Man, you really must have been evil in a past life ....
These things are frustrating, but it's a l-o-n-g learning curve. On the upside, it's something you can enjoy for many, many years. Once you settle on your "arsenal" of equipment and everything is working, you should (hopefully) have years of trouble-free imaging .... well, apart from the variations in seeing, clouds, lousy neighbours with security lights, lack of sleep, dirty looks from SWMBO due to not doing enough around the house, cold-induced illnesses, etc.
