AUTOSTAR II DEAD

[Darth_Muppet]

Left the LX200R on doing a Cal Sensors, was a bit light so decided to leave it all on whilst I went in for a cuppa.

Came back out and found the AutoStar II blank, well I know sometimes it switches of/goes to sleep so pressed a key expecting it to burst into life....it didn't.

Switched the scope off/on...nothing.... Total poweer down, disconnect and reconnect......nothing. Power light on Smart Mount Control panel but nothing on the handset at all.

Tried switching on holding ENTER and SCROLL DOWN, and also 999...nothing, diddly squit!

And it's lovely and clear tonight as well.....!!!!!

HELP!

[centroid]

Sound like another 'dead' handbox

I've had two replaced within 15 months from new.

I believe that there was a 'bad batch' of hanboxes released, and rumour has it, a particular component change was made, which resulted in handbox failures.

Dave

[Darth_Muppet]

This is now officially WIERD!

Decided to get the Scope in rather than work outside on it, bloomin' cold! Brrrr

Connected everything up and switched on...nothing...tried again...nothing...tried again and the damn AutoStar came on...

Switched off, and on..nothing...tried again and it came on...

It's not the cable as it's not moving at all, completly static.

Have decided to wipe it and then do a complete reinstall of the 42g firmware, which it is doing now.

Is there anything special about the AutoStar II with a LX200R GPS on a Smart Mount ?

I was wondering if it could be the Smart Mount Controller itself rather than the AutoStar..?

[Darth_Muppet]

Connected the system up, used ASU to get the "Virtual" handbox control up on the PC Screen.

AutoStar screen was blank, no lights at all, no response on screen when pressing any of the buttons.

BUT...last night I got it all lit up, loaded up the latest firmware and left the thing on ALL night, came back this morning and it was still on.

Switched the LX200 off/on, no display again and HBX dead.....

Definately not a cable prob though... swapped it round, cleaned contacts...nothing..

Even though, with the handset apparently dead, the ASU software will still dtect it and connect to it.

[centroid]

That's exactly the same way as both my HBX went, before eventually 'going terminal'

With the HBX's 'dead', I could still connect and 'talk' to the scope as per normal, using the remote HBX facility within the Pempro software.

Dave