Meade ETX80 "Proc. trap2 error"?

Question

I own and use a Meade ETX80 telescope and am having problems getting it to start up electronically now.

I have owned this telescope now for around a year and started having problems with it a few months ago. It worked fairly good for the first half of the year and tracked things fairly accurately. I also own a Zhumell dobsonian 10" telescope tho and am trying to get the hang of astrophotography and understand the night sky with these two telescopes, my stellarium, registax, my video camera and my Celestron solar system imager. I am a beginner in star gazing and astrophotography.

So before I move on to an electronic 11in. schmidt cassegrian I would like to spend a few years messing around with my two scopes the the accessories I own before I move on.

the error that my Meade ETX-80 displays when I try and start it up reads as follows

"Proc. Trap 2"

It doesnt have its normal setup or anything. It just says "proc. trap 2" and nothing else.

I have tried pressing the buttons and working with it but nothing seems to change the fact. Also the batteries that are in it are perfectly fine.

All help is greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

Proc.Trap 2 is an Illegal Op Code.

(programming bug)



It may be possible to reset it from software.

Try and reload the Autostar firmware from a PC.

(Download the updater application from Meade's website.



http://www.weasner.com/etx/autostar_info.html

http://www.meade.com/support/index.html

Answer 2

Hmmm, ..., something has gone wrong with the firmware in the ETX autostar controller. More than likely it's memory was erased due to a "low power" issue or other corruption. As I understand it, you cannot fix this problem on your own. You need to go a head and call the Meade Support line.

Answer 3

Proc Trap 2

is the catch-all "illegal instruction" trap...your Autostar just tried

to "execute" some data, or a zero. It can also signal memory failure.

The "Erase User Banks" function of the Updater cleans and corrects a

number of memory layout errors which can happen to the Autostar. It's a

major adjustment of the user lists and can correct things that RESET

cannot begin to touch.

Wally