ASIAir Plus wont boot

audioman2

the unit turns on, well the power light is on and red and it passes power along through the device to power other things, I.e camera cooler, mount but then thats it. On powering up I see the system light flash green real quick and then go off. the system light and the Wifi light never lite up. The device seems dead.

I have been looking around for the .dmg for the current version of the ASIAIR plus OS but cannot find it.
The rest button does not do anything.

Does anyone know how to do the long rest process ?

w7ay

audioman2 The rest button does not do anything.

If that refers to the reset button, you need to press and hold it for more than 10 seconds before letting it go, for the ASIAIR to recover old firmware from the eMMC storage. Otherwise, that button just reboots the ASIAIR from the same firmware.

Remember to always do a soft shutdown from the ASIAIR Settings window (scroll down to the bottom -- ZWO should have placed that button prominently at the top of that window). Tap on it, wait for the double beep and then wait until the green LED on the ASIAIR is quiescent, before turning power off.

Chen

Tech@ZWO

audioman2 There is no IMG file for ASIAIR PLUS currently.

please refer to this to check the LED state, and remove all the devices from the ASIAIR PLUS, then test it with different power supplies, can you hear beep after you power the ASIAIR PLUS? if it beep, you can press the RESET button more than 5 seconds to try.

PMTeam@ZWO

audioman2 Hello, the team is already paying attention to this issue. Please try to power on without any USB and DC cables. I hope it will help you.

audioman2

w7ay yep, I tried, 10, 30, 60, 240 and nothing, the rest button does not do anything !

audioman2

w7ay Remember to always do a soft shutdown from the ASIAIR Settings window (scroll down to the bottom -- ZWO should have placed that button prominently at the top of that window). Tap on it, wait for the double beep and then wait until the green LED on the ASIAIR is quiescent, before turning power off.

at this point, the OS does not boot, just like what I have said in the tread so I have no software to do anything! not one thing!

audioman2

w7ay Do you know where I can find the current version of the ASIAIR plus OS for download > ?

erossi

audioman2 mark4 @tech@zwo @asiair@zwo @w7ay
That's exactly the reason why I've already posted a thread about providing the system image for the Plus. From what I've learned by exploring the whole eMMC storage is that there no trace of a full recovery system image there, there's only a small compressed archive containing a bunch of deb packages: that's what the "firmware reset" actually does. It reinstalls deb packages that have been updated via the app and runs a bunch of installations scripts. But if something else gets corrupted there NO WAY to fix it unless flashing a whole system image. I may be wrong, but by looking at it that's what it looks like.

I'm sorry to say this, but frankly speaking the self healing thing is just bad marketing.

For everyone interested, you should definitely make a dump of the whole eMMC the first time you receive your Plus. Here's some extra details https://bbs.astronomy-imaging-camera.com/d/14033-asiair-plus-image.

franco

https://astronomy-imaging-camera.com/manuals/How_to_Restore_ASIAIR_OS.pdf

Sorry, this looks like it's only for SD card based ASIAir non Plus versions.

franco

Have you tried connecting the Plus to a computer with USB?

mark4

Today I had exactly the same problem as described by audioman2 with the ASIAIR Plus. It happened after a session tonight when the powerbank become empty (faster than expected).
Power light is on, Sys light flickers one time then goes out and also no Wifi light. HELP SOLUTION PLEASE!
I'm very disappointed I can't use it now and no posiblity to restore. Because it works so well! I mis it.

w7ay

mark4 It happened after a session tonight when the powerbank become empty (faster than expected).

This will cause problems similar to turning off the ASIAIR without first performing a soft reset from the Settings window. I.e., the processor power was lost while it was accessing a file on the drive (eMMC).

Did you try the 10-second reset?

ZWO claims 5 seconds is sufficient, but hold down that reset button for 10 seconds anyway before releasing it. That should bring in the very original firmware on the same eMMC that came with the product when you received it. Hopefully, that file survived.

Once (if) the ASIAIR reboots, you then have to use a current ASIAIR app to update that old firmware to match the app. Just quit for the app if it is running, then relaunch the app.

By the way, don't depend on the double beep that you hear during a soft reset. Watch the Green LED and wait for it to extinguish for at least 5 seconds before removing power.

Chen

Renefonteijn

erossi You wouldn't happen to have an image of the eMMC storage that you can share?

erossi

For the tinkerers out there you could always get an I/O board for a Pi4 Compute Module, transplant the module from the Plus to the board and debug it from there.

mark4

The reset button is not working whatever time you hold it down. No green SYS light is coming up.
Indeed it seems there is no Auto Recovery as is stated. I always use the soft shutdown but it always can happen that the power gets low. Expecially in cold weather it's rather unpredictable. The "auto recovering" was one reason to update to Plus. Know it's not working I'm very disappointment. Now I will use my Pro again. Recovery is easy with the back-up card.
But hopefully ZWO can fix it.

w7ay

mark4 it always can happen that the power gets low

This requires the ASIAIR to execute an auto shutdown when voltages drop below 11V, like many computers do when the battery of an uninterruptible power supply gets depleted. Unfortunately, ZWO did not implement that precautionary measure into ASIAIR, even though it can read out the input voltage.

The way you can save yourself from grief is to actually place a 12V uninterruptible power supply (UPS) between your large battery and the ASIAIR. That way, when the battery gets depleted by higher power devices (like dew heaters, camera coolers and mounts), your ASIAIR remains powered. You will also need to remove all power hungry devices from your ASIAIR's power hub.

I actually do use a UPS myself, but to my mount instead of to the ASIAIR, because it is a harmonic drive without brakes, and I can't afford for the mount to lose power when there is a power outage. My UPS is a home constructed one using an SLA battery and a Epic PWRgate, but you can get turnkey DC UPS (12V in, 12V out) from Amazon if you don't mind using Lithium ion batteries.

Chen

audioman2

none of the help here worked. I had a unit that would appear to power on but then that was it.

I sent the unit back to the dealer, Woodland Hills Camera and Telescopes and my tracking info said it was derived but they seem to have lost the unit. Long story short, the dealer lost my unit, I only sent it back to the dealer after TJ from ZWO told me to do so.

The unit was completely dead and I lost $348.75, no-one from ZWO helped me and no one from Woodland Hills Camera and Telescopes either.

very sad deal for the customer <me>

audioman2

@asiair@zwo#54104 this did not work