This is a long shot but I'm wondering if someone can't give me some initial direction in trouble shooting an error which CCDAP has reported on several occassions in the midst of long-ish sessions

Apparently Maxim is reporting that it cannot
start the guider. But I can't tell if it is reporting on the camera (a seperate Starfish) or my mount (EM400), a software error (sky , maxim 4.62), or what. A guiding/tracking error seems to be reported, but never changes. This makes me think the camera is "firing". Like I said any ideas or pointers would be appreciated as the error message doesn't give me much to go on.

Here is an excerpt from a representative CCDAP log. As I said this issue manifests itself in the midst of multi-hour sessions, well into the session:

04:44:10 Light Series 2: 1 light frame(s), binned 1x1, HA filter, 900 seconds.
04:44:10 Guide exposure is determined automatically
04:44:10 Each exposure start will be delayed by 5 sec.
04:44:11 Telescope RA: 23 21 19.8, Dec: +61 15 54
04:44:12 Getting guide star location...
04:44:15 SGM1: MaxIm DL 4: Cannot Start Guider
04:44:17 Peak star level: 2749, Exposure: 2.24 sec.
04:44:17 Too bright. Setting exposure time to minimum (1.00 sec.)
04:44:22 I:SG2, MaxIm DL 4: Cannot Start Guider
04:44:22 Start Guider Failed.
04:44:22 Guider x: 941.0, y: 151.0
04:44:22
04:44:22 Dither: +0.0, +0.0,
04:44:25 I:SG1, MaxIm DL 4: Cannot Start Guider
04:44:28 I:SG2, MaxIm DL 4: Cannot Start Guider
04:44:28 Start Guider Failed.
04:44:32 Guide Error X: 1.7, Y: 3.1
04:44:35 Guide Error X: 1.7, Y: 3.1
04:44:38 Guide Error X: 1.7, Y: 3.1
04:44:41 Guide Error X: 1.7, Y: 3.1
04:44:44 Guide Error X: 1.7, Y: 3.1
04:44:47 Guide Error X: 1.7, Y: 3.1
04:44:50 Guide Error X: 1.7, Y: 3.1
04:44:53 Guide Error X: 1.7, Y: 3.1
04:44:56 Guide Error X: 1.7, Y: 3.1
04:44:59 Guide Error X: 1.7, Y: 3.1
04:45:02 Guide Error X: 1.7, Y: 3.1
04:45:05 Guide Error X: 1.7, Y: 3.1
04:45:08 Guide Error X: 1.7, Y: 3.1
04:45:11 Guide Error X: 1.7, Y: 3.1
04:45:14 Guide Error X: 1.7, Y: 3.1
04:45:17 Guide Error X: 1.7, Y: 3.1
04:45:20 Guide Error X: 1.7, Y: 3.1
04:45:23 Guide Error X: 1.7, Y: 3.1
04:45:27 Guide Error X: 1.7, Y: 3.1
04:45:30 Guide Error X: 1.7, Y: 3.1
04:45:30 Guider stopped.
04:45:30 Try 1 to reacquire guide star...
04:45:30 Telescope RA: 23 21 19.8, Dec: +61 15 54
04:45:30 Slewing scope...
04:45:32 Slewed to RA: 23 21 10.7, Dec: +61 15 25
04:45:32 Mount settling for 3 sec. after slew.
04:45:35 Plate solving...
04:45:35 Telescope RA: 23 21 10.2, Dec: +61 15 24
04:45:58 C:\Documents and Settings\Candy Kammlade\My Documents\CCDWare\CCDAutoPilot4\Images\CCDAutoPilot_SyncImages\SyncImage_Bubble Nebula_044558.fit
04:46:03 Solved RA: 23 20 42.5, Dec: +61 13 02 PA: 101.2
04:46:03 Plate Solve Time: 27.6 sec.
04:46:03 Telescope RA: 23 21 10.2, Dec: +61 15 24
04:46:03 Slewing scope...
04:46:08 Slewed to RA: 23 21 13.9, Dec: +61 15 01
04:46:08 Mount settling for 3 sec. after slew.
04:46:11 PM pointing adjustment complete.
04:46:15 SGM1: MaxIm DL 4: Cannot Start Guider
04:46:17 Peak star level: 2749, Exposure: 2.24 sec.
04:46:17 Too bright. Setting exposure time to minimum (1.00 sec.)
04:46:21 I:SG2, MaxIm DL 4: Cannot Start Guider
04:46:21 Start Guider Failed.
04:46:21 Guider x: 941.0, y: 151.0
04:46:24 Guide Error X: 1.7, Y: 3.1
04:46:27 Guide Error X: 1.7, Y: 3.1
04:46:30 Guide Error X: 1.7, Y: 3.1
04:46:33 Guide Error X: 1.7, Y: 3.1

John,

Without a complete log, I can't tell much about what is going on. Because you can't start the guider, the error messages are leftovers and not representative of guider performance - the guider is simply not running! The failure to start the guider is an indicator of the old Starfish driver. Make sure you have the latest Starfish driver. Contact Fishcamp for the latest driver.

If your camera is an SBIG, you can try the internal guider to see if you still see the Maxim guider start problem - I'll bet you won't.

Thanks John.

That is the direction I needed. Reinstalling the drivers and enabling the logging in the Starfish driver sounds like the next steps.

Since everything I do is narrowband I need an external guider

This message has been edited. Last edited by: John K,

I don't believe the "Cannot Start Guider" problem is related to the Starfish.

I get this same error almost every long run using Maxim and an ST10 w/ AO-8. I does not show up immediately, but take 1 to 2 hour to show up.

John, I have attached one of many logs that I have. This reveals the problem around 03:19.

I have verified that the AO-8 is fully functional after this error message shows up.

Thanks,
Dale

ccdap20080801_024440.log (25 Kb, 28 downloads) Log File

Hi Dale,

The log that you posted is a CCDAP3 log rather than a CCDAP4 log. Do you have a CCDAP4 log that exhibits the message?

Frank,

Sorry, I am still running the final version of CCDAP3. Maybe I can download CCDAP4 and reverify the problem.

Dale

The attached log file shows another example of the "Cannot Start Guider" error. This time, I used the latest CCDAP4 with the latest Maxim (5.01).

Thanks,
Dale

ccdap20080918_225510.log (34 Kb, 21 downloads)

I made the following changes to see if I could help isolate the "Cannot Start Guider" error.

1) On the Tracking and Guide page, I used the suggest feature to change the Max. Dither from 3 pixels to 2.3 pixels.

2) I use the SBIG Driver Checker to update to version 4.60 Build 2 of the SBIGUDRV.DLL. The revision history only describes adding support of the STX and ST4000CXM cameras.

With these changes, I ran a CCDAP4 session with 80 subexposures. The session was error free

Perhaps one of these changes is the answer. I will continue to test.

Dale

Thanks for the report, Dale. Interesting. There may indeed be something (undocumented) in the driver update that helped the issue.

Let me know if the problem comes back.

John

If I could jump in here. I am able to reproduce the error. If a run is aborted, and the Maxim guide box is viewed, it will be seen that the "guide" button is depressed, and remains so, even after CCDAP4 aborts the run, this observation may be totally unrelated. When CCDAP4 is run once more, it will consistently fail as seen with the attached log. The only way I found to get around it is to one by one shut everything down, and restart, a rather inconvienient thing to do in the early hours of the morning.

Thanks
Adrien

ccdap20080924_205342.log (8 Kb, 16 downloads)

Hi Adrien,

I can not duplicate with simulators what you are reporting. I'll try under the stars tonight. Doug mentioned during the course of beta testing that unlike v4, the V5 user interface does not necessarily track any states set by the automation interface. So the button state may be a red herring.

BTW, the Limited Exceeded error message is probably coming from your settings in TheSky. Make sure Telescope/Settings does not have "Impose Slew Limits...", "Attempt to stop..." and "Keep crosshairs..." checked. These three boxes must be unchecked. It is always best to eliminate any errors during the course of a run.

Hi John

Thanks for that information. Last night I ran my first "all nighter" with CCDAP4. Please review the log. Basically if flopped because of the same "cant start guider" message. This error is after starting all programs after a re-boot. This problem is becoming quite an obstacle at the moment. Any advice appreciated.

Thanks!
Adrien Richardson

ccdap20080925_002139.log (15 Kb, 26 downloads)

It is even more of an obstacle for me - I can't reproduce it! I notice your peak guide exposure is around 1000. For reliable unattended operation, I'd set a higher level, 2000-3000. Don't know whether that contributes to the problem or not.

I will shortly post a patch file with more diagnostics to try to nail this down.

See http://ccdware.infopop.cc/eve/forums?a=tpc&s=290100098&...361025003#7361025003