Nikon D800 consant disconenction failures

[Jkulin]

Hi, I purchased a premium license for Back Yard Nikon and apart from the odd connection failure it was OK, however the last few times I have had to abort my sessions because BYN will either crash or will not recognise the camera until it is disconnected and reconnected again. The version of BYN I am using is V2.0.2

I'm running W10 with the latest update on my Toshiba Laptop L50-C-1GX, spec as below: -

Windows 10 Enterprise

Intel® Pentium® N3700 processor with Intel® Burst Technology 2.0

39.6cm (15.6”) , Toshiba TruBrite® HD TFT High Brightness display with LED backlighting and 16 : 9 aspect ratio

Hard disk 1 TB

8,192 (1x) MB, DDR3L RAM (1,600 MHz)

The problem is anyone or combination of the following: -

Failure to download, just goes round in circles and then aborts with loss of connection. The hard drive is partitioned and there is nearly half a gig of space available.

Drops connection to camera, requiring the camera to disconnect and re-connect.

Failures to display more than a of thumbnails.

Last night I tried a preview and it crashed requiring a computer reboot, I then reverted to a capture and it did one then bombed out and refused a Ctrl+Alt+Del and end process and would not allow Alt and Tab to switch to the task viewer, requiring a hard reset.

I purchased all brand new Chromo Gold Cables, changed the hub to the latest USB 3.0, reformatted and re-installed everything at the end of March, I'm at a total loss.

I've attached logs for March and April, so can you look at how things have gone downhill since the re-installation at the end of March.

BYN is a superb program but only when it works.

Can you help me?

Thanks.

 

April Logs.zip

March Logs.zip

[admin]

Looks like you are doing all the right things. Camera disconnect is still a cable/usb hub/connection issue however.

Nikon recommends to connect the camera directly into a computer USB port, no hub.  Try this and see if it happens again.

EDIT: Goto settings ->advance settings and enable Background Server option.  This will not help with camera disconnect but may help for your thumbnail issue.

Regards,

[willisgreiner]

I agree, of course, with Guylain.  I would add this -- I've had this issue with BYEOS as well.  Here's what I discovered and did.  1 -- In the first case, my hard drive was too full, so I removed data and this worked for a while.  In the second case, I suspected the software, so I erased the old and reloaded.  That worked for a while as well, but then also started sticking as you describe.  I then upgraded to the newest edition of BYEOS (premium- well worth it!).  This worked and is continuing to work.  Obviously, the camera is a Canon (450D) in my case; I have used a variety of computers, A Dell running XP out in the observatory, and a newer Dell running Windows 7 as a test unit in my house.  Both are now running the latest editions of the software.  One more thing -- I have "turned off" the Windows program that wants to interface with the camera -- it is my belief (no real proof) that this in-house Windows program sometimes "confuses" BYEOS and causes it to disconnect.  It's functioning certainly slows BYEOS down.  Also, I have disabled all of that bothersome Malware prevention software during my imaging sessions.  In these sorts of cases, I generally blame Windows.  But, overall, this is a fantastic program.

[willisgreiner]

Windows XP, BYEOS, Canon 450D XSi, ED127ES, .7 reducer, various post-processing programs -- thanks, Guylain!

[admin]

Thanks for sharing your images.

This forum platform I'm using has a gallery function, I'm tempted to activate it and allow users to share images taken with BackyardEOS and BackyardNIKON.

Regards,

[Jkulin]

1 hour ago, admin said:

Looks like you are doing all the right things. Camera disconnect is still a cable/usb hub/connection issue however.

Nikon recommends to connect the camera directly into a computer USB port, no hub.  Try this and see if it happens again.

EDIT: Goto settings ->advance settings and enable Background Server option.  This will not help with camera disconnect but may help for your thumbnail issue.

Regards,

Thanks Guylain, truly appreciate your help.

Coincidentally as your post notification came through, I had come to the same conclusion that it was because of the hub and I could replicate with a hub and the problem was fixed without and going direct.

With only having 2 x USB 3.0 ports I was trying to utilise the additional devices with a hub, So now will take the camera direct with a USB Booster cable (Have checked and this works fine) into one of the USB 3.0, take the guide camera into the USB 2.0 and then take the USB 3.0 into the spare USB 3.0 socket, for the Polar alignment camera, Mount Control, Joystick and anything else that maybe required.

I imagine that the size of the RAW files was taking over the process control of the hub and something had to give?

With regards to the thumbnail issue, hopefully that maybe resolved because of the reduction of processor usage, I have however checked the Advance settings and the only option that partially matches is "BackgroudnWorker Enabled, is that what you meant?

The problem has caused me to abort capturing images for the last 5 sessions, so hopefully it is now resolved

Thanks once again and to you willisgreiner

[admin]

2 minutes ago, Jkulin said:

With regards to the thumbnail issue, hopefully that maybe resolved because of the reduction of processor usage, I have however checked the Advance settings and the only option that partially matches is "BackgroudnWorker Enabled, is that what you meant?

Yes, this is what I meant.  I will actually make this flag enabled by default in the next release.

Regards,

[Jkulin]

Thanks for your help Guylain, we have carried out an indoor test this evening and using it direct, we had a 99% success, still the occasional dropping or lock up, but in over 500 frames it worked so much better and the thumbnails were displaying as well and funnily enough if we enabled the Background Server option the images stayed in the download directory and didn't appear in the thumbnail gallery, but as it is working now we switched this off.

I've attached the logs from this evenings tests if that helps?

Just a small question, when adding a description to the captures and the other information above where you specify the amount of images, iso, duration etc., there was no way to select the type of filter that use were using apart from to type it in manually each time, could this be a small bug?

Thanks once again for your help

Evening Logs.zip

[admin]

I would also need the background server logs when it was enabled.

[Jkulin]

OK Guylian, my laptop is packed away for the night, I'll upload them tomorrow when I get it back up and ruinning.

Thanks for the speedy reply.

[astroman133]

You can enter filter names, separated by spaces, into the Filter List on the Setup screen.

[Jkulin]

8 hours ago, admin said:

I would also need the background server logs when it was enabled.

Hi Guylian, just checked and there is nothing in the background work directory, the only logs were the two that I have previously uploaded.

[admin]

The background server logs are in the log directory with a different name.

If you don't have them it means you did not have the background server enabled.

Goto settings ->advance settings and enable Background Server option; restart the application.  This will not help with camera disconnect but may help for your thumbnail issue.

Regards

[Jkulin]

5 minutes ago, admin said:

The background server logs are in the log directory with a different name.

If you don't have them it means you did not have the background server enabled.

Goto settings ->advance settings and enable Background Server option; restart the application.  This will not help with camera disconnect but may help for your thumbnail issue.

Regards

Thanks Guylian, the settings for the background server were definitely checked and once checked the thumbnail did not appear which was strange, but after then unchecking the option the thumbnails recommenced as per what they should normally.

In the zip file that I attached did you notice that there were two log files one of about 78Kb and the other of 1298Kb. there are no other log files other than what I sent at the start of this thread.

I'm more than happy when we get the next clear night to send you the log files, but at the moment it is horrible and cloudy and no forecast for clear nights until the later part of next week :-(

[astroman133]

John,

Good dark nights are rare. You should do as much testing as possible without wasting them.

[Jkulin]

Yep, too true Guylian, I'm an experienced photographer for over 35 years, owned computer companies in the past but only been at the astro stuff for less than a year, and what a contrast, nothing is straight forward, it is a shame that there is not an international standard for everything then it would make yours and my life easier :-)

[Jkulin]

Morning Guylain,

Hopefully you don't mind my troubling you again?

BYN has been working perfectly since you helped me out, as can be seen from the log OK_Log_270817.

Last night problems started when I started to plate solve (Astro Tortilla) which I have been using for a little while now without problems, the only thing that had changed in Astro Tortilla was that I had loaded the config for my other scope, as soon it had finished solving it disconnected BYN, when I restarted BYN by going to connect the camera, BYN started up with everything as though it always had been in use with all the previews and download settings and I could continue as though nothing had happened.

Once I had finished with Astro Tortilla I closed the program and continued to capture my lights, once I had finished I started then with my darks, bias and flats, the problem then manifested it self where I had to reconnect the camera after nearly every image or every other one and as it was gone 3 in the morning and starting to get cold, it was the last thing I wanted.

My camera connection is direct and not through the hub, the only thing I had changed was to enable the weather but that wasn't until part way through the night.

BYN has worked without fault previously as can be seen from the log file, I have attached the error logs for the problem as described.

BTW just one other little bug that I can't resolved, the clock on my laptop is perfect, but the recording for the file times is one hour out and can't find how to resolve that.

If you need anything else then please advise?

Many Thanks.

OK_Log_270817.zip

Error_Logs_010917.zip

[astroman133]

With both BYE and BYN disconnects are usually due to cabling issues. If camera capture has been working for much of a session and then you start to have problems, I would look at 2 items as likely culprits...power for the camera (a low battery?) or cabling (make sure that both ends of the cable are completely and securely plugged in to the camera and the PC. Remember that as the scope slews, if the cables drag across the legs of the tripod, or whatever, then can become loosened.

Another thing...AstroTortilla does not cause BYN to disconnect from the camera. With BYN connected to the camera, but sitting idle, you should be able to use AT to do an iterative plate solve and when AT has finished the solution, that BYN should once again be sitting idle and ready to start a capture plan.

I can see from the error logs that you linked in your previous post that you are using an old version of BYN. According to the logs you are using BYN 2.0.4, but the latest version is 2.0.7. At the very top of this page it says "Download the latest version before posting any camera connection issue", so please upgrade to the 2.0.7 and try to re-create your issue.

The errors in the log file seem to indicate that the camera is becoming disconnected, again pointing to the camera power or cabling as the culprit.

 

[admin]

Your right, the camera disconnects after a take picture command is issued.  This is odd.

This is a camera event however, meaning the camera is issuing the camera shutdown and BYN is there for the ride only.

How is your camera powered?  Battery?  Is it full?

2017-09-01 02:14:55,421 [35] DEBUG - TAKE PICTURE ::: Shutter(MANUAL) Cable(CameraUSB) Av(2.8) Duration(1.0) Iso(400) Quality(RAW) Mirror(0) SaveTo(PC)
2017-09-01 02:15:06,734 [18] INFO  - Camera action fired: 'MaestroDisconnect'
2017-09-01 02:15:06,749 [NikonScheduler worker thread] INFO  - NIKON SDK ERROR: [kNkMAIDResult_CameraNotFound] (kNkMAIDCommand_Async, 0, kNkMAIDDataType_Null, 0)
2017-09-01 02:15:06,749 [NikonScheduler worker thread] ERROR - [kNkMAIDResult_CameraNotFound] (kNkMAIDCommand_Async, 0, kNkMAIDDataType_Null, 0)
2017-09-01 02:15:06,749 [NikonScheduler worker thread] ERROR -    at BinaryRivers.Camera.Nikon.Wrapper.NikonObject.CallEntryPoint(IntPtr pObject, eNkMAIDCommand ulCommand, UInt32 ulParam, eNkMAIDDataType ulDataType, Int32 data, IntPtr pfnComplete, IntPtr refComplete)
   at BinaryRivers.Camera.Nikon.Wrapper.NikonObject.CallEntryPoint(eNkMAIDCommand ulCommand, UInt32 ulParam, eNkMAIDDataType ulDataType, Int32 data, IntPtr pfnComplete, IntPtr refComplete)
   at BinaryRivers.Camera.Nikon.Wrapper.NikonObject.CallEntryPointAsync(eNkMAIDCommand ulCommand, UInt32 ulParam, eNkMAIDDataType ulDataType, Int32 data)
   at BinaryRivers.Camera.Nikon.Wrapper.NikonDevice.DataItemAcquire(NikonObject data)
   at BinaryRivers.Camera.Nikon.Wrapper.NikonDevice.HandleAddChild(UInt32 id)

[Jkulin]

Blimey, you lads are up early :-)

I'm using expensive Chrono leads that I have used for all this year, my Nikon D800 is mains fed and doesn't rely on Battery power.

I have purchased a complete new set of Chrono leads and will have them tomorrow, but not sure when we will get the next clear night.

I am just wondering if the problem is dew related as the problem got worse as the dew increased and it was a very wet dew last night.

I didn't realise that a new version was out of BYN so will install that before the next session, but in mitigation it working perfect before last night.

With new cables and the new version I'll revert when tested.

Thanks for your replies.

[astroman133]

I am on US Pacific time, so even earlier!

Usually, the camera is warm enough that it stays dry from dew, but if the USB or power cable ends got wet that could definitely cause disconnects. It might be enough to wrap a light cloth around the camera.

Also, it is always good to have spare cables; especially if you travel to out of the way places to image.

[Jkulin]

16 minutes ago, astroman133 said:

I am on US Pacific time, so even earlier!

Usually, the camera is warm enough that it stays dry from dew, but if the USB or power cable ends got wet that could definitely cause disconnects. It might be enough to wrap a light cloth around the camera.

Also, it is always good to have spare cables; especially if you travel to out of the way places to image.

Thanks for the reply, it was a particularly wet Dew night, so I am hoping that is the problem, I have more cables that local computer store, don't know why I keep buying them :-) But I know they can wear out when constantly open and reconnected.

Will wait and see how things work out and advise.

[s3igell]

One other consideration: Stress Relief for the Cable to DSLR Connection

1. Most DSLR USB Cable Use is to Download Images to PC while DSLR is sitting on a Desk/Table.  This provides some Stress Relief for the Connector in the DSLR.
2. Most AP Imaging Use sees a Longer USB Cable either Dangling on its own weight or Strapped tightly to other Twisting parts of the Scope/Mount rig.

The latter scenario means that while the Cable (and Connection) might be Unstressed and Fine at the start of a Session, it could go through stresses which impact that Connection as the Camera (and Scope) Track the Target.

Current Higher-End DSLRs are starting to come with Stress-Reliever Connection Aids that better clamp the USB Cable and Anchor it to the DSLR Frame at a point other than the USB Connector itself.  This is GREAT in a Professional-level DSLR, but also NEEDFUL for all DSLRs used for AP Imaging - even if that means a DIY Effort.

The Good News is that there are a few Anchor Points common to ALL DSLRs - the Camera Strap Anchors.  And if you add a short 90-Degree USB Cable Dongle of the right design (each Model seems to need a different Mini-USB Connector as well as differentiated to "Left-hand or Right-hand" configuration) which is strapped to that Anchor Point, and then attach a standard USB2 Extension Cable (make sure all parts are High Quality / Thicker-Wire Conductors).  This configuration can do much to tame/remove the bogey of Connection Issues.