System Shutting Down Mid Sequence

[Ramius (Bill)]

Hi,
Still pretty new to this and have complicated my life by getting a C8 to complement my Zenithstar efractor.


I have just moved back to the Zenistar to iamge Orion and had a few headaches in the transition includin setting the FL wrong (365mm rather than 345mm) though ASAP seemed to cope. I imaged two nights running like this and got several hours of data when the system shut down.

As far as I can tell it's not related to Meridian flip. This was in last nights log - everything up to this point seemed ok:

2023-12-16T02:53:04.4184|INFO|ApplicationVM .cs|SystemEvents_SessionEnding|219| The operating system is shutting down.

Seems to suggest to me that its a PC system issue rather than my Astro setup but I am guessing. Any thoughs or suggestion as to how i try and debug this - in a bit over my head here.

Cheers
Bill

[Leo.G (Leo)]

There's been a scheduled system shut down whether in the astronomy software or the operating system itself.
But it definitely sounds like a scheduled shut down somewhere.


If you have a look in the Event Viewer (a quick search in windows explorer will bring it up) you may find what caused the system to shut down.

Open "Event Viewer",
then open the category (in the left column) "Windows Logs -> System",
then right click on the same category and select "Filter Current Log...",
in the input field that shows "<All Event IDs>" enter "1074", click OK,

then find an entry at the relevant time (as indicated by your log) and you should see what program initiated the shut down.


Good luck, WE HATE TECHNOLOGY! (My son and I), we have been trying to sort out a neighbours security system (all free including the now use of an old 16 port DVR and power supply of my own) and you wouldn't believe the problems we had, we're both highly experienced and qualified).

[Ramius (Bill)]

Thanks for the response Leo.
I found similar guidance after a search and am now fairly sure it was just a windows update. Had every power saving option covered but never thought to look at updates.

I have now amended the update controls and will see how it goes.
Cheers
Bill

[Leo.G (Leo)]

Hopefully that's the end of the issues Bill!
I'm currently having my own issues with software which seems to be conflicting using a couple of old Meade cameras I was given.
One camera worked great with sharpcap while till I updated the Meade software (Autostar Envisage) to a later version when the older version couldn't even recognise a camera. Now neither programme recognised either camera and I wasted 6 hours trying the other night.
Back to the drawing board.


Funny, I recently had a discussion with a gentleman about how expensive cameras soon become unsupported by anything and it's a lot of money down the drain. I'm lucky to not be able to afford a new camera me thinks.
Though I believe I should one day be playing with PHD and that thing that holds my shoes on, shoestring, that's it.

[Ramius (Bill)]

Yeah I have actually been presently surprised how relatively smoothly things have gone (though I am retired which allows for lots of preperation time which helps a lot).
Wish i had a dollar for every hour i have spent fighting with IT stuff but it is better than the old days configuring hardware with jumpers and no internet to search for help (showing my age now).
Thanks again.

[Leo.G (Leo)]

Wish i had a dollar for every hour i have spent fighting with IT stuff but it is better than the old days configuring hardware with jumpers and no internet to search for help (showing my age now)

I liked the command prompt and was quite adept at getting what I wanted out of computers in the day, now I HATE Windows with a passion!


I've been building and repairing computer equipment since the mid 80s, a spin off from electronics qualifications.
I remember when you had to know cylinders, heads and sectors on any hard drive to get the thing working along with those 2 non PC terms, "master and slave units", and dip switches on particularly graphics cards, I probably still have some of the old junk around here along with my original single speed CD ROM which cost me $2500 with a sound card.


If I had the money I spent on computers back when 1MB of RAM was $80 on a good day.... And my original Soundblaster Pro sound card, $999 on sale.
At least I was working then, before I got shuffled onto disability pension and could justify the expense. Now it's an old HP compact I got from Greys with an I7 at a good price used. My 486 was new and cost me thousands to build. I still have my original insurance papers here showing it's replacement value. It was insured for over $10,000.
There's a thought, if I still had that policy the machine is long dead, LOL.....

[Ramius (Bill)]

That takes me back - DX4/100 and original Doom.
Sure as hell wasn't $10k though - thats serious PC money!

[Leo.G (Leo)]

I had a DX2-66 when there were less than a handful of 486's in the country. I was lucky, I got to write a percentage off on my tax.
Most retailers still had the 286 on the shelves when I had my 486. I had a 670MB SCSSI hard drive which was worth $2,500 and another $1,000 for the controller card. The biggest hard drive in any store bought system at that time was 20MB with 10MB standard.
Thankfully computers have gotten a h3ll of a lot cheaper now compared to trying to stay ahead of technology back then. Though I believe a thread ripper is still a few thousand dollars just for the processor.
As for modern graphics cards, in the day that was probably the cheapest component in the system.


I've shocked people when I've shown them my insurance papers with the insurers replacement value.


I've long learnt keeping up with technology is throwing money down the drain. My phone is a Samsung S8 I bought used with an already cracked screen, my PC an old office thing I got cheap at Greys auctions, my car a 32 year old Falcon.
In saying that I'm not cheap, I've been on disability pension for a lot of years and preferred to spend any spare monies (not that disability gives you spare money) on my son who was born deaf (now only around 80-90% deaf thankfully).

[Ramius (Bill)]

I am lucky enough to be able to occassionally buy new when I think it makes sense but it's never my first option. Early adopters pay in dollars and frustration - I much rather buy used items with good online documentation of bugs and fixes.
Raising a child with special needs while on a pension yourself must be a tough gig. I can empathise a little as we have our own challenges. I wish you and your son well.
Cheers
Bill