Celestron Nexstar 4SE+ Motors Not Working

[AstroRunny]

 

Hi

 

I have a Celestron Nexstar 4SE+ that I bought a few years ago.

 

It's been in storage for a few months. This morning I tried to set it up again with a view to enjoying the sky tonight, and to my disappointment the motor is not working....

 

When I first powered on, it showed this error message:

bootloader invalid package 0099 

 

I powered on and off and now it loads up fine and goes into the alignment mode on start up.

 

However the motors are not responsive at all when I use the arrows to try to do the alignment.

 

I'm wondering if there is anything I can try to do to resolve this and/or if it's likely to the "controller card" that is the issue, broken motors or something else.

 

If you have ideas of what I can try that would be great. Alternatively if you have could suggest a path to getting this fixed that would be much appreciated.

 

Thanks so much

With Kind Regards 

 

[Bruce Leeroy]

Theres some good info on this website.

 

This error generally means one of the files in the hand control is corrupt.  The fix is to reload the hand control firmware following these instructions:

How to Upgrade Hand Control Firmware - NexStar+ and StarSense

https://www.nexstarsite.com/OddsNEnds/HCFirmwareUpgradeHowToNexStarPlus.htm

https://www.nexstarsite.com/OddsNEnds/HCInvalidPackageError.htm

Edited November 11, 2023 by Bruce Leeroy

[AstroRunny]

Wow ! Thanks so much for the quick response. I'll try out the above later and post back

[AstroRunny]

I did look at this guidance for updating / fixing the firmware. However it looks like I'd need a cable + custom serial/usb connector that I don't have & wondering if it's worth investing in given that the error message is no longer coming up when I boot up the telescope?

Edited November 11, 2023 by Cornelius Varley
Text colour removed

[Cosmic Geoff]

It's worth checking that the motors are not set to minimum speed, which will look like nothing is happening. Set the speed to 9 and see if that fixes it.

If that does not work, it may be worth refreshing the firmware, though one would expect an error message if there is a fault. A cable and USB-serial set will be cheaper than a new mount.