×

INDI Library v2.0.7 is Released (01 Apr 2024)

Bi-monthly release with minor bug fixes and improvements

Ekos seg.faults / crashed constantly on RP4 - not able to start

  • Posts: 77
  • Thank you received: 1
Hi,

Two nights ago everything ran smoothly without problems. I'm running Kstars 3.4.1 (build using rlancaste's AstroPi3 script a week or two ago) on my RP4 4GB unit.

Last night I had experienced something I've never experienced before with Ekos. I started Kstars/Ekos as usual and connected. I tried focusing, but that failed to find a star. I tried the polar alignment routine, but that failed to plate solve due to a blank image. I tried capturing a 30s light frame but that just came out blank as well (and yes, my lens cap was removed :) ).
I then tried rebooting my RP4 unit, started Kstars and then opened Ekos. I selected my usual profile but just after that Kstars/Ekos crashed (segmentation fault) - it just managed to open the Indi control panel before the crash. When re-opening kstars and starting Ekos I was told that the indiserver was already running. I shut that down and tried again with the same result - seg. fault. I tried some debugging with just the mount and my ccd camera in a profile. That worked and everything started.... BUT when capturing a light frame as a test it was just blank. Also slewed to other places in the sky resulted in blank frames.

I always start kstars from the command line. I got these messages last night:
Warning: Spoiler!


I looked at my Indi settings for my camera and noticed that most of the settings had been reset to default, except gain, offset and WB settings. Everything else had been reset.

I disconnected and tried adding my focuser (DeepSkyDad AF3) to my profile again with a seg. fault as my result...

I ran 'gdb --ex run --args kstars' and got this:
Warning: Spoiler!


As a last resort I tried running kstars as "root" using 'sudo kstars'. This started a brand new instance of kstars and I had to set up my devices etc. again but that worked. Actually it ran better than ever - I've never had the Polar Alignment routine run as smoothly as this time as the refresh just smoothly refreshed the image every second. When running this normally it's sometimes a bit clunky in refreshing. Also the focusing was running like a dream and very fast. I then tried disconnecting my profile, shut Ekos/Kstars down and opened again. Selecting my profile and.... seg. fault! Tried just the CCD and that worked but everything in the settings was back to default again?!

I gave up! It was one of the clearest nights in a very, very long time and I couldn't capture anything. Very, very frustrating.

What's going on?
SkyWatcher ED80 Pro
Skywatcher HEQ5 Pro with Rowan Belt Mod with EQDIR cable
ZWO ASI294MC Pro imaging camera
QHY5L-II-C guide camera on 50mm guidescope
DeepSkyDad AF3 autofocuser
Raspberry Pi 4 4GB running Kstars/Ekos
4 years 13 hours ago #52117

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

libindi and indi-3rdparty are up to date?
4 years 11 hours ago #52120

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

  • Posts: 77
  • Thank you received: 1
All installed at the same time as kstars using the AstroPi3 script. Worked two nights ago and crashed last night. Nothing had been changed or updated between the two nights.
SkyWatcher ED80 Pro
Skywatcher HEQ5 Pro with Rowan Belt Mod with EQDIR cable
ZWO ASI294MC Pro imaging camera
QHY5L-II-C guide camera on 50mm guidescope
DeepSkyDad AF3 autofocuser
Raspberry Pi 4 4GB running Kstars/Ekos
4 years 11 hours ago #52121

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

  • Posts: 77
  • Thank you received: 1
Ok, I've gotten closer to a possible reason:

AF3 worked great until suddenly it caused Ekos to crash. I've so far installed Ekos using the AstroPi3 script. I decided to test out AstroBerry to see if that made any difference. Then AF3 connected without problems and everything was great again, until I hit the good old:
sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade

Then the AF3 wouldn't connect anymore and caused Ekos to crash. I decided to check the log files, but they weren't there (logging was turned on). I then tried turning logging off and suddenly the AF3 worked again and no more Ekos crashes. Turning logging back on caused yet another crash! I've also tried the AF2 driver (basically the same as the AF3 driver) and that worked once in a while with logging and sometimes it just crashed with Ekos.

I'm now running the AF3 driver without any logging turned on. That ran all night without problems. I wrote to Pavle Gartner (the guy behind DeepSkyDad) and asked if he updated the AF3 driver, but he told me that it's still the same version as always.

So, could it be a bug in the logging code which clashes with the AF3 (and AF2) driver?

Anders
SkyWatcher ED80 Pro
Skywatcher HEQ5 Pro with Rowan Belt Mod with EQDIR cable
ZWO ASI294MC Pro imaging camera
QHY5L-II-C guide camera on 50mm guidescope
DeepSkyDad AF3 autofocuser
Raspberry Pi 4 4GB running Kstars/Ekos
3 years 11 months ago #52409

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

Run it via gdb and post the backtrace.
3 years 11 months ago #52413

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

  • Posts: 77
  • Thank you received: 1
And now it won't crash! I bet that tonight when I set up it crashes...

But last night I copied the output from the command line. Here's the interesting last part of it:

Warning: Spoiler!


A backtrace from gdb of one of the crashes from my previous install (using the AstroPi3 script) is in my original post.
SkyWatcher ED80 Pro
Skywatcher HEQ5 Pro with Rowan Belt Mod with EQDIR cable
ZWO ASI294MC Pro imaging camera
QHY5L-II-C guide camera on 50mm guidescope
DeepSkyDad AF3 autofocuser
Raspberry Pi 4 4GB running Kstars/Ekos
3 years 11 months ago #52418

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

As I said before, the crash in KStars was due to out of date libindi. Just make sure KStars is linked to the latest INDI.
3 years 11 months ago #52427

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

  • Posts: 77
  • Thank you received: 1
Hi Jasem,
Unless KStars/Ekos automatically updates itself etc. then this cannot be the answer as the output written in my latest post was from yesterday. And I haven't updated anything since then. However, when I now look at the Julian date written in the output and online convert it I get the date (by removing the number 24 in the beginning of the date) April 22nd - 2020 (today) and not yesterday?

But I hope it works now.

Anders
SkyWatcher ED80 Pro
Skywatcher HEQ5 Pro with Rowan Belt Mod with EQDIR cable
ZWO ASI294MC Pro imaging camera
QHY5L-II-C guide camera on 50mm guidescope
DeepSkyDad AF3 autofocuser
Raspberry Pi 4 4GB running Kstars/Ekos
3 years 11 months ago #52430

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

Time to create page: 0.220 seconds