too many SharpCap icons (symbols ?) showing up.

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carlwagle
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Joined: Thu Mar 07, 2019 6:58 am

too many SharpCap icons (symbols ?) showing up.

#1

Post by carlwagle »

When I first turn on my computer I see I have three SharpCap 3 icons (symbols ?). Any one of them will get things started but none of them allow me to call up my only camera, a ZWO ASI 178C. It is now missing from the listing for what ever cameras I might use. How ever I can still call up the SharpCap Experimental Deep sky Camera.

Mu computer is a Dell (less than a year old) and I'm using WINDOWS 10 software.

How do I fix both problems?

Thanks for any info you can share.

Carl
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Re: too many SharpCap icons (symbols ?) showing up.

#2

Post by admin »

Hi,

The multiple icons may be because you have more than one version of SharpCap installed on your computer (for instance 3.2, 3.1 and 3.0). If you go to the Control Panel and look at 'uninstall a program', you would find SharpCap more than once in the list. Just uninstall the older versions and leave the latest version installed.

If your camera is not showing up in SharpCap then the first thing to do is again heading to the control panel and look in device manager and check that the camera showing up correctly in device manager with the correct name and no little yellow exclamation mark icon next to it. If the camera shows up correctly in device manager then it should be stated by SharpCap. If it's not showing up correctly in device manager or has a yellow icon then try reinstalling the drivers from the ZWO website.

Cheers, Robin
carlwagle
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Joined: Thu Mar 07, 2019 6:58 am

Re: too many SharpCap icons (symbols ?) showing up.

#3

Post by carlwagle »

Thanks Robin. I will forward this to my son who helps me a LOT on computer stuff and see if he encourages me to try this before his next planned visit about 2 weeks from now.

Also, I should have mentioned in my first email that all SharpCap icons are saying SharpCap 3.2, the latest version. The number of repetitions has not increased, staying at three.

On my last night of viewing (two nights back) I had to shut everything down after several hours of good operation because the camera seemed to be not working at all. I tried shinning a flashlight down the Tel.Tube but no screen brightening showed up. I feel pretty certain that I closed down the camera before exiting the program using the FILE key in an orderly manner. I thought my problem might have been related to the accumulating dew somehow or another. Perhaps the Mouse was getting too wet. Carl
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Re: too many SharpCap icons (symbols ?) showing up.

#4

Post by admin »

I have certainly seen cases where the camera has frozen up and needs to be unplugged from the computer and reconnected for it to work again. Sometimes even the computer needs a reboot to if the driver for the camera has become confused when the camera froze up.

Cheers, Robin
carlwagle
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Joined: Thu Mar 07, 2019 6:58 am

Re: too many SharpCap icons (symbols ?) showing up.

#5

Post by carlwagle »

Thank you Robin. My son will make his monthly 200 mile R/R trip here this coming weekend. He is my computer Guardian. He has told me that he understands the directions you have given me and I'm happy that he will undertake to go through every step to straighten out this problem.

This having multiple SharpCap icons has been a problem before. I wrote about it to the forum Mar 29, 2019. At that time this extra icon came along with another superimposed problem (Zoom strangely applied all the time at 300%) which if on unawares can make your system appear possessed by some demon I pick up from my graveyard nighttime viewing spot.

I don't know if the 2 separate Mar. 29th. problems were connected but I lean that way in my conclusions,, but not certain. Here again,, I have one more than the last time of icons (3) and the camera is not listed. I'm hoping with my son I can learn (and pass on to the forum) what is causing this and how to prevent it from happening again. I'm Very optimistic. Carl
carlwagle
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Re: too many SharpCap icons (symbols ?) showing up.

#6

Post by carlwagle »

My son's visit seems to have straightened things out. I say seems because I still think something is loose here.
He got rid of the extra icons easily but he thinks somehow I did something that brought them onboard, I did not.

Here is the really loose part: He demonstrated that I needed to have the camera plugged in for it to register as a camera I could select. In other words my one and only camera I use won't be listed in the box that shows up over the DIRECTSHOW CAMERA box unless it is plugged into the computer. He is right now, but I don't think this requirement has always been necessary. What would happen if I had several cameras that I use? I have been thinking I would see them all listed, and I could select the one I'm about to use. Could anyone comment on this? Carl
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Re: too many SharpCap icons (symbols ?) showing up.

#7

Post by admin »

Hi,

Whether the camera appears in the list even when it's not plugged in depends on the type and manufacturer of the camera.

For the direct show section, some manufacturers have arranged for the camera to only appear when it's plugged in and some have written their software so that it always appears even when the cameras not plugged in.

For the Ascom section, cameras always appear once their ASCOM drivers have been installed regardless of whether they are plugged in or not.

For all other types of camera, SharpCap should only show those cameras are currently plugged in.

Cheers, Robin
carlwagle
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Re: too many SharpCap icons (symbols ?) showing up.

#8

Post by carlwagle »

Thanks Robin. So it is credible that my problem was that the camera was not plugged in. Ok, I hope our correspondence will help some others avoid frustration.
Live and learn,,, Carl
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