Unable to manually control printer

I have gone through all of the setup steps and tutorials for getting the printer up and running but when I go to try and do the step of manually controlling the printer it doesn't do anything. Repetier acts like it is sending the commands just fine, it seems that the printer simply isn't receiving or acting on those commands. Has anyone else had a similar problem? I'm not sure what other details would be helpful in troubleshooting this so let me know if you've got some ideas for things to check out.

Thanks!

 

Did you try clicking the home button first?, some people said this solved the same problem.

 

Yeah. I tried that and the numbers stopped being red but it still doesn't attempt to move the motors at all. When I plug the printer into the computer there is a green LED on the arduino that flashes but then after that there's no lights that I see on the board. Should any of those lights stay on?

 

Have you checked your driver is installed correctly?
Just check the device manager. if there's any exclamation mark, and you are not ready yet.

http://forums.robo3dprinter.com/ind...t-installed-especially-for-win8-1-users.1115/ my article may be helpful.

 

I've noticed that when powering up the unit, you have to power on the machine, and THEN hook up the USB cable. If I hooked up the USB, and then powered on the printer, windows would recognize it, but I would be unable to connect or send commands to the printer.

 

tesseract,
Thanks for the ideas. It does turn green and say that it is connected in the application. As far as device manager goes, I see the Arduino Mega listed under the Port (COM/Serial) section and there is no exclamation point on it. Windows makes the sound of connecting and disconnecting a device when you plug or unplug it. I am running Windows 8.1 but I've also tested on a Windows 7 machine and had the same results. Sometimes it acts like it sends the commands just fine and says Idle and other times it queues them up and says "# commands waiting". Do those two things mean the driver is or is not working?
Unfortunately Matt's solution did not affect it at this point but may help down the road.

 

I'm not using any extensions or hubs so I don't think that's the problem.
Do you know whether an orange light that flashes on the back side of the arduino indicates communication or something entirely different?

 

Hello,
today I can say that I've the same problem. But perhaps a little different?
If I send the manual control command than I can hear a sound from the stepper motor. But nothing will move.
I double checked wires, driver, different USB Ports, XP and win7.

@ Snyder
Do you found a solution?

Holger

 

Im having the same problem.

Windows 8.1, all up to date system. updated driver installed as instructed in workaround on here.

After a print my printer stops responding.

Work around has been unplug everything and try alternating between usb in and power out and vise versa.

Its getting annoying to have to reboot entire system just to start a new print.

I will give big loves to whomever comes up with a solution to this problem.

 

Nothing interesting in the logs i am aware of but will take a deeper look, photos and videos after this print finishes and the system locks up

 

I have windows 7 with the same problem. No communication. Says 5 commands waiting. Any help?

 

Offhand I would say if you have that problem try to hit the emergency stop button in Repetier. Then hit home. That should regain control. If not, power cycle the printer. If you continue to have problems such as irregular connectivity or commands problems check your speed and buffer size for the printers tty connection. If that STILL had problems, try a different USB port and or a different cable.

 

Just as an update, nothing in the log, nothing out of the norm... but still the commands fail... Have noticed that the heat bed will stop heating part way through prints now and wont respond to a manual command to heat... yet the printer continues printing.

Getting super annoying with all the failed prints