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Unresolved Printer Connected but Unresponsive

Discussion in 'Troubleshooting' started by gr8se, Jan 7, 2015.

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  1. gr8se

    gr8se New Member

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    I recently had one of the printing failures where the print head stops moving, appears stuck, and can only be fixed by rebooting everything.

    I purchased my printer in December of 2013 and have been using it since March of 2014.

    This has happened before and then worked perfectly upon rebooting. This time however I cannot get it to respond. I will list my symptoms starting with what it can do and then what it cannot.

    -printer will connect to repetier-host or matter control
    -green light comes on underneath printer when connected but does not sustain like it used to
    -fans are working and can be controlled
    -fuse appears fine but I will be checking it with a multimeter tonight

    -I cannot get my printer to move with the manual xyz controls
    -does not show a bed temp or nozzle temp
    -randomly will accept one control input, move, and then freeze again
    -will not take a print job obviously

    -I have loaded the latest firmware again and powered on and off with different power and usb cords.

    Thank you.
     
    #1 gr8se, Jan 7, 2015
  2. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    Either the Arduino or the Ramps at fault here.
    I would suggest you start by re-flashing the firmware (which reloads the software for the Arduino).

    The firmware could have gotten screwed up by a power glitch or a hardware glitch.

    EDIT: Duh, you already did reload the firmware.
    Well, that means that the Arduino could be damaged. Although, if it is accepting the firmware reload... hmm. Could be the RAMPS board as well -- in fact I think I would suspect the RAMPS before the Arduino. The Arduino is the brains, but the RAMPS is the interface to all things 'printer' (all of the I/O for the printer goes through it).

    OK, if you are up to it: remove the RAMPS board and checking that the Arduino Mega can upload and run a simple program like Blink. If so then it is probably OK.
     
    #2 mark tomlinson, Jan 7, 2015
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  3. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    #3 mark tomlinson, Jan 7, 2015
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  4. Mike Kelly

    Mike Kelly Volunteer

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    Also an important question is what operating system are you running?

    If you're on windows what does your arduino show up as in the device manager
     
    #4 Mike Kelly, Jan 7, 2015
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  5. gr8se

    gr8se New Member

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    mark - thanks for the suggestion, that test should help a lot. I will try to get to it tomorrow, but probably the weekend, and get back to you. also, the fuse passed continuity although that appears irrelevant now.

    mike - i am currently running windows 7, but the printer has also been run from a mac with os.10.7.5. the arduino shows up as Arduino Mega 2560.
     
    #5 gr8se, Jan 7, 2015
  6. Mike Kelly

    Mike Kelly Volunteer

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    Also try a different USB cable to go along with what mark suggested
     
    #6 Mike Kelly, Jan 7, 2015
  7. gr8se

    gr8se New Member

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    mark & mike,

    ramps 1.4 test was a success, it was nice to see the motors running again. the printer will now connect and move correctly in repetier-host. Any idea why uploading the test and then re-uploading the marlin firmware has things moving again? I had already uploaded the latest firmware to no avail.

    anyway, thank you!
     
    #7 gr8se, Jan 10, 2015
  8. gr8se

    gr8se New Member

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    sorry, i spoke too soon - after being responsive to all movements the printer locked up again when I tried to heat the extruder. now I'm back to being connected but unresponsive. I'm going to redo the ramps test, etc. but I wanted to let you know the situation.

    more information - i have the e3d v6 installed and it had been working great for about 3 months.
     
    #8 gr8se, Jan 10, 2015
  9. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    In my opinion, if reloading he software made it work for a while... you might have an Arduino that is getting flakey.
    The test you did pretty much ruled out the RAMPS and it would appear to be software related now.

    Make sure you did load the correct firmware, other than that I would suspect the Arduino.
     
    #9 mark tomlinson, Jan 10, 2015
  10. Mike Kelly

    Mike Kelly Volunteer

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    #10 Mike Kelly, Jan 10, 2015
  11. gr8se

    gr8se New Member

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    Okay I double checked the firmware changes for the e3d and it is correct, using the marlin_6-10 as the original firmware. I continue to get a response after doing the ramps check and then uploading the firmware. It freezes after too many movements or by turning the extruder on.

    I just jumped into arduino for some other projects so I was already planning on purchasing a board. I assume I need the arduino mega for the robo?
     
    #11 gr8se, Jan 10, 2015
  12. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    Yes, The Mega 2560.

    Here is a nice chart to compare the Mega to any of the others (like say an Uno or a Leonardo).
    If you are into the Arduino stuff.

    http://arduino.cc/en/Products.Compare
     
    #12 mark tomlinson, Jan 10, 2015
  13. gr8se

    gr8se New Member

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    Still messing with the printer while I wait on a new board - I checked my connections and the arduino in question continues to successfully upload whatever sketch I give it.

    I hooked up the printer to my mac so I could see the log in repetier host. Now I see that whenever the printer "freezes" it is due to this -

    : Extruder switched off. MINTEMP triggered !
    echo: SD init fail
    FIRMWARE_NAME: …
    Printer stopped due to errors. Fix the error and use M999 to restart. (Temperature is reset. Set it after restarting)

    I was also able to turn the extruder on before it gave the error once, running it up to 200 and quickly followed by the same error.

    I've since found this thread - http://forums.robo3dprinter.com/index.php?threads/bad-thermistor.1573/

    Any comments or suggestions? I'm going to look into my thermistor connection.

    Thanks again.
     
    #13 gr8se, Jan 11, 2015
  14. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    well, if it is intermittent it is usually a bad connection.
    The thermistors are fragile themselves (easy to break) but if it is intermittent it is more likely a wiring connection to the thermistor OR the thermistor is quite loose and not secured well.
     
    #14 mark tomlinson, Jan 11, 2015
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