Did a complete update/upgrade last week.  
The autofocus procedure searches for the minimum HFR and plots the HFR curve that clearly shows the U shape around the best focus setting.  But it continues to search for the minimum until the target star is lost. 

What is the criteria that determines when to terminate the autofocus routine? 

In the attached log file I see a percent figure on the line with the HFR reported.  And I see a tolerance setting on the focus tab which is set to 1%.  The log file shows that the percent figure never gets below 1%.  I assume this is the reason why the autofocus routine never terminates successfully.  What does this percent figure refer to?

 

Hello,
This thread may help you.
- indilib.org/forum/general/6167-for-those...-issues.html?start=0
Regards
 

Very helpful explanation. Had some success a couple nights ago but need to make more adjustments to the settings.

I posted your link on FB in response to another question about autofocusing.

Maybe confused the autofocus routine by not allowing enough out focus limit?
See log entry below

See the HFR 1.49 @ 11939, error out because cannot move past limit then HFR 7.07 at 11940

[2021-05-11T20:31:21.090 PDT INFO ][     org.kde.kstars.ekos.focus] - "FITS received. HFR 1.76 @ 11855. Delta (63.3%)"
[2021-05-11T20:31:21.100 PDT INFO ][     org.kde.kstars.ekos.focus] - "Focusing outward by 115 steps..."[2021-05-11T20:31:24.709 PDT INFO ][     org.kde.kstars.ekos.focus] - "FITS received. HFR 1.76 @ 11970. Delta (63.7%)"
[2021-05-11T20:31:24.719 PDT INFO ][     org.kde.kstars.ekos.focus] - "Focusing inward by 54 steps..."[2021-05-11T20:31:27.767 PDT INFO ][     org.kde.kstars.ekos.focus] - "FITS received. HFR 1.49 @ 11916. Delta (37.1%)"
[2021-05-11T20:31:27.778 PDT INFO ][     org.kde.kstars.ekos.focus] - "Focusing outward by 23 steps..."

[2021-05-11T20:31:30.828 PDT INFO ][     org.kde.kstars.ekos.focus] - "FITS received. HFR 1.49 @ 11939. Delta (36.8%)"
[2021-05-11T20:31:30.838 PDT INFO ][     org.kde.kstars.ekos.focus] - "Focusing outward by 31 steps..."

[2021-05-11T20:31:33.896 PDT INFO ][     org.kde.kstars.ekos.focus] - "FITS received. HFR 1.24 @ 11970. Delta (11.9%)"
[2021-05-11T20:31:33.926 PDT INFO ][     org.kde.kstars.ekos.focus] - "Focuser cannot move further, device limits reached. Autofocus aborted."

[2021-05-11T23:47:50.623 PDT INFO ][     org.kde.kstars.ekos.focus] - "FITS received. HFR 7.07 @ 11940. Delta (594%)"
[2021-05-11T23:47:50.700 PDT INFO ][     org.kde.kstars.ekos.focus] - "Focusing outward by 200 steps..."

[2021-05-11T23:47:54.306 PDT INFO ][     org.kde.kstars.ekos.focus] - "FITS received. HFR -1 @ 12140. Delta (807%)"
[2021-05-11T23:47:54.308 PDT INFO ][     org.kde.kstars.ekos.focus] - "No stars detected, capturing 

I think that focus attempt failed because there was not sufficient outward travel distance. The camera had to be pulled out by 10 - 20 mm to achieve focus. Subsequent attempts were able to find the best focus but the tolerance was set to 1%. After failing to meet that limit several times, it began to search too far out of focus.

Based on the recommendations in the thread recommended above, I will try setting exposure time to 5 seconds, max initial step to 25 and tolerance to 5%. I expect it to work well with those changes.

Ed