Recently my Made with CNC Controller stops working and I have to reboot the machine to recognize the controller again. Unplugging and plugging back in doesn’t restart the device or service. Is there a way to start the controller again without a reboot of the machine?
cheers
TP
Did this start happening after an update?
I couldn’t say but it does happen if the machine is on for an extended amount of time, say overnight.
Under the History tab there are log files you can download. Can you send me the hal.log file?
I get this error when downloading.
I don’t see anything out of the ordinary in your logs. Whatever is happening doesn’t seem to be making much noise. I’ll try to reproduce this here.
It stopped again overnight with not entry in the hal.log that matches the date it would have happened. A silent disconnect.
Shutting down the services and restarting the services doesn’t restore the jog control. Has to be a machine reboot.
How about the /var/log/messages log? That should at least have info about when plugging in and unplugging the pendant. I would expect a service restart to work. What about if you unplug the pendant, then restart services, then plug it back in?
I’ll retest with those steps when/if it stops responding again. I have just updated to V5.6.0
Definitely some disconnects in the attached text file.
It all starts around this line
May 21 08:39:06 pocketnc kernel: [40486.996165] usb 1-1: USB disconnect, device number 2
messages.txt (148.0 KB)
after v5.6.0 update
it crashed quickly this time. here is the new log
messages (1).txt (151.8 KB)
Shutdown and restart services didn’t restart the services. Had to reboot.
Unfortunately, I’m not sure how to correlate actual connects and disconnects with plugging in/unplugging events. If you ssh to the Pocket NC and run:
dmesg -wH
It should print out the USB events as they happen. If you see a disconnect while the pendant is still plugged in, for example, that would indicate a problem. Alternatively, if you plug it in and don’t see a connect event in dmesg, that also is a problem.
It doesn’t make sense to me why a reboot would be different than restarting the services. Can we clarify exactly what you mean by a reboot? Are you power cycling the machine, clicking the Reboot Machine button in Config > Server, or running a reboot command while sshed in?
My best guess right now is something is intermittently wrong with your USB port, perhaps due to the USB extender that brings the Beaglebone Black’s USB port out to the front of the machine. If you open up the electronics cabinet and plug the pendant directly into the Beaglebone’s USB port, does that help (you will have to unplug the extender first, which will require taking the Beaglebone out of the machine)?
The reboot is from the UI. The yellow reboot machine button.
I’ll test more over the weekend. I’m out of the home office for the rest of the week now.
John and Tokyo,
I am experiencing the same disconnect problem, but it has been going on for a while (before 5.6.0). In my case unplugging the Pendant and plugging it back in solves the problem - it takes about 20 seconds for the pendant to start working again.
I am waiting on it to stop responding again so I can get the log files and note the time.
FYI - I did show some USB disconnects in the last day, but I want to correlate them better.
Stay tuned for more data.
Thanks for digging into this, Rob. We’ve had other reports similar to this. We believe the main culprit is the USB expansion board that brings the USB port out to the front of the machine. Something else you could try besides looking at logs is removing that extender and plugging directly into the BeagleBone. There are instructions for taking the BeagleBone out here: https://pentamachine.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/PNFUR/pages/1005355009/V2+Series+Beaglebone+Board+Replacement
John,
That is good info. I am waiting on it to disconnect again, so I can retrieve the log files. I haven’t opened up the case yet to check on the USB plugs. I will do that as soon as I get a disconnect.
As a side note - I do loose connection with the my computer every few days - (I am using ethernet not USB). I always thought that it was a router issue. (In my system, I have the PNC connected to a router and the computer is also connected to the same router). Without looking - is the extender that is used for the USB have the Ethernet connector also? (I can tell that when when I remove the cover - I am just curious about before I remove the cover).
Another Note - I read thru the Board Replacement article you sent and I will have to check on the spindle voltage. I have a V2-10, and the “SPINDLE_HIGH_VOLTAGE” parameter is not in the “Active INI” File. This will also be clear once I open up the panel and look at the Version Board I have.
Thanks for all the great tutorials!!
Rob McInerney
The Ethernet port is connected directly to the BeagleBone, so I do not believe that is related to your network disconnects.
It’s worth checking your main board version in case you need to set your spindle voltage, but if you’ve never replaced your main electronics board, you probably don’t need to update it.
About mid afternoon today I found the Pendent unresponsive. The Pendent was able to be brought back on line with a simple unplug and Re-Plug of the Pendent USB Plug (took about 20 seconds to come back - no reboot or system restart).
Attached are the zip files with all the log files, one right after I found the Pendent unresponsive and the second after unplugging the Pendent USB connector plugging it back. I do see some entries referencing the USB connection. (Just FYI - at the same time I found the Pendent unresponsive, I had lost connection and reconnected to the machine via Ethernet (not sure if this plays a role or not?)) - probably still a Router problem.
As of right now, I have removed the USB extension board as per your suggestion and the USB pendent is plugged in direct to the Beaglebone board. I will update later if I get a disconnect happen=s (it took 2 days last time to disconnect).
I inspected the USB Extension board (Photos attached) - It appears that there is some carbon arcing going on between the male USB plug (where the solder is) and the female USB connector on the Beaglebone board (you are probably correct about this being the problem). The Shield of the USB Female connector on the extension has been mechanically disconnected - probably due to force on the plug (photo attached). This would remove the shielding connection on the plug.
I also reviewed the Version of the Main Board and found it to be Rev S. Photos attached. Does this mean I need to add the “SPINDLE_HIGH_VOLTAGE” parameter to my system?
Please advise if you need further information and stay tuned.
Edit:
I took a closer look at the USB extension board and found a scratch on one side where the male plug inserts into the female receptacle on the Beaglebone board. See photo attached - red circle. I didn’t take apart the current setup - need time to test for failure, this might be nothing! The scratch seems to be in the ground plane. Not sure what is in the area on the Beaglebone board??? Will have to do some more investigating later.
Thanks for your support.
Rob McInerney
penta_logs_2024-05-26T17_51_47.933Z - After USB Disconnect - Lost Connection with machine also and reconnectd automatically.zip (1018.7 KB)
penta_logs_2024-05-26T21_33_01.692Z - After USB Plug removal and Replug in - Pendent works again.zip (1.0 MB)
John, Rob,
I had the machine on all weekend and the pendant didn’t disconnect when I tested this morning. Maybe I’ll remove the USB Extension board as @rob_mcinerney has done next time it stops responding. I was almost going to say it was some other external influence, i.e. dirty supply feed , until i saw @rob_mcinerney 's latest update. Cheers for updating with the details.
TP