(ASI_ERROR_CAMERA_REMOVED (5))

[nickym998]

Hi,

New user here, building new all skycam and have Raspberry pi 5 8gb with allsky installed. I have had the software and camera working once and saw images but now get no live view at all with a message to consult the log. Log is very short and consists of:-

/home/pi/allsky/bin/capture_ZWO: ERROR: opening camera, check that you have root permissions! (ASI_ERROR_CAMERA_REMOVED (5))

I have tried playing around with USB settings Autoband on/off and turning auto exposure and gain on/off but nothing gets past this error. Have tried different ports on the pi, same result.

Any pointers would be greatly appreciated

Kind regards,

Nick

[nickym998]

allsky.txt
config.txt

[EricClaeys]

@nickym998,
This could be a hardware problem. Is this a new camera?
Try unplugging the camera and plugging back in. Then try the other USB ports. Then try a different cable.

Do you have another camera or Pi you can try or can borrow from someone?
You can also try ZWO's Windows software to rule out the camera and cable.
Also, try running with sudo:

cd ~/allsky/bin
sudo systemctl stop allsky
sudo ./capture_ZWO -cc_file /tmp/cc.json -debuglevel 3

[nickym998]

Thanks Eric,
It is brand new camera ASI-678NC and have checked camera and cable under MacOS and it works fine. The Pi is a brand new Raspberry Pi 5 8GB and SD card is brand new too. I have had this working once on the Pi a few days ago but not sure what I have changed since to stop it working.

Have run the commands you suggested from terminal and got the following response, live view still shows same error as before:-

pi@allsky:~ $ cd ~/allsky/bin
pi@allsky:~/allsky/bin $ sudo systemctl stop allsky
pi@allsky:~/allsky/bin $ sudo ./capture_ZWO -cc_file /tmp/cc.json -debuglevel 3
*** ./capture_ZWO: ERROR: ALLSKY_HOME not set!
sh: 1: /scripts/addMessage.sh: not found
pi@allsky:~/allsky/bin $ 
::1             ff02::1         ip6-allnodes    ip6-localhost   localhost       
allsky          ff02::2         ip6-allrouters  ip6-loopback    
pi@allsky:~/allsky/bin $ 

Thanks for taking the time!

cheers

Nick

[EricClaeys]

Have you rebooted since installing Allsky? It should have set ALLSKY_HOME. Either way, before running the above commands run

ALLSKY_HOME=~/allsky

[wvreeven]

I ran into the same problem with my own code and stumbled upon this thread while searching for an answer. Inside the ZWO ASI Camera SDK there is a file asi.rules that needs to be copied to the /etc/udev/rules.d directory. Then reboot the RPi. Once I did that, the problem went away for me.

Note that this rules file is not necessary on macOS. There the camera works fine by just loading the libASICamera2.dylib library in Python.

HTH, Wouter

[EricClaeys]

The Allsky installation script copies asi.rules to /etc/udev/rules.d.

[wvreeven]

Thanks for clarifying that. I am no user of this software and merely wanted to indicate how I solved the same error message on my RPi5.

[EricClaeys]

@nickym998,
any update?

[shotscot]

Same issue has occurred with me. Camera has been running fine for weeks and I've not had an issue since I got through my teething problems. Was there any update to fix this remotely as I don't fancy clambering up the roof.

[EricClaeys]

The original poster never replied so I assume it magically started working.

Allsky copies the rules file to the correct place, so I don't know what Allsky could do to fix the problem.

Try running lsusb to see if the Pi sees the camera. If it doesn't see the camera, Allsky won't either.

[MMysBelec]

I´m having such problem sometimes. Running 6 all sky cameras with ASI 178. Once, twice per month I have such error somewhere. Today occurred again. Typical log is:

allsky.log

The USB cable is short (250mm) professionally made USB3 cable.

[EricClaeys]

I am embarrassed by that log file. It shows 3 bugs in Allsky (that are fixed in the next release), but luckily are not causing your ZWO problems, but one of the bugs may be keeping Allsky from recovering.

Please attach your ~/allsky/allsky.sh file. I might be able to give you one of the fixes.

Do all 6 ASI178 cameras occasionally have these problems?
Cables can go bad, even good cables, but if all 6 cameras behave the same way it's probably not hardware, unless all cameras share some hardware or there is something in the environment causing the problem, like electromagnetic interference.

I have looked at the Allsky code that communicates with ZWO cameras countless times the past 3 years and have never found a problem, so I'm pretty sure problems like what you are seeing are not caused by Allsky, but are hardware/USB/camera/environment related.

My 4-year old ASI178 camera recently started randomly reporting itself as 2 cameras; one valid and the other not, and it stops Allsky until I either unplug the camera or reboot. I'm trying to find a way for Allsky to automatically recover.

[MMysBelec]

I´m not sure so all six, because for two, I can only see http interface (and see similar error and only restart will help), but have no ssh access forwarded for putty or sftp client, so I can´t analyze the log. But 4 pieces with full access do that surely, sometimes. Some of them are quite new, under 1 year, all of them are in water-tight aluminium body (do you remember my design with glass dome presented here ?).

Here is the allsky.sh from the camera failed (log above). But I think there is the same file at least in four, whose are ver. 2024.12.06_01. The two remaining, to whose I have not full access, are one version back.

allsky.sh.zip

[MMysBelec]

Today, exactly the same error on my observatory camera to which I have full access. Here is the end of the log:

allsky.log

I left the camera in this state, not reset. May I help to check something on RPi ?

[EricClaeys]

Please run lsusb -d 03c3: --verbose > lsusb.txt 2>&1 then attach (don't not copy/paste) the file lsusb.txt

[MMysBelec]

heh, I have two ASI cameras too :-) That must be an ZWO bug I think. Here is the file:
lsusb.txt

[EricClaeys]

I assume you really only have 1 ASI camera, even though lsusb is showing two?
If so, that's interesting because my 4-year old ASI 178 randomly decides it's two cameras, but the first lsusb entry (and the one that Allsky uses) shows an error while the 2nd entry is fine. A reboot fixes it... until it happens again. Luckily for me, it happens every month or two. I've been trying to get the uhubctl command to work - it's supposed to turn off power to the USB port with the camera, which should also fix it.

Would you be willing to upgrade to the latest Allsky (v2024.12.06_02) on at least one of your machines? I no longer have the old release that still has the config.sh file, and having an old release means I can't give you my test files that are based on the newest Allsky release.

[MMysBelec]

Yes, I really have only one camera. And same as you, this error once per month, two, three. And not only on my piece, randomly on all four surely, and probably on all six whose are RPi based, where I sometimes see such error occassionaly. I´m monitoring all of them continuously. I made 10 pieces in total, but the remaining 4 are based on PC - Windows - AllSky EYE / Ufo Capture I think, and I have no access to them at all and do not know how they behave under Win. I made only mechanical part with glass dome and camera for them, not HW + SW.

I can test newest version on my piece immediately, if no problems after week approx. I can update three cameras of my friends, where I have full access, to have larger testing sample :-)

[EricClaeys]

Thanks @MMysBelec, Martin,

I've been convinced that ZWO's Linux code has bugs but never got anywhere reporting them. Weird stuff like telling the camera to take a longer exposure and having the image get darker. Or increasing the exposure length several times in a row but the brightness doesn't change, and then the next image is significantly brighter. I spent HOURS working on the auto-exposure algorithm working around that weirdness. And the dreaded ASI_ERROR_TIMEOUT that appears when you stand on your left foot and chant to your right.
Anyhow, ZWO's Windows software works well.

[MMysBelec]

ZWO - that is quite sad. But QHY is yet bigger disaster with SDK, as I have information from one developer.
OK, send me the update, I will test it.

BTW, did you consider to use yet another astro cameras ? Here in Czech, there is manufacturer of excelent astronomic / scientific / industrial cameras. Moravian Instruments, the owner is my friend, also astronomer, and I perform as tester of their new models. Their range covers small uncooled IMX based cameras C1 up to large format C5 with Sony IMX and GSENSE sCMOS. The whole range is here:

https://www.gxccd.com/cat?id=2&lang=409

the small ones are on the bottom of the page. The prices are slightly higher than Asian production, but not dramatically. The good is, so they quite quickly reacts in case of an bug is found, and after years of production the SW is very stable.

The have well documented SDK for Win and Linux. The windows driver and HW stability is excelent, having many pieces running on observatories. Hope the Linux will be too, I have no direct experience on Linux machine. But mainly their larger models are often used on professional observatories also under Linux.

Here is the Linux SDK:
https://www.gxccd.com/cat?id=156&lang=409

[EricClaeys]

The Moravian IMX455 camera, filter wheel, etc. that I bought a month ago should arrive in a couple days. Maybe your owner friend can give me a discount, LOL.

We haven't received many requests for other camera brands in the three+ years I've been involved with Allsky. However, Indi-Allsky supports all cameras that have an Indi driver, and some Allsky users are switching to Indi-Allsky, so Alex and I have talked about supporting Indi as well. What we don't know is how many people switch to Indi-Allsky because of better camera support.

Using vendor-supplied SDKs like we do for ZWO means it's very time consuming to add new camera brands and would require we buy at least one of each brand's cameras. And the audience for the new brands is probably pretty small, which means the payoff is small. So far, we'd rather spend our limited time adding features users want.

Of the 450 Allsky users that submit Allsky Map data, 63% are using RPi cameras and 58% are using the RPi HQ camera. If anything, that tells me we may want to spend more time implementing features for them.

Once you upgrade a Pi to Allsky v2024.12.06_02, replace ~/allsky.sh with the attached file, removing .txt from its name. I believe the uhubctl command works in this version. It tries to recover from camera problems by resetting the USB power to the camera. It won't fix the errors you're seeing, but I'm hoping it will allow Allsky to reset the camera and automatically continue, versus stopping now.

Eric

[MMysBelec]

Too bad you didn't know this before your order. You could have ordered the camera from me, and some small discount would have been possible. I got the purchase price from Moravian instruments for system integrators, and I could probably go a little lower than the official end price, by about 7%, in an specific case (not permanently). But if you've already bought it and paid directly, there's nothing I can do about it. BTW, the C3-61000 is ultimate camera, having the first or second manufactured piece released for testing.

About another camera support - if the statistic is as is, I totally understand. This is nonsense, because of amount of time needed.

Have I to understand, the v2024.12.06_02 is officially out, so I can use common update ? And then replace the file, but where it is ? Nor the post here or the e-mail has no attachment.

[EricClaeys]

Thanks for the offer on the camera. Timing is everything, huh? I am looking forward to using the camera. I have only heard good things.

I am pretty sure we will eventually go the Indi route to support more cameras. Just not sure when. We already have long list of improvements we want to make.

We released v2024.12.06_02 last month so you can use the normal instructions for upgrading to it. It should be easy and copy all your existing settings.

Once you have installed it, the new file goes in ~/allsky. Restart after updating the file, then keep me informed how it goes.

[MMysBelec]

I updated Allsky just now, but I can't find allsky.txt to rename nowhere. You wrote:

Once you upgrade a Pi to Allsky v2024.12.06_02, replace ~/allsky.sh with the attached file, removing .txt from its name.

but no attached file to the post or e-mail copy of the post. Send me it please.

[EricClaeys]

Sorry about not including the file.
To use it, do the following:

cd ~/allsky
sudo systemctl stop allsky
mv allsky.sh allsky.sh-SAVED
### copy the attached file here
mv allsky.sh.txt allsky.sh
chmod 755 allsky.sh
truncate -s 0 /var/log/allsky.log
sudo systemctl start allsky

allsky.sh.txt

[MMysBelec]

Replaced. We will see after month, two :-)

[MMysBelec]

Looks similar like before update :-( System shows 2 ZWO cameras.

allsky.log

lsusb.txt

[EricClaeys]

Sigh...

I suggest posting the "lsusb.txt" file on ZWO's support page. This is definitely a ZWO problem (probably hardware), not an Allsky problem, which means only ZWO can fix it. Or it could be a problem with the Pi. Do you have a second Pi you can try?

Interesting that the two lsusb entries had some different values.

What's in ~/allsky/config/connected_cameras.txt?

Can you easily unplug the camera, wait a few seconds, then plug it back in?
Then re-run lsusb and save the results.

When it happens again, before trying to fix, please re-run lsusb and attached the saved working results and the not working results. And check again in ~/allsky/config/connected_cameras.txt. If only 1 entry, restart Allsky and check again - are there now two entries?

[MMysBelec]

Unfortunately I restarted RPi before your post, so there is the only one entry in ~/allsky/config/connected_cameras.txt:
ZWO 0 ASI178MM

Unfortunately I can´t easily un/re plug the camera without powering off the RPi. It is in watertight housing at the top of the antenna pole on the roof, 10m high, hard to reach. It can only be disassembled on the table, so I have to disconnect the POE first anyway.

When this will happen again, I will check connected_cameras.txt again.

I saw identical error sometimes also on other AllSky cameras (having 6 of them under full or partial control). I will check for double-camera occurrence on the rest of them.

I will post the lsusb.txt to ZWO.

[EricClaeys]

If you can power cycle the Pi that should be as good as unplugging the camera.

When the problem happens again, before fixing anything, run allsky-config show_connected_cameras instead of looking in the connected_cameras.txt file.

Please send the URL Zto the ZWO post si I can track it.