Recently, I updated the software on my PPBA Gen2s to version 2.8.4693.435 of Unity. I immediately started having issues with the devices connected to the USB2 ports. They would just randomly disconnect during the night. Sometimes it happened after five minutes, sometimes five hours. But it always happened--on three different rigs.
I emailed Pegasus support and they dismissed me saying that the Unity software had nothing to do with USB connections. I knew this was BS immediately because there's a button in Unity that you can use to turn off the USB2 ports. I finally uninstalled version 2.8.4693.435 and downloaded the oldest version of Unity I could find on the Pegasus website--version 1.9.1784.21. No more disconnections. After about a week, I reinstalled version 2.8.4693.435 and the problem occurred again, so I went back to version 1.9.1784.21 one more time. I've been running that version with no issues.
Has anyone else seen an issue like this? I noticed that a few days after I reinstalled version version 1.9.1784.21, Pegasus came out with a new Unity update. But there's no way I'm installing any more updates from them until they acknowledge that this is a software issue and they have corrected it.
On another front, I also began having issues with the UPB v3 and UPB v2 I have on my other rigs after this software update. That problem is different though, and rolling back to version 1.9.x is a non-starter because I need the independent auto-dew function offered on the later versions. The issue I'm seeing there is that if I power on the Pegasus at the same time as the PC, when the PC finishes booting up, the Pegasus just switches off completely. I've found a workaround for this--power up the PC first, then run Unity, then power up the Pegasus. If I do that it connects and behaves through the night. Weird.
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Hi Timothy, I recalled a recent thread discussing this issue here: https://www.astrobin.com/forum/c/equipment-forums/pegasus-astro-powerbox-advance-gen2/unity-software/Hope it helps. I have several PPADV Gen1 and Gen2 units running with Unity and have not personally experienced this issue. I believe I skipped that particular update by luck though. I did notice that Windows USB Power Management had be enabled again after one of the recent updates. This allows Windows OS to turn off USB ports as it thinks it is needed. I do not know if that was a Windows Update or Pegasus Update that caused that. If you are using a Windows PC that is possibly something to check. I always disable that function using the Device Manager > USB > Power Management in Windows. It has caused problems with The SkyX software for me in the past. CS, Jeff
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Jeff Reitzel:
Hi Timothy,
I recalled a recent thread discussing this issue here: https://www.astrobin.com/forum/c/equipment-forums/pegasus-astro-powerbox-advance-gen2/unity-software/
Hope it helps. I have several PPADV Gen1 and Gen2 units running with Unity and have not personally experienced this issue. I believe I skipped that particular update by luck though.
I did notice that Windows USB Power Management had be enabled again after one of the recent updates. This allows Windows OS to turn off USB ports as it thinks it is needed. I do not know if that was a Windows Update or Pegasus Update that caused that. If you are using a Windows PC that is possibly something to check. I always disable that function using the Device Manager > USB > Power Management in Windows. It has caused problems with The SkyX software for me in the past.
CS,
Jeff Thank you, Jeff! Very helpful! FYI, I first got bit by the Windows Power Management issue about three years ago, so I always check that after every Windows update. The USB2 thing looks to be a Unity issue that may now be resolved.
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Fwiw i have been using unity since its inception. In my experience it has been very buggy over the years. I wish pegasus would return to the stand alone product drivers and control apps. I only update unity when i absolutely need to and when i get a version that works i rock it for a long time and ignore subsequent versions. Hope your troubles are behind you.
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I had an issue with the UPBv3 and even though Pegasus denied that it was their issue, I found the following: After purchasing the WarpAstron WD-20, I went through a couple of months agony with different issues. One issue was I would find the mount frozen at the horizon limit of 20 degrees. What was happening is that every time a USB device is plugged in, a reset signal is sent out on every USB port. That would cause my mount to act as if it had just powered up. Upon powerup of the WD-20, it must be sent home to know where it is. That would not happen as I would be unaware of the reset. So if any device did a disconnect/reconnect for any reason, the mount was lost due to restart from the reset. The issue is different than you describe, but may be related in that it is USB. I fixed my issue by plugging the mount USB into my Ryzen7 running the mount. I later noticed after an upgrade to Unity that resets no longer happened when plugging in other USB devices. Previously, I could actually hear the mount resetting when plugging something into the UPBv3. Pegasus didn't fess up, but they appeared to realize <speculation> that there was an issue and fixed the resetting of ports in the upgrade. I still run the mount directly from the Ryzen, but the issue of ports resetting is gone… for now.
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My philosophy is that if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Updates are risky and once things are working, I avoid them at all costs. Windoz is a house of cards so I'll probably be forced to update something at some point and I'm sure it will brick my systems but for now, I just hold my breath and keep going.
John
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My philosophy is that if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Updates are risky and once things are working, I avoid them at all costs. Windoz is a house of cards so I'll probably be forced to update something at some point and I'm sure it will brick my systems but for now, I just hold my breath and keep going.
John
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Yes, I have had these issues, and drove me mad, and also got the same response from Pegasus, there was a time when they were really helpful and would answer and help right away, now they have gotten bigger and they have no interest in dealing with customers issues, and palm it out to people they now employ on a help desk that know f*** all about the products and how they work.
I thought my guide camera had packed up and bought a new one, and it turned out to be the update on Unity for my UPB V2..😡
I won’t buy another Pegasus product, they are good, but way overpriced, and the software is garbage, especially since they changed to this Unity crap.
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John Hayes:
My philosophy is that if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Updates are risky and once things are working, I avoid them at all costs. Windoz is a house of cards so I'll probably be forced to update something at some point and I'm sure it will brick my systems but for now, I just hold my breath and keep going.
John Interestingly, windows is the one software that has never caused a problem for me as long as i KEEP it updated. When ive held off for too long thats when it gets bad. Now i manually update once a month and pause it the rest of the time. Since then, all good (knock on wood) Everything else though, i resist updates as long as possible. Lol.
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Chris White- Overcast Observatory:
Interestingly, windows is the one software that has never caused a problem for me as long as i KEEP it updated. When ive held off for too long thats when it gets bad. Now i manually update once a month and pause it the rest of the time. Since then, all good (knock on wood) Everything else though, i resist updates as long as possible. Lol. Win10 updates totally bricked one of my observatory PCs. I struggled to fix it and eventually gave up. I unwound to the previous version, turned off updates and everything has worked fine for 3 years. I also had updates trash my operation out at DSW and that took forever to resolve. These PCs just operate as controllers and once they are working, updates aren't needed. The frequency of Microsoft updates is simply absurd. It just ecourages sloppy coding. Screwed it up? No problem, we'll just send out a new update tomorrow. The class A software that runs the Garmin NXi avionics system in my airplane never needs updates. Why? They tested the heck out of every line of code and it was delivered 99.999% bug free. Of course it's also not connected to the internet. Regardless, it shows what's possible if it's done right. John
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John Hayes:
These PCs just operate as controllers and once they are working, updates aren't needed. I mostly agree and am going to ramp back updates on these systems as much as possible. Still, that can be problematic for internet-enabled systems. The addition of Trusted Platform Modules to motherboards and Microsoft's withdrawal of support for basic security functions on non-TPM machines is instructive in this regard. Some may have figured out a way to navigate around that, but I didn't. I ultimately had to relent. The same type of thing can happen with software. I rely on Chrome Remote Desktop to access my NUCs and I use Digital Loggers Web Pro switches to power everything. I also have Anydesk as a backup on Lloyd's recommendation to "always have two ways in." At some point, some set of external circumstances could easily make it where I'm locked out. That turns the update issue into a plane ticket and a hotel room. There's also NINA. There may be NINA updates that I actually want or need to do new things or do old things better or more efficiently. Updating NINA has had cascading effects in the past and that may well occur again. So I can't fully buy into the controller theory and try to block all updates to everything forever.
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My wish is that Pegasus would provide update notes as I would evaluate whether I need to upgrade. I have the Pegasus EFW sitting in my cupboard as their ASCOM driver does not support certain attributes that are defined in the ASCOM EFW specs (e.g they don't maintain filter positions but leave it to the software developers (ala NINA,..))
I agree that Pegasus needs to get a lot more like a commercial software developer and manage versioning and patching better - with release notes.
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My wish is that Pegasus would provide update notes Absolutely agreed. I have two other issues with the update process. First, it's completely opaque in that there's no installer file downloaded that I can find after the fact. This makes it impossible to roll back to a previous version. I've asked Pegasus support for rollback versions several times and all I hear is crickets. The second issue is having to go into NINA and reselect the device after an update. That one isn't as big a deal, but no one else requires that. It's just weird.
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hi, all
I had a similar problem and switched to USB3 port (900mA). It was related to my Pegasus Rotator after updating the software. (Utility)
CS
Brian
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Another thing to note, I also recently had the problem of frequent disconnections of my Pegasus device. It turned out that while windows 11 had already been set to NOT be able to disconnect usb devices to save power, its latest update had re-enabled it. So check that.
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Another thing to note, I also recently had the problem of frequent disconnections of my Pegasus device. It turned out that while windows 11 had already been set to NOT be able to disconnect usb devices to save power, its latest update had re-enabled it. So check that. While I'm prone to forget this sometimes, I did check that. It wasn't the issue this time. Pegasus, after initially blowing smoke up my skirt by telling me Unity doesn't control USB connection (c'mon, there's a button to turn off the USB2 ports), released an update that fixed that issue. But I still have the power-up issue with the UPBs. I know there has been an update or two since then, but I have no stomach for any more updates right now.
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Chris White- Overcast Observatory:
I only update unity when i absolutely need to and when i get a version that works i rock it for a long time and ignore subsequent versions Indeed! I do the same thing. Some softwares are normally safe to update to the latest version regularly (NINA, for example). Others are not and Unity is high on that list. I have not updated mine in over a year - if it ain't broke, etc.....
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I too had this problem on one of my PPAdv boxes. I did all the troubleshooting I could think of and the problem still persists.
When I wrote Pegasus, they gave me a huge troubleshooting guide that was completely irrelevant to the issues present and even went as far as to swap with another powerbox. I consider myself rather good at troubleshooting these issues, and I confidently narrowed the issue down to the powerbox. The response given from Pegasus was rather disappointing. I simply bypassed the two devices that were giving me issues and ran them through the camera hub, haven't had any issues since.
Pegasus response really burned me a bit. At that point, I could make things run with my bandaid option so I gave up further troubleshooting. With that, I don't have a huge desire to buy more Pegasus products.
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I never update the UPBs once they are configured and up and running.
As for Windows, all of my remote PCs run Windows 11 pro and I update them monthly and turn off updates for 5 weeks after applying them. I’ve never had any issues with updates breaking anything.
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Dark Matters Astrophotography:
I never update the UPBs once they are configured and up and running. That's not a terrible guideline to follow, but it's not always 100% workable--and it has certain drawbacks. One example of the workability thing is the circumstance I faced last summer when I was traveling back and forth to the observatory at a cost of about $2,000 per trip--five trips in all--to deal with what turned out to be faulty Delta-Ts. I hit the lottery. I got three bad ones in a row. All Planewave ever said about them was, "Bad board." And with each effed up Delta-T, Planewave got haughtier and more difficult to deal with. Certain expletives come to mind. So I lobbied Pegasus hard to update the Unity software to allow independent autodew settings for each of the three ports. One aggressiveness setting for all three ports was a non-starter because with an aggressiveness setting high enough to prevent dew on the primary, the secondary would get hot enough to cook Wagyu. After six months, Pegasus came through. But it required both a firmware and a software update. That update was so good I got complacent about Pegasus updates--my mistake. It completely eliminated the need for me to have the EFW or Delta-T on the scope as well as the need to run the c. 1999 PWI software, which I hate with the heat of the nearest star. That particular thing has been running for a year without issue. I'm eternally thankful to Pegasus for doing that, and it buys a lot of leeway for them from me. But it's not infinite. I was in the software biz for 40 years. I get that a release may have unforeseen issues--no matter how great your Q/A is. That's not an issue for me with Pegasus. But I do have two other major issues: (1) there absolutely should be release notes with each update that you can access before you apply the update, and (2) there should be an easy rollback procedure to get to the immediately prior version--and the version before that, and the version before the version before that, and so on. That's basic software dev procedure. But moving on. The aforementioned drawbacks include, inter alia, the situation where externalities force you to perform a Pegasus update (e.g., a Windows update that breaks something in third-party software). Now you may be jumping 10 versions ahead, and that may create all sorts of issues. So all you've done is store all the difficulties from prior updates and unleashed them all on yourself all at once. Still, given their track record, it makes sense to hold off on Unity updates as long as possible. Sad, but true.
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I am late to the conversation, with a similar issue with USB disconnects. I have been have problems with my NYX-101 for more than 2 months, the mount disconnects anywhere from 5 minutes to an hour and a half. I have tried to work with Pegasus astro since May 27, 2025 with no resolution. They had me replace USB cables, computers, and they logged into my mount and said it is fine, I have a windows problem. I have used 8 different USB cable, 3 scopes with their respective computers all fail on the NYX but work fine on my CGX and EQ6R.
Now that I have read this forum I have downloaded the older version of the Unity software, and will try to see if that fixes my issue of USB disconnects. I did mention to Pegasus that this started after a Unity and NINA update that I did on the same day. Hope this fixes a dysfunctional NYX-101
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I'm certainly never buying another Pegasus product. Bought a PPBAdv and about a month later it completely bricked itself. Had to send it back to them to pay for repair even though it's under "warranty". Got it back and all worked but still deal with random bugs from time to time that make no sense.
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I tired the Jun 2024 version of Unity but that would not work with ascom and my NYX-101V2. Does anyone have a version between Jan 1, 2025 and April 1, 2025. Pegasus Astro is flat out standing their ground that it is not their mount or software that I have a windows problem and I guess that is that.
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