Starlight Xpress Midi filter wheel crash

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umasscrew39
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Starlight Xpress Midi filter wheel crash

#1

Post by umasscrew39 »

Hi Robin

In the latest 3.2 version, as well as v4 beta, the new SX Midi filter wheel (which came out in January of this year) will cause SC to freeze then completely lockup and then close when we move from one filter to another. It may take a few turns before it happens but it always happens when SC is connected to a camera (I am using the ZWO 2600MM). It does not occur when using the SC simulated cameras nor does it occur when I try the FW in NINA. The crash occurs whether I have the FW running through the camera to get power on if directly connected to the powered USB3 hub mounted on the telescope. I did mention this to Terry Platt a few months back but we could never figure out the problem. If I use a ZWO FW then are no issues. So, it must be some relationship between the Midi FW and SC that is causing this.

If it cannot be resolved, I will just use ZWO FWs but I wanted to bring this to your attention in case others report it later.

Best Regards,
Bruce D.
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Re: Starlight Xpress Midi filter wheel crash

#2

Post by admin »

Hi Bruce,

thanks for the heads up - not seen this issue reported elsewhere or seen any crash reports from it, but it does sound as though it is crashing in a way that bypasses the normal reporting process :(

Could you try to create a crash dump file as described here - https://docs.sharpcap.co.uk/4.0/#No%20Crash%20Report%3F

Note that this option to create crash dump files only works in the 32 bit version of SharpCap.

If you can create a crash dump, please send me the dump file and I will see if it tells me anything.

thanks,

Robin
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Re: Starlight Xpress Midi filter wheel crash

#3

Post by umasscrew39 »

Hi Robin

I am still under clouds for 12 straight weeks except the one night I sent the question on NB filters using the multi-star focusing procedure. So, I decided to just trying testing this SX MIDI FW issue again during the day. I am attaching a screen shot and a couple of logs that I hope will bring light to the problem as it is inconsistent.

Here are some notes to go along with the logs-

- I am using a new HP laptop with WIN10 (update to date) and the latest release of SC 4.0 (error also occurred with older SC versions)
- The issue is solely with the SX FW. The ZWO FW works fine.
- The FW is plugged into the camera which gets it power from a PowerLynx box on top of the main scope which comes from the 12VDC (13.8 nominal) box connected to the observatory main power from my house.
- I tried various new cables with the same results.
- I tried connecting the FW directly to the USB3.0 powered Hub (instead of the camera) I have on top of the scope which runs down to the laptop but got the same results. HOWEVER- when I tested the FW alone connected to the laptop, SC did not crash for the 5 minutes I kept changing filter positions. So, I am not sure if this was a fluke or a hint to help solve the problem.

What exactly I am experiencing..............
When I log on to SC, I can connect the SX FW and it appears on the screen and you can hear the FW turns as it should. It eventually stops and then I try to switch to another filter and it sometimes does for one cycle of all 5 positions, or just 1 filter change or no change before it stops. Then, if I push on another filter there is simply no response until eventually SC totally locks up. So, unfortunately, the pattern is random.

I know this sounds like it is all over the place because it is :cry: .
Attachments
SX screen shot.docx
(186.38 KiB) Downloaded 36 times
SX errorV2.docx
(27.88 KiB) Downloaded 42 times
SX error.docx
(22.94 KiB) Downloaded 40 times
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Re: Starlight Xpress Midi filter wheel crash

#4

Post by admin »

Hi Bruce,

looks like there are two separate problems here ...

1) Error when trying to connect. This looks like either a driver bug or a failure to communicate with the wheel reported in the wrong way by the driver. What is happening is (roughly)

SharpCap => Driver : Can you connect to the wheel please
Driver => SharpCap : Done, no error
SharpCap => Driver : Just checking, are you connected to the wheel now
Driver => SharpCap : Nope!

If the driver cannot connect it should give SharpCap an error at the second step, not continue past that step without an error and then report that the connection was not made later. Of course it's possible that the 'Nope!' at the fourth step is incorrect - maybe it is connecting but not reporting successfully. Either way, not much I can do about that one - I added the check at step 3 to catch this very situation where a driver claims it has connected to the hardware but really hasn't...

2) Error trying to move the wheel - this looks like the wheel filter names are unset, which Sharpcap treats as an error (since it is again a breach of the ASCOM specification, which states that if filter names are unset they should be reported as 'Filter 1', 'Filter 2', etc.

I can do something about problem 2 (work around it), I think, but not much I can do about problem 1. Some ASCOM drivers have the option to log their internal workings, which might help find out what is going on in problem 1.

cheers,

Robin
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Re: Starlight Xpress Midi filter wheel crash

#5

Post by umasscrew39 »

OK- thanks for the explanations, Robin. Well, out of pure frustration, I decided to go back to my ZWO EFWs despite liking the SX FW better. So, to that end, I have another issue- namely, having 2 of them on a permanent setup- one on the C11 and the other on a piggybacked 80mm. The main one on the C11" works fine but I cannot seem to figure out how to get SC to recognize only the other FW. The options under the Hardware are ZWO Filter Wheel 1, ZWO Filter Wheel 2, and then lower on the list, ZWO EFW 1, ZWO EFW2, ZWO EFW3. I have been using ZWO Filter Wheel 1 for the FW on the C11" with no problems. I then tried ZWO Filter Wheel 2, thinking it would recognize the other FW on the 80mm but that does not work. I then downloaded the optional ZWO ASCOM driver but I still cannot get the second filter wheel recognized by ZWO Filter Wheel 2 or ZWO EFW2. Frankly, I am not sure what the difference is between ZWO Filter Wheel and ZWO EFW. I was assuming ZWO EFW was for when you use the optional ASCOM driver. This is why I thought having 2 different brands of FW would make things easier.
BTW- I have been using the v4.0 (64bit)

Perhaps I should just try to setup 2 separate profiles like you suggested to me back last October...
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Re: Starlight Xpress Midi filter wheel crash

#6

Post by admin »

Hi Bruce,

The 'ZWO Filterwheel (X)' entries are from the ASCOM driver and you will see them available even if you do not have the ZWO wheel attached to the PC. If you are going to use these entries then you need to hit 'properties' for each one and configure it to talk to the right wheel (the top dropdown in the properties window).

The 'ZWO EFW (X)' entries are from SharpCap talking direct to the filter wheel - they will only appear when the wheels are connected. I think these should work with multiple wheels, but I only have one to test with, so it's hard to be sure :(

If you have a log from trying to use ZWO EFW (2) when it fails, I will happily have a look to see if I can work out what is going wrong.

cheers,

Robin
umasscrew39
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Re: Starlight Xpress Midi filter wheel crash

#7

Post by umasscrew39 »

Hi Robin

I must be dense as I can't seem to get any of these options working.

When I try via the ZWO ASCOM driver using ZWO Filter Wheel (1) it runs my 1st FW on the C11. When I then try to setup (under properties) ZWO Filter Wheel (2) it allows me to enter the filter names but the wheel does not turn despite the log (attached) saying it identifies 2 ZWO filter wheels. I also don't understand under properties there is the option from a dropdown to select: EFW(IDO), EFW (ID1), and EFW(ID2). I selected IDO for both ZWO Filter Wheel 1 and 2. When I tried using EFW(ID2) the system crashes.

I had worse luck using the SC direct approach: ZWO EFW works fine for the FW on the C11 but selecting ZWO EFW (2) simply locks up and closes the program.

Bruce
Attachments
IMG_0997.jpg
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SC error.docx
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SC FW log.docx
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Re: Starlight Xpress Midi filter wheel crash

#8

Post by admin »

Hi Bruce,

I think I found a bug report submitted by you today relating to the ZWO EFW (2) option. While I was digging into that I found that there is a new version of the EFW SDK from ZWO, so I added that to SharpCap. It might just be that the update is enough to fix your problems, so can you give SharpCap 4.0.8025 a go and see if it is any improvement?

cheers,

Robin
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Re: Starlight Xpress Midi filter wheel crash

#9

Post by umasscrew39 »

I just tried it again with the updated ver of SC. When I went to select ZWO EFW 2 it said (in use) and I checked the filter names and they were correct. However, it is followed by and error message (attached) and then the program freezes, the screen turns white and then SC closes automatically.
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Re: Starlight Xpress Midi filter wheel crash

#10

Post by admin »

Hi Bruce,

can you grab the log for me - the 'in use' tag means that SharpCap couldn't open the wheel to get its name, which is weird. The log should have details of which part of that operation failed, which might just help explain what is going on.

cheers,

Robin
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