AZ-EQ6 handset problem

[Mekon (Paul)]

Hi everyone. I have had a Skywatcher AZ-EQ6 mount for over five years and it has been bullet proof so far, until tonight.
I wanted to try find SN 2021 pfs as I had a nice clear sky, but the equipment gods frowned on me.
It went through the normal start up mode (I have a permanent setup so I didn't have to do an alignment, just a start from PARK) and I told it to find the host galaxy -NGC5427. It seemed to slew to the right location, though I couldn't see it straight off, so I thought I'd navigate to nearby SPICA and take it from there.
At that point, none of the buttons would do anything but change the rate and display info about the object. I couldn't re target the mount anywhere. After a few min pushing the buttons, to no avail, I restarted and went straight to SPICA. All good but again, it would not retarget. This happened a third time before I gave up.

Any ideas as to what is wrong? TIA

[The Mekon (John Briggs)]

The Mekon to Mekon!
Paul - try going through "Setup" - Factory Settings and yes to factory default.
My EQ6 has done similar things occaisionally. You will have to re-input your position afterwards and set the illumination levels for the handset.
John

[Mekon (Paul)]

Originally Posted by The Mekon

The Mekon to Mekon!
Paul - try going through "Setup" - Factory Settings and yes to factory default.
My EQ6 has done similar things occaisionally. You will have to re-input your position afterwards and set the illumination levels for the handset.
John

Thanks John, I fixed it with a reinstall of the firmware. A bit of a hassle as PCs don't have a serial port these days and Win 10 has decided that nobody needs a COM port either.