Updating Meade autostarII with starlock

[Avoman1]

Hi good people I'm hoping for advice on updating Meade software. I have recently purchased a second hand Meade XL850 mount with AutostarII And Starlock. The trouble I'm having is with the badly written manual and the update at the Meade website. (I keep getting 404 errors so the Meade links are not working for me)
I use a Mac. Not sure if this adds to the issue :shrug:pbut I'm unable to download the update ver 6 let alone install it. :help:
Does anybody know of a site with good instructions for this procedure and/or where is find an update which works.
This is my first EQ mount so learning at present. Any help very welcome.
Thanks
Darryl

[Avoman1]

I have found that you need to use a windows computer to do any Meade updates.
Here is the latest update as of October 2015
http://www.meade.com/support/software-firmware/firmware/
And the instructions
http://www.meade.com/index.php/downloads/dl/file/id/74/starlock_firmware_installation_inst ructions.pdf/
Hope this helps

[AndrewJ]

Gday Darryl
For the LX850, you are correct.
The firmware update must be done on a windows PC
You can use Meades ASU
or a more robust option is the freeware Starpatch app
http://www.stargps.ca/downloads.htm
( which is also windows only )

Andrew

[Avoman1]

Thanks Andrew i will checkout your starpatch app:2thumbs::)

[AndrewJ]

Gday Darryl

Starpatch isnt my app, it belongs to Chris Carson who supplies the StarGPS modules, but it has been tweaked to work with the LX850s.
I write the patches for the firmwares, but it his app that then applies and loads em.
Just for info, what version firmware do you have loaded??
If it is 1.1g, then thats the latest there is for the mount,
so reloading wont do anything.
Not sure what version is the latest for Starlock itself, but that also requires a dedicated loader ( StarPatch wont work with the Starlock unit itself )

Andrew

[Avoman1]

Hi Andrew
Thanks for the info mate. I have been away for 3 weeks sorry not to reply to your post. Now I will have about 2 weeks of work to catch up on and then I will be able to investigate the lx850 again. Thanks for your help so far :thumbsup:.......... I definitely need it as this is my first EQ mount. Hope to get more feed back once I check out the version on the control unit
Cheers
Darryl