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SBIG ST8XE and CFW-8 issues [SOLVED]

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SBIG ST8XE and CFW-8 issues [SOLVED] was created by Chris Ryan

I've got a number of problems with a SBIG ST8XE and the CFW-8 filter wheel (connected to the camera) that I'd like to sort out.

The device appears in the system, suing lsusb, I get:
Bus 002 Device 014: ID 0d97:0101 Santa Barbara Instrument Group SBIG Astronomy Camera (with firmware)

I've got the INDI Control Panel up and can see the SBIG CCD tab with many options. I can connect the CCD and the filter wheel - most of the time. Sometimes it just doesn't connect and I have try several times - mostly it's the filter wheel that fails. When I do get it to connect, I can change options, turn the fan off and on, etc - for a while. After some indeterminate time, things stop working - not too long, maybe a minuite or two. For example, I might not be able to turn off the fan, etc. I have to disconnect the device and reconnect to get things going again.

I have the system connecting via usb to the laptop. At first I did it direct, now I am using a usb hub. It doesn't appear to make any difference.

I'm using kstars/ekos/indi, built from source from the repos.

What can I try to do/look at to solve this problem? Note that on the same hardware under Windows 8, the system works fine (via CCDOps).

Here's some log output from the panel.
2014-06-02T22:25:27: CFW connected. 
2014-06-02T22:25:22: CFW disconnection error! 
2014-06-02T22:25:14: CFW connected. 
2014-06-02T22:24:59: CFW disconnected. 
2014-06-02T22:24:58: CFW disconnected. 
2014-06-02T22:24:52: CFW connection error! 
2014-06-02T22:24:44: Fan turned OFF. 
2014-06-02T22:24:41: Fan turned ON. 
2014-06-02T22:24:33: Fan turned OFF. 
2014-06-02T22:24:30: Fan turned ON. 
2014-06-02T22:24:13: Error: Bad CCD binning mode! Use: 1x1, 2x2 or 3x3 
2014-06-02T22:24:13: SBIG CCD is online. Retrieving basic data. 
2014-06-02T22:24:00: Error: Cannot turn Fan OFF.Device not Open 
2014-06-02T22:23:54: CFW disconnected. 
2014-06-02T22:23:43: CFW connection error! 
2014-06-02T22:23:27: Error: Bad CCD binning mode! Use: 1x1, 2x2 or 3x3 
2014-06-02T22:23:27: SBIG CCD is online. Retrieving basic data. 
2014-06-02T22:23:10: CFW disconnected. 
2014-06-02T22:23:10: CFW connection error! 
2014-06-02T22:23:10: CFWC_INIT error: Device not Open ! 
2014-06-02T22:23:07: CFW connection error! 
2014-06-02T22:23:07: CFWC_INIT error: Device not Open ! 
2014-06-02T22:23:02: CFW disconnected. 
2014-06-02T22:22:50: CFW connection error! 
2014-06-02T22:21:59: Fan turned OFF. 2014-06-02T22:22:50: CFWC_INIT error: Device not Open ! 
 
2014-06-02T22:21:56: Fan turned ON. 
2014-06-02T22:21:55: Fan turned OFF. 
2014-06-02T22:21:48: Error: Bad CCD binning mode! Use: 1x1, 2x2 or 3x3 
2014-06-02T22:21:48: SBIG CCD is online. Retrieving basic data.
Last edit: 9 years 9 months ago by Chris Ryan. Reason: Marking as solved
9 years 10 months ago #1238

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Replied by Jasem Mutlaq on topic SBIG ST8XE and CFW-8 issues

Can you also send in the INDI server log?

Also, if you don't connect the filter wheel, does the SBIG CCD driver stop working as well or not?
9 years 10 months ago #1239

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Replied by Chris Ryan on topic SBIG ST8XE and CFW-8 issues

I'm using kstars ekos to start up indi - where's the logs for that? What I pasted before was the output from the INDI Control Panel display. There's some output on the terminal screen from kstars.

I tried some more tests, as you suggest, without the filter wheel connected. I think it lasted longer, but eventually it failed again.

I tried to take a 1 sec dark image, but it hung for a long time until I hit the stop button. After that, turning the fan on/off wouldn't work until I disconnected and reconnected again. I think at this point it printed on the terminal an error message - Dispatch command error(-2): Error: Property CCD_COOLER not found in device SBIG CCD.

I also noticed that no matter when I try, I can't seem to change the frame or binning values. When I hit the set button, I get yellow lights for the response and no updated values.

Could I possibly have some permission problems here? I'm running as a normal user.
9 years 10 months ago #1241

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Replied by Jasem Mutlaq on topic SBIG ST8XE and CFW-8 issues

Yeah if you get yellow leds and no response that's most likely a crash. I suggest you perform the following in konsole:
gdb
file indiserver
set follow-fork-mode child
start -v indi_sbig_ccd

If it says anything about a breakpoint, just hit c and enter to continue. Now from KStars, go to Device Manager, Client Tab, add a new host (Name: SBIG, host: localhost, port: 7624). Press connect and use the driver in INDI control panel. Use it until you see the crash message in GDB, type in bt and press enter and you should get the backtrace, send that over to me.
Last edit: 9 years 10 months ago by Jasem Mutlaq.
9 years 10 months ago #1247

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Replied by Chris Ryan on topic SBIG ST8XE and CFW-8 issues

Thanks for the clear instructions. Here's the result after I connected to the camera then tried to set the frame size in the image settings panel:
(gdb) start -v indi_sbig_ccd
Temporary breakpoint 1 at 0x402069: file /home/chrisr/indi-code/libindi/indiserver.c, line 209.
Starting program: /usr/bin/indiserver -v indi_sbig_ccd
warning: Could not load shared library symbols for linux-vdso.so.1.
Do you need "set solib-search-path" or "set sysroot"?
[Thread debugging using libthread_db enabled]
Using host libthread_db library "/lib64/libthread_db.so.1".
 
Temporary breakpoint 1, main (ac=3, av=0x7fffffffdd38)
    at /home/chrisr/indi-code/libindi/indiserver.c:209
209		logStartup(ac, av);
(gdb) c
Continuing.
2014-06-08T10:13:42: startup: /usr/bin/indiserver -v indi_sbig_ccd 
[New process 14185]
2014-06-08T10:13:42: Driver indi_sbig_ccd: pid=14185 rfd=3 wfd=6 efd=7
2014-06-08T10:13:42: listening to port 7624 on fd 4
[Thread debugging using libthread_db enabled]
Using host libthread_db library "/lib64/libthread_db.so.1".
process 14185 is executing new program: /usr/bin/indi_sbig_ccd
warning: Could not load shared library symbols for linux-vdso.so.1.
Do you need "set solib-search-path" or "set sysroot"?
[Thread debugging using libthread_db enabled]
Using host libthread_db library "/lib64/libthread_db.so.1".
2014-06-08T10:13:44: Driver indi_sbig_ccd: snooping on Telescope Simulator.EQUATORIAL_EOD_COORD
2014-06-08T10:14:36: Client 0: new arrival from 127.0.0.1:58173 - welcome!
[New Thread 0x7ffff5780700 (LWP 14200)]
 
Program received signal SIGSEGV, Segmentation fault.
[Switching to Thread 0x7ffff7fc9700 (LWP 14185)]
0x00007ffff6594370 in vfprintf () from /lib64/libc.so.6
(gdb) bt
#0  0x00007ffff6594370 in vfprintf () from /lib64/libc.so.6
#1  0x00007ffff659a271 in printf () from /lib64/libc.so.6
#2  0x00007ffff7b7c4bb in IDSetNumber (nvp=0x0, fmt=0x0)
    at /home/chrisr/indi-code/libindi/indidriver.c:1669
#3  0x00007ffff7b86ccc in CCDChip::setFrame (this=0x615870, subx=0, suby=0, 
    subw=1392, subh=1392)
    at /home/chrisr/indi-code/libindi/libs/indibase/indiccd.cpp:133
#4  0x000000000040a1e5 in SBIGCCD::UpdateCCDFrame(int, int, int, int) ()
#5  0x00007ffff7b8a020 in INDI::CCD::ISNewNumber (this=0x6142c0, 
    dev=0x61fa10 "SBIG CCD", name=0x61f910 "CCD_FRAME", values=0x61f7e0, 
    names=0x621350, n=4)
    at /home/chrisr/indi-code/libindi/libs/indibase/indiccd.cpp:733
#6  0x0000000000407b1d in SBIGCCD::ISNewNumber(char const*, char const*, double*, char**, int) ()
#7  0x0000000000405e2d in ISNewNumber ()
#8  0x00007ffff7b793ed in dispatch (root=0x6140d0, msg=0x7fffffffd2e0 "")
    at /home/chrisr/indi-code/libindi/indidriver.c:865
#9  0x00007ffff7b79023 in clientMsgCB (fd=0, arg=0x0)
    at /home/chrisr/indi-code/libindi/indidriver.c:786
#10 0x00007ffff7b7dc16 in callCallback (rfdp=0x7fffffffdb60)
    at /home/chrisr/indi-code/libindi/eventloop.c:346
#11 0x00007ffff7b7df7b in oneLoop ()
    at /home/chrisr/indi-code/libindi/eventloop.c:432
---Type <return> to continue, or q <return> to quit---
#12 0x00007ffff7b7d3c8 in eventLoop ()
    at /home/chrisr/indi-code/libindi/eventloop.c:105
#13 0x00007ffff7b7d2ec in main (ac=0, av=0x7fffffffdd58)
    at /home/chrisr/indi-code/libindi/indidrivermain.c:97
#14 0x00007ffff656aa55 in __libc_start_main () from /lib64/libc.so.6
#15 0x0000000000405a39 in _start ()
(gdb) 
 

Hope this gives a good clue!
9 years 10 months ago #1250

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Replied by Jasem Mutlaq on topic SBIG ST8XE and CFW-8 issues

The backtrace is useful, but the crash doesn't make sense. Are you using the SBIG driver from PPA or compiled it yourself? I would suggest you update libindi, then update indi-sbig code and recompile indi-sbig and try again to see if you get the crash. If you didn't compile indi-sbig, just wait a day until the PPA is updated.
9 years 10 months ago #1252

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Replied by Chris Ryan on topic SBIG ST8XE and CFW-8 issues

I'm building everything from source since I'm not on debian.

I updated the my libindi and got these changes:
Updating '.':
U    3rdparty/indi-sbig/sbig_ccd.cpp
U    libindi/libs/webcam/ccvt.h
U    libindi/libs/webcam/ccvt_misc.c
U    libindi/libs/webcam/v4l2_base.cpp

Rebuilding libindi with these commands:
cmake -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug ~/indi-code/libindi
sudo make install

Rebuilding 3rd party:
cmake -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr .
sudo make install

Both builds without issue, no errors.

Fired it up - And now I can connect and set frame and binning - green lights. Thank you.

I'm now having problems with the filter wheel connecting, but I'll do some more testing before reporting back.

EDIT: Filter problem was dumb user error, probably from lack of caffeine... All good! :)
Last edit: 9 years 10 months ago by Chris Ryan.
9 years 10 months ago #1254

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Replied by Chris Ryan on topic SBIG ST8XE and CFW-8 issues

...almost all good.

I can't find anyway of controlling the temperature for the CCD.

Amongst the kstars output was this:
Dispatch command error(-1): INDI: Could not find property CCD_TEMPERATURE in SBIG CCD
<setNumberVector device="SBIG CCD" name="CCD_TEMPERATURE" state="Idle" timeout="60" timestamp="2014-06-08T22:19:00">
    <oneNumber name="CCD_TEMPERATURE_VALUE" min="-70" max="40" step="0">
0
    </oneNumber>
</setNumberVector>
kstars(6430) SkyMapComposite::objectNearest: OBEST= "IC 1407"  -  ""
kstars(6430) SkyMapComposite::objectNearest: OBEST= "1941 B2 (de Kock-Paraskevopoulos)"  -  ""
kstars(6430) SkyMapComposite::objectNearest: OBEST= "2010 D2 (WISE)"  -  ""
Dispatch command error(-2): Error: Property CCD_COOLER not found in device SBIG CCD.
<delProperty device="SBIG CCD" name="CCD_COOLER" timestamp="2014-06-08T22:26:17"/>

Any ideas about this?
9 years 10 months ago #1256

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Replied by Jasem Mutlaq on topic SBIG ST8XE and CFW-8 issues

Please update indi-sbig driver again, I added a debug to see what's going on. To enable debug, to to Options tab, enable debug, make sure "Driver Debug" is checked, post the output in INDI control panel once you connect. Thanks for your patience :-)
9 years 10 months ago #1260

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Replied by Chris Ryan on topic SBIG ST8XE and CFW-8 issues

Ok, updated and did the connection. Here's the file output
DEBUG	255.009232 sec	: Toggle Logging Level -- Driver Debug
INFO	267.351023 sec	: SBIG CCD is online. Retrieving basic data.
DEBUG	267.351611 sec	: QueryTemperatureStatus: Enabled (False) qtsr.enabled (0) ccdTemp (23.3248) setpointTemp (18.4767) power (0)
DEBUG	267.352923 sec	: Retrieving CCD Parameters...
DEBUG	267.353910 sec	: Created Primary CCD buffer 3121712 bytes.
DEBUG	267.353950 sec	: Created Guide Head CCD buffer 650942 bytes.
9 years 10 months ago #1269

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Replied by Jasem Mutlaq on topic SBIG ST8XE and CFW-8 issues

ok, so qtrs.enabled is for temperature regulation and not whether there is a cooler or not. At any rate, please update again and test.
9 years 10 months ago #1270

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Replied by Chris Ryan on topic SBIG ST8XE and CFW-8 issues

Updated, this time I've got temperature control options and they appear to be working. Is the temperature setting absolute or relative to current ambient temp? It did take a long time to cool, but as this is a "new" camera to me, I'm not sure how quick it should be. Again, I don't have enough experience to say, but the fan speed never seem to vary to increase the cooling?

I've attached the output log where you'll see I've got the debug info on. Ignore the first error, I didn't have the usb plug in. :)

I set the temperature and it made it's way towards the value. I changed it a couple of times and it seemed to work fine. Looks like I've got enough to play with next time I can get outside. :) Thanks for the fixes.
9 years 10 months ago #1273

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