Hi Robin
I have now bought a new laptop and can't believe I am getting the same problem! The power usage is still coming up very high in the processes bar. I am really surprised, and as you can imagine 'frustrated' I have connected the camera, focusser and filterwheel to a powered hub but the problem isn't going away. Unfortunately, I can't send you an error log because the program crashes. Can you suggest anything else please Robin, should I return the new laptop? (only have 14 days I think). It's very strange, - it won't function on my old Dell or my new one, but functions on my friends asus laptop.
I look forward to your help please?
Regards
Harvey
Filter wheel crashing
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Re: Filter wheel crashing
Hi Harvey,
sorry to hear that this is still causing issues with the new laptop. When you say that SharpCap is crashing, is it just vanishing with no warning or message about an error? If that's happening then there are things we can try to capture information about the error.
Some other things that you can try
* Make sure you have the latest version of SharpCap, and also try SharpCap 4.1 which has a lot of bug fixes compared to 4.0
* Make sure that you have an up-to-date version of the ASCOM platform installed
* Check your graphics card drivers are up to date on the new laptop (best to get them from AMD or Intel or NVIDIA - depending on who makes the graphics chip on the laptop - that way you get the very latest)
* If none of the above help then in the SharpCap settings, untick the 'Use Graphics Card Acceleration... ' option and restart and see if that helps.
Another path to take is to compare everything on your laptop (failing) with your friends working one - note down where you have different versions of ASCOM, SharpCap, etc, and gradually try to get the software on your laptop to have the same versions as on his to see if that helps.
cheers,
Robin
sorry to hear that this is still causing issues with the new laptop. When you say that SharpCap is crashing, is it just vanishing with no warning or message about an error? If that's happening then there are things we can try to capture information about the error.
Some other things that you can try
* Make sure you have the latest version of SharpCap, and also try SharpCap 4.1 which has a lot of bug fixes compared to 4.0
* Make sure that you have an up-to-date version of the ASCOM platform installed
* Check your graphics card drivers are up to date on the new laptop (best to get them from AMD or Intel or NVIDIA - depending on who makes the graphics chip on the laptop - that way you get the very latest)
* If none of the above help then in the SharpCap settings, untick the 'Use Graphics Card Acceleration... ' option and restart and see if that helps.
Another path to take is to compare everything on your laptop (failing) with your friends working one - note down where you have different versions of ASCOM, SharpCap, etc, and gradually try to get the software on your laptop to have the same versions as on his to see if that helps.
cheers,
Robin
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Re: Filter wheel crashing
Hi Robin
What happens, is the program will just stop responding, so I have to force a shutdown using task manager.
I have downloaded 4.1. However, when I try to turn off the Graphics card acceleration, I can't click apply or ok because the box is shaded out, - so I am unable to change this.
My Ascom is 6.6.0.0, and the Hitec Astro Focusmaster has the latest 1.1 version
I have noticed that when SC stops responding, the HA focusmaster does too, - so I think the issue is to do with that. Does it matter that my PC is a windows 10 64 bit system and the focusmaster is 32? I guess I might have to change the HA unit, but if I did this, what should I change it to to avoid any further incompatability issues?
Kind regards
Harvey
What happens, is the program will just stop responding, so I have to force a shutdown using task manager.
I have downloaded 4.1. However, when I try to turn off the Graphics card acceleration, I can't click apply or ok because the box is shaded out, - so I am unable to change this.
My Ascom is 6.6.0.0, and the Hitec Astro Focusmaster has the latest 1.1 version
I have noticed that when SC stops responding, the HA focusmaster does too, - so I think the issue is to do with that. Does it matter that my PC is a windows 10 64 bit system and the focusmaster is 32? I guess I might have to change the HA unit, but if I did this, what should I change it to to avoid any further incompatability issues?
Kind regards
Harvey
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Re: Filter wheel crashing
Hi Harvey,
odd that you cannot change that setting - I have just checked and can't see anything that should be capable of disabling the checkbox![Sad :(](./images/smilies/icon_e_sad.gif)
The fact that HitecAstro freezes at the same time as SharpCap is telling - it seems very possible that SharpCap has sent a command to the focuser and is waiting for a reply, but if HitecAstro has frozen up then it will wait for ever![Sad :(](./images/smilies/icon_e_sad.gif)
Does the Hitec Astro software have any option to turn on logging? Doing that might help catch whatever is causing it to freeze up and then freeze SharpCap (presuming that's the right analysis).
Other than trying that, it rather comes down to trial and error at this point - you could try connecting to the Hitec Astro via the ASCOM Device hub (setup SharpCap to talk to device hub focuser, then set that up to talk to Hitec Astro). It's possible that might help. If you get anything of interest from the Hitec Astro logging then you could reach out to them for help.
If you are thinking of changing the focuser then I am currently running both the ZWO EAF and the Pegasus Astro ones - both are good, but the ZWO perhaps wins on the fact that the latest versions only need USB input (no 12V power required).
cheers,
Robin
odd that you cannot change that setting - I have just checked and can't see anything that should be capable of disabling the checkbox
![Sad :(](./images/smilies/icon_e_sad.gif)
The fact that HitecAstro freezes at the same time as SharpCap is telling - it seems very possible that SharpCap has sent a command to the focuser and is waiting for a reply, but if HitecAstro has frozen up then it will wait for ever
![Sad :(](./images/smilies/icon_e_sad.gif)
Does the Hitec Astro software have any option to turn on logging? Doing that might help catch whatever is causing it to freeze up and then freeze SharpCap (presuming that's the right analysis).
Other than trying that, it rather comes down to trial and error at this point - you could try connecting to the Hitec Astro via the ASCOM Device hub (setup SharpCap to talk to device hub focuser, then set that up to talk to Hitec Astro). It's possible that might help. If you get anything of interest from the Hitec Astro logging then you could reach out to them for help.
If you are thinking of changing the focuser then I am currently running both the ZWO EAF and the Pegasus Astro ones - both are good, but the ZWO perhaps wins on the fact that the latest versions only need USB input (no 12V power required).
cheers,
Robin