QHY PoleMaster Issues - Forums

Jan 30, 2021

David N Kidd:
A slightly radical solution maybe to create a Linux Mint partition and run the Linux version of the software. Linux has the benefit of not posting numerous updates that take time to install and frequently cause collateral issues. As it is I generally use W10 and so far have not encountered any issues with Polemaster. I do run Linux Mint Cinnamon on an old W7 based laptop and it has given it a new lease of life, but Linux can seem a bit 'techy' compared to Windows. Having said that, it is stable and quick and I've never had a problem with anything I run on it - mostly graphics and 3D software including some within the Windows emulator, Wine.

***Thank you
I will try a few things before I move on to return it.

Hogarth's Astrophotography

Feb 3, 2021 · Edited: Feb 3, 2021

Paul O’Brien:
I have the identical problem with my new high end Dell XPS-15 Win laptop that I recently bought to handle capture and processing for my QHY600M-PH. It would only work intermittently if I moved the cursor but what a pain. When the Polemaster was routed through my Pegasus Hub, it would crash both the Hub AND my Powerbox! Drove me crazy. Tried different cables and hubs connected directly to the laptop - still no luck. I updated Win 10 and Polemaster software but that didn’t help. I gave up and went back to an old Win 10 HP Spectre laptop and it works fine. Makes no sense why a new laptop can’t handle PM and an old one does. Still trying to fix it with my XPS-15. There’s got to be a solution....

i think this is being caused by power management in the bios and/or Windows.

had exactly the same issue. Turned off all power management in my bios. And also in Windows. Instantly fixed

you can test if it is this beforehand, by keeping your laptop busy in the background by Yt video, whilst using the `PM software (seems enough to stop the C1 states the cpu will start to step down if it thinks it’s not busy)
give it a try

Paul O’Brien

Feb 3, 2021

Nigel - I just went into BIOS but see no Power Management options on my laptop. All the power management options deal with battery management. Any chance you could provide a little more specifics on turning off power management in BIOS and Windows? Thanks.

Paul

Well written Respectful

Gary Indra

Feb 10, 2021

I had an issue with Pole Master right out of the box. It ran so slow on my Win10 Dell Gaming Laptop that it was virtually useless. I read on another forum that Win!0 doesn't play nicely with Pole Master and that the work around was to open and run Stellarium in the background before opening Pole Master. Goofy huh? But it works like a charm. No slowing down. No latency. No crashing. Go figure!

Well written Helpful Concise Engaging

Paul O’Brien

Feb 10, 2021

Great tip! I'll try that the next time we have clear skies in Seattle, like maybe July! I use Stellarium on my phone but I'll load it on my laptop and hope it works. As per my earlier comment, I went back to an older HP laptop and PM ran fine….until two nights ago when it failed. Go figure.

Andy 01

IOTD Staff

Perfect post

Feb 10, 2021

Wierdly, My polemaster works great on Windows 10, but not on my macbook pro. (Late 2011 High Sierra)

I downloaded the latest version for mac and when connected, the window goes fully white after a few seconds, you cannot see any stars even if you try adjusting the gain settings etc. Very annoying. Used to work ok… but not now?

Anyone else notice this on a macbook pro?

Cheers

Andy

Paul O’Brien

Feb 12, 2021

I had hope, Gary, but no luck. I tried running Stellarium as well as videos in the background but still the same, herky, jerky, image. Back to the drawing board….

Rich Sky

Feb 12, 2021 · Edited: Feb 12, 2021

Hi Corey,

I had this issue and this is how I resolved it…It is a Windows issue. Power mode has an option to idle PC USB port to save on energy.

To fix a USB going idle using my PC, this is what I did.

1- Click on Settings
2- Click on Display
3- click on Power and Sleep
4-click On Related Settings (additional power settings)
5-Click change plan settings
6-click change advanced power settings
7- click USB settings
8-click USB selective suspend settings
9- select disabled suspend on battery and plugged in

CS and Keep looking up!

R

Helpful Supportive

Gary Indra

Feb 12, 2021

Paul O’Brien:
I had hope, Gary, but no luck. I tried running Stellarium as well as videos in the background but still the same, herky, jerky, image. Back to the drawing board....

Hi Paul, I neglected to add that I had to run stellarium without minimizing it.
I don't know if you tried that but it Only works for me if I don't minimize. Good luck.

Concise

Hogarth's Astrophotography

Feb 12, 2021

Gary Indra:
I had an issue with Pole Master right out of the box. It ran so slow on my Win10 Dell Gaming Laptop that it was virtually useless. I read on another forum that Win!0 doesn't play nicely with Pole Master and that the work around was to open and run Stellarium in the background before opening Pole Master. Goofy huh? But it works like a charm. No slowing down. No latency. No crashing. Go figure!

Running Stellarium in the background simply stops your CPU from dropping its Cstates to idle. That’s why it works.

I prefer to just adjust my bios and Windows settings to tell my CPU never to drop its speed when it thinks it’s idle.

Well written Insightful Respectful Concise

Paul O’Brien

Feb 12, 2021

Hey Gary - I tried that too.

Next up is Rich’s suggestion.

Paul O’Brien

Feb 12, 2021

Nigel - I replied to your earlier comment about Bios but you probably didn’t see it. Could you provide a little more detail on adjusting Bios? I went in to it and didn’t see anything that would help but I’m not a PC expert, more like a fumbler who just gets by.

Well written Respectful Engaging

Hogarth's Astrophotography

Feb 12, 2021

Paul O’Brien:
Nigel - I replied to your earlier comment about Bios but you probably didn’t see it. Could you provide a little more detail on adjusting Bios? I went in to it and didn’t see anything that would help but I’m not a PC expert, more like a fumbler who just gets by.

sorry missed it. Every BIOS will have slightly different features and wording, but on my Dell, I did the following.

Ive put some images here
https://1drv.ms/u/s!AngKJRdEFZbuid0N9MxZkLlRdH-AZg?e=7lOgNM

These options are unticked, which means dont enable that feature. all of them are about slowing your CPU down when it thinks its not busy

The Windows screenshot, is just the power plan set to high performance.

Hope this helps

Paul O’Brien

Feb 12, 2021

Nigel - No problem. Thanks much for your follow up and screen shots. I’ll give it a shot!

Well written Respectful

Paul O’Brien

Feb 13, 2021

Nigel -

That seemed to do the trick! I shut down all the BIOS settings as per your instructions/screenshots and now PM seems to work fine. I ran it inside the house in a dark room (thanks to a snow storm) and it just hummed along without a glitch! Thanks so much for your advice. You just made my day!

Paul

Well written Respectful Engaging Supportive

NuclearRoy

Feb 15, 2021

Rich Sky:
Hi Corey,

I had this issue and this is how I resolved it...It is a Windows issue. Power mode has an option to idle PC USB port to save on energy.

To fix a USB going idle using my PC, this is what I did.

1- Click on Settings
2- Click on Display
3- click on Power and Sleep
4-click On Related Settings (additional power settings)
5-Click change plan settings
6-click change advanced power settings
7- click USB settings
8-click USB selective suspend settings
9- select disabled suspend on battery and plugged in

8) CS and Keep looking up!

R

Gary has it right.
Same thing happened to me after a Windows 10 update on a Dell i5 and the BIOS solution fixed it.

Well written Concise

Corey Rueckheim

Topic starter

May 3, 2021

HERE IS THE SOLUTION THAT WORKED FOR ME - Disabling C-States

First of all, thank you everyone for your thoughts, ideas, and experiences! I can now share the solution that has proven to work for me.

The suggestions about going into the BIOS and messing with power management options made a lot of sense to me, so I messed around with them and found one that works for me.

For the record, my laptop is a Dell Inspiron 15 7000 2-in-1 with an Intel CORE i5 8th Gen processor.

The Fix: I went into the BIOS (by repeatedly hitting the F2 key during boot-up until the BIOS loaded). Then I went into the "Performance"–>"C-States Control" option and unchecked the checkbox for "C states". The text for this option reads: "This option enables or disables additional processor sleep states. The operating system may optionally use these for additional power savings when idle."

By turning this off (i.e. by unchecking the checkbox) the Polemaster now seems to work flawlessly regardless of whether the PC is connected to AC or using the battery (although the battery doesn't last long enough to be useful for astrophotography).

In hindsight, this makes pretty good sense. It explains why playing a video or running Stellarium while using the Polemaster would somewhat help, because it kept the CPU from climbing into one of the higher C-states (falling asleep to save power). It also explains why none of the USB options helped me, not even using a powered USB hub.

Hopefully this information can also help some of you? Polemaster is an awesome tool, and I'm now a very happy owner! If I ever again have problems with it, I will be sure to add another post to this topic to let you all know.

Well written Helpful Insightful Engaging

Astroletpithecus

Oct 12, 2021

Andy 01:
Wierdly, My polemaster works great on Windows 10, but not on my macbook pro. (Late 2011 High Sierra)

I downloaded the latest version for mac and when connected, the window goes fully white after a few seconds, you cannot see any stars even if you try adjusting the gain settings etc. Very annoying. Used to work ok... but not now?

Anyone else notice this on a macbook pro?

Cheers

Andy

I just bought a Secondhand Polemaster and tried it for the first time last Saturday night. I had a similar problem using a 2015 MacBook Air. Things started well but about half way through the alignment process the screen went white and I was unable to resolve it. I may will try a reinstall and see what happens when the weather clears!

DT6

Oct 15, 2021

An alternative suggestion is to try the Polar Alignment routine in SharpCap Pro ($15 a year). I have a PoleMaster as well, but I find the SharpCap Pro routine a bit easier to use and I personally think it is more accurate. Now I keep the PoleMaster as a backup, but seldom use it any longer.

Well written Concise

Greg McCall

Oct 16, 2021

An alternative suggestion is to try the Polar Alignment routine in SharpCap Pro ($15 a year). I have a PoleMaster as well, but I find the SharpCap Pro routine a bit easier to use and I personally think it is more accurate. Now I keep the PoleMaster as a backup, but seldom use it any longer.

I always use SharpCap Pro and mostly tell sharpcap to use the polemaster camera, particularly if I do unguided imaging (use a sky model) or use a different OTA that doesn't have a suitable guide camera.