Camera failing to download - Forums

So I'm loving the 2600mc pro and I think my last couple of images came out really nice (Orion and Pleiades please to have a look and any comments/feedback would be much appreciated.)

However, I've had issues with my camera sporadically failing to download images when capturing using NINA.

I run my equipment through a Pegasus power box which is powered from a jackery battery and after doing a bit of research of the forums the usual advice seems to be:

1. Make sure the power supply is adequate (with the battery and Pegasus box I don't see this being an issue).

2. Replace the cables. (The cables that came with the cameras are pretty long and don't appear to be great quality). I've bought shorter cables and that will hopefully help with my cable management too. The ethernet cable connecting my powerbox and mini PC is also quite long

3. Don't plug the camera into the power box. Plug it directly into the mini PC.

Otherwise I'm actually thinking the issue may be related to sensor temperature. I was trying to cool it down to -15 degrees while on a dark sky site but we are in the middle of summer so the cooler power maxed out to 100%. With further testing I think I was able to replicate the problem. Has anyone else come across this or had camera connection problems/failure to download with the 2600mc pro?

Cheers,

Rob

So I'm loving the 2600mc pro and I think my last couple of images came out really nice (Orion and Pleiades please to have a look and any comments/feedback would be much appreciated.)

However, I've had issues with my camera sporadically failing to download images when capturing using NINA.

I run my equipment through a Pegasus power box which is powered from a jackery battery and after doing a bit of research of the forums the usual advice seems to be:

1. Make sure the power supply is adequate (with the battery and Pegasus box I don't see this being an issue).

2. Replace the cables. (The cables that came with the cameras are pretty long and don't appear to be great quality). I've bought shorter cables and that will hopefully help with my cable management too. The ethernet cable connecting my powerbox and mini PC is also quite long

3. Don't plug the camera into the power box. Plug it directly into the mini PC.

Otherwise I'm actually thinking the issue may be related to sensor temperature. I was trying to cool it down to -15 degrees while on a dark sky site but we are in the middle of summer so the cooler power maxed out to 100%. With further testing I think I was able to replicate the problem. Has anyone else come across this or had camera connection problems/failure to download with the 2600mc pro?

I have the same issue with different software. I sometimes have to reboot the whole system to clear the problem.

Hi Rob,

I know with my 2600 I had similar issues the begin with in my case I was using a long USB 3 repeater cable. For me I noticed my camera was only connecting via USB 2, once I made sure I had power to my cable it changed to USB 3 and worked fine.

I know your setup is different but it might be worth opening Sharpcap and connecting your camera. It will tell you at the top when you connect it it's using USB 2 or 3. I don't think this is your issue especially if your connecting direct to your mini PC but might be worth checking
Hope you figure it out.
-Ollie

Hi Rob

I do not use NINA so I cannot help you there.
However I use a Jackery battery (1000) as well as a Pegasus PPB.
I power my dew heaters and mount (EQ6-R Pro) directly to the PPB.
I power my Asiair plus directly to the Jackery (I use the AC plugs).
My 2600 (& guide camera) is powered through the Asiair.
I use all stock cables.
I cool the camera to 0C in the summer and -10C in the winter.
I have been using this setup since May and have had 0 issues.
The one time my darks failed to download was when I inadvertently took the darks as 'lights' - duh (not enough sleep).
Hopefully I mentioned something that might help you.

Tom

Mine does that from time to time and for me, it's always related to power.

Kevin

Oliver Berresford:
Hi Rob,

I know with my 2600 I had similar issues the begin with in my case I was using a long USB 3 repeater cable. For me I noticed my camera was only connecting via USB 2, once I made sure I had power to my cable it changed to USB 3 and worked fine.

I know your setup is different but it might be worth opening Sharpcap and connecting your camera. It will tell you at the top when you connect it it's using USB 2 or 3. I don't think this is your issue especially if your connecting direct to your mini PC but might be worth checking
Hope you figure it out.
-Ollie

*** I do have sharpcap. That's a super helpful tip. Thank you! ***

I had that problem a couple of times right after I got my camera. I determined that the bend radius of the USB cable coming out of the camera was too small. I was rubber banding it to the side of the camera closest to where the cable plugged into the USB port. From then on I've been bending it the other way and bringing it back down the side farthest from the USB3 port, essentially more than doubling the bend radius. It may sound crazy and I can't say for certain that was the issue, but I haven't had any problems since. I am not using the flat cable that came with the camera - I'm using a longer round cable. So your results may vary from mine.

Tom Utendorf:
I had that problem a couple of times right after I got my camera. I determined that the bend radius of the USB cable coming out of the camera was too small. I was rubber banding it to the side of the camera closest to where the cable plugged into the USB port. From then on I've been bending it the other way and bringing it back down the side farthest from the USB3 port, essentially more than doubling the bend radius. It may sound crazy and I can't say for certain that was the issue, but I haven't had any problems since. I am not using the flat cable that came with the camera - I'm using a longer round cable. So your results may vary from mine.

*** You might actually be one to something. I've been looping the cables because they are so long! ***

I connect my ASI2600MM to a Powerbox Advance, no problem. Just make sure it's a USB 3 port. These have changed over the generations. Though I think the problem on mine is 1xUSB2 and 3xUSB3, so if I plug the camera into the USB2 port it's a problem.

As for not saving, it happens sometimes. Usually it happens if I have connected to the camera from a second application. I use Alpaca (ASCOM Remote) for some monitoring scripts (Alpaca provides a nice API) and if I connect in NINA before Alpaca it will not save files. Other times it might be SharpCap or FireCapture, which I don't typically use and therefore forget about not connecting a second time.

Shorter cables as suggested sounds good just for the wire management. I have gotten a bunch of different length USB3 cables in particular because they're so thick (the ZWO ones are nice and flat but so very long!). So my USB3 cables don't get wrapped around things, maybe only secured here and there on their way between things.

I’m running my 2600c into a Powerbox ultimate and sometimes advance2, then onto the power adapter. I’ve seen the “failure to download” issues a couple times however I seemed to get it when I would make connection to then drop connection to the camera. (Connect to Nina, then back to sharpcap for polar alignment, then again to Nina) not sure if it was conincidence, but a reset on the power of the camera always cleared it. (Like it didn’t like the harsh dropped connections in its memory)

I’ve also hit the max on cooling a few times, but then it just tells me “cooling failed” and that’s usually anything colder than -15

i also remember seeing something saying that you can’t run the camera off the Asiair (just in case that was something tried)

Nick Grundy:
I’m running my 2600c into a Powerbox ultimate and sometimes advance2, then onto the power adapter. I’ve seen the “failure to download” issues a couple times however I seemed to get it when I would make connection to then drop connection to the camera. (Connect to Nina, then back to sharpcap for polar alignment, then again to Nina) not sure if it was conincidence, but a reset on the power of the camera always cleared it. (Like it didn’t like the harsh dropped connections in its memory)

I’ve also hit the max on cooling a few times, but then it just tells me “cooling failed” and that’s usually anything colder than -15

*** It happened an hour into capturing sub frames so I didn't change anything.

I've now had it happen a few times. I sent ZWO a screenshot and not really heard anything back yet.

If issues crop up because I've connected or disconnected something that's fair enough. Just don't want this happening when I've set everything up and finally gone to bed. It's not the first time. I had it happen at a dark sky site a couple of weeks ago.

The camera stopped capturing images and NINA just burns through the sequence as if all of the images have been captured then warms up the camera and parks the mount.
I'll be making sure I don't max out the cooler power in future and I'll be swapping out the cables for shorter better cables. Hopefully that helps. Failing that I'm not sure what wouldn't help.

I did have one instance with my other ZWO camera (1600mm) where it was failing to download images because PhD2 was connecting to that camera rather than the guide camera but I don't think this is the issue in this case! I guess I can check though.

***

First of all, you need to always disconnect and reconnect any camera when you switch imaging software. Second of all, use the NINA polar alignment routine and you won't have to switch. Third, assuming that you've diconnected and reconnected you almost certainly have a USB cable problem. Use a USB 2 cable and see if that fixes it. Then you can do more troubleshooting but I think you'll find the USB2 does the job nicely. Of my 4 cameras only one uses USB 3.
Rgrds-Ross

My 2600mc pro is in the ZWO repair shop because of a similar issue ( took a month for USPS to get it there). It started by choosing random temperatures to display the dreaded "failed download" message on NINA after timing a complete exposure. At first, I could change the temp and it would work. Ambient conditions would have baring on the problem. Eventually it stopped saving images all together. I tried Sharpcap as well. No warning messages, but no capture either

Of course you can always have a defective camera. Did you try using USB2 rather than USB3? Frankly, that doesn't sound like the same problem that the OP has.
Rgrds-Ross

Ian McIntyre:
My 2600mc pro is in the ZWO repair shop because of a similar issue ( took a month for USPS to get it there). It started by choosing random temperatures to display the dreaded "failed download" message on NINA after timing a complete exposure. At first, I could change the temp and it would work. Ambient conditions would have baring on the problem. Eventually it stopped saving images all together. I tried Sharpcap as well. No warning messages, but no capture either

*** I hope that's not my issue. I've only had it a few weeks! ***

Nick Grundy:
I’m running my 2600c into a Powerbox ultimate and sometimes advance2, then onto the power adapter. I’ve seen the “failure to download” issues a couple times however I seemed to get it when I would make connection to then drop connection to the camera. (Connect to Nina, then back to sharpcap for polar alignment, then again to Nina) not sure if it was conincidence, but a reset on the power of the camera always cleared it. (Like it didn’t like the harsh dropped connections in its memory)

I’ve also hit the max on cooling a few times, but then it just tells me “cooling failed” and that’s usually anything colder than -15

i also remember seeing something saying that you can’t run the camera off the Asiair (just in case that was something tried)

*** Speaking of your comment about ASIAIR, Ive certainly seen people advise that the camera should be plugged in directly to the PC rather than a USB hub (I'm using a Pegasus power box). I haven't tried that yet. Mostly because I haven't yet mounted my mini PC on my scope and Im trying to minimise the potential for cables dragging/ snagging.

***

Ross Salinger:
Of course you can always have a defective camera. Did you try using USB2 rather than USB3? Frankly, that doesn't sound like the same problem that the OP has.
Rgrds-Ross

*** Disconnecting and reconnecting it fixes the issue.

I guess the problem is, I don't want to lose a good chunk of an imaging session when I set up start an imaging sequence (go to bed) and at some point in the sequence the bug occurs and the camera fails to capture/download.

***

Oliver Berresford:
Hi Rob,

I know with my 2600 I had similar issues the begin with in my case I was using a long USB 3 repeater cable. For me I noticed my camera was only connecting via USB 2, once I made sure I had power to my cable it changed to USB 3 and worked fine.

I know your setup is different but it might be worth opening Sharpcap and connecting your camera. It will tell you at the top when you connect it it's using USB 2 or 3. I don't think this is your issue especially if your connecting direct to your mini PC but might be worth checking
Hope you figure it out.
-Ollie

*** Forgot to mention that I'm not currently directly connecting to the mini PC. I'm connecting to the Pegasus powerbox which is then connected to the mini PC but via a long ethernet cable.

I'm not not hugely versed in the ins and outs of cables and networking but I suspect long cables can be an issue with signal dropout?

Wasn't sure what you meant by checking there is power to the USB3? Sorry I know that sounds like a stupid question.

***

Apologies, that limitation on power was only in the dc power for the 2600mc off the asiair. With the Powerbox, I’ve never had an issue.

I’ve seen signal drops on usb3 before, but that was when jumping from a 65ft usb repeater to an 82ft. And when that occurs, windows definitely tells you it doesn’t like it.

if you run the whole thing on AC power instead of the jackery do you still have the issue? (Or is that not possible)

I did have issues once running my rig with a remote pc that was drawing a lot of power (why I went with the long usb3 repeater)

I had a similar problem with mine. I bought some high quality USB2 cables to replace the USB3 cables and the problem disappeared. Mine are going through a Kendrick powered USB hub mounted on the scope.

Been there with the 2600MCPro. I did most everything discussed above. And yes, it was also dropping with Sharpcap.

What fixed my problem was the GAUGE of the 12v power supply. I forget the tables I looked it up on, but I had to buy a 16 AWG cable and have never once had the camera drop since—using both NINA and Sharpcap.

Good luck!

Rumi

Ross Salinger:
Of course you can always have a defective camera. Did you try using USB2 rather than USB3? Frankly, that doesn't sound like the same problem that the OP has.
Rgrds-Ross

Perhaps not the the same to the letter, but the OP and other posters seem to be just variations on a theme related to cooling and power. Never tried the usb cable downgrade. But even if it worked, the whole idea and many of the work arounds I see being used here, plus the whole oil leak issue just seem symptomatic of shoddy manufacturing and QC by the company. I will be reluctant in the future to by any higher ticket items from ZWO depending on how they handle my warranty repair.

Rumi:
Been there with the 2600MCPro. I did most everything discussed above. And yes, it was also dropping with Sharpcap.

What fixed my problem was the GAUGE of the 12v power supply. I forget the tables I looked it up on, but I had to buy a 16 AWG cable and have never once had the camera drop since—using both NINA and Sharpcap.

Good luck!

Rumi

*** Thanks Rumi. So it was an issue with the DC power cable for the cooler?

***

Ian McIntyre:
Ross Salinger:
Of course you can always have a defective camera. Did you try using USB2 rather than USB3? Frankly, that doesn't sound like the same problem that the OP has.
Rgrds-Ross

Perhaps not the the same to the letter, but the OP and other posters seem to be just variations on a theme related to cooling and power. Never tried the usb cable downgrade. But even if it worked, the whole idea and many of the work arounds I see being used here, plus the whole oil leak issue just seem symptomatic of shoddy manufacturing and QC by the company. I will be reluctant in the future to by any higher ticket items from ZWO depending on how they handle my warranty repair.

*** Ye, Ive done a bit of research on this on Facebook and the forums as well as NINA.

I'm not sure it's always the same exact issue so you are correct it's likely a variation of cable and power issues and/or driver issues depending on the specific setup.

The error is very generic though: " ASI general error and camera fails to download. I suspect that could be caused by quite a few different issues. It's hard to pin down because it happens randomly and typically after I've captured quite a few subs.

I've only used ZWO cameras. Bought my telescopes and cameras last year.

The central theme certainly appears to cables and how cameras are connected/powered.

I agree that people shouldn't lightly be adopting workarounds to fix issues. Afterall the camera are not cheap!

Downgrading to USB2, even if it fixes the issue is letting ZWO off the hook and we shouldn't have to be buying cables or limiting functionality so that their cameras work reliably/consistently.

Their documentation is piss poor and so far I haven't had any useful feedback from them. I sent a screenshot of the error to ZWO and waiting to hear back.

I'll be swapping out the cables and I'll connect the camera directly to the mini PC and check that this fixes the issue. I've only had it a few weeks so I don't want to be battling camera problems this early on.

***

Maybe not the issue of the original poster, but if you use the PPBADV gen 1, the bottom-left USB port is USB3-only, not USB2/3. Many camera’s need a USB2/3 port, as they identify themselves over USB2, and then switch to USB3. So if you plug the camera in the bottom-left port, the camera won’t work, even though it uses a USB3 port. In the current gen2 version this has changed. This power box has two USB2 and two USB2/3 ports.
I’ve found this out the hard way, troubleshooting a camera that would only sometimes fail to connect. To make matters worse, if you provide power to the camera and first put it in USB2/3 and then in USB3-only it works….