8 replies to this topic

[arrowspace90]

I trying to re-establish my RASA 8 with a new mini PC.  

 

ALL of the accessories connected to NINA successfully.  I was ready to proceed to focusing, so I started looping frames on the ZWO ASI294.  

 

Instead of a nice out of focus frame of donuts, I got double error messages.

 

"Camera driver error" and "Camera download failure".   Nice....

 

So, I reinstalled the ZWO camera driver.  I also swapped data cables.  I plugged in the data cable to a different USB port.  

The camera was powered!  The cooling fan was running and the sensor cooled normally.  

 

I can't think of anything else to do out in the dark.  Anyone think of another reason for this error?  Typical wasted night.

 

 

[MJB87]

Moving to an appropriate forum. 

[IonClad]

Do you have the camera connected to the mini PC with a dedicated USB cable? I'd recommend a camera power reset if moving it to another USB port.

 

There's also a "USB limit" setting in the driver/NINA that may help by slowing the transfer speed.

[Robert7980]

I sometimes have download failures when the session is finished and I try and take flats, it doesn’t throw errors, but the image won’t download from the camera. Just disconnecting and reconnecting the camera in NINA fixes it… I’m sure is a driver bug. Not sure how much it helps you though. It sounds like you might have a power supply problem, interface or a couple bad cables that aren’t handling the USB3 traffic or who knows… 

[Aquawind]

I have had the download error a few times but, it never stopped the session. I just saw the error in the morning. I have a 14 year old laptop for imaging so.. You're on it.. drivers, ports, cables, power..

[Hindsight2020]

If you are using a USB3 cable, switch to a USB2 cable. Ensure you are using high quality USB cables from a good brand like Cable Matters, Startech, etc. Ensure you don't have two programs running on your laptop or minipc that could be trying to access your main imaging camera at the same time (IE PHD2 and NINA - sometimes PHD2 will pick the wrong camera or you will configure it incorrectly and both programs will try to access your main camera at the same time which will cause the issue you describe - there is a button in NINA you can use in the connection screen to choose which camera to connect to if multiple ZWO cameras are detected). Use the ASCOM connection option for your camera in NINA instead of the native driver, ensure you have the ZWO ASCOM drivers for your camera installed. Click the configuration button for your camera in NINA before you connect to it and ensure everything looks right. If you still have the issue, turn down the USB speed limit in the camera connection options in NINA. Ensure your power saving options on your minipc or laptop are not set to put USB ports to sleep. Use a ferrite core on each end of all your USB cables: https://www.amazon.c...dp/B07YJWYKFH. 

[arrowspace90]

So this morning I brought inside just the camera, the mini and camera power and data cables and started a "darks" session.  The thing started taking images and downloading them, just like nothing happened.

Of course!  These things only happen out in the dark when you've already been up all day.  Not when you have a big mug of coffee onboard and morning daylight.  I'm going to order camera data cables just in case.

[Hindsight2020]

Here is what I have found with USB cables:
1. Some are shielded and some are not. Shielded is better
2. Some have the ground terminal linked to the shield (assuming the cable is shielded of course) and some do not. I have absolutely linked performance and reliability improvements to using cables that have this link. There is no way to know if the cable shield is linked without testing it yourself with a multimeter - with one exception: USB 3.1 and 3.2 cables SHOULD all be linked and shielded.
3. But….. USB3 is more prone to issues due to 2.4ghz wifi signal. If having issues, the first thing to try is swapping any and all USB3 cables out for USB2 cables. Especially helpful if your USB2 cables feature a shield that is linked to the ground pin - many brands don’t do this. JSAUX brand has them linked for all USB2 cables I have tested from them.
4. Always use ferrite coils on each cable end - for usb and power cables.
5. Try to keep cable lengths at 6’ or less.
6. Try to disable 2.4ghz wifi and use only 5G, if possible.

Edited by Hindsight2020, 27 September 2023 - 12:16 PM.

[IonClad]

If using an extension cord also watch for voltage drops on it that might contribute to instability. That could help explain different behavior inside and outside.