Jason,
I'm having similar problems with the dome drive unit on a Pulsar dome becoming unresponsive and having to power cycle the control unit to get things running again. You say that a firmware update fixed everything. I presume that's a firmware update of the dome control unit? What version are you running now? Also, which dome control unit is it - the latest one as per this page of Pulsar's website: http://pulsarobservatories.com/products.php?category=drive ? Where did you get the firmware update from and how do you install it on the drive unit?!!?
Thank you.
Gav.