Loss of control after docking capsule to lander

[Wedgenet]

I am attempting to land on the Mün with a rover that can detach underneath the lander after touchdown.

http://i.imgur.com/MSnGs7U.jpg

This is the lander attached to the rest of the rocket, below the command module and above the lift stage.

http://i.imgur.com/P1sEv9H.jpg

Launch and orbit goes well. I'm ready to decouple the lander, and dock it to the top of the command module. Everything is fine at this point.

http://i.imgur.com/0IrInTL.jpg

I complete the docking procedure. The lander is now connected to the front, and the Poodle is ready to take me to the moon.

http://i.imgur.com/9xfUip9.jpg

But, after docking, I lose all control of the spacecraft. It enters a slow spin that I cannot stop, and SAS cannot stop. RCS thrusters are active. I can see them firing, but they don't affect the ship in any way. Why? I understand that I changed my center of mass, so control will be different, but the way that the RCS thrusters do absolutely nothing makes me think that this might be some kind of bug. Is this a bug or is this a design flaw on my part?

[Markus Reese]

I think I had an errored occillation once before. I think it is a bug. Try giving a blip to the time lapse which disables the physics sim momentarily. Doing this usually stabilizes mine at which point is typically will control normal. Also, sometimes try hopping back to space centre momentarily to reload the model.

[pfpants]

I'm not certain what is causing the spinning, but I can tell you what I would do to troubleshoot it.

First, make sure you click "control from here" on the command module. Second, since the RCS thrusters on the lander aren't aligned with those on the command module, I would disable them all (right click "disable rcs port"). And third, I would put the brakes on (click the brake icon at the top of the screen). There may be no merit to putting the brakes on, but I hate seeing wheels spinning and thinking it may be turning my lander somehow.

And then if you need to kill rotation, you can always accelerate time and it will freeze your craft in position. Hope this helps.

[CCKinnison]

pfpants has the major likely point - when you docked the rover to the command module, the game is probably trying to control it upside-down. Make sure you're controlling the command module FROM the command module for the transfer, that should solve the vast majority of the issues.