Autofocus stuck in loop?

Hi all. I was trying out my myfocusser2 driver with my canon dslr camera. I focussed as best i could and established the best focus position and HFR value. The HFR was a lousy 3.22 but this was the best focus i could get. I then backed out the foccuser in steps of 100 to try and get a step position with a HFR value of 3-5 times this initial value so i could work out the step size. However, the HFR value stated “NA” and no stars were found. The image was blurred but i could see blobby stars. I estimated the step size and keyed it in based on the step size i use with a different camera but same scope. I then tried to do an autofocus run. Instead of getting a nice ‘V’, the autofocus run went into a loop with the focusser going in until it got to 0 and the run repeating - going from back out and the run going from 100% to 111% to 122% and on until i stopped it. The curve was like a double ‘W’ with the first three steps of a similar HFR value. It was supposed to stop after 9 steps but went on and on. I repeated this using a variety of different step sizes withe the same result each time.
I have copied a sample of the SGP log below. I am thinking that the images taken were using too high a ISO or exposure but i am only guessing. Any ideas?

[02/24/19 21:57:01.870][DEBUG] [Camera Thread] Display image preview using asynch task…
[02/24/19 21:57:02.392][DEBUG] [Main Thread] --> Find stars (normal)
[02/24/19 21:57:02.492][DEBUG] [Main Thread] AF frame was too large… downsample = 0.25…
[02/24/19 21:57:03.059][DEBUG] [Main Thread] Star detection using min star size of 2px…
[02/24/19 21:57:03.059][DEBUG] [Main Thread] Star detection using max star size of 40px…
[02/24/19 21:57:03.077][DEBUG] [Main Thread] Find stars took: 685 ms…
[02/24/19 21:57:03.662][DEBUG] [Camera Thread] Auto focus HFR calculated at: 0.00
[02/24/19 21:57:04.665][DEBUG] [Camera Thread] HFR value from auto focuser is 0!, trying again…
[02/24/19 21:57:04.665][DEBUG] [Camera Thread] HFR value was 0 three times… probably not going to get anything else, continuing…
[02/24/19 21:57:04.678][DEBUG] [Camera Thread] Moving focuser to next position (1540)…
[02/24/19 21:57:04.679][DEBUG] [Focuser Move Thread] Focuser moving to 1540
[02/24/19 21:57:04.695][DEBUG] [Focuser Move Thread] Focuser move call complete
[02/24/19 21:57:05.717][DEBUG] [Focuser Move Thread] MoveFocuserAbsBlocking: Focuser position 1540 matches requested position 1540
[02/24/19 21:57:05.717][DEBUG] [Focuser Move Thread] MoveFocuserAbsBlocking: Waiting for focuser to report done…
[02/24/19 21:57:06.718][DEBUG] [Focuser Move Thread] MoveFocuserAbsBlocking: Focuser reports it is done moving, continuing…
[02/24/19 21:57:06.718][DEBUG] [Camera Thread] Focuser move complete…
[02/24/19 21:57:06.741][DEBUG] [Camera Thread] Focuser position matches requested position (1540), continuing…
[02/24/19 21:57:06.741][DEBUG] [Camera Thread] Calculating step metric…
[02/24/19 21:57:06.741][DEBUG] [Camera Thread] Taking auto focus frame(s)…
[02/24/19 21:57:06.741][DEBUG] [Camera Thread] Canon camera: Capturing auto focus frame…
[02/24/19 21:57:06.741][DEBUG] [Camera Thread] Canon: AF Binning: 800…
[02/24/19 21:57:06.741][DEBUG] [Camera Thread] Canon: AF Exposure length: 10 seconds…
[02/24/19 21:57:06.741][DEBUG] [Camera Thread] Canon: AF Exposure DL speed: b
[02/24/19 21:57:06.796][DEBUG] [Camera Thread] Canon: Setting ISO to: 800
[02/24/19 21:57:06.796][DEBUG] [Camera Thread] Canon: ISO look val: 96
[02/24/19 21:57:06.861][DEBUG] [Camera Thread] Canon: Exposing for 10 seconds…
[02/24/19 21:57:06.961][DEBUG] [Main Thread] Canon: PropertyEventHandler: event 101, property 40A, parameter 0,
[02/24/19 21:57:06.961][DEBUG] [Main Thread] Canon: PropertyEventHandler: event 101, property B, parameter 0,
[02/24/19 21:57:06.961][DEBUG] [Main Thread] Canon: PropertyEventHandler: event 101, property 40A, parameter 0,
[02/24/19 21:57:06.961][DEBUG] [Main Thread] Canon: PropertyEventHandler: event 101, property B, parameter 0,
[02/24/19 21:57:06.961][DEBUG] [Main Thread] Canon: PropertyEventHandler: event 101, property 40A, parameter 0,
[02/24/19 21:57:06.961][DEBUG] [Main Thread] Canon: PropertyEventHandler: event 101, property 40A, parameter 0,
[02/24/19 21:57:06.961][DEBUG] [Main Thread] Canon: PropertyEventHandler: event 101, property 402, parameter 0,
[02/24/19 21:57:06.961][DEBUG] [Main Thread] Canon: PropertyEventHandler: event 101, property 402, parameter 0,
[02/24/19 21:57:06.961][DEBUG] [Main Thread] Canon: PropertyEventHandler: event 101, property 100, parameter 0,
[02/24/19 21:57:07.171][DEBUG] [Main Thread] Canon: PropertyEventHandler: event 101, property 40A, parameter 0,
[02/24/19 21:57:17.111][DEBUG] [Main Thread] Canon: PropertyEventHandler: event 101, property 104, parameter 0,
[02/24/19 21:57:17.111][DEBUG] [Main Thread] Canon: PropertyEventHandler: event 101, property 104, parameter 0,
[02/24/19 21:57:17.111][DEBUG] [Main Thread] Canon: PropertyEventHandler: event 101, property 404, parameter 0,
[02/24/19 21:57:17.111][DEBUG] [Main Thread] Canon: PropertyEventHandler: event 101, property 405, parameter 0,
[02/24/19 21:57:17.111][DEBUG] [Main Thread] Canon: PropertyEventHandler: event 101, property 406, parameter 0,
[02/24/19 21:57:17.111][DEBUG] [Main Thread] Canon: PropertyEventHandler: event 101, property 405, parameter 0,
[02/24/19 21:57:17.111][DEBUG] [Main Thread] Canon: PropertyEventHandler: event 101, property 402, parameter 0,
[02/24/19 21:57:17.112][DEBUG] [Main Thread] Canon: PropertyEventHandler: event 102, property 406, parameter 0,
[02/24/19 21:57:17.791][DEBUG] [Main Thread] Canon: PropertyEventHandler: event 101, property 405, parameter 0,
[02/24/19 21:57:17.792][DEBUG] [Main Thread] Canon: PropertyEventHandler: event 101, property 406, parameter 0,
[02/24/19 21:57:17.792][DEBUG] [Main Thread] Canon: PropertyEventHandler: event 101, property 405, parameter 0,
[02/24/19 21:57:17.792][DEBUG] [Main Thread] Canon: PropertyEventHandler: event 101, property 402, parameter 0,
[02/24/19 21:57:17.792][DEBUG] [Main Thread] Canon: PropertyEventHandler: event 102, property 406, parameter 0,
[02/24/19 21:57:18.012][DEBUG] [Main Thread] Canon: PropertyEventHandler: event 101, property 40A, parameter 0,
[02/24/19 21:57:18.013][DEBUG] [Canon Download Thread] Canon: Directory Item Requested Transfer
[02/24/19 21:57:18.013][DEBUG] [Canon Download Thread] – Event delay: 0 ms
[02/24/19 21:57:19.556][DEBUG] [Canon Download Thread] --------------> getCapturedItem time: 1543 ms
[02/24/19 21:57:19.970][DEBUG] [Camera Thread] Created full file name (file does not exist): C:\Users\sdeli\AppData\Local\SequenceGenerator\Temp\metric.fit
[02/24/19 21:57:19.971][DEBUG] [Camera Thread] Extracting RAW data…
[02/24/19 21:57:19.971][DEBUG] [Camera Thread] RAW arg data: -D -T -4 -W -v -t 0 “C:\Users\sdeli\AppData\Local\SequenceGenerator\Temp\cannonRaw-0.tmp”
[02/24/19 21:57:20.078][DEBUG] [Camera Thread] DCRAW Physical Memory Usage: 946176
[02/24/19 21:57:20.581][DEBUG] [Camera Thread] DCRAW Physical Memory Usage: 25526272
[02/24/19 21:57:21.082][DEBUG] [Camera Thread] DCRAW Physical Memory Usage: 40615936
[02/24/19 21:57:21.584][DEBUG] [Camera Thread] DCRAW Physical Memory Usage: 44556288
[02/24/19 21:57:22.085][DEBUG] [Camera Thread] DCRAW Physical Memory Usage: 164868096
[02/24/19 21:57:22.587][DEBUG] [Camera Thread] Done extracting RAW data, checking for success…
[02/24/19 21:57:22.587][DEBUG] [Camera Thread] RAW data extraction is good…
[02/24/19 21:57:22.587][DEBUG] [Camera Thread] Extracting bitmap data from RAW (tiff)…
[02/24/19 21:57:22.646][DEBUG] [Camera Thread] Creating bitmap (5496,3670)…
[02/24/19 21:57:22.653][DEBUG] [Camera Thread] Locking bitmap for write
[02/24/19 21:57:22.653][DEBUG] [Camera Thread] RAW bith depth: 16
[02/24/19 21:57:22.709][DEBUG] [Camera Thread] Internal Interface: Set Preview…
[02/24/19 21:57:22.709][DEBUG] [Camera Thread] Display image preview using asynch task…
[02/24/19 21:57:23.218][DEBUG] [Main Thread] --> Find stars (normal)
[02/24/19 21:57:23.330][DEBUG] [Main Thread] AF frame was too large… downsample = 0.25…
[02/24/19 21:57:23.898][DEBUG] [Main Thread] Star detection using min star size of 2px…
[02/24/19 21:57:23.898][DEBUG] [Main Thread] Star detection using max star size of 40px…
[02/24/19 21:57:23.920][DEBUG] [Main Thread] Find stars took: 702 ms…
[02/24/19 21:57:24.510][DEBUG] [Camera Thread] Auto focus HFR calculated at: 0.00
[02/24/19 21:57:25.513][DEBUG] [Camera Thread] HFR value from auto focuser is 0!, trying again…
[02/24/19 21:57:25.513][DEBUG] [Camera Thread] Taking auto focus frame(s)…
[02/24/19 21:57:25.516][DEBUG] [Camera Thread] Canon camera: Capturing auto focus frame…
[02/24/19 21:57:25.517][DEBUG] [Camera Thread] Canon: AF Binning: 800…
[02/24/19 21:57:25.517][DEBUG] [Camera Thread] Canon: AF Exposure length: 10 seconds…
[02/24/19 21:57:25.517][DEBUG] [Camera Thread] Canon: AF Exposure DL speed: b
[02/24/19 21:57:25.567][DEBUG] [Camera Thread] Canon: Setting ISO to: 800
[02/24/19 21:57:25.567][DEBUG] [Camera Thread] Canon: ISO look val: 96
[02/24/19 21:57:25.650][DEBUG] [Camera Thread] Canon: Exposing for 10 seconds…
[02/24/19 21:57:25.769][DEBUG] [Main Thread] Canon: PropertyEventHandler: event 101, property 40A, parameter 0,
[02/24/19 21:57:25.769][DEBUG] [Main Thread] Canon: PropertyEventHandler: event 101, property B, parameter 0,
[02/24/19 21:57:25.769][DEBUG] [Main Thread] Canon: PropertyEventHandler: event 101, property 40A, parameter 0,
[02/24/19 21:57:25.769][DEBUG] [Main Thread] Canon: PropertyEventHandler: event 101, property B, parameter 0,
[02/24/19 21:57:25.769][DEBUG] [Main Thread] Canon: PropertyEventHandler: event 101, property 40A, parameter 0,
[02/24/19 21:57:25.769][DEBUG] [Main Thread] Canon: PropertyEventHandler: event 101, property 40A, parameter 0,
[02/24/19 21:57:25.769][DEBUG] [Main Thread] Canon: PropertyEventHandler: event 101, property 402, parameter 0,
[02/24/19 21:57:25.769][DEBUG] [Main Thread] Canon: PropertyEventHandler: event 101, property 402, parameter 0,
[02/24/19 21:57:25.769][DEBUG] [Main Thread] Canon: PropertyEventHandler: event 101, property 100, parameter 0,
[02/24/19 21:57:25.988][DEBUG] [Main Thread] Canon: PropertyEventHandler: event 101, property 40A, parameter 0,
[02/24/19 21:57:35.949][DEBUG] [Main Thread] Canon: PropertyEventHandler: event 101, property 104, parameter 0,
[02/24/19 21:57:35.949][DEBUG] [Main Thread] Canon: PropertyEventHandler: event 101, property 104, parameter 0,
[02/24/19 21:57:35.949][DEBUG] [Main Thread] Canon: PropertyEventHandler: event 101, property 404, parameter 0,
[02/24/19 21:57:35.949][DEBUG] [Main Thread] Canon: PropertyEventHandler: event 101, property 405, parameter 0,
[02/24/19 21:57:35.949][DEBUG] [Main Thread] Canon: PropertyEventHandler: event 101, property 406, parameter 0,
[02/24/19 21:57:35.949][DEBUG] [Main Thread] Canon: PropertyEventHandler: event 101, property 405, parameter 0,
[02/24/19 21:57:35.949][DEBUG] [Main Thread] Canon: PropertyEventHandler: event 101, property 402, parameter 0,
[02/24/19 21:57:35.949][DEBUG] [Main Thread] Canon: PropertyEventHandler: event 102, property 406, parameter 0,
[02/24/19 21:57:36.313][DEBUG] [Camera Thread] HFR value from auto focuser is 0!, trying again…
[02/24/19 21:57:36.313][DEBUG] [Camera Thread] AF abort requested
[02/24/19 21:57:36.319][DEBUG] [Camera Thread] Auto focus (finally): closing dialog…
[02/24/19 21:57:36.321][DEBUG] [Focuser Thread] SGM_FOCUSER_MOVE_ABS message received…
[02/24/19 21:57:36.321][DEBUG] [Focuser Thread] Focuser moving to 2260
[02/24/19 21:57:36.345][DEBUG] [Focuser Thread] Focuser move call complete
[02/24/19 21:57:36.349][DEBUG] [AfChartThread] AF chart dialog is closed…
[02/24/19 21:57:36.365][DEBUG] [Camera Thread] SetStartTemp: Using focuser for temperature…
[02/24/19 21:57:36.365][DEBUG] [Camera Thread] Set start frame temp to 20…
[02/24/19 21:57:36.365][DEBUG] [Camera Thread] Auto focus complete…
[02/24/19 21:57:36.370][DEBUG] [Camera Thread] SGM_FOCUSER_AUTO_FOCUS complete…

Can you see stars in the image? If it is not detecting stars, then sometimes that is due to too little exposure. It usually does close to focus, as they are more distinct, but when they are some way off, they are fainter and harder to detect. I would try 10 seconds at ISO 3200 as a test.