QHY5 driver help

[troypiggo]

Having trouble connecting to my QHY5 tonight for some reason. It's showing up as a new USB device and wanting to install drivers. Been working fine for ages, and I haven't changed anything that should affect it since last use.

I figured it could be corrupted driver, so uninstalled all QHY drivers and installed the QHY5 ASCOM 4 driver from the QHY5 website. I seem to remember this is the one, or do you also have to install the other QHY5 driver and update as well? (update - I did install all drivers, rebooted, still no worky)

Go through the hardware installation with both using the auto detect and also manually locate the drivers from the prog files/qhy/drivers path. Doesn't detect or work.

Any ideas? :shrug: :sadeyes:

[jjjnettie]

Try downloading the Ascom 6 drivers Troy.

[troypiggo]

Oh, sorry. Should have clarified. I have ASCOM 6 installed. But the QHY website calls the QHY5 ASCOM driver version 4.

PS - Last few times I've tried to go to ascom-standards.org website, it's down. What's up with that?

[Tandum]

Troy, there are normally 2 drivers for qhy cameras. The first is the windows driver that lets windows detect and talk to the camera. That is the qhy winUSB driver.
Then you install the ascom driver to plug the camera into ascom. Did you get it going?

[troypiggo]

I did install both but still not working. Must admit I installed the ASCOM driver first, then the Windows driver and update. Do you reckon that's the problem? I seem to remember last time that I needed to shut down and restart Windows before it was all recognised. Did that this time but still not being picked up. :sadeyes:

[Tandum]

Do you have another computer at home? Put the winusb drivers on it and plug in the qhy5 and see if it detects and shows up in the control panel. Then you'll know if it's a pc issue or a camera problem.

[mithrandir]

Troy, QHY5 (and SSAG which are to all intents and purposes the same thing) sometimes lose their identity. If they don't tell Windows the right manufacturer and device ID Windows goes looking for new drivers.

See http://qhyccd.com/ccdbbs/index.php?topic=2702.0

The process works for both cameras by using the appropriate device ID.

I'd include a screen shot from Device Manager but I have an SSAG, not a QHY5.

[troypiggo]

Followed those instructions. Uncompressed driver.rar, edited the inf file, ran install.bat, connected the camera, plugged in camera, it did not install correctly.

[Tandum]

Was the VID/PID wrong? That fix must be done on an xp computer to work.

[troypiggo]

BTW I tried installing on another computer and same problem.

The VID/PID was wrong. I followed the instruction in that thread Andrew linked to edit the inf file. Yes, it's WinXP.

[Tandum]

Peter (pmrid) has done that fix to his, maybe he has some tips :)

[pmrid]

Troy, I've been there several times. For some reason, some versions of the QHY5 circuit board do not have any write-protection on their CMOS chip and they tend to get scrambled. There is a routine for reflashng the CMOS and this has worked for me two out of three times. The third resulted in a dead camera. There is also a method of DIY modification to the circuit board which write-protects it. The way you tel which version of the circuit board you have required you to open the camera. You remove the sponge/foam protection around the sensor to reveal the surface-mounted components below. If you can't find the details let me know. Probably have it hee somewhere.
Peter

[mill]

I have a pdf here that tells you how to write protect the QHY5.

[troypiggo]

You've got to be kidding me. Thanks guys. Will look into this more.

[troypiggo]

I've pulled the camera apart, and it looks like I have "the old version" in the PDF that Martin posted above, Figure 2 left hand image. See my attached photo. Question time.

If I make it write protected, can it be undone easily if, for example, a firmware update needs to happen in the future?

The english in the document isn't crystal clear to me, and I don't find electronics intuitive. Is it just a matter of soldering those 2 right hand pins together? It mentions separating the pin from the board a couple of times. Early on says not to, then the unclear photo lower (Fig 3) seems to say to cut the wire.

Is there a software method of achieving this without soldering?

[Tandum]

You have to write the correct VID/PID into it first.

Look close, the left pin has been cut off from the board, or you can cut the track in front of that pin.

This just stops it loosing it's identity again due to low volts on the usb cable.

[troypiggo]

If the writing correct vid etc you're referring to is Andrew's link above, I'm having trouble getting that to work. I've followed the instructions as I understand them, but every time I go to install new hardware wizard, it doesn't successfully install with incorrect software error message.

[mill]

Are you sure you changed all three FF18 entries?
Two are in the top of the INF file and one at the bottom.

[peter_4059]

Troy - you definately have the old version. You need to disconnect the second pin on the right from the circuit board and connect this pin to the right pin. The other option is to cut the track leading from the pin on the circuit board. I suspect the first option will be easier to reverse in the future if you need to re-flash it.

If you need a hand with the soldering let me know however I assume the camera is still under factory warranty?

[mill]

The easiest way to do it is to make a small pin header and then put a jumper on it to make the write protect and when you want to reflash you only have to take the jumper off.
You will need two headers, one to bridge the legs and one to bridge the cut off track so when flashing, the track gets the jumper and when write protecting, the jumper goes on the legs.

[troypiggo]

Thanks guys. Couple of updates.

Robin - thanks so much for your PM. I thought I was doing the instructions from the QHY forum post linked above perfectly. I think I was doing it too literally, and when I was editing the inf file I literally copied the values that were on the forum post. Your PM "clicked" with me and I realised that I should have been using the hardware ID from my device, which is different to what's in the post.

So after doing that, I was able to get step 3 from here: http://qhyccd.com/ccdbbs/index.php?topic=2702.msg16136#msg16 136 to actually install successfully.

From there, I tried to follow the next steps using the vidpid.rar file. The device did not get detected as new and didn't get to do the install drivers mentioned in that word doc. Possibly because they were already installed by now? Anyway, I followed through with the second part which is running that ezmr.exe file and appears to flash the hardware with correct IDs? That seemed to work.

So I installed the latest QHY5 windows driver, the update, and the ASCOM driver from QHY website. All installed fine and now the camera appears to be working in Maxim DL.

So thanks so much all for your help there.

Now, as for the hardware modding. I'm not overly keen on that at this stage. What I might do is keep an eye on this issue. If it happens again, or regularly I'll reassess the situation. But in the meantime I'm hoping this is a once-in-a-blue-moon occurrence and won't need to do often.

If and when I do, I like Martin's idea of the post and jumpers. At least that's reversible etc.

Thanks again, all.

[peter_4059]

Troy - I've heard of similar issues with the DSI and there is a similar process to reflash it.

The key to avoiding it in that case is to ensure the USB connection at the camera is not disturbed. I always secure the usb cable so the plug doesn't come under any strain when the scope moves.

[Tandum]

Yaaahh a win is always good. I figured you might be having trouble with the jinglish they use on that forum.

[allan gould]

Had the problem with my DSI when the usb connection went flackey and had to reflash its memory to tell it what chip it had. Only after the 6th attempt did it finally take after a laptop reboot. After that I said this is not nice so I ordered a Lodestar as a guider and it should arrive tomorrow.
Glad you got your running again Troy.
Allan