206 replies to this topic

[Michael_Swanson]

Excellent topic , but ......

 

I had the famous  "invalid PKG 0080" message yesterday with 10/10 blue sky in France : Very annoying .

Celestron 4SE Model with the normal hand control .

As I am  a Mac user , I did follow this tutorial to the letter to end up with the other annoying message :

"CFM detected serial port on your Pc but found no device attached to them "

So what to do next ?

 

/ Celestron 4SE model 2016  /Amazon usb to connect the HC  / prolific usb downloaded/ computer restarted / Hand control started with 7/ logo depressed /All selections in CFM correct /Macbook Pro high Sierra mid 2009 / second try with a macbook Air 2016 .

No success until now .

 

Thanks for any advice for this as Iam not the only one .

Good night observations , regards from Normandy /France

 

Thierry 

Hi Thierry,

 

Try a hardware reset of the hand control:

http://www.nexstarsi...orySettings.htm

 

If that doesn't clear the invalid pkg error, we do need to figure out how to push the firmware update again.  Unfortunately, some USB to serial adapters simply don't work with CFM.  Do you have a friend with either another USB to serial adapter or a computer (desktop computer) with an actual serial port?  Or, perhaps a friend with a Windows computer that you can try using your existing USB to serial adapter? (some of the adapters work with CFM on Windows but not Mac)

 

Best regards,
Mike Swanson
Author of "The NexStar Users Guide II"
Author of "The NexStar Users Guide"
Author of "NexStar Observer List"
http://www.nexstarsite.com

[Thierry28722]

Thanks Mike,

 

I brought another USB serial adapter : no result .

The reset with key "0"had no effect either .

So I will try to find a friend with a PC and do the update with Mr Microsoft ....one of those days .

The other solution could be to use Wifi update via the AUX entry on the telescope but for that I need to buy something called "sky portal " 

 

Regards

Thierry

Edited by Thierry28722, 11 July 2018 - 10:10 AM.

[jamierichardson]

Bobby,  First, THANK YOU.  My bacon is officially saved, courtesy of you.

 

One more thing to add to the instructions (ok, maybe 2).  I tried updating my new Evolution 9.25 using macOS 10.13.5, the Prolific driver (make sure you approve it in the System Preferences=>Security and Privacy prefpane within 30 minutes of install if you are using 10.3.4 or higher.), and it wouldn't work...  again and again and again.

 

UNTIL I updated JAVA to 10.0.1 JRE SE.  Pushed reset on the mount (one final time)  and the new JAVA worked like a charm.  I received 11 updates and my scope was on the latest and greatest.  Thank you for the set of instructions that should be on the Celestron site, and I'm hoping this tidbit might help other folks who are having issues. 

 

In general, if you have to use JAVA (I tend to avoid it if possible) it's a pretty good idea to use the latest JAVA simply due to security patches in the current versions. Please make sure folks know to update to the latest version of JAVA that is supported for their OS.

 

Ok, so actually 2 more things- approve the Prolific driver in Security & Privacy after install on 10.13.4 and up, and update  to the latest JAVA

 

Oracle site for JAVA 10:

 

http://www.oracle.co...ds-4417026.html

[Thierry28722]

Thanks Jamie ,

I have tried again but without success .

I still have the same message : usb ok but no telescope attached to it ......

Question : when you write "make sure you approve Prolific drive " in the system prefs/security and privacy prefpane.

 

Where is that prefpane ? 

attached screenshot depicting this.

 

Regards 

 

Thierry

Attached Thumbnails

• 

[HenrikH]

info by Apple on this topic is here: https://developer.ap...459/_index.html

[Thierry28722]

Victoire !!!

 

Finally I got it right : The only thing I changed in the procedure was to depress the "Finish" tab , at the end of the process for at least 10 sec before releasing it .

Then I had all the updates and files downloaded to the telescope .

I also removed the batteries and replaced them again : perhaps a better voltage did the job .

Thanks for all your help .

 

All OK for Normandy nights .

 

Thierry

Edited by Thierry28722, 25 July 2018 - 01:09 PM.

[jamierichardson]

Thierry,

Glad it worked out and hope you were able to enjoy the eclipse.

[flyerdoc]

Wow, very interesting and detailed post. I am very new at this and trying to teach an old dog who's go to scope was a very basic hand driven dobsonian, well, its gonna be interesting!

 

I have inherited an eight year old Nexstar 6SE and will just just the older version software on it now 4.18

 

Started a thread about it in another area here and got some great advice which led me here.

 

Looks like an extremely interesting and helpful group, glad to be aboard!

 

Thanks,

 

Mike

[beecave]

Bobby - I have a newer NexStar8 SE (with the USB port in the hand controller) and have been trying to update it with an iMac running High Sierra.  I did allow the "user approval before loading new third-party kernel extensions" when installing the PL2303 driver.

 

Following all your other instructions things progress as outlined.  However, when I open CFM I receive the following message:

 

"CFM detected serial ports on your PC but found no devices attached to them.
Your telescope may not be connected properly."

 

I've checked all the connections following your instructions (Selecting Alt Az as the mount type however, for this unit) and still no luck.

 

Any ideas?

 

Thanks.

 

Scott B.

Hi, Scott B., Hi Tanya. You too, Bobby, 

We're already into August 2018 so I don't know how topical this will be for y'all given the original thread began over a year ago.  

I, too, had a helluva time updating my Nexstar controller/avx mount.  Each time when I opened up the CFM (Celestron Firmware Manager) on my MacBook Pro , and it was several times, the CFM would not recognize the device(s) I had, even though I had the proper serial to usb adaptor (Sabrent) with the driver installed.  Yet, every time, I would get this dreaded message:  "CFM detected serial ports on your PC but found no devices attached to them.  Your telescope may not be connected properly."

After an hour or so with no luck and most of my hair removed, I tried a last resort:  Try it on my iMac instead of the MacBook Pro.  Sure enough, the CFM recognized my controller and mount and proceeded to update all 11 of the packages.  Now, why would this be the case?  My only answer, besides it being just a different computer, may be with the USB 2.0 part of the adaptor that my MacBook and/or CFM, for some reason, wouldn't recognize but that my iMac could.  Maybe... who knows.  But it works now.  Hope this helps somebody.

Jeff

[Thierry28722]

Hi,

 

Had the same problem with an old macbookPro.

Try this:

1/ Verify the voltage of the batteries in the mount ( place new ones if needed)

2/ Start the whole process again from the beginning . At the last step : maintain the "finish" tab pressed down for at least 10 seconds before releasing it ( i suppose in order to give time to the system to recognise the mount via the USB port)

Good luck

 

Thierry

[lucutes]

So.. I might be dumb but I can't even open the CFM files... I have latest version of Java installed but my MacBook doesn't know how to open the CFM files. 

[Thierry28722]

This is probably because the files are still compressed when downloaded .

First you have to "unzip "the files 

 

Do a right click = ctrl click / open 

See here :

http://osxdaily.com/...n-zip-file-mac/

 

good luck

[lov2krz]

lucutes, the trick to opening files on a Mac from developers other than apple sometimes need extra care.  Since the CFM.jar is not native to Apple you need to highlight the file then  right click and select open.  You'll get a dialogue box about it not being Apple approved, ignore it and click open.  The CFM interface will open.

 

I strongly suggest that you look at the StarSense_Connection_Diagram jpg file to see how the equipment is supposed to be connected.  The photo doesn't ID the power cord but its connected to the mount.  I read in one of the articles from the site I reference below that the equipment doesn't need to be connected and all the firmware packages will still be downloaded so all you have to do  is take the laptop out to the scope.

 

There are lots of information on the Nexstar Resources Site at https://www.nexstarsite.com/ if you still have questions.

[Thierry28722]

Now , perhaps it should be a new topic .

How does "advance GT" works?

I am a dummy in alignment of my telescope ans so, I have to admit : did not manage to do it yet properly !

Question :

Before starting the "Two stars align" process : what should be the position of the mount ?

1/ it says : move the telescope to both index marks : OK , no problem +telescope in horizontal position ( bubble centered)

2/ choose the type of alignement you want : OK Two stars align seems to be perfect for me .

Then "choose a Star " : Easy : lets take the first one in the list 

 

3/ then the mess is starting : the mount start moving downwards to a completely unknown position and stops there : pointing to nowhere !! Then the motor speed is stuck to very low speed + nothing to see

 

Question : does the mount have to point somewhere precisely before starting "two stars align" or Solar system Align??? Polaris, solar system Mars ...? but if this is the case , the two indexes in step  1 are not aligned ...

So , answers welcome as until now I can only point manually to the stars but i am unable to use anything of the Celestron software.

 

Celestron Nexstar 4SE

 

Regards

 

Thierry

Edited by Thierry28722, 18 August 2018 - 08:15 AM.

[Michael_Swanson]

Hi Thierry,

Please do start a new topic for this.

Best regards,
Mike Swanson
Author of "The NexStar User's Guide II"
Author of "The NexStar User's Guide"
https://www.NexStarSite.com

[basskep]

In case anyone else is looking for this information, I've just gone through quite a bit of searching, and ultimately called Celestron technical support (thanks for your patience, Will…!) to find how to use the Celestron Firmware Updater (CFM) version 2.3.7111 to update my CGX mount and StarSense accessory from my MacBook Pro (late 2016, USB-C ports only) running macOS Sierra (10.12.5).

 

I've successfully updated:

1. The CGX mount with the NexStar+ hand controller
2. The StarSense accessory with the StarSense hand controller

 

Here's what I needed to do to get CFM to find the devices, and do the updates.

1. Download the Prolific USB-to-Serial driver from here: http://www.prolific...._id=229&pcid=41
2. Install the driver you just downloaded (restart of the computer is required, but no further configuration is needed)
3. (First, do the NexStar+ hand controller and related mount updates) With ONLY power and the NexStar+ hand controller connected to the mount and NO connection between the hand controller and computer:
   1. Hold down both the Celestron logo and the MENU/7 keys on the hand controller
   2. Turn on the mount
   3. Confirm that the hand controller says (1st line) "BOOT LOADER Serial" and (2nd line) "User Keypad Entry"
   4. Without turning off the mount, connect a known-good USB cable between the hand controller and the computer (I have a MacBook Pro with only USB-C ports, so I used the Apple USB-C to USB-A adapter)
   5. Open the CFM.jar (Java application). If the CFM doesn't discover your devices (NextStar+, CGX, CGX RA Switch, CGX Dec Switch), you need to check some settings in the CFM, as follows…
      • In the Options menu, be sure that ONLY the Allow Program Updates is checked "√" (check if if needed)
      • Choose Options > Connections… and be sure Serial is set as the connection type, Automatic for discovery method, (don't change anything in the default port settings), and check √ the box to update default settings when device is found. Click OK after confirming these items.
      • In the NexStar+ menu, choose Mount Types, click the radio button for Equatorial (GEM), and the radio button for Always do what I selected this time. Click Select to save and close the dialog box.
   6. Confirm the middle pane of the CFM main window shows "All packages successfully downloaded". If not, click the Try Again button until you get the packages downloaded.
   7. In the bottom pane of the CFM main window, click the Update button to start the first update. You should see the progress indicated below, such as (1/2 packages) and a percentage. The number of packages and speed will depend on the status of your devices when you started.
   8. Once the update completes, Click the Update button again. REPEAT UNTIL NO FURTHER UPDATES ARE NEEDED! (I needed to click Update and let the process run 3 times, for a total of 14 packages; 1 in the first run, 2 in the second, and 11 in the third.)
   9. Power off the mount
   10. Disconnect the USB cable from the hand controller
   11. Power on the mount and go through the initialization of the hand controller (language, location, date, time). I ran a bogus alignment sequence with the mount sitting on my office floor to be sure everything seemed operational, too.
   12. Power off the mount
   13. Disconnect the NexStar+ hand controller
4. (Now for the StarSense camera and hand controller) With ONLY power, the StarSense camera, and the StarSense hand controller connected to the mount, and NO connections between the computer and the camera, or the computer and the hand controller:
   1. Hold down both the Celestron logo and the MENU/7 keys on the hand controller
   2. Turn on the mount
   3. Confirm that the hand controller says (1st line) "BOOT LOADER Serial" and (2nd line) "User Keypad Entry"
   4. Without turning off the mount, connect a known-good USB cable between the hand controller and the computer, and another known-good USB cable between the StarSense camera and the computer (I have a MacBook Pro with only USB-C ports, so I used an Apple USB-C to USB-A adapter for one of these, and an Apple USB-C VGA Multiport adapter for the other)
   5. Open the CFM.jar (Java application). If the CFM doesn't discover your devices (StarSense HC, CGX, CGX RA Switch, CGX Dec Switch, StarSense Accessory Camera), you need to check some settings in the CFM, as follows…
      • In the Options menu, be sure that ONLY the Allow Program Updates is checked "√" (check if if needed)
      • Choose Options > Connections… and be sure Serial is set as the connection type, Automatic for discovery method, (don't change anything in the default port settings), and check √ the box to update default settings when device is found. Click OK after confirming these items.
      • In the NexStar+ menu, choose Mount Types, click the radio button for Equatorial (GEM), and the radio button for Always do what I selected this time. Click Select to save and close the dialog box.
   6. Confirm the middle pane of the CFM main window shows "All packages successfully downloaded". If not, click the Try Again button until you get the packages downloaded.
   7. In the bottom pane of the CFM main window, click the Update button to start the first update. You should see the progress indicated below, such as (1/2 packages) and a percentage. The number of packages and speed will depend on the status of your devices when you started.
   8. Once the update completes, Click the Update button again. REPEAT UNTIL NO FURTHER UPDATES ARE NEEDED! (I only needed to click Update one time, for a total of 8 packages.)
   9. Power off the mount
   10. Disconnect the USB cables from the hand controller and camera
   11. Power on the mount and go through the initialization of the hand controller (language, location, date, time). I ran a bogus alignment sequence with the mount sitting on my office floor to be sure everything seemed operational, too.
   12. Power off the mount

Celebrate the fact that you're now fully up-to-date with both your NexStar+ hand controller, and your StarSense camera/hand controller.

 

Clear skies!

 

Bobby

Thank you Bobby excellent description and steps to follow 

[basskep]

If someone is interested i can open a new topic on how to use Stellarium with Celestron Nexstar on MacOS

[DonSP]

Bobby,

 

If I check software updates on the Celestron Support page, the only firmware updaters I see download into .exe files, which imply running on Windows. Where are you getting versions that can run on the Mac? I also have Parallels on my Mac, so can run Windows 10. However, even there I'm having troubles getting the firmware updaters to function (currently iterating with Celestron on this). I have a VX mount. Thanks.

[Michael_Swanson]

Bobby,

 

If I check software updates on the Celestron Support page, the only firmware updaters I see download into .exe files, which imply running on Windows. Where are you getting versions that can run on the Mac? I also have Parallels on my Mac, so can run Windows 10. However, even there I'm having troubles getting the firmware updaters to function (currently iterating with Celestron on this). I have a VX mount. Thanks.

Hi Don,

 

Your Advanced VX mount and NexStar+ hand control are updated with the Celestron Firmware Manager (CFM), not the older HCupdate and MCupdate tools.  CFM is a Java application which can run on Mac directly.  One of the earlier posts on this string had the link for the download of CFM or you can refer to the NexStar+ and AVX "how to" articles on the bottom of this page of my website:

https://www.nexstars...om/Firmware.htm

 

Best regards,
Mike Swanson
Author of "The NexStar Users Guide II"
Author of "The NexStar Users Guide"
Author of "NexStar Observer List"
https://www.nexstarsite.com

[logres]

This is turning into a nightmare. I have a Nexstar 6 that I haven't used for a couple of years; it's about ten years old (I've used it successfully up until a few years ago) and has the RS-232-type controller, but with the two-star align feature. Getting it out recently, I had repeated alignment failures; I couldn't even get the controller to switch from DST (the arrows refused to change the time zone) and had to try to compensate for the time, but to no avail. I've never updated firmware, and some comments online suggested updates might cure a lot of ills.

 

I cannot believe how hard Celestron makes this process. I ordered the serial cable from them. I bought another serial to USB cable at a Best Buy. I'm reading through all the steps that must be taken to install drivers so that my Macbook will recognize the cable. A lot of steps, but I can follow all the instructions, hopefully. But now I have another problem. I downloaded the CFM package from Celestron. It wouldn't open (didn't recognize the developer), but I got past the security. Now the app won't run until I download a Java Developer Toolkit. (I do have Java enabled, but this is asking me to install additional software tools.) None of the articles on this forum mention that step. I've gone to the Oracle site that was in the link associated with the error message, but I can't really figure out what I need and am reluctant to install software at random.

 

So I have a telescope that I can only point manually because the whole process seems to show Celestron's contempt for its customers. Why not give us a cable and software that lets us accomplish this? Or, the real question I keep asking myself, why didn't I buy a Meade?

[Michael_Swanson]

I suspect your error during alignment is indeed due to DST being set incorrectly. Go back to that menu item and use the up/down buttons (6/9 on number pad, not the arrows) to make the change then press enter to commit.

The difficulties in running Java apps on Mac are new and due to changes by Apple and Oracle. It is definitely frustrating. Celestron Support may be able to walk you through it. That said, although there have been some changes in the last couple of years for the NexStar hand control, none of them are earth-shaking and I don't think they will fix your alignment issue.

Best regards,
Mike Swanson
Author of "The NexStar User's Guide II"
Author of "The NexStar User's Guide"
https://www.NexStarSite.com

Edited by Michael_Swanson, 01 December 2018 - 04:13 AM.

[lov2krz]

This is turning into a nightmare. I have a Nexstar 6 that I haven't used for a couple of years; it's about ten years old (I've used it successfully up until a few years ago) and has the RS-232-type controller, but with the two-star align feature. Getting it out recently, I had repeated alignment failures; I couldn't even get the controller to switch from DST (the arrows refused to change the time zone) and had to try to compensate for the time, but to no avail. I've never updated firmware, and some comments online suggested updates might cure a lot of ills.

 

I cannot believe how hard Celestron makes this process. I ordered the serial cable from them. I bought another serial to USB cable at a Best Buy. I'm reading through all the steps that must be taken to install drivers so that my Macbook will recognize the cable. A lot of steps, but I can follow all the instructions, hopefully. But now I have another problem. I downloaded the CFM package from Celestron. It wouldn't open (didn't recognize the developer), but I got past the security. Now the app won't run until I download a Java Developer Toolkit. (I do have Java enabled, but this is asking me to install additional software tools.) None of the articles on this forum mention that step. I've gone to the Oracle site that was in the link associated with the error message, but I can't really figure out what I need and am reluctant to install software at random.

 

So I have a telescope that I can only point manually because the whole process seems to show Celestron's contempt for its customers. Why not give us a cable and software that lets us accomplish this? Or, the real question I keep asking myself, why didn't I buy a Meade?

logres, I feel your pain.  First the Real Time Clock is where you want to set your DST and than can only be done using the original NexStar+ HC unit that came with the mount/OTA.  It's in the menu / Utilities / Turn on/off RTC.

 

Opening a non-Apple program can be frustrating and requires right clicking it and selecting Open.  Here is the link for the Apple support page: https://support.appl...US&locale=en_US

 

Also make sure you're running the PL2303 cable driver.  Here's a link to Prolifics website http://www.prolific...._id=229&pcid=41 then choose the OSX version for your Mac.

 

One other thing to note, when this  happened to me I uninstalled all of the software associated with CFM.jar   Including CFM, Java and cable driver then installed them in this order: Java, Prolifics driver then CFM then I powered on my mount then connected the cable then ran CFM, you should then get a message something like searching for devices.

 

Hope this helps.

Steven

[WIZARD1325]

Did not work

[Silly_Papa]

To those having issues with your Mac running High Sierra seeing the Nexstar+ USB hand controller this is what I had to do. 

 

1. Get the drivers from the Nexstar site: http://www.nexstarsi...m/PCControl.htm from the link in the box on the upper right labeled USB Drivers.

2. Remove any Prolific drivers that you installed. The readme included with the driver zip explains how to do this. 

3. Install the driver without your hand controller connected to the Mac and reboot as required. You'll then have to go to the security setting and allow the drive to make the kernal change.

4. Connect the USB cable to the Mac and make sure that the hand control is in the Boot Loader Serial mode as described in Bobby's post.

 

You should then be able run the CFM and detect your hand controller and mount to update. 

[rw1022]

I also ran into issues attempting to perform a firmware update on my Evolution 8 over wifi via my 2014 iMac running Mojave.  CFM would attempt to update my mount and would get to 100% on update 1 of 2.  I would then receive an error message indicating the Evolution did not update successfully followed by the dreaded 'Update Cancelled. Device memory corrupted' message.  On my HC, I would see error messages 16 and 17 indicating the HC could not communicate with the mount.  Attempts to update the firmware via USB (after installing the Prolific driver) were also unsuccessful, as CFM did not recognize my connection over COM4. 

 

Finally, I attempted the whole process again over USB on my wife's 2016 MacBook Air.  This time, however, CFM automatically discovered and populated my serial port name: 'cu.usbserial' and immediately recognized my connection and found 2 devices -- my mount and HC.  CFM installed all updates to my HC with no issue, but I continued to see the same 'Evolution did not update successfully' message when attempting to update my mount.  I was ultimately able to resolve this by resetting the mount (pressing the reset button under the wifi switch with my mount turned on) and connecting to a different aux port.  CFM was then able to load both packages to my mount.  I then went back to my iMac and replaced 'COM4' with 'cu.usbserial', and CFM immediately recognized both devices. 

 

Thank you all for sharing your knowledge and experiences.