Not connecting

Corexy

Yep, checked all that.

All seems OK, but the red light between the SD card reader and USB port comes on stays on, but blinks off occasionally.

There is no blue light on the wifi module, it doesn't appear to be switching on.

I'm also unable to connect via Yat...no comms port found

Corexy

Not feeling a lot of support here...am I asking in the right place??

droftarts

Sounds like it’s stuck in a boot loop. Have you removed the SD card? Disconnected all wiring in case of shorts? A corrupt card or config.g can cause this. Occasionally reset button can get stuck in. Otherwise, I’d erase firmware (may need to do this a number of times) and flash firmware with Bossac. Make sure you use a USB cable that is data and power, not just power. If that doesn’t work, it’s time to start searching for failed components.

Ian

Danal

@Corexy said in Not connecting:

Not feeling a lot of support here...am I asking in the right place??

Have you followed the "What to do..." guide? Which steps worked and which did not?

Corexy

@Danal said in Not connecting:

@Corexy said in Not connecting:

Not feeling a lot of support here...am I asking in the right place??

Have you followed the "What to do..." guide? Which steps worked and which did not?

Yes, of course.

I'd come to the conclusion that I'd need to reflash the firmware... I just hoped someone might have seen this before.

I did fail to mention that the night it went down we had HUGE electrical storms which shut the power off/on all night, and I'd forgotten I had a print running. Our area is very well known for strong surges and dead electronics, especially printers it seems.

I wasn't aware that some USB leads are power only, but I'm using the same leads that I set it up with.

Regarding the SD card, I can still see all the files when I put it straight into the computer, and also when I plug into the board. I just can't see the port in YAT, through which I was hoping to restart the WIFI module then hopefully reboot through the DWC which may or may not wake it up.

Can I just copy the files off the original SD card then paste them onto a new one? Or would I just be copying/pasting whatever is already corrupted?

Danal

@Corexy said in Not connecting:

Can I just copy the files off the original SD card then paste them onto a new one? Or would I just be copying/pasting whatever is already corrupted?

I see no evidence (so far) that the SD card is corrupted. Port not showing is firmware (in flash on the board), not the SD card.

I just can't see the port in YAT

Therefore, you did this, from the guide:

If the port still doesn't appear on the PC

If neither port is shown, then the Duet may be faulty or it may not have valid firmware installed. With USB power applied, erase the firmware. Only erase the firmware if your board is completely unresponsive, or if instructed to do so by Duet3D. On older boards do this by holding down the Erase button for at least 1 second, then press the Reset button. On newer boards there is no Erase button; so fit a jumper across the Erase pins, then connect to USB for a few seconds, then disconnect from USB, remove the jumper and connect to USB again. You may have to do this a couple of times if the Duet does not appear in the Device Manager.

The Bossa Port should appear in Device Manager; if it does then you can upload firmware using SAM-BA or Bossa/bossac 1.8 as described in section "Fall-back procedure #3" in Installing and Updating Firmware.

And then you did Fall-Back #3.

Which part of that did or did not work?

Corexy

Sorry mate, busy with work and time difference etc. Thanks for the reply.

No I haven't tried that yet, as I was hoping there might be something else to try before I went there.

I've done this procedure before, so I'll clean off the bench and do it when I have time to get into it.

Couple of questions....

Do I need to disconnect everything from the motherboard first? I can unplug the paneldue easily and make sure not to turn on the main power while the computer is connected, but do I need to disconnect all the rest (steppers/sensors/etc)?
Once I reflash the basic firmware, will I need to upgrade through all the old versions, or will it accept the latest duet firmware?

Phaedrux

@Corexy

I've once done a firmware flash with everything still connected without issue, but I'm not sure if that's just me being lucky. I would think best practice would be to disconnect everything. However if VIN is off, most things like motors and heaters won't work anyway, so i'm pretty sure it's safe.

You can flash straight to whatever version you want, with the proviso that your wifi server and DWC versions will also need to be compatible with the firmware version you choose. This may require some file renaming or IAP file inclusions depending on what version you're going from and to. Read the upgrade notes and typically the required files would be included alongside the firmware release itself.

Corexy

I went out this morning, cleaned off the bench and setup the laptop, only to have the thing start up like nothing's happened.

This is the second time it's done this, both straight after huge electrical storms our area is well known for.

It seems if it sits switched off completely for a week after having its brains scrambled with shock therapy, it'll come good after that.

Thanks for the replies and advice.

droftarts

@Corexy Maybe a surge protector would be useful?!

Ian

Corexy

@droftarts said in Not connecting:

@Corexy Maybe a surge protector would be useful?!

Ian

Yep, got a great big one wired into the power box by an electrician, but apparently not enough for sensitive electronics.

I've got a big Liebert UPS battery bank that usually acts as a second line of defense, but it needs new batteries and funds are a little tight for that right now.

Corexy

Can't believe it, the bloody thing's doing it again.

No surges or whatever this time (AFAIK), it just shut down in the middle of the day between prints, and no longer connects or knows its name. I'm back to "my duet".

I've copied all the files onto a couple of different SD cards, no difference.

So I guess I'm back to the firmware flash?

dc42

Are you still able to connect via USB? If so, run M39 to check the SD card status.

Corexy

@dc42 said in Not connecting:

Are you still able to connect via USB? If so, run M39 to check the SD card status.

Hi David,

I'll pull the covers off tonight and try that. How am I running M39 via USB? YAT/Pronterface?

Even this morning it all started up and connected, but now it's doing it again, so this does seem to be an intermittent fault. I can't imagine how a wiring fault could do this as nothing's running on startup (?).

It's raining heavily for days here, and despite supposedly living in a first world country, for some reason our wifi really hates this type of weather.

dc42

You can indeed use YAT or Pronterface to connect via USB and send M39.

One possible reason for the problem is an poor joint between one of the spills at the back of the SD socket and the PCB, which is something we've seen before. If the SD card isn't being read then the network won't get enabled.

Corexy

@dc42 said in Not connecting:

You can indeed use YAT or Pronterface to connect via USB and send M39.

One possible reason for the problem is an poor joint between one of the spills at the back of the SD socket and the PCB, which is something we've seen before. If the SD card isn't being read then the network won't get enabled.

OK, thank you for letting me know about that. It certainly would explain the intermittent nature of the fault.

What is a "spill"? A solder joint? Would I be able to touch it up with air solder, or should I just grab the latest version board as mine was one of the very first? I really don't mind as I've had a good run with this one, and if there's a known issue in early versions I'd rather move on.

I've stooped to ordering an Ender 3 in the meantime lol, just to keep a spare printer handy.

Corexy

I'm really at a loss now, and could use some advice.

I cannot find the Duet via USB on my computer, despite having done it before.

I've got 2 boards here, a V1.0 and a V1.01. I bought them both back in the day, and recently fitted the newer version to my printer. Both are showing 3.3/5.5v lights on, and the DIAG led is also on permanently as I hit the erase/reset buttons. Both played up in exactly the same way, not connecting to wifi and not starting up correctly, which led me to where I am now. There is no tone when plugging in the USB cable, and no sign of the board in device manager/bossa/yat.

I've checked my USB port/cable by transferring pictures with my phone. All worked well with a tone on plug in/out.

Bossa and Yat are not detecting a port at all, yet my other devices plug in and work fine. I've done the firmware flash with Bossa before and it went straight forward.

If there's any known issues with the earlier boards, it would be better to know and replace it than to keep chasing my arse in circles over this one. I don't see any further steps that could be taken in the instructions other than to seen it back to the supplier...is there anything I can do before that?

I'd really appreciate some help here, and if a new board is the best way to go, so be it.

Phaedrux

@Corexy try a usb hub

Corexy

@Phaedrux said in Not connecting:

@Corexy try a usb hub

Mate while I appreciate your advice I just don't know what you mean by that. Won't that just plug into the USB port on my computer anyway?

While I very much like the features of the Duet wifi, it's hardly been plug and play from day one, and I've got money out for 2 of these boards for one printer, and while they've been good when working they've certainly had minds of their own.

I would appreciate it if one of the staff could answer my questions and give clearer step by step instructions. It's always been confusing but at least they used to try more to help.

I appreciate the help I've been given, but these wiki's aren't enough...are there any staff out there who can help in plain english??

Phaedrux

@Corexy said in Not connecting:

Won't that just plug into the USB port on my computer anyway?

Yes. We've just had another person post a very similar problem that was resolved by using a usb hub. I don't pretend to know why, I'm just providing a suggestion to try.