8 replies to this topic

[norite]

Hi All,

 

I have a laptop running windows 7 (64 bit) and I'm trying to get it to talk to my ETX80 using the #506 astrofinder cable. I've got a usb to serial cable connected and the driver installed fine, I've set it up as com1 and set it to com1 in the autostar suite, but it point blank refuses to talk to the telescope....it keeps saying communications time out. I've got autostar running in windows 98 compatibility mode, tried several reboots but nothing.

 

Does anyone have any ideas on how to get this to work??

 

Thanks

[MistrBadgr]

Is this one of the older ETX 80s or is it the newest one that is out?

 

I have one of the older ones, but have not tried to hook it up to a computer.  If no one else has any ideas, I can tinker, but don't know what I am doing.  If anyone has ideas, do not wait on me. 

 

One idea that is crossing my mind, is that you might try as many different com port numbers as you can, in case there is some conflict.

 

Bill Steen

[norite]

I think it's one of the older ones? I don't know - is there any way to check, and does it make any difference? I got it second hand. I've tried messing with the com ports but no luck.

[MistrBadgr]

If you bought it second-hand, then you have one of the older ones.

 

Another thought, do a search for "Mighty ETX" information.  Mike Weasner had a site about the Mighty ETX for years.  It is not active for adding anything to it, due to internet access issues that Mike ran into, but I think it is still out there.  There are a lot of how to items on that site.

 

Bill Steen

[E Sully]

I was having similar issues getting my computer to connect to my old ETX90.  I switched from my Belkin USB to serial port adapter to a Keyspan TrippLite  USA 19-HS adapter and it worked.

[MistrBadgr]

Here is an answer I got from Meade customer support.

quote:

If they are using the Meade 506 and their USB adapter is the Meade unit not
aftermarket then it is likely the 64 bit USB driver they are lacking. There is
also a required USB driver if the system is 64 bit only on our site:

http://www.meade.com...l_software.zip/

unquote.

 

This may not apply to you, but I thought I would add it to the thread.

[norite]

Thanks for the replies. I'm using an aftermarket usb to serial connector, a 232 P9 device...the #506 is genuine meade unit. It may be that this usb-serial device is the issue and I have the worng driver installed. As long as I know that the #506 should definitely work under windows 7 then I can investigate further. Those tripplite adapters are expensive!

 

This is the usb-serial adapter I have:
http://blog.dvl.pl/a...dapter-drivers/

[norite]

I think the usb-serial adaptors I have are fake. I have two of them. They're supposed to be prolific ones, but the chipset in device manager comes up as ch340

I've ordered a Tripplite adaptor now.

[MistrBadgr]

Sorry to hear that, but those things do happen sometimes! 

 

Bill Steen