ASIAIR not showing Camera in drop-down

[deanchapman2705]

Hi all - hope you had a lovely Christmas!

Tonight is my first clear night in 3 months and probably will be for another 3 months 😂 so I have yet to try out my new setup I bought ironically 3 months ago and will hopefully be able to tonight.

It is currently set up outside right now but I have come across a problem with the ASIAIR where it is not picking up on the main camera (ASI533MC-Pro). I had this problem when I first set up the ASIAIR Plus and put it in another ongoing (slightly unrelated) topic so created a new one here.

I did solve this before by resetting the firmware back to 9.97 (which is what it arrived with) and then re-installed the latest firmware (10.46) but I have tried this again and it doesn't fix it now...

      

It only picks up on the 120 mini (guide). I can see the 533 powers on as the red light comes on and when I plug the USB cable in, the fan starts spinning.

I have tried:

- using different USB 3.0 cables from the ASIAIR to the 533 (including the one that it comes with)

- unplugging the USB cable multiple times whilst all powered on

- having the 533 USB unplugged from the ASIAIR when powering on the ASIAIR and then plugging it in

- turned on the power output in the app that the 533 is plugged into and changed the dropdown from "other" to "camera"

- only plugging the 533 in without the 120 mini (just shows no option)

- plugging the 120 mini into the usb port that the 533 was in and it picks up on the 120 fine so not the port (the 120 is in the usb 2.0 port and the 533 is in the 3.0 port)

- Connecting the 533 to a pc using a separate 12v power supply (camera works fine and did once before).

- Connect to the asiair using a separate power supply (not through the mount)

- the ASIAIR says 12v is going to the camera

- plugged the 533 into a USB2 port as well as doing the firmware update

but nothing seems to work.

Any last minute help would be very appreciated!

Thank you!

Dean

Edited December 27, 2022 by deanchapman2705

[Ouroboros]

@deanchapman2705 Sorry if this is going over ground you’ve checked, but is the spec of the power supply you are using to power the ASIair DC 12v @ 5A?

Edited December 26, 2022 by Ouroboros

[Ouroboros]

…. have you tried posting your questions in the ZWO forum? https://bbs.astronomy-imaging-camera.com/t/asiair

[deanchapman2705]

I have tried using a Celestron powertank like this -   which is 12v although it doesn't help. I am currently plugged into mains like how I did before when it was working.

I've just created a ZWO forum here - https://bbs.astronomy-imaging-camera.com/d/15544-asiair-not-showing-camera-in-drop-down

Thanks

Edited December 26, 2022 by deanchapman2705

[Ouroboros]

13 hours ago, deanchapman2705 said:

I have tried using a Celestron powertank like this -   which is 12v although it doesn't help. I am currently plugged into mains like how I did before when it was working.

I've just created a ZWO forum here - https://bbs.astronomy-imaging-camera.com/d/15544-asiair-not-showing-camera-in-drop-down

Thanks

Yeah, OK.  I’ll follow it there. I’m interested to hear the resolution of your problem.   I’m out of ideas. Apart from cables, USB issues or power what can it be - assuming the camera is OK, which seemingly it is?

There may come a point when you have to conclude that the ASIair is faulty (maybe intermittently) and have to take it up with the supplier. 

[scotty38]

Have you plugged the 533 into a USB2 port as it may need to see USB2 before it initialises?

[Paul M]

It strikes me as a driver issue. I read that you reverted to an old firmware that solved the problem in the past but not now. So I'm thinking driver not power being most likely.

What control does the ASIAir give you over driver installation? Hmm... I'm guessing none but perhaps a driver needs some attention? 

[deanchapman2705]

1 hour ago, scotty38 said:

Have you plugged the 533 into a USB2 port as it may need to see USB2 before it initialises?

Yes, tried this as well as doing the firmware update with it in USB 2.0 but no difference

[deanchapman2705]

1 hour ago, Paul M said:

It strikes me as a driver issue. I read that you reverted to an old firmware that solved the problem in the past but not now. So I'm thinking driver not power being most likely.

What control does the ASIAir give you over driver installation? Hmm... I'm guessing none but perhaps a driver needs some attention? 

Is there anything I could do when plugging the camera into my PC? Driver updates etc?

3 hours ago, Ouroboros said:

assuming the camera is OK, which seemingly it is?

Yeah I think it's ok. As in, I can plug it into my PC and device manager recognises it as a 533MC and I can connect to it with PHD2 (all I had on my PC) and loop exposures.

If there's nothing anyone else can think of, then I'll try returning the ASIAIR as faulty as I thankfully bought it new from FLO. If a new one has the same problem, then it must be the camera which is a bit awkward as I got it second hand. Maybe ZWO would be able to help if that's the case then?

[Paul M]

1 hour ago, deanchapman2705 said:

Is there anything I could do when plugging the camera into my PC? Driver updates etc?

Unfortunately I doubt it. The camera firmware is all that is on board the camera. Although there used to be a firmware updater available for some ZWO cameras not heard of that being used for a while. I used it to update my ASI120 mini when I got it to try and solve the issues I was having with Astroberry. Didn't work for me! As you camera talks to your PC when connected I can't see it being the firmware.

The drivers are the user accessible variable and are used by our imaging computers to interface with the camera. 

They can get corrupted or otherwise "lost" by the software or filing system that's why deleting and reinstalling drivers is often a cure for hardware issues.

[Elp]

Does the camera work in asi studio on your pc?

[StevieDvd]

I seem to recall a post either on here or cloudynights where an Asiair was not recognising an ASI533 camera and the fix was to reset the camera firmware. I've had a quick search but did not find the thread, but will let you know if I do find it unless you have fixed the problem by then.

 

[deanchapman2705]

18 hours ago, StevieDvd said:

I seem to recall a post either on here or cloudynights where an Asiair was not recognising an ASI533 camera and the fix was to reset the camera firmware. I've had a quick search but did not find the thread, but will let you know if I do find it unless you have fixed the problem by then.

 

That will probably be my post from before haha. It was on whether or not to get the ASIAIR and posted the problem in there but thought I'd make a separate topic now it's ongoing.

18 hours ago, Elp said:

Does the camera work in asi studio on your pc?

I will try that today, I only had PHD2 on my PC at the time so will install asi studio. If the 533 works fine in asi studio, then I will go through the returning process for the ASIAIR with FLO today. Like I said, if the new one has the same problem, then it must be the 533.

Edited December 29, 2022 by deanchapman2705

[Elp]

I don't know what they're doing tbh. I just bought a mini and for some dumb reason it fails to read my phone location. Yet with the gen1 and gen2 it works fine, same phone etc. Never had an issue with the older ones, they have worked pretty much faultlessly. This latest update I think was rushed to market, the issue I have has been posted on zwo pages for over a year.

[StevieDvd]

ZWO have been changing the Asiair internals recently. The first Asiair Plus were Raspberry Pi (CM4)  based, whilst the later versions have a ZWO board in with Rockchip processors. The new Asiair Mini are also Rockchip based (a lower spec than the Plus I believe).

I suspect that will introduce an issue or two if they have to check what cpu is present in the Asiair when they look for drivers. I bought my Asiair Plus 2nd hand and have not peeked inside yet. I have a Pro as backup as that uses sd-card for boot and can run Stellarmate or Astroberry (and use the power ports).

It's going to be interesting to see how this pans out and whether the software gets branched for the Rpi & Rockchip versions. So if a post says something works on their Asiair Plus it may not on all of them!

[Ouroboros]

Has ZWO tried to grow this product range and features faster than they can keep up with on the quality side?  🤔

[Elp]

The last update with on board stacking was a big one, but I didn't like how they reduced the size of your camera preview window, my phone is 21:9 so any reduction in size is magnified by not having pixel height. There was absolutely no reason to do this as the old full screen preview window worked fine.

Pretty much a few days later another update, so I wonder what they changed. By them using different hardware just fragments the user space and makes their support job more difficult, wonder who came up with the bright idea.

[Ouroboros]

Yes, the updates are coming so rapidly, and my imaging sessions so infrequent, I start the app each time wondering what I’m going to find this time. I also think the layout is a bit more cluttered than when I started using the ASIair - and I’m on an iPad. 

Edited December 29, 2022 by Ouroboros

[deanchapman2705]

23 hours ago, Elp said:

Does the camera work in asi studio on your pc?

Just tried it and yes it does work fine. Can take exposures and preview them. I feel like it's a driver issue, the fact that the 533 works with my PC suggests it must be what's on the ASIAIR that's causing the problem.

I'm going to email FLO tomorrow to return it as faulty.

[Ouroboros]

Good luck with that. I hope you get this resolved speedily. 

[deanchapman2705]

I have found the problem!! Turns out, it was to do with the dew heater on the guide scope. It was plugged into the 533 and I think it was drawing too much to power. I had the (to be installed) EAF plugged into the AAP but have just swapped them so the EAF is now powered by the 533 and the dew heater is plugged into the AAP. Everything now connects fine, the 533, EAF, 120mm and mount.

I am powering the mount with the iOptron brick which then passes through to the AAP which then powers the 533 (so all with one power brick) I do also have a Celestron portable power supply (12v 5a) which I can use to power the AAP separately (or even the entire setup like with the power brick) if I need to but it seems to be running fine now.

I can power the entire setup off and on again and unplug and plug the USB cable from the 533 into the AAP and it all works so doesn't seem to be a one-off fix like before with the firmware update which is good  just need to let FLO know now 😂

Edited December 31, 2022 by deanchapman2705

[Elp]

Good to know but I'd monitor it for now. My 183mm pro kept disconnecting from my asiair pro mid session (usually after each time I went back indoors) and I couldn't fathom why. Turns out the WiFi extender I was using was the thing that broke the camels back so I powered that and any dew bands separately.

[david_taurus83]

1 hour ago, deanchapman2705 said:

I have found the problem!! Turns out, it was to do with the dew heater on the guide scope. It was plugged into the 533 and I think it was drawing too much to power. I had the (to be installed) EAF plugged into the AAP but have just swapped them so the EAF is now powered by the 533 and the dew heater is plugged into the AAP. Everything now connects fine, the 533, EAF, 120mm and mount.

I am powering the mount with the iOptron brick which then passes through to the AAP which then powers the 533 (so all with one power brick) I do also have a Celestron portable power supply (12v 5a) which I can use to power the AAP separately (or even the entire setup like with the power brick) if I need to but it seems to be running fine now.

I can power the entire setup off and on again and unplug and plug the USB cable from the 533 into the AAP and it all works so doesn't seem to be a one-off fix like before with the firmware update which is good  just need to let FLO know now 😂

I don't think the USB ports on the camera are supposed to power dew straps. Mainly for filter wheel and guide camera, and even then they are flaky at best. Personally, I would power dew straps separately of the Air as well.

[Ouroboros]

I’m glad to hear you appear to have solved it, @deanchapman2705. 

Now … could you fix it for some clear skies!  😉

[deanchapman2705]

8 hours ago, Ouroboros said:

I’m glad to hear you appear to have solved it, @deanchapman2705. 

Now … could you fix it for some clear skies!  😉

I wish, so annoying how I many clear skies I've watched go by, trying to get this setup to work! And of course now it's working, it's forecast to rain for the next 10 days 😂

Thank you all for your help on this, oh and Happy New Year! 🥳🎉

Clear skies,

Dean