I've been having horrible results with EKOS and my ASI2600MC for over a year. I keep hoping software updates will fix it, but all of my imaging sessions are ruined by the PI crashing. I have un-selected debayering in EKOS FITS setup, and it still crashes. Sometimes after taking one frame, sometimes after taking a few.

Very frustrating... I had a ticket opened about this a while back, and some beta fixes were loaded onto my Stellarmate, but it didn't really help.

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Thank you so much Xstreams for your detailed advice.

I'm beginning to wonder if there's a problem with my AVX. I have a CGEM also that I don't use much - it's a heavier mount and I don't think I need it for my AT115EDT. But, I'll pull it out of the garage when the skies clear and see if it has the same problem with the autoguide module as the AVX has.

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Thank you Lead_weight. I went ahead and followed your advice and just used the mount's polar alignment routine (AVX + starsense).

I'm still having trouble with autoguiding, though.

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Thank you, I did update my firmware the other night before heading out. I appreciate the advice.

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Thank you xthestreams and wotalota.

So... last night I tried alignment again and it sort-of worked. I noticed that I had not previously "parked" the mount before doing the alignment. After I did that step, it seemed to work. IMO, when you say "start" the application should check if the mount is parked, if not it should ask you if you wish to park or abort.

After I parked the mount, it solved the sky and gave me an arrow and told me to click on a star. I did that. Then it asked me to adjust alt/az to center the star etc. I don't know if that means to center it in Kstars or center it in the photographic plate that I can dynamically refresh/update. Also, my Celestron 8300 camera doesn't seem to cooperate with any binning other than 1x1 in the alignment application, giving me bogus "pictures" if I do anything other than 1x1. This makes doing "real time" adjustment of alt/az virtually impossible, as I have to wait about 30 seconds between "frame" refreshes. It's a work-night, so I called it quits at that point. BTW, if I remember correctly, my 8300 does binning just fine in the photography section, so I'm not sure why it throws a tantrum with binning under alignment module.

Anyway, I'll play again tonight and see if I can make progress with alignment.

My "eyeball" alignment, btw, was only about 1 degree off. So... I tried guiding again just for kicks. Same thing, when it tried to do RA negative, it just gave up. After I get the alignment spot-on, I'll try again.

To answer the helpful questions y'all asked: I'm using the Celestron-GPS driver for my Celestron AVX, though I don't have the GPS module installed. Also, location and date/time and DST seemed OK (at least last night).

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Greetings friends.

I recently purchased StellarmateOS and have put it to good use on a Pi4-4GB.

I've spent many hours over the past two months trying to figure everything out. I've figured out focusing, solving, and (unguided) photography.

I'm stuck on two things, though, and I need help.

1) When I try to do a polar align, I select the default 30 (degrees, I assume). My telescope then takes a picture of the default position, pointed roughly at Polaris. Then, it rotates the telescope E or W (depending on which I select). So far so good. But it tries to rotate the telescope SO FAR it seems as if it wants to crawl under the tripod. It hits my AVX default slew limits, and Celestron, in their paternalistic wisdom, stop any further motion. "That's strange," thinks I. So, I change to "20" (degrees?). Same result for E and W. It never slows to the point where it takes a 2nd picture, much less a 3rd. I've searched the forums and I can't see anybody else complaining about this. Thus, it must be a problem with my behavior or something I've misconfigured. Can somebody help? I wasted HOURS last night trying to get this to work. I've yet to take a picture (other than darks) with EKOS/Stellarmate, and I'm desperate for an astropic-inspired endorphin rush.

2) "OK, I can at least do tracking," contemplates I. So... I try to use the tracking module. I get a nice focus through my Orion TOAG snuggled up to my Celestron 8300 camera. I trundle off to the Guiding module. I take a "Capture" image, and I see stars (the good kind). "Great," I emote with joy. Next, I click on "Guide," with a 2s exposure of my SSAG, using auto-star selection and via "AVX" mount (I've tried the camera guiding option too - and yes I have the ST4 cable connected). The calibration starts! I'm as optimistic as a senior on a prom date. It calibrates RA-. Finished that in a couple of seconds. Great! (I'm starting to get sweaty palms). Next, it performs the RA+ calibration... and performs it, and tries, and struggles, and after 21 tries, it gives me a soul-crushing error. So, I dash off to the options and change my pulse width to 300. Same symptom. It's like my telescope doesn't respond to the calibration commands. "Well," I think, "Perhaps there's a problem with sewing the mount." So, I launch the scope control gadget and slew left and right, up and down. No problem. Defeated, I call it a night at 4AM, for the fourth or fifth time since starting my relationship with the Stellarmate. I'm beginning to feel jilted. Can somebody help me think of what I'm doing wrong (besides my cologne and Hawaiian shirt)?

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