V2.1
Sometimes it becomes necessary to do a factory reset and start with a clean build. Reasons for doing this are OS corruption from power dropping without a shutdown, abnormal operation after a software or firmware update, or just to be sure your install is clean and avoid trouble later when you want to image.
Recently a number of folks have experienced corruption after updating their ASIAir to version 2.1. This is a rare occurrence in general but with so many incremental updates, issues can come up. With the newer ASIAir devices, such as ASIAir Plus and ASIAir Mini, you can quickly reset back to the factory firmware image using the ASIAir app. This is located on the About page shown in this image. All of your settings at the time of the reset will be retained. The reset process is the same as a normal upgrade but after it reboots you will be prompted to update back to the latest version.
When the update is complete, I recommend shutting down ASIAir using the shutdown control in the app and the power cycle the device. This ensures that it is completely running with a new clean version without any hung or old processes to cause any grief.
For the ASIAir Pro and V1, the process to reset back to factory is a bit more involved. It requires downloading a factory image and some free imaging software and you will have to relicense the device and put all of your settings back in. Therefore it may be advantageous to take screen shots of the more critical settings and perhaps export some of your saved Plan sequences if that is important to you. If you were wise and made a backup image of the card as described in the users manual when you bought the device, you can use that image which may already be licensed.
I highly recommend purchasing a new 64gb microSD card to build the new image on. While you will only be able to use 32GB of the card, the extra space will ensure the image has enough space to be restored. Not all 32GB cards are actually 32GB. Many fall short. You also don't need a fancy SD card either. The cheap Class 10 cards are sufficient. There is nothing on the Pro that will take advantage of the faster card. Even video mode is more limited by hardware than card speed. I use the Micro Center branded cards as shown for all of my testing and never have any card issues.
ZWO has provided a PDF file that explains the restoration process on the Pro and V1. It is also important to note that you just can't copy the image to the SD card and boot up. The card must be bootable and partitioned properly for ASIAir to start up. It's important to follow the instructions exactly as found in the restore guide as the factory image restoration will make it bootable and create all of the necessary partitions and files for you. This process can take about an hour so plan accordingly.
Here is an AstroWorkz YouTube video that explains the factory reset process for all ASIAir models.
When you are having unexplained issues with ASIAir that don't seem to be resolved by changing cables or power sources, you can quickly revert back to a factory image and reupdate the firmware to ensure a clean build. For the Pro and V1 it's advisable to keep extra cards, preimaged with a backup so in the event of corruption or a failed update, you can just switch cards and boot up. I hope this helps save some imaging time for everyone.
If you continue to have issues, you can open a ticket on the ZWO support portal for assistance or ask questions on the Official Facebook "ZWO ASIAIR" page which is monitored by ZWO.
