Windows 8.1

I'm still working on getting my R1 working, but I figured I'd post what I've had to do, for anyone else who gets stuck

Matter Control: No COM Port Found

After installing Matter Control (the software that comes with the R1) and letting it auto-update, I followed the instructions in the getting started video and tried to add my printer. It wouldn't connect. When I closed out and went back in, it gave the error message "no com port found".

If you look at devices and printers, Windows will show the printers 'unknown device' and will say 'no driver found'. Trying to let windows find and install the driver itself didn't work.

First, you need to tell Windows 8.1 to allow unsigned drivers, then you may need to install the Arduino developer kit. It only worked for me after I did both.

Part 1: Allow Unsigned Drivers
1. Print out these instructions. You will have to restart your computer a couple times
2. Go to the bottom right corner of the screen. Wait for the menu to come up.
3. Select "Settings"
4. Select "Change PC Settings" at the bottom of the menu
5. Select "Update and Recovery" on the left side
6. Select "Recovery" on the left side
7. Under "Advanced Startup" select "Restart Now"
8. After restart, you'll see a menu on screen. Select "Troubleshoot"
9. Select "Advanced Options"
10. Select "Startup Settings"
11. Click "Restart"
12. When you get a list of options, hit the "7" key on your keyboard to allow unsigned drivers. I walked away from my computer for a second and saw the login screen instead of this screen, so I suspect it's on a timer. If you don't see this screen, just go through the steps from step 2, again.

The computer will restart and unsigned drivers will be allowed. For me, this wasn't enough. I tried uninstalling and reinstalling Matter Control, to no avail. I restarted the computer after restarting. No good. I reinstalled again. I installed the Taurino arduino driver that I found linked on dropbox (I think it was from a thread here, but with all the restarts, I lost the reference).

Part 2: Arduino Developer Kit (and many Arduino drivers)
Googling a bit and finding the Stack Overflow thread, I tried installing the Arduino developer kit (http://arduino.cc/en/Main/Software). This installed drivers for various Arduino boards - and it worked!

Part 3: Remove and re-add your printer
Just go into Matter Control remove then re-add your printer. It should work now.
1. Open Matter Control
2. Click on the printer if you added it (if not, it wshould say "add printer" - just add the printer and it should work
4. Click "Edit"
5. click "remove" next to your printer
6. Close the printer window
7. Click "Add Printer". Follow the steps from the Getting started video. It should work! (at least, it did for me)



Presets
I probably did something to wipe out my printer's presets with all they goofing around to get things installed, so I had to recreate them. It's actually not that hard to find, but it takes a little hunting if you are new, like me.

1. Look at the controls tab. Look at the Extruder Temperature Override. Immediately to the right is a little tool icon (it looks liek a crossed wrench and hammer). Click it. You can set your presets, here. I'm not sure what the right values are, but the getting started video shows PLA presets as 190 degrees Celsius for the extruder and 70 degrees Celsius for the heat bed


References
1. Matter Control: Getting Started (http://www.matterhackers.com/articles/mattercontrol-getting-started)
2. Stack Overflow answer that pointed me in the right direction (http://stackoverflow.com/questions/13224360/arduino-com-port-doesnt-work)
3. Arduino Development IDE (http://arduino.cc/en/Main/Software)

 

Great stuff. I'd appreciate if you could make a wiki page for this on wiki http://wiki.robo3d.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page

 

(sorry for the delayed reply... have en't been back to this since my last message)

Ooohhh! A wiki! Sweet! I only spent a couple minutes, but I don't see how the wiki is organized... is it just very new with minimal content? Or am I just overlooking something?

Once I understand the wiki layout, I'll start shoving whatever (hopefully useful) content I can up there

 

Very new. So new it might even be replaced soon! Though with the rate robo works I'm not about to wait.

Right now I'm still trying to just get content on there. I don't have permissions to edit the home page, so under the "Manual" Link I've been adding the pages I create.

To make a page simply type the page name you want to create in the address: eg: http://wiki.robo3d.com/wiki/index.php/Windows8_driver

Once you have an account made you should be able to edit the page to add content. Then edit the manual page to add a link to your topic.