I am not sure why this keeps happening, but each update that supposedly fixes one issue with this camera seems to introduce a new one. Since I purchased the ASI2600MC Air in December 2024, I have lost countless quality nights of astrophotography due to software-related problems.
Here is the history so far:
• First, there was the corrupted image issue. Once that started, it would ruin the entire night if not caught early.
• After that was finally fixed in Winter 2025, I began experiencing Exposure Failures. Again, this could ruin an entire night. This issue is supposedly fixed, but I am still seeing it occasionally — I filed a bug report two weeks ago and have not received a response.
• The meridian flip issue was well-documented in the beta, yet it was still rolled out to all users.
• Now, running 2.4.2, a new problem has surfaced: the built-in guide camera randomly disconnects. When it does, the ASIAIR simply keeps taking unguided subs until I catch it manually.
Last night was a good example. I started two separate Autoruns. I noticed that if I left the app and came back, the guide camera would be disconnected. Each time, I had to manually drop down the guide camera menu, re-select the 220MM, turn guiding back on, and resume guiding. I went to bed a little after midnight. When I checked the app at 4:45 AM, guiding was off. I turned it back on manually, went back to bed, and by the time I woke up again at 6:45, guiding was off once more.
I analyzed the logs with ChatGPT and got this summary:
What happened with guiding
• PHD2 shows guiding stopped at 00:21:38, then did not resume until 04:47:48, which matches what I saw when I checked the app around 04:45.
• During that gap, ASIAIR kept capturing 180-second subs with no guide events logged. Images 12–91 (00:24–04:46) were likely unguided.
• Guiding resumed before 04:53, with dithers recorded again at 04:52:47 until 05:56:48.
• Autorun was paused at 06:40:22, which matches seeing guiding off before 07:00.
Counts that may help triage
• Unguided window: approximately 00:22–04:47 — roughly 80 subs at 180 s each.
• Guided window: 04:48–05:44, normal dithers and settles recorded.
• Unguided window: approximately 05:56 until paused at 6:40.
Likely interpretation
• PHD2 guiding stopped around 00:21, ASIAIR continued imaging unguided, then guiding was restarted around 04:48. There is no explicit camera-disconnect message in the logs, only the long gap between “Guiding Ends” and “Guiding Begins.”
I do not get many clear nights for six months out of the year, and I cannot afford to keep losing entire nights to these problems. If this is a hardware-specific issue with my camera, please provide me with an RMA for repair or replacement under warranty. All I want is to be able to use this camera as intended — without having to monitor it overnight to catch failures manually.
(Logs attached for reference unable to attach PHD Guiding logs, possibly due to size)
