AA5 crashes when stopping a sequence of images

[Forum_2015]

Hi All,
I just lost ten 8 minute subframes last night when I attempted to stop a 16 frame sequence on my QHY8 and had forgotten to set autosave.

I am using the ASCOM platform to interface to AA5 and control my QHY8.

I had just taken 10 subs out of 16 when the clouds started rolling in, I noticed that I had not autosaved the subs. so was going to save them manually. I therefore clicked the STOP button just after the new image displayed. At this point AA5 hung up with the windows whirling cursor symbol. I waited 15 minutes to see whether AA5 was waiting for a response from the camera but it still hung and never returned to a usable condition.

I eventually had to kill the AstroArt task off from the Windows 8.1 Control Panel AND LOST all my subs!!!!!!!!
Has anyone else experienced anything similar and if so how can I break into a sequence safely?

This is repeatable as I did it again while trying to take a test exposure of NGC7331 but accidently did so as a sequence rather than a single exposure......

This never used to happen in AA4 BUT the ASCOM platform has changed since then so have no idea whether it is ASCOM or AA5 that is hanging although if I restart AA5 after killing it off I can control the QHY8 normally from AA5.

Any advice on this would be greatly appreciated.
Ian

[Forum_2015]

Ian,
Interesting problem!
I use an ATik 314L under Win7 (and XPsp3) with AA5 and regularly have to interrupt a sequence (clouds, loss of star on the spectroscope slit etc.) but touch wood I haven't lost any data yet.
AutoSaving, as I think you realise, is they way to go.......

[Forum_2015]

Hi Merlin,
Yes I do try to remember the AutoSave but it does not explain why I get this crash problem!

Thanks
Ian

[Forum_2015]

Ian,
I think you are defining the problem as " taking images, with no autosave, when I stop the exposure (sequence) AA5 hangs up....."
If this is correct it should be easy for others to replicate....
I'll try it when I have the opportunity (with the ATiK314), but I have no memories of similar issues.....
Anyone else to comment??

[Forum_2015]

Hi, maybe the glitch was caused by the fact that the exposure was stopped right after been started. Some cameras do not fully support stopping an exposure (in this case the exposure will continue for several minutes until it ends, but the driver will stop responding during that period), you may verify with your camera, stopping a single exposure.
To stop a sequence (without stopping the current exposure) it's possible to modify in real time the indexes ( the 1..N text boxes ), for example by setting the second value to "1".
Fabio.

[Forum_2015]

Hi Fabio,
I never experienced this with AA4 but as I said at the start of this thread, the ASCOM platform has also been updated and I'm now running Windows 8.1 on my laptop

After losing my 10 off 8 minute subs of M57 and having to kill off AA5 from the Control Panel, I then accidently stopped my initial exposure of NGC7331 in its second exposure of a sequence, this time it was at least a 10 - 20 seconds into a capture and AA5 still hung up!

Can you please confirm that - it I am up to say exposure No 6 in a sequence, then if I set the ending number to 1 it will end the sequence after normally completing the exposure its on and return control to AA5 normally?

Is there a way to set the default sequence exposure to start a sequence with New Window unchecked and AutoSave checked so that I don't forget this again?

I will not have a chance to try all this out for a few days but will do so next time I'm out in my observatory and then I will report back.

Many Thanks
Ian

[Forum_2015]

Hi Ian,
using the option "Dark frame optimization" you can use dark frames taken with a different exposure/temperature and correct your light images (I suggest to use a constant ADU value instead of a bias image, unless your bias is not uniform).
Yes, you can play with the start-end indexes while the exposure is in progress and the sequence is in progress.
By the way, try again to stop an exposure.
My best,
Fabio.