Good morning. I am running Voyager 2.3.2 on a Win 10 machine. I run TSX and PHD with Voyager. Lately when I restart Voyager, I get an error message saying there is already another instance of Voyager running. However, there is not (as far as I can tell). This forces me to close all other apps and restart the computer when I need to restart Voyager. Any suggestions?
Thanks very much,
Scott
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If Voyager says there is another instance then look in background processes. Also look in windows error logs to diagnose what has caused the issue (driver/com port etc) and get that resolved.
Failing that then I suggest that you report it via email from Voyager->Resources->Support (pops up a new email).
Robert
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Welcome to Windows. It does it to me all the time too. I’m use to just killing the process and moving on.
Open Task manager - Details tab - find Voyager2.exe and click the end task button.
or
open command prompt and enter the command “tskill Voyager2”
You can also create a batch file to “tskill”.
I keep a command prompt window open so it takes minimal time.
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One of your driver hang up and doesn’t release resource to OS and the host process remain waiting.
Voyager cannot do anything. Isolate the driver that cause the issue and change it or update to remove issue.
All the best
Leonardo
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Thanks Robert - I’ve always wanted to ask the question but been afraid to - super helpful to know how to diagnose this.
@caober yup - Voyager’s the only reason I use Windows, can’t wait for the Linux revolution to take over amateur astronomy the way it has in the professional realm
It’s not a Windows problem, it’s a problem with how drivers and software are written in general. There are linux users who have switched to Voyager and then to Windows and are very happy. One operating system is as good as another. There are others who hate WIndows and Voyager … it has always been like this and always will be!
Thank you all for the input. This gives me some things to look into.
Scott
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@Voyager this is great to know, I was always wondering why this happens. I think I know which driver it is, I’ll do more research.
BTW - Voyager is great, I am still not sure sure about Windows 
I’m curious, do you think there is way that the parent process can spawn a watchdog so that if the driver does not behave as expected (eg: it times out) it (Voyager2) terminates itself?
Or alternatively if the GUI is no longer running to realise that there’s an attempt to terminate and then close the process down? Even if there’s a pop-up dialog saying “are you sure your want to terminate background processes?” or similar?
It might help users who aren’t so familiar with Task Manager to be able to close things down more gracefully - also helps stop people thinking it’s a Voyager problem!
Gui is in another thread so you can close. Low level process locked in kernel (driver) cannot be release from a parent process for this reason you will see voyager closed but process running yet in task manager list of processes. Voyager have a timeout watchdog for each actions but cannot close parent process locked in kernel space. This is reserved to external admin process like task manager.
Solution is to avoid driver causing this kind of problems.
All the best
Leonardo
I sometimes experience such issues with ASI drivers. I am using their native driver due to ability to define gain and offset in the sequence per each slot.
In order:
- Check your cables and powering, changing USB cable, remove all HUB 3.0 usb between. .
- Open a ticket to ASI support about or check if they have released a new camera driver about.
All the best
Leonardo Orazi
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This is an old thread, but good information and very helpful. I’ve had this happen a couple of times. Not sure how to determine which driver might be causing the problem, but I can easily kill the background Voyager2 process in Task Manager when it occurs.
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