I had the same problem Steve describes, but with the internal guider. I also never experienced it before. This is what happened:

[2020-06-24T23:51:46.172 CDT DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.ekos.guide] - Received guide frame.
[2020-06-24T23:51:46.178 CDT DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.ekos.guide] - Multistar: findTopStars 10
[2020-06-24T23:51:46.230 CDT DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.fits] - SEP detected 0 stars.
[2020-06-24T23:51:46.230 CDT DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.fits] - # #X #Y #Flux #Width #HFR
[2020-06-24T23:51:46.231 CDT DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.ekos.guide] - # X Y Flux HFR sepSc SCORE SNR
[2020-06-24T23:51:46.231 CDT DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.ekos.guide] - No suitable star detected.
[2020-06-24T23:51:46.231 CDT INFO ][ org.kde.kstars.ekos.guide] - "Failed to find any suitable guide stars. Aborting..."
[2020-06-24T23:51:46.234 CDT DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.ekos.capture] - Guiding state changed from "Reacquiring" to "Idle"
[2020-06-24T23:51:46.235 CDT DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.ekos.guide] - Stopping internal guider.
[2020-06-24T23:51:46.240 CDT DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - iOptron CEM60 : "[DEBUG] CMD <:GLS#> "
[2020-06-24T23:51:46.241 CDT DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - iOptron CEM60 : "[DEBUG] RES <-348454442028010901#> "
[2020-06-24T23:51:46.243 CDT DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - iOptron CEM60 : "[DEBUG] CMD <:GEA#> "
[2020-06-24T23:51:46.243 CDT DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.ekos.scheduler] - Guide State "Idle"


The scheduler was running unattended.
The guide star was lost, frames were dropped and then the guider was stopped.
However, the scheduler continued and captures also continued until the meridian flip occurred at ~ 4.15 AM. It looks like that completed fine, but then the capture sequence did not restart as the Capture module was probably waiting for the guider, which, however, had shut down hours earlier.
The scheduler finally terminated shortly before 5 AM when twilight triggered it and the mount parked normally.

Here the link to the (lengthy) log: www.dropbox.com/s/slzkkb53h3sxj0i/log_18-37-16.txt?dl=0

I am only using the internal guider, so this problem is not PHD2 specific.

Hi,
I took a look into your logs. Its a similar problem, but not the same. There is a weakness in the status model of the internal guider that switches to the state GUIDE_IDLE if it was re-aquiring a guiding star instead of GUIDE_ABORTED. In this case Capture simply ignores it and does not try to restart guiding.

I would recommend to change the way how use the scheduler. Your schedule job contains a single capture job with 50x120s Ha. If you would use a 1x120s capture job and let the scheduler run it 50x, the scheduler would have recovered guiding after each capture.

Nevertheless, it's a bug, but I can't promise how fast I can fix it. If we have a volunteer, I could give guidance.

Wolfgang

I just pushed a fix for reaquire, it should be marked ABORTED and not IDLE.

Hi everyone

Does this fix my case with PHD2 as well as the internal guider?

TIA,
Steve

No that was for internal guider, not sure what's going on with PHD2. Eric is working on a few issues there.

Fixing the issue for PHD2 needs a more complex rework and thorough testing. I have it on my list, but I would expect fixing it won't within the next days.

So please concentrate on avoiding the settling error as a workaround.

Wolfgang

Hi Wolfgang, everyone.
I've no problem doing the testing.
Cheers,
Steve

Hi folks,
maybe I've found an easy solution, I have already submitted a merge request marked as "work in progress". For the brave ones amongst you, I would be happy if you test it in real life.

For this, you need to checkout the branch scheduler_enforce_guiding from my kstars clone invent.kde.org/wreissenberger/kstars.git

For those not so familiar with git, here a short explanation how this works:

• change to your local kstars clone
• git remote add sterne-jaeger invent.kde.org/wreissenberger/kstars.git
• git checkout scheduler_enforce_guiding
• Now change to your build directory and call "make"

Feedback welcome!!
Wolfgang

Hi Wolfang
Fell at the first fence:(

steve@E5430:~$ cd Projects/kstars/
steve@E5430:~/Projects/kstars$ git remote add sterne-jaeger invent.kde.org/wreissenberger/kstars.git
steve@E5430:~/Projects/kstars$ git checkout scheduler_enforce_guiding
error: pathspec 'scheduler_enforce_guiding' did not match any file(s) known to git.

What did I do wrong?
Thanks

Hi Steve,
nothing, it was the forum software that swallowed the "https://" in front of the git URL. The correct command is:
Wolfgang

Hi again

Still nada:
steve@E5430:~/Projects/kstars$ git remote add sterne-jaeger invent.kde.org/wreissenberger/kstars.git
fatal: remote sterne-jaeger already exists.
steve@E5430:~/Projects/kstars$ git checkout scheduler_guiding_enforce
error: pathspec 'scheduler_guiding_enforce' did not match any file(s) known to git.

This was with the https. The forum strips it...