Hey guys. I tried to power up the MK3 today and wasn't able to get any steppers to respond or have the usbcnc software have active "colored" icons along the left. The usbcnc board has a flashing green led which I believe means everything is normal. The EasyCNC drive card is getting power as I have red leds for each axis. I also tried to move the axis manually with the electronics on and it is locked in place indicating the steppers are powered. Any quick and dirty troubleshooting ideas before I start disconnecting everything.

Attached files

 

Hmmm, not sure I can be of much help here. I get a screenshot grayed out like this when I'm not connected to the MK3 and load a file into the Planet CNC software. The only other occasion I recall is when I needed to do a firmware update to match the version of CNC software I had loaded up. Once the firmware and software matched I needed to reinstall my license DAT file and all was good from then on. Not sure if either of these occasions match up with your situation. If nothing else PM or email Kroko, he's very good about looking into these kinds of questions for us.

 

Check your USB cable.
It sounds like it may be pulled out enough at either end to cause the grayed out icons.
I had this happen after moving my machine.
I pulled the USB cable just enough to cause a disconnect without the cord dropping to the floor :x .
It drove me nuts trying to figure out the problem. :questions: :questions: :questions:

Check your connections, then try again.

Hope this helps.
GHB

 

dugd1013 & thunderhawk, Thanks to both of you for the troubleshooting ideas. I've checked my connections and reimported the license in the software. Still no dice.

The usb when plugged in is recognized by WinXP. Still no icons on the CNCUSB software. I installed the software on a laptop, imported the license then connected it to the mk3. Same result as the original machine. I'm hoping I don't have a hardware issue with the CNCUSB card or EasyCNC driver card at this point. Everything was working fine a couple weeks ago.

Puzzled.

 

If buttons are gray then software can not communicate with controller. Two most commor reasons are:
1. USB is not connected - check your cable
2. Firmware is not correct version - try to manually update firmware. This was mandatory with May version of software.

Regards
Andrej

 

Thanks Andrej! Updating the firmware and reloading the usb drivers got me up and working again. Thanks everyone for the help.

Ben