SharpCap not detecting ZWO cameras

[orionic]

I had many successful EAA sessions with my ASI224mc on SharpCap, running on Parallels on my Mac. A few weeks ago SharpCap stopped detecting this camera. Possibly I broke the camera (clanked it with a chair leg). So, I bought an ASI294mc which arrived today. I am unable to get SharpCap to detect this new camera either. I installed the newest ZWO ASI native driver (3.0.0.7). I updated SharpCap to the latest version. What else can I do?

[admin]

Hi,

I think the most obvious thing to test is to try using an actual PC rather than a virtualised version – I've heard of people having success running cameras inside parallels, but also of people having the sort of problems that your reporting that the cameras are either not detected or are detected but just don't work. Boot Camp supposedly works better, but since I don't use Macs then I can't give any real advice about that. If you can lay your hands on a Windows PC for testing you can at least validate that the cameras, cables and SharpCap work properly and then you know that any issues left must be down to the virtualisation inside parallels.

Cheers, Robin

[orionic]

Hi, thanks for your reply. I solved the problem by going into the Windows start screen, in Parallels, and doing "update and restart Windows". There was a "blue screen" for a few minutes and then voila, SharpCap was able to view not only the new camera (ASI294mc) but also the old camera that I had thought was broken (ASI224mc).

Certainly, restarting the computer is something I had easily thought of and tried several times, to no avail. What I had neglected to realize was that doing so does not restart Windows. When Parallels shuts off, it merely puts Windows on "pause". So, there is a lesson here for "computer hygiene", when running a virtualized OS it is a good idea to restart it occasionally.

[admin]

Hi,

I don't think I would have guessed that solution, so well done for finding it. Glad to hear that everything is working now.

Cheers, Robin