Tech@ZWO
Issue: Unable to (Re-) Activate License on ASIAIR early edition device (v1)
- What version of the ASIAIR OS is required for the original edition v1 version of the ASIAIR? I'm attempting to use v1.2 and there's no mention of what the current OS version for this device is.
- What are the required, published steps to re-install and activate the license for the unit?
I've attempted many processes (based on the forum posts and ZWO documents) but haven't been successful at seeing the authorization and activation steps in these published processes. When, after installing the v1.2 OS system to a new SDmini card and following the steps provided by MrC in this posting, I never see the option to "connect to the internet", "get authorization code" nor "connect to the ASIAIR wifi" after following the steps posted by MrC (March 20, 2024).
- After successfully formatting and installing the OS to the SDmini, connecting to the ASIAIR device, and getting to the main application screen (without any apparent license authorization steps), upon re-boot, unable to get to the main application screen - only to meet the spinning doom icon on the ENTER screen (see steps, actions and results below). However, after some different attempts was able to get past the spinning doom icon - see below.
Background: I probably own $15,000 of ZWO equipment and have had no material issues with the equipment but the licensing and re-activation issues for the ASIAir are ambiguous, incomplete, not reproduceable, and confusing.
Equipment and Steps Take to reactivate the OS license:
Original edition ASIAir v1
ASIAir application 2.3 (10.93) running on iPad and iPhone
Downloaded the ASIAir v1.2 OS from https://drive.usercontent.google.com/download?id=1eS91KKysWFHW-BFIqYnPARNijL4PvTec&export=download
New Samsung 32gb SDmini card was used and followed the following instructions: https://i.zwoastro.com/zwo-website/manuals/How_to_Restore_ASIAIR_OS.pdf
Downloaded the QR code per https://asiair.en.zwo.biz/#/license
Operating system was successfully written to the SDmini card using Win32DiskImage application
Inserted the SDMini card into ASIAir and powered up the device
Booted up ASIAir
Found the ASIAir wifi on iPad and connected to the ASIAir
Started the ASIAir application on the iPad
Loaded the opening screen as usual - shows the Network: ASAIR_XXXXXXXX in upper right corner, SN and App version information in the upper right corner; displays location information, mount, Main/Guide Scope FL, Main Camera, and Guide Camera (all are blank because the ASIAIR isn't connect to the mount or camera)
Pressing the ENTER button (lower right corner) leads to the spinning doom icon in the middle of the screen - doesn't appear that the application can connect with the ASIAIR
NOTE - I have a total of 7 ASIAIR units (1-original - this unit, and the others are all later models with no issues)
Next Steps to Troubleshoot & Resolve Issue:
Inserted new SDmini card with v1.2 into ASIAIR, and powered up the device
Connected to the ASIAIR wifi (successfully)
Update Firmware screen appeared (current version is 2.61, latest is 10.93)
Pressed the UPDATE NOW button
Firmware was successfully transferred (after a few minutes) - all checked firmware transferred, installed, ASIAIR restarted
Pressed the COMPLETED button
Application returned to the entrance screen showing the connection to the ASIAir wifi network, correct SN and App version
PLEASE NOTE - a pop-up screen appeared during the steps above that stated "method not found"
Pressed the ENTER button
No spinning icon and application opened with the usual icons across the top (only two highlighted since there are no mounts, cameras, etc. connected yet to the ASIAir)
Open the WiFi (communication) tab and the device wifi 2.4g and name of ASIAIR is shown correctly, station mode is off, no wired ethernet
Plugged in ethernet cable to ASIAIR (not detected) that's connected to the home wifi router, not detected
SD card tab shows 4.1gb of 29gb used by the ASIAIR OS system
Returned to ASIAIR wifi tab and attempted to turn on Station Mode (was off and tapped to turn on)
Available 2.4Ghz networks appeared (with excellent, full signal strength for each), however I was unable to connect to the available wifi networks (after multiple attempts); attempted to connect to other wifi network SSID's without any success
Abandoned the attempt to setup the Station Mode
While in the main application screen, plugged in an ASI224MC camera to ASIAIR unit via USB3 cable (known to work), and camera wasn't detected, did the same with mounts AM5 and AM3 and none were detected.
Exited the main screen and ASIAIR application (tapping the upper right corner return arrow), and the ASIAIR application Enter Device screen appeared and then to the next screen (with ENTER button on the lower right corner)
Pressed ENTER and main screen for application appears
To connect to the camera and mount, used the slide on the wifi tab to restart the ASIAIR device
Connected to the ASIAIR wifi and started the ASIAIR application on the iPad, pressed Enter Device
SERVICE UNCONNECTED (red font) appeared but Network information was correct; pressed SCAN repeatedly but message that "ASIAIR not found" was repeatedly found.
Performed a Power-off/Power-on to reboot the ASIAIR, setup wifi connection on iPad to ASIAIR device
Opened ASIAIR that was running in the background (Network was shown correctly, "Connected" in green (top center of screen), and SN and APP information was correct. Was able to select the ZWO ASI224mc camera from the drop down for Main Camera, then pressed ENTER
ISSUE - the doom spinning icon appeared in the center of the screen and the application would not open to the main screen while connect via the ASIAIR wifi!
RESOLUTION: So, I closed the application after watching the spinning doom icon for several minutes, then proceeded to open ASIAIR application on the iPad, and amazingly the main screen appeared and was able to see the ASI224MC and mount. I had connected the ASIAIR via ethernet and could see the IP address, however station mode was still not available after repeated attempts to connect to any SSID via .
Again, cycled the power on the ASIAIR, successfully connected to the ASIAIR wifi, closing and re-opening the iPad ASIAir application, and all appeared OK. After closing the ASIAIR application on the iPad and connecting device via ethernet cable (note that only the yellow LED was lite up and blinking while the green light was off and not blinking at any time), powered up the ASIAIR, and re-opened the iPad application, and was taken immediately to the main screen of the application and the camera and mount were visible (installed) but was still unable to establish a Station Mode on any of the available 2.4ghz wifi SSIDs (that I've used with other ASIAIR devices). Tested camera and mount and both appear to be working fine, added a guide camera ASI120MCS successfully to the main screen.
For good measure, have rebooted and ASIAir a few times to confirm that all is working but still unable to establish the Station Mode, but there's still an issue with having to close the ASIAir iPad application after each session to re-establish the connection to the device (which is not needed with the over newer versions of the ASIAir).
So, why write a long response in this forum? After spending a good 3-4 hours troubleshooting, researching and testing different approaches to resolve this issue, I stumbled upon these steps to get the early version/edition ASIAIR working and the license re-activated. Clearly these steps don't follow the published steps but seemed to work for me. My intentions are to use this older but capable ASIAIR with a lightweight travel setup for landscape astrophotography at remote locations (hopefully relying on the ASIAir's wifi capabilities.
Now ordering a bunch of SDmini cards to back up all of the existing SD cards on my other ASIAIR devices - definitely don't want to repeat the license re-activation process again.
ZWO Tech Support - please review this posting and steps that I've taken to resolve.
- What else should I do to enable Station Mode?
- How do I know that the license has been correctly re-activated on this early version?
- Am I using the correct OS for this version?
- If I backup the SD cards on my other ASIAIR devices, do the license files on the backup need to be re-activated - can I or will I be able to merely swap out the SD cards (the original for the backup) if the original becomes inoperable?
