Cameras not found (just started)

[dhmiller]

 Both my D850 and D500 are seen by my Windows 10 machine in the Device Manager (Portable Devices). I have tried them in turn and  both at once, but neither are recognized by BYN

 

Here's the context - I have been using both cameras successfully with BY for some time for macro work with no issues. Load BYN, connect to camera, get to work. Recently, I bought a nice telescope system for astrophotography and I have been using the D500 successfully with BYN for imaging there as well. The entire telescope system is controlled over USB by a computer about 15 yards away. I have a (powered) IoGear hub to which I connect the camera, the focuser, a second "guide camera" and the telescope mount itself that converts the signals to ethernet and carries all to my laptop, where I have a reverse IoGear hub  that turns the signal back to USB for connection to the laptop.  All working fine.

 

But a few days ago, I added a new device to the system - an autofocuser. It's a powered motor that also communicates with the computer via USB. It was then that I ran into Port issues. Long story short, I have removed that device from the IoGear hub, but I can now no longer connect the Nikon D500 that is attached to the telescope to the BYN, nor can I connect either the 850 or the 500 to BYNto even when they are connected directly into the laptop and both appear in the Device Manager as working.

 

I have uninstalled both devices in the Device Manger and reinstalled them by power cycling the laptop and reconnecting both cameras, but still no communication with BYN. 

 

Is there any sort of debugging routine in BYN that could show the activity happening when the program tries to connect to the camera, or are there any other diagnostic tools that might give some clue as to why, even when I go right into the laptop, I can't  BYN to the camera? Does this have anything to do with  the MS drivers? 

 

The SD card is empty and I have tried 2 different cables, and this happens on two different cameras...

 

Anyway, now whether entire telescope rig is connected or disconnected I cannot get BYN to see my camera. This had been working fine up to a few days ago.

 Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

 

Edited November 6, 2020 by dhmiller
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[admin]

Looks like the new focuser, along with all other devices, is putting too much data on the wire at once... and causes ripple connect/disconnect issues.  This seems to be a physical issue.

[astroman133]

BYN just calls a method in the Nikon SDK to connect. The call either succeeds or fails. The BYN log file will have all the info that is available.

Using a USB extender does change the timing of sending and receiving messages. It may cause timing-related issues.

I would go back to what you know worked. If that doesn't work, try just a single device. Make sure that you try varying the order of powering on and connecting the cabling and devices. Sometimes that can make a difference.

[dhmiller123]

2 hours ago, admin said:

Looks like the new focuser, along with all other devices, is putting too much data on the wire at once... and causes ripple connect/disconnect issues.  This seems to be a physical issue.

Ok, but still no connection even with everything disconnected and only one camera connected directly to the laptop, which was my default before ever using the scope, and using the scope without the focuser used to work but now does not. So what could cause this type  of permanent communication issue? 

[admin]

And if you connect the camera directly in the laptop usb port?

[dhmiller123]

46 minutes ago, admin said:

And if you connect the camera directly in the laptop usb port?

still no connection even with everything disconnected and only one camera connected directly to the laptop, which was my default before ever using the scop

I can now no longer connect the Nikon D500 that is attached to the telescope to the BYN, nor can I connect either the 850 or the 500 to BYN even when they are connected directly into the laptop and both appear in the Device Manager as working.

[astroman133]

Is WiFi, if available, disabled in the cameras? Is the memory card empty, or nearly so?

[dhmiller123]

4 hours ago, dhmiller123 said:

still no connection even with everything disconnected and only one camera connected directly to the laptop, which was my default before ever using the scop

I can now no longer connect the Nikon D500 that is attached to the telescope to the BYN, nor can I connect either the 850 or the 500 to BYN even when they are connected directly into the laptop and both appear in the Device Manager as working.

 

4 hours ago, astroman133 said:

Is WiFi, if available, disabled in the cameras? Is the memory card empty, or nearly so?

The card is empty ad I don't believe there is Wifi in the D500, or at least I have never used it. And this all worked before I added, (then removed,) the one device that was on a USB hub with the camera when things went south. NOTHING is connected at all now - the camera plugged into the laptop appears in the Device Manager but BYN (and Control my NIkon, and SGP, etc) do not see the camera...

[astroman133]

Have you tried a different USB port on the PC?

Have you tried a Factory Reset on the camera?

If the camera is recognized by Windows, but BYN, and other camera control software will not connect then it would seem that there is some other software on the computer is preventing this. If Windows recognizes the camera SD card as an external storage device then perhaps Windows is preventing the Nikon SDK from connecting with the camera. This would be the case if Windows shows the camera's memory card in a File Explorer window as a mapped drive. Sometimes when a camera is plugged into the PC and powered on Windows recognizes the camera and asks how to you want to use it. If so you need to select "Take No Action" as the option.

 

[dhmiller]

you need to select "Take No Action" as the option."   Well that seems to be the winner. I had been ignoring the prompt when connecting the camera and somehow, the default Action must have changed, which disabled the camera in my software. But at least with a direct connection, things are back to normal. So now I will try connecting things to the hub from the telescope and am hopeful this will work. Thanks for your timely support.

[astroman133]

Thanks for letting us know.

[dhmiller]

Ok. All bets are off. I was able to get the prompt What Do You Want To Do WIth The D500 (or whatever it says) from WIndows and answer take no action exactly once earlier today and I could get the camera connected to BYN going directly into the laptop. I then shut down Windows, removed the locally connected camera, and connected the camera that is in my telescope via the iOgear hub to my laptop. When I connected it, I did not get any prompt. I was able to take one single picture and it downloaded fine, but then when I took the second picture, it hung up on download for >5 minutes and I knew it was hosed. Now I can't get it to connect from the telescope via the hub, nor can I get it to connect directly to the laptop. This is exactly what happened on the previous occasion. What is getting fried??

[astroman133]

Is your anti-virus software blocking the download and stalling BYN? Not likely, but possible.