app) for more than about an hour, pretty pointless having the cam if it's not stable for that long.

I checked my even log and had been getting ati2mtag errors since the XP reinstall it would appear (no such errors before the reinastall), but only at boot time, this explains the freeze rather than a crash with an error message.

I Left the cam and PHD running and sat and watched 'the universe' while I was testing, I woke up 3-4hrs later phd still sitting there nicely and the red light blinking away on the camera.

[beamish]

Let's hope !

[Reggie]

indeed, its been running about an hour so far, if it makes it another hour or so I'll be happier. Just EQTour + eqmod sim. and phd running the camera via the ascom driver.

[Reggie]

Hi All, firstly thanks for all the support/suggestions, most appreciated as usual.

I think it's now working, I ran guidemaster last night for over 6hrs, not a single glitch out of it

So it would appear that the drivers acquired from a windows update are pants, throwing up the ati2mtag errors and causing all my pain, meh.

Oh well, onwards and upwards, just need another clear spell (Tonight lets hope, or failing that tomorrow night, or thursday night).

Thanks again everyone for chipping in

[brendant]

Great to hear all is working OK, as usual windows update is pants, I always use video drivers direct from the card manufacturer, my Dell with an ATI card had a persistent problem from new until I updated from ATI, have to say that I seem to have more problems with ATI drivers than NVIDIA on various machines.

Brendan

[Reggie]

Funnily enough brendan after I'd had a pants time with wupdate I went to the ATI site who kindly informed me that I needed to refer to my laptop manufacturer for drivers as ati don't produce their own mobility drivers for X1100 ati cards :/ So it was back to acer for the correct drivers.

Usually I would've just got the ATI drivers from their site but as I'd already had a go at this lappy over a year ago I was semi aware that there wouldn't be any drivers.

[beamish]

I've decided to turn off auto MS updates- cause more bl**dy problems then they solve !!

[Reggie]

Again I usually do, my mistake I blame shiftwork myself.

[Reggie]

OK, so even after getting everything stable on the laptop something is not quite right, I'm not entirely sure whats causing the issues but I'm still getting crashing on both apps. and no error messages. I think it could be the usb hub, its got plenty of power though and nothing running that needs anywhere near 500ma from any of the ports :/

I've given up on the laptop for the time being, I need to be imaging rather than faffing around, I've got a spare 2.4Ghz p4 (socket 478) dell box, its got 6 usb 2 ports, its running a pci ati rage graphics card with 1GB of ram.

It ran solidly last night without a hitch, I really do like that camera when my system isn't crashing I do a quick hand polar align using the setting circles (I'm usually very close by eye before I align anyway).

Then using EQTour I pick 3 objects and align and sync (this adds to the NStar list and saves having to mess around with the eqmod align routine). For my first object I always release the clutches and move the star as close as central in the EP by hand, then tighten clutches and finish the tight alignment with my gamepad controller.

Once I've done the alignment I can attach the qhy5 to the guidescope and know that the alignment star is going to be in the FOV (using the spc900nc was always hit and miss due to the smaller sensor). After a quick focus I do a quick accuracy test and slew to another star, centre it in phd and sync to it to add it to the Nstar alignment list for more accuracy in the goto.

I tested things out on M81/82, seeing was pretty poor before the clouds rolled in, despite that I told eqmod to slew to M81 and it put M81 as a faint fuzzt directly in my FOV.

Absolutely stunning, superb accuracy from EQMod and a short 1-5s exposure for the qhy5 shows enough detail to know its not a star As the qhy5 is seeing the faint imaging target there are plenty of guide stars in the fov to choose from too.

Pity the seeing was so poor as I haven't got any decent results to show you, the cloud rolled in after an hour, I left everything running including the dslr to see whether it was going to be robust enough for a proper session when the weather clears again.

It was rock solid for 4 hours, not a flicker of complaint from anything, qhy5 kept capturing, as did the dslr, at least for the time being I can use the p4 box until I can get the laptop situation sorted out once and for all.

[brendant]

Pity the laptop still seems to be crashing, it appears that some people never experience any problem and others seem to have lots of issues, it must be picky with the drivers or something, be it USB related or Video related, it's a shame because as you say is a great little guide camera when it works, great FOV and quite sensitive.

Brendan

[beamish]

Strange , but at least you can get to use it

Ps , I've never used EQtour, what's it like and is it seperate to eqmod or another app ?

[Reggie]

I thought it might be a resources issue, so I wanted something that I could use for alignment that was lightweight, EQTour is just a simple list of some of the popular catalogues of stars/DSOs, you can use it instead of starrynight or stellarium to align the scope, using minimal resources. It is a bit lacking in catalogues though.

[bwana]

Reggie, I have been reading your QHY5 thread with great interest; I could have written it. It is almost exactly the problems I had with KWikGuider which uses the QHY5 camera. Tried running camera off laptop; continued hangs and reboots. Tried camera with powered USB2 hub; actually burned out the hub. Tried camera on three other computers with limited success. I finally returned the camera for a replacement.

I received the replacement QHY5 three days ago and it has been running perfectly off my laptop since then (going on 72 hours) without a hitch. Dealer (KW Telescope) believes I simply got one of the duds!?

Installation instructions for PHD software below:

Please be sure you are using a USB2 port!!

Downloads for KWIQ Guider (QHY5) Installation.

-Remove previously installed drivers.

-Camera Disconnected

-Install in order 1-4

-Install as Administrator

1>ASCOM Platform

http://mswwt.vo.llnwd.net/o25/ascom/ASCOMPlatform5a.msi

Once installed, ASCOM provides the foundation for all ASCOM compliant devices from mounts to cameras. Please spend time at the site ASCOM - Standards for Astronomy to gain an understanding of this platform, and for updates.

2>QHY5 Base Driver (Generic)

http://www.astrosoft.be/downloads/index.php?QHY5Drv_.exe

3>QHY5 ASCOM Driver

http://www.astrosoft.be/downloads/index.php?QHY5ASCOMSetup.exe

This is the driver all ASCOM compliant applications will use to operate the QHY5 camera. The ASCOM platform must be installed prior to use.

4>PHD Guiding v1.10.2 or .3 (pre release version w/ASCOM Support)

http://www.stark-labs.com/depot/beta/Setup_PHDGuiding_1_10_3.exe <<<<<<<

LATEST BUILD(April 20, 2009)

http://www.stark-labs.com/depot/beta/Setup_PHDGuiding_1_10_2.exe <<<<<<< I

have used this one with no issues.

This pre release version of PHD Guiding includes ASCOM support.

After drivers and software are installed, plug camera into USB port. Follow prompts to complete QHY5 driver installation. Once camera drivers are installed, launch PHD Guiding.

In PHD Guiding you will see 5 icons in the lower left of the PHD dialog. Click the leftmost button with the camera icon. A dialog appears with a list of cameras. At the bottom of the list you will find the "ASCOM v5 Camera"- select it and click the

"Ok" button. Another dialog appears "ASCOM Camera Chooser". You will find

"CMOS QHY5 Camera" in the list- select it. With a camera selected the "Properties" button is enabled and clicking it will open a dialog allowing you to set camera gain

if you wish to so. Leave it where it is for now and click "Ok' and then click "Ok" on the "ASCOM Camera Chooser" dialog to close it. A message a appears indicating that "CMOS QHY5 Camera connected 1280 x 1024, Guider = 1". Click "Ok". Now click the 3rd button in from left at the bottom of the main PHD dialog and you will begin imagining with exposures set at the length selected in the exposure list just to the right of the "Stop" button.

Please follow these links for a tutorial on PHD Guiding and Nebulosity:

PHD and Nebulosity Capture Tutorial: Basic Connection and Focus

PHD and Nebulosity Capture Tutorial: Calibrating and Capturing

If using MaxIm DL or Guidemaster, please remember to download any plugins or drivers particular to the software being used and follow installation instructions for each. Remember the important part is to have drivers installed correctly before attempting to use any plug in.

Hope the above helps, if you're still having problems.

Also, QGVideo works like a charm with the new camera, i.e.: no banding and much cleaner AVI output. However, PHD and QGVideo still do NOT work at same time.

Here's hoping the new camera doesn't revert to its older brother's tricks...

Clear skies.

[beamish]

Hya, glad you got it all sorted, but you're never going to get the QG and PHD working at the same time