Quote: [ I then plugged the additional 4 pin wire from the controller to the telescope's other aux port. The telescope was already on when I did this and the controller went blank. Light was still on but nothing on the screen.
If you did that, you can probably kiss the HC goodbye. There is power on the AUX connector, and that probably did fry your HC. Sorry...
How could you know it would fry the HC? Simple, read the manual first. Never plug _anything_ into a telescope without knowing exactly what is supposed to go where _first_.