PC won't recognize PPA - "Device not found" - SOLVED

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JethroXP
Posts: 1
Joined: Thu Jul 15, 2021 12:41 am

PC won't recognize PPA - "Device not found" - SOLVED

Post by JethroXP »

Posting this here to document the issue and the steps to resolve in case anyone else runs into this.

I purchased a Pegasus Power Box Advance and could only get the software (PPB-Install_v1_17) to recognize the device on 1 of 3 different PCs. All three running Win10 Pro. Unfortunately the PC it worked on is my office desktop. Both my laptop, and the mini-PC I have at my telescope gave the same error when trying to connect to the power box using the app: "Device not found - Cannot discover a known device".

I could tell the PPA was working, because it was powering the mini-PC and my ASI2600MC Pro and ASI174MM Mini. Those cameras even showed up in the device manager. However in the device manager for the laptop the Power Box Advance showed up as an "Other Device" while on the mini-PC is shows up under Ports (COM & LPT) as USB Serial Port (COM5).

I then noticed that when I opened the Pegasus Astro - Pocket Powerbox software and went to the Config tab, selecting a port from the dropdown resulted in the error "An error occurred while querying for devices: Invalid class" so I decided to search for solutions to "Invalid Class" and I hit the jackpot!

I found this:
https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Fo ... powershell

And I followed these steps:
---------------------------------
How to rebuild the WMI repository.
• Disable and stop the winmgmt service
• Remove or rename C:\Windows\System32\wbem\repository
• Enable and start the winmgmt service
• Open Command Prompt as Administrator
• Run the following commands:

cd C:\Windows\System32\wbem\
for /f %s in ('dir /b *.mof') do mofcomp %s

NOTE: This will take a minute or so to complete.

for /f %s in ('dir /b en-us\*.mfl') do mofcomp en-us\%s
---------------------------------

And it worked! After those commands completed (maybe a minute or two) I was able to use the software to connect to and control the PPA.

Hopefully this helps someone else too!
Neilus
Posts: 1
Joined: Sat Jul 16, 2022 12:31 pm

Re: PC won't recognize PPA - "Device not found" - SOLVED

Post by Neilus »

Hi and thanks so much for posting this. I worked for me too. I'm using the up to date software 1.1.8 in 2022 and it still rubbish. I feel like i am in 1985 diving into command prompt's to fix broken software. At this price point and numerous version of hardware and software if you cant even install the software and find your device then how would the average person expect to run this? .... Rant over.. lets hope its smooth sailing from here.
Again thank you for taking the time to find a fix.

Cheers
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Evans
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Posts: 504
Joined: Wed Dec 02, 2020 3:06 pm
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Re: PC won't recognize PPA - "Device not found" - SOLVED

Post by Evans »

Hi,
This is a windows corruption WMI database issue and does not have to do with the software. If this issue happens to you , most of your device that work with WMI will be affected.
We strongly advise to start using Unity Platform as previous standalone software is not going to receive any updates.

To install Unity: https://pegasusastro.com/release/unity/ ... atform.exe

Thanks!
Steveyw
Posts: 1
Joined: Mon Dec 26, 2022 1:57 pm

Re: PC won't recognize PPA - "Device not found" - SOLVED

Post by Steveyw »

Got the same problem on mini pc and laptop both running Windows 11

Com5 showing in device manager (which disappears when I disconnect the device)

Red light on unit

Using latest version of unity makes no difference

So defective device ? how could I check ?
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