Filament out weirdness

jens55

When I open a new Duet web page, I get a filament out message. This message only happens for extruder 0. It happens when I open a new instance of a Duet web page but it also happens when I go to a page that was opened some time ago but not interacted with.
Printing itself is not affected. The printer does not pause and if the printer happens to be printing when I open the web page, it is not affected and keeps printing.
I run a Jubilee printer with 4 extruders. I turn off all filament sensors before I do anything and then, in the tfree macro, I turn off the sensor that is needed for the extruder I am about to activate and in the tpost macro, I turn the sensor on.
I do not know when exactly it was that the error messages started appearing.
The reason I am having trouble wrapping my mind around this issue is because the error happens before I do anything with the printer. No macros have run at this point (plus the printer doesn't actually stop if there is a print job running)
Let's say I have a web page in a tab and everything is behaving exactly as it should. As soon as I load a second copy of the same web page, I get the error on the second web page.
Anyway, I don't understand what is happening here and don't know where to start looking for the problem.

Phaedrux

Versions?

jens55

@phaedrux, Firefox 102.0.1 on Ubuntu 22.04, Duet Web Control 3.4.0.
The same error happens under Chrome (Version 103.0.5060.53 (Official Build) snap (64-bit))

dc42

@jens55 what type of filament out sensor have you installed, and how have you configured it in config.g?

jens55

@dc42, they are just dumb switches and they work just fine. If I am printing and no filament is detected, the printer pauses just like it should.
I disable the sensors in config.g :

; disable all filament sensors
M591 D0 P1 C"21.io1.in" S0 ; disable (S0) filament sensor (normal switch) (P1) on Extruder 0 , connected to input io1.in on CAN port 21
M591 D1 P1 C"22.io1.in" S0 ; disable (S0) filament sensor (normal switch) (P1) on Extruder 1 , connected to input io1.in on CAN port 22
M591 D2 P1 C"23.io1.in" S0 ; disable (S0) filament sensor (normal switch) (P1) on Extruder 2 , connected to input io1.in on CAN port 23
M591 D3 P1 C"24.io1.in" S0 ; disable (S0) filament sensor (normal switch) (P1) on Extruder 3 , connected to input io1.in on CAN port 24

In tpost0.g I have:
; activate the filament sensor for T0
M591 D0 P1 C"21.io1.in" S1 ; enable (S1) filament sensor (normal switch) (P1) on Extruder 0 , connected to input io1.in on CAN port 21

and in tfree0 I have:

; de-activate the filament sensor for T0
M591 D0 P1 C"21.io1.in" S0 ; disable (S0) filament sensor (normal switch) (P1) on Extruder 0 , connected to input io1.in on CAN port 21

So the overall flow is to disable all the sensors on boot up, When an extruder/tool is activated, it's specific sensor is enabled and when the extruder/tool is released, the sensor is deactivated again.

I would like to point out again that all I have done is to open a new browser window or interact (ie 'click on it') with a window that was idle for a long time. Nothing was sent to the Duet at that time and if a second DWC window was open at the same time, no change happens in that view.

PDBeal

I have a very similar issue, but just put up with it. I have the following in my config.g, but I leave it enabled all the time because I don't change tools.

M591 D0 P1 C"e0stop" S1                               ; Simple filament sensor on e0 endstop, enabled, output low when no filament

It pops up when I pull the filament out. I click close on the PanelDue or on the DWC webpage and continue on. Next time I visit the DWC for that specific printer, it gives me the same "Filament error on extruder 0: noFilament" message even if its currently printing. I assume there is no acknowledgment for this specific message either from the DWC or from the PanelDue. It has been like this for several versions. At this point I ignore the popup because its not relevant and it still works as intended to pause the printer when it is out of filament.

Duet Web Control 3.4.0
Board: Duet 2 Maestro (2Maestro)
Firmware: RepRapFirmware for Duet 2 Maestro 3.4.0 (2022-03-15)

jens55

Another point of interest, the 'filament out' message never shows up in the console.
I am starting to think it is a DWC issue rather than a printer issue. Possibly something related to connecting to the web server as it happens when opening a new window (ie connecting) and after not interacting with the window a long time. I am assuming there is some sort of non-activity timeout and the browser reconnects if there is user activity in the window.
It also happens every time I do a 'reload tab' operation in the browser.

jens55

Okidoki ..... yet more info ..... the error goes away when the printer is power cycled!
I normally do not turn my printers off and I wouldn't be surprised if they have been powered up without interruption for more than a month. Both of my Duet based printers are no longer showing the filament out error message.
I am going to keep an eye on the whole situation to see if/when the errors show up again.
Given the nature of the error, I suspect it will be virtually impossible to locate the problem as it does not show up in possibly months of continuous operation of the printer. Any fix would likely be a stroke of luck or a byproduct of some other change. Chances are that there is some obscure flag or variable that was set during a filament out event and was never cleared properly. The power cycle fixed that flag/variable and now things are back in sync.
Of course it is always possible that a Martian UFO made a pass over my house that was too close and the radiation emitted by the anti gravity propulsion system scrambled the brains of the Duet. It is also possible that, like in Windoze, a power cycle is required at regular intervals for proper operation

jens55

Well crap, the error is back ...... I guess I will have to either power cycle my printer on a regular basis or live with the error every time I open a DWC window