Program disconnects/freezes after approx. an hour of imaging

[jcbeyer]

I am currently evaluating the trial version of BackyardNikon in Windows 8 Pro running on VMware.  I have a D800E and D7200 that initially connect quickly and all controls appear to work as designed.  After about an hour of imaging the program either disconnects or freezes.  It's difficult to tell what is happening as the control panel is stopped and unresponsive to any input.  In one instance with the D800E, I acquired about 1.5 hours of lights (70 sec subs) and switched to taking darks and after about 10 images the program stopped.  In all instances I can still see the PHD guiding program behind it working normally.  The only way to clear the problem is to shut down Windows and restart the Mac. 

Cameras are connected to the computer directly through a USB2 slot using Tethertools 15' cables.  I use the cables with a different Mac-based imaging program and they consistently work through the night ofv imaging without interruption. 

I can send along the log files if that may be helpful. 

[jcbeyer]

Update

Success. I did a clean install of Windows 7 (using a Mac with VMWare) and purchased an active USB 2 extension cable to use with my existing USB2 cable. Total cable length was 31 feet.  I did a practice run in the house taking about 4 hours of dark images while changing settings periodically and had no disconnects or interrupts.  With any luck the skies will stay clear and I'll be able to try an imaging run in the next couple nights.  I plan to use a shorter USB2 8-pin cable for imaging when it arrives but was encouraged that the setup appeared stable with the two longer cables.  

[admin]

Glad you got it to work.  The active repeater cable is probably what made the difference.

Regards,

[astroman133]

Others are not reporting this issue, so it is related to your setup.

Disconnects and freezes are typically cabling or connection related. I understand that you want/need to separate the camera from the computer, but do you still have the same problem if you use a short cable? Is the camera always shutting down after an hour? Are you running out of battery power?

If killing BYN from the Windows Task manager does not fix the issue, and restarting Windows is still needed then it seems that BYN is not the problem, but perhaps the kernel-level Nikon driver or USB drivers may be at fault. What about upgrading to Windows 8.1?

The log files may provide some insight.

[jcbeyer]

I'm sure you're right.  I'll check to see if an upgrade to Win 8.1 is a possibility at this point.  

Connecting and shooting with a shorter cable is the next logical step but I will need to purchase one to do the experiment.  Both cameras are being powered externally using house supply while imaging so it's less likely to be power related.

I've attached several log files from nights of imaging.  I'm out of my element as far as programming goes but later in the sessions it looks like there may be problems with file handling and there are notations of errors as well.  

Thanks for your help. 

logfile-[20170418-21h13m29s097]-[228]-2017-04-18.txt.zip

logfile-[20170420-21h26m45s274]-[3836]-2017-04-20.txt.zip

logfile-[20170420-22h53m39s542]-[2756]-2017-04-20.txt.zip

logfile-[20170421-13h48m15s390]-[1264]-2017-04-21.txt.zip

[admin]

I have a feeling your computer or hard drive is set to go to sleep after 1 hour of inactivity.  Make sure your computer and harddrive are set to never go to sleep.

I've looked a all log files and the are no errors, it just stops responding... which is what typically happens when then computer goes to sleep.

Keep us posted.

[jcbeyer]

Thanks for reviewing the logs.  As I suspected the settings to keep the hard drive and computer active indefinitely are already set appropriately.  Something is not working right inside the operating system.  I do have connectivity problems with my Polemaster on the Windows side as well.  Windows registers the connection but the Polemaster program gives an error when I try to open the program.  The Polemaster works fine on the Mac side.  Since I have the program disks I'll do a clean install with Windows 7 and see if that doesn't correct the problems.