Setup:

Guider: Starshooter Autoguider
Mount: EQMOD / EQ6
Imaging SoftWARE: MaximDL 5.08
Obs Control Software: ACP ver 6.0, Hot Fix 2
OS: Winows 7, 64-bit

Problem:

The guider camera seems to run indefinitely when used as an imager, but fails after several cycles when operated as a guider. Prior to the appearance of this problem, the system has been operating for over 6 months without any problems. I can not correlate the failure with any software changes made to my system.

The camera will start guiding, run for several exposures and then fail. The failures always occur when the software tries to read the camera. At this point, the autoguiding quits and ACP continues to execute the plan without guiding.


Is it conceivable that a component failure within the camera is responsible for this problem. If it were driver related, I expect that it would occur under all operating conditions. I was thinking of something within the camera being out of tolerance - causing a problem with the synchronous information flow across the USB bus.

Peter