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NINA error msg meaning

Stefan Berg Nighttime Imaging 'N' Astronomy (N.I.N.A. / NINA) Fabien Chéreau et al. Stellarium The ASCOM Initiative ASCOM Equatorial Mount Troubleshooting
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Chuck Schreiner avatar
Chuck Schreiner avatar
Aarrgggghhh. My one trip to cloudless, dark skies this month…

Things started OK. I slewed to my target using NINA framing (slew & center) /Stellarium/Gemini II. But I had to redo PHD, slew to a different start (and maybe that was the issue - on the West side, whereas target was to east). When I attempted to reslew to my target from home (CWD), I got the msg "ASCOM Driver Error SlewEquitorialAsync'. I restarted everything - laptop, mount, software, hoping that might fix it. I reconnected cable to different ports. I could slew & center to other targets, but not to my intended target.

I cannot find this error message in a google search. My prior experiences using NINA discord before has been unhelpful. 

Anyone have any ideas of how to chase this error down, what it might be or how to address it?

Thanks…
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Guillermo (Guy) Yanez avatar
Guillermo (Guy) Yanez avatar
I suspect this might be an issue with your scope initial setup and Gemini II. Try to get a good polar alignment using the three point star alignment plugin in NINA, then get a good model of your local sky by slewing to a few different stars or other known objects, then plate solve and sync.
Now if this does not do any improvement , there has to be something about your ascom driver settings for the Gemini. Try to reach the savvy folks at https://groups.io/g/Gemini-II and https://groups.io/g/Gemini_ASCOM_Driver/.  Now, one more thing: Do not forget to include your log files when posting an issue on thsese groups if you want others to figure out what may be going wrong.
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Chuck Schreiner avatar
Chuck Schreiner avatar
Thanks, Guy. I have been using this setup for at least a year (and use Polemaster to polar align). I can usually slew properly to a target (and could initially to my primary target and then to a different target last night). 

I reached out to groups.io Gemini - and indeed they asked for log files. Since I rebooted everything several times (when things don't work, turn them off as first debug method!) I can't really figure out which of several log files to upload, so I am going to try to replicate issue later this week so I can upload the right file. 

Thanks for responding! I appreciate the feedback.
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Frédéric Ruciak avatar
Frédéric Ruciak avatar
Hi Chuk, I do not know your mount but once, I had a problem with NINA and an EQ6R because the EQ6R remembered info exchange sent by NINA that were wrong (according to a bug). After restart, the EQ6R was still seeing itself in a wrong position leading to strange behaviour. I had to find the info in EQMOD (ascom module dealing with EQ6R) to erase it and come back to a normal behaviour. Have you checked that there is nothing in your mount (or the ascom driver of your mount) regarding synchronization or alignement… that would lead to the situation you are describing?
Hope this helps, Frédéric
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qcernie avatar
qcernie avatar
Seen this. Move your mount to the polar alighned position then in the Gemini click "Force a cold restart" The mount forgot where it was.
Chuck Schreiner avatar
Chuck Schreiner avatar
I did a cold start with CWD several times. That has helped in the past.
qcernie avatar
qcernie avatar
You said a trip. Did you change your location in Gemini?
Chuck Schreiner avatar
Chuck Schreiner avatar
I use this location repeatedly, and take the location from NINA to the mount. What is most confusing is the mount would slew to one object but not another. Which is why I thought a restart would fix it. Going to test tonight locally (very bright here with light pollution!)
Guillermo (Guy) Yanez avatar
Guillermo (Guy) Yanez avatar
Chuck Schreiner:
Thanks, Guy. I have been using this setup for at least a year (and use Polemaster to polar align). I can usually slew properly to a target (and could initially to my primary target and then to a different target last night). 

I reached out to groups.io Gemini - and indeed they asked for log files. Since I rebooted everything several times (when things don't work, turn them off as first debug method!) I can't really figure out which of several log files to upload, so I am going to try to replicate issue later this week so I can upload the right file. 

Thanks for responding! I appreciate the feedback.

***Hello again Chuck. Look for an "ascom" folder on your drive. Perhaps a subfolder in your documents . You will see another set of sub-folders with dates in their names. There should be a Gemini file , usually the largest one among all of the files created on a single imaging run. The file has a name such as ASCOM.Gemini Telescope .NET.xxxxxx (numbers). You will be able to open it using any text editor . You will see a myriad of data every second but look for any information on the reported location, slews and any other aspect that may get your attention. Otherwise, the good people on the Gemini group will likely assist you
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Chuck Schreiner avatar
Chuck Schreiner avatar
Thanks, Guy. I had found that folder and see the dates (and the time for each log in file explorer. My dilemma is in trying to debug this, I tried several different things (including slewing to different targets, rebooting the computer, Gemini and all software) so I don't know which of the several files is one that illustrates the issue. I tried to read thru them to see if I could recognize the error point, but couldn't. I went out for a while last night with a new cable and, of course, could not replicate it. 

Thanks again for your help/input!
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Darius Mihai avatar
Darius Mihai avatar
Chuck Schreiner:
Aarrgggghhh. My one trip to cloudless, dark skies this month...

This error means that the mount cannot slew to the specified position. It can be due to multiple reasons, but some of them are:
- Location is incorrect
- The mount limits that are set in the ascom driver are restricting the movement (for example in EQMod / GSS for SkyWatcher & Synta).

Check to see if the location in N.I.N.A is set properly.
I'm not familiar with the Gemini II but for SkyWatcher/Synta I have to set them also in either Green Swamp Server or EQMod, depending on which I use.
Double check the coordinates including the North/South on the Latitude and East/West on the Longitude. I spent a few good hours out in the field on a cold night because for some reason I had West instead of East. 
When I had this wrong setting, depending on my slew target I was getting either the mount going to a completely different area of the sky, or an error similar to yours (though I can't remember the exact wording or error code)

When I was using EQMod I also had some trouble when starting Nina because it asks if you want to sync coordinates from the mount. If I accepted that, then again I had to troubleshoot why it's going to the wrong location.

One other thing, so a while ago I tried to use the mount's controller instead of an EQDir cable. The way it worked is I connect an usb cable from the laptop to the mount's controller, and then the controller is connected to the mount.
This setup also triggered slew issues, intermitently. It was working fine for a few hours, then the next night it just couldn't slew properly. All the trouble went away once I got a PegasusAstro EQDir USB Stick, RJ45, for Skywatcher. However in this case I don't remember having a similar error, just bad slews.
Either way, it's probably a good idea check the cable that you use to connect to the mount, perhaps try a spare one if you have any.

I hope this helps. I had a lot of slew trouble in the past, if I can think of anything else related to this issue, I'll post again on this thread.
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