Pegasusastro focus cube cannot be connected

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aracam
Posts: 4
Joined: Sat Nov 27, 2021 11:36 pm

Pegasusastro focus cube cannot be connected

#1

Post by aracam »

Hi all,
got my my new pegasusastro focus cube 2 today. I installed it on my Windows 10 machine. No problem connecting directly through the focus controller software from pegasusastro. Win10 USB drivers and ascom drivers are installed, too. All drivers are new, downloaded today from the pegasusastro website.

I made a diagnostic scan with Ascom Diagnostics, have a look at screenshot "SharpCap3" and "SharpCap4". The device is working properly and can be reached out.

My problem is within Sharpcap. Have a look at the attached screenshots "SharpCap" and "SharpCap2". I cannot configure the focuser inside sharpcap. And I cannot connect to it. Every time I try to configure it in Sharpcap I get the error message shown in screenshot "SharpCap". When I ignore the error message, connect my camera and tick the box "connect" in the Scope controls windows, error message "SharpCap2" occurs.

I uninstalled all ascom drivers, ascom platform and sharpcap - reinstalled it - the problem is still there.

My sharpcap version is 4.0.8395.0 / 64bit.
I am using Windows 10 professional, 64bit.

Can anyone help me please. Thanks in advance
Daniel
Attachments
Screeenshot Ascom Diagnostics
Screeenshot Ascom Diagnostics
SharpCap4.JPG (38.42 KiB) Viewed 403 times
Screeenshot Ascom Diagnostics
Screeenshot Ascom Diagnostics
SharpCap3.JPG (72.53 KiB) Viewed 403 times
Screenshot Sharpcap
Screenshot Sharpcap
SharpCap2.JPG (49.61 KiB) Viewed 415 times
Screenshot Sharpcap
Screenshot Sharpcap
SharpCap.JPG (85.51 KiB) Viewed 415 times
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admin
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Re: Pegasusastro focus cube cannot be connected

#2

Post by admin »

Hi,

I had Evans from Pegasus Astro contact me about this issue yesterday. I think that probably one of the checks that SharpCap does on the ASCOM driver just after connecting to it is generating an unexpected error. That certainly seems likely from the detailed error message that you included, which translates as roughly 'Object reference not set to an instance of an object'.

What would help pin it down is for you to post the SharpCap log file - saved after you have tried to connect to the camera and have seen the error message. That should contain detailed information on what SharpCap was trying to do when the error occurred, and will either give me the information needed to fix the problem, or information that I can pass on to Evans at pegasus to help him fix it.

thanks,

Robin
aracam
Posts: 4
Joined: Sat Nov 27, 2021 11:36 pm

Re: Pegasusastro focus cube cannot be connected

#3

Post by aracam »

Hi Robin,

thank you for your fast reply. I really appreciate it!

In this post I will send all the information you requested:

SharpCap-Log-NUCPC -> This log was created when my ZWO ASI 2600MC pro camera was attached

SharpCap-Log-NUCPC_no-camera -> This log was created when no camera was connected. I opened only the SharpCap settings windows, clicked on the Hardware tab, selected Pegasus Astro Focus Controller and clicked on “properties”. The error message “could not show the focus driver properties…” occurred.

Furthermore, I attached the text file “NUCPC-Systeminformation” to this post. Here are all the hardware/software system information from my pc inside.

Maybe it will help you, if know more about my setup:

PegasusAstro Power Box Advance (PPBA) Gen1
To this is attached through USB: PegasusAstro FocusCube (Universal), ZWO ASI 290mm mini, ZWO ASI 2600mc pro, SkyWatcher AZ-EQ6 pro goto -> All devices are plugged to USB 2.0 ports of the PPBA.

The PPBA is attached to my Intel NUC Mini PC through USB 3.0

I will forward you a second post, because I exchanged the Intel NUC PC with my Lenovo Laptop and tried to minimize assumptions and isolate the problem.

Best regards
Daniel
Attachments
SharpCap-Log-NUCPC_no-camera.txt
(29.63 KiB) Downloaded 26 times
SharpCap-Log-NUCPC.txt
(42.31 KiB) Downloaded 25 times
NUCPC-Systeminformation.txt
(170.55 KiB) Downloaded 25 times
aracam
Posts: 4
Joined: Sat Nov 27, 2021 11:36 pm

Re: Pegasusastro focus cube cannot be connected

#4

Post by aracam »

Hi Robin,
here is my second post.

My Laptop has the same Software/Version installed as my Intel NUC PC. However same things are going different there.
When I attached my Lenovo Laptop yesterday evening to the focuser, it worked properly through SharpCap. I was able to open the configuration settings and to open the camera.
Today I still can open the configuration window of the focuser inside SharpCap, but when I try to open a camera the same error message occurs as on the Intel NUC PC. Strange!
I tried different combinations: Focuser direct attached to Laptop/Intel NUC, with/without cameras direct attached, all attached through PPBA… Nothing worked…

I attached a log file in combination with my Lenovo Laptop, too.

If you need further information don’t hesitate to contact me.
Best regards
Daniel
Attachments
SharpCap-Log-Laptop.txt
(35.32 KiB) Downloaded 27 times
aracam
Posts: 4
Joined: Sat Nov 27, 2021 11:36 pm

Re: Pegasusastro focus cube cannot be connected

#5

Post by aracam »

Hi Robin,

Evans forwarded me a new Ascom driver and with a smal, additional configuration of myself everything works fine now. Have a look at the PegasusAstro Forum:

https://pegasusastro.com/forum/viewtopi ... p=776#p776

Nevertheless, thank you very much for you prompt help! Never expierenced such a fast help in a forum!

Best regards
Daniel
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admin
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Re: Pegasusastro focus cube cannot be connected

#6

Post by admin »

Hi Daniel,

glad we are making progress (even if not quite there yet). What you are now seeing is a result of the ASCOM driver still doing something slightly odd.

SharpCap is asking the ASCOM driver to connect to the device and then pretty much the next thing SharpCap does is check the connected status (which should be connected.) In this case the Connected state is coming back as not connected immediately after the request to connect.

Now, strictly the behaviour of the ASCOM driver here is incorrect according to the specification. Unfortunately there are lots of incorrect ASCOM drivers out there, and SharpCap has to try to work with them even if they are wrong. SharpCap does this check on the connection status because some other drivers out there don't properly report failure to connect, instead they appear to succeed and then report that the connected status is false, just as is happening here.

Hopefully Pegasus should be able to work around this issue too given the information above.

cheers,

Robin
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