PSA for DWC losing connectivity, it's not always the Duet3
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I've only been running a Duet3 6HC board (v3.3) for maybe a month now and am learning a lot. One thing that happens is that upon first connection, the laptop simply can't initialize a connection with the DWC. My older laptop running Windows 7 may be the culprit. It seems to get confused after having been working fine on the Internet via WIFI, but when Ithe Duet3 Ethernet cable is first plugged in, the laptop sometimes doesn't see it. One clue is that the green LED on the Duet3 connector is lit, but not blinking. I've messed around with the laptop several times but usually only rebooting it seems to allow it to see the physical connection. Just putting this out there in case others run into this and think it's the Duet3... not necessarily!
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Do you mean you have the Duet3 connected to your laptop directly via ethernet?
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@phaedrux Sorry, yes. The laptop normally connects to a WIFI hub for Internet access, and sometimes when I first connect to the Duet3 6HC via a physical Ethernet cable, it doesn't see it. I haven't found what the magic handshake is to avoid it, i.e. closing IE before plugging in the Ethernet cable, or something like that.
I think most of you guys are way, way, further down the Duet road than I am, but I find it helpful to see new people (like myself) posting things as they discover them, as it helps those that come after. For this particular situation, I can see how it would be very easy to blame the Duet, since the WIFI Internet connection keeps working, but the hardwired Duet connection times out, but the problem does seem to be at the laptop end. Maybe it's fixed in Windows 10... or 11.
Scratch-built 350mmx350mm coreXY, linear rails, ballscrews, 3 Z axis, Duet3 6HC, v3.3, Tool Board v1.1, BondTech LGX + Mosquito hot end
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Do you try to reach the Duet via a IP address or a URL?
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@kb58 it may be that the laptop is failing to auto switch its Ethernet port between client mode and hub mode. If that's the reason then using a crossover cable between the Duet and the laptop may fix it.
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Thank you for the replies. The Duet3 has a hard-coded Ethernet address. Once it connects, it's solid until I unplug it. "Most of the time" it reconnects without issue, but 2-3 times the laptop just goes brain dead about the physical connection. I'll have to find out what a crossover cables is... I'm guessing it's got swapped wires. If that's the problem, how is the current cable still working most of the time?
Scratch-built 350mmx350mm coreXY, linear rails, ballscrews, 3 Z axis, Duet3 6HC, v3.3, Tool Board v1.1, BondTech LGX + Mosquito hot end
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@kb58 said in PSA for DWC losing connectivity, it's not always the Duet3:
how is the current cable still working most of the time?
It may just take some time for windows or your browser to realize the address you're trying to reach is on a different interface than the internet.
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@kb58 said in PSA for DWC losing connectivity, it's not always the Duet3:
Thank you for the replies. The Duet3 has a hard-coded Ethernet address. Once it connects, it's solid until I unplug it. "Most of the time" it reconnects without issue, but 2-3 times the laptop just goes brain dead about the physical connection. I'll have to find out what a crossover cables is... I'm guessing it's got swapped wires. If that's the problem, how is the current cable still working most of the time?
Your laptop probably has an Ethernet port that attempts to auto detect whether the connections need to be crossed or not. The connections need to be crossed when you connect the laptop directly to the Ethernet port of a device such as another PC or a Duet, but not when you connect it to a router or Ethernet switch. My guess is that the detection that a crossover is needed isn't always working.
Search Amazon or eBay for "Ethernet crossover adapter" or "Ethernet crossover cable".
