Exposure looping without actually shooting

[Jonathancilia]

I used sharpcap today and it seems after some time a bug is happening where the exposure stops but the exposure slider at the bottom is still going but no new images are actually coming in (no they werent rejected frames) i dont know if this is a bug or not, tried 2 cables and still happening. Camera is new aswell

[admin]

Hi Jonathan,

what model camera do you have? If it is a very newly released model then please check that you have the absolutely newest version of SharpCap from https://www.sharpcap.co.uk/sharpcap/downloads - sometimes newly released models are recognized in the menu and open but do not send any frames unless the manufacturer provided code in SharpCap is updated. I had a brand new SVBony camera model arrive this week that showed that exact problem - camera shows in menu, can be opened, controls show up and can be adjusted but no images. With an SDK update from SVBony incorporated into SharpCap, the camera works properly.

Otherwise, checking a different USB cable is a good thing to try, also remove any USB extensions/hubs to test with just the normal length cable, and try turning down the 'Turbo USB' or 'USB Speed' setting to see if that helps (QHY cameras, turn up the 'USB Traffic' - same idea, works in the other direction).

Hope this helps,

Robin

[Jonathancilia]

It is the new sv405cc just bought it recently, i updated sharpcap and will see if the problem is fixed, it was still with the 16november version something like that, last numbers of the version were 829

[Jonathancilia]

Yes problem is exactly as you described, settings all work and no new images coming in

[Jonathancilia]

I updated sharpcap no difference camera still randomly stops, i dont know what to do now, i had this issue with the sv705c aswell recently it would stop exposing, could be my laptop usb ports i really have no idea

[admin]

Hi,

at this point the trick is to change one thing at a time to start ruling out (or finding) causes for the problem. Things to change include

* Switch to a different PC
* Switch to different USB ports
* Switch to a different USB cable (including try USB2 cable)
* Try using different software

Depending on the results, we can work out where the problem is - for instance if the only thing that helps is changing to other software then it is a SharpCap problem. If it works fine on another PC then it might be the laptop USB as you suggest. If the problem follows you everywhere then you start to suspect a problem with the camera, etc. Since it seems that the issue is a data transfer one, you don't really need to wait for clear skies (or even set up outside). Just connect the camera, set it taking photos at the normal settings with the sensor cover in place and come back later to see if it is still going or not.

cheers,

Robin

[Jonathancilia]

Thanks yes i think i will buy a new laptop anyway as the one i have has issues with low memory and such so its not a waste of money to have another better laptop, last night after i went inside i left the camera plugged in without touching anything and it stayed shooting exposures for 20 mins without issues so i dont think its the camera, then i tried touching the usb cable slightly and it began looping exposures thats why i think its the usb ports

[Jonathancilia]

Weird thing is i havent noticed any issues with my external hard drive/usb flash drives disconnecting

[admin]

Hi,

if touching the cable is causing the problem to happen, then it could be either the USB ports at the computer end, or the socket on the camera, or the cable in between. Another thing to consider is that the camera might draw more power from the USB port than an external hard drive - a slightly dodgy connection might be enough to glitch the power to the camera when the cable is disturbed and crash the camera, but maybe not do the same for a hard drive?

cheers,

Robin

[Jonathancilia]

I got a new laptop and problem is still there, to be honest its worse now as it wont even take exposures and stop, its connecting but with a blank screen, nina does the same so i guess its not a software issue, i have the svbony driver installed so it should work?