Pronterface / MendelMax 2.0 print stops randomly in the middle of a print

[texan_in_exile]

I've got my new MendelMax 2.0 dialled in mechanically (finally) but there is one issue that is driving me to much wailing and gnashing of teeth.  That is that the printer will just *stop* somewhere randomly during the print.  The extruder head just stops moving, it doesn't home back out, it just stops. The extruder and bed maintain their temperature and the place where the extruder stops just melts the object it was printing. The pronterface console emits a lower case "o" as its only complaint.  I can run the exact same GCODE file a half dozen times, and it will stop in a handful of different places during the print, and occasionally, if I sprinkle goats blood and wave a fan of chicken feathers in just the right way, a print will actually complete.  I'm using Windows 8 and I've tried it on 2 different machines, one desktop and one laptop.  Does anyone have any idea what could be causing this?  I have a screenshot of the frozen pronterface window posted here (http://www.exilemachine.net/images/pronterface_crashed.png), and the line of GCODE that it says it was working on last, along with some line numbers for context, is shown here:

[50201] G1 X122.016 Y125.247 E1.98208
[50202] G1 X121.546 Y125.121 E1.99352
[50203] G1 X121.105 Y124.916 E2.00495

This is not unique to the particular part i was printing.  I have had it happen to just about every GCODE file I've attempted.  It usually takes me 5 or 6 tries to get a print completed without this crash.  I'm hoping someone has some idea what this could be, or what to do about it.  For the record I do have all hibernation, power save, and screensavers shut off on the computer.  I don't see a way to determine pronterface version but the time/date stamp on the file is 3/25/12 @ 4:30PM.

Thanks,
-Mark

[Russell Shipe]

How long is your USB cable and are all the connections on your ramps good and not strained when the printer moves around. are you cooling your rams?  if your USB cable is more then 3 ft. borrow one from a friend or steal the cable off your printer try that.  if your not cooling your ramps specifically your Polulus cool them.  if your wires get pulled while printing zip tie them so no strain goes on the connections to the ramps.  how are you powering your Ardineo i had a similar issue running with the barllel connector of my "12v" power supply that  i cranked up to almost 16vs.  if i am printing independent of the computer i now use a cell phone charger and usb cable to power. ( my ramps does not have D1 installed.. )

[texan_in_exile]

Thanks for the quick response.  To answer your questions, I am not cooling anything on the RAMPS, just running the stock kit as it came from Maker's Toolworks.  I will try placing a muffin fan on the RAMPS to cool it down.  I believe the connections are all good but I will double check and retighten.  I have the cable harnesses zip-tied off to the frame of the machine so there should be no wiggling but I will double check that.  The power supply is the 24v unit that was supplied with the beta 2 kit. As for the USB cable, I have used three different units ranging in length from about 3 feet to about 9 feet.
-Mark

[Larry Knopp]

When it quits printing, do you have to "kill" Pronterface or is it still active...  can you stop the job, manual move or anything?

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[texan_in_exile]

Sorry, should have stated that in the original post.  After the crash, pronterface is completely hung up.  Utterly non-responsive.  It needs to be force-quit, and then I need to re-run it in order to move the extruder up off the incomplete part.

[Larry Knopp]

Both desktop and laptop Win8?

I'd test Win7, just because...

Anything in the system / application logs?

[texan_in_exile]

Yes both machines run Windows 8.  I don't have a Win 7 fallback but I do have an Ubuntu laptop I could test with.  Will give it a try tomorrow. 

[Archimedes]

Hi,

I am also having the same problem on windows 7. I got the Mendelemax 2 setup and dialed in, but i can only print through sd card reader without it locking up. I do believe the problem is with the reprapdiscount taurino board. I have also tried their rumba board on the mm2 and it is having the same problem. I cut the d1 and plugged in a mega2560, and it works fine off of usb. I don't think this is a os problem, though people have pointed the finger at 64bit windows. Not sure if there is a solution to be had, from what I have read, the random "o" that appears is part of the "ok" it sends back the computer, but then dies.

[RonnieW]

One more thing to add: From your pronterface it looks like you are running with the 'monitor printer' setting.  I would turn that off.  It is not necessary, plus adds a lot of traffic from the printer.  The idea is that the arduino just gets fed Gcodes from pronterface, but with the 'monitor printer' on you're constantly asking the printer for temperature updates.  Give that a shot.  Good luck!

Ronnie

[Drew]

When you change to Ubuntu, you *may* need to step back the baudrate of the arduino to 115200 to get it to communicate... just a little fix that might keep you from pulling your hair out.

Drew

[texan_in_exile]

Thanks.  Turning monitor printer off while printing worked the very first time I tried it!  Will continue to test.

[texan_in_exile]

Disabling "monitor print" was not the solution.  I ran another print without "monitor print" enabled and the print stopped in the middle.  Same "o" on the console.  This time though the pronterface application was not locked up. I was able to operate the reset button and move the Z axis up off the piece without having to force quit.

[Larry Knopp]

We're definitely missing something here.

I haven't tried PFace on Win8 yet, but I've read a number of posts 'round and about that people have experienced *some* issues, but not enough to conclusively say that Win8 is "to blame".

I believe the monitor print is a bit of a red herring.  I have run 3 printers (all with different electronics) simultaneously from the same Core2 Win7 laptop w/ "monitor print" enabled w/o any problems.  (I know, others swear that un-ticking it solves their com issues...)

The fact that this time PFace didn't hard lock and you were still able to control the printer is really weird.  Almost feels like RAMPS could be to blame.  Wish I could give a definitive answer...

[srPC]

I spoke with BubbleRep who works for/helps? RRD and they think it might be a bootloader issue on the taurino and rumba, since both are basically the same.

On Thursday, May 2, 2013 5:36:46 PM UTC-4, texan_in_exile wrote:

[texan_in_exile]

Thanks for the info.  Any suggested workaround?  I'm currently running a complicated print using 2 60cm fans blowing over the RAMPS and taurino boards, to rule out heating issues.  I've got the fans powered from a battery to rule out any power supply issues.  BTW checked the power supply voltage and it holds firm at 24V even with heaters on.

[texan_in_exile]

OK RAMPS/Taurino cooling was not the issue.  This morning's print stopped at about 11% complete with 2 60cm fans running full blast.  The RAMPS and taurino boards are cool as cucumbers right now. 

Back to the drawing board...  Does anyone know how to print from an SD card? Can it be done without an LCD controller?  My kit came with an SD card reader which is installed but no instructions for that part.

[srPC]

He said they might need to update the bootloader.  It's not temp related or whatever, they think it affects intel chipsets more. I have a spare arduino and they pointed me to using the spare arduino as an ISP as described in inventables using a 100uf capacitor.

On Thursday, May 2, 2013 5:36:46 PM UTC-4, texan_in_exile wrote:

[texan_in_exile]

Switched to printing with Repetier-Host V0.85B.  This software seems to have a lot more options for reporting on errors etc. in the console.  I have seen the print stop as before but instead of a complete stop, it will stop then issue 1 GCODE command per every 3 seconds or so.  Hitting the Debug/OK button on the repetier-host manual control panel brings it back to full speed.  I can't see anything about the affected GCODES that would be a problem, just the usual move X move Y, extrude something...  Will see if this will get me through the print. 

On Thursday, May 2, 2013 4:36:46 PM UTC-5, texan_in_exile wrote:

[texan_in_exile]

Repetier-Host success.  Will be using this program now instead of pronterface as a work-around.

On Thursday, May 2, 2013 4:36:46 PM UTC-5, texan_in_exile wrote:

[sh...@saggers.biz]

I had a some random mid-print stops, but they ended up being related to the thermistor. The nozzle thermistor connections were loose (most pain in the butt electrical connections I've ever had to make). Printing from an LCD controller, it wasn't giving me any Low Temp errors, once the brief connection issue righted itself, so it took me a little while to figure it out.

   Doesn't sound like this is the issue you are having, but I thought I'd add my two cents.

[JohnD]

If you are using the Taurino or RUMBA from RRD - there appears to be a pretty bad flaw in the shipping bootloader than effects USB connectivity, and is particularly "bad" if you have intel chipset and intel drivers.

TO re-flash the bootloader you'll either need an ISP programmer or another Arduino setup to act as an ISP.  I fully intended on trying this on my currently - in - the -junkbin Tuarino last night, but I forgot my ISP at work.

The above said - for whatever reason I had the same experience - Repetier Host with Repetier frimware was much less susceptable to the problem but 100% still experienced it.  This was worse in my case, as failing an hour into a 12 hour print pisses me off - failing 11 hours in makes me want to kill. :P

[Larry Knopp]

+1
Five RUMBA, all but one w/ flaky as hell USB.  I haven't gotten around to reflashing but it seems - from everything I have found and from communication w/ RRD that the reflash resolves it.

[mikh3x4]

Today I had exactly the same problem with pronterface, Marlin firmware, and a MendelMax 1.0. Extruder stops moving and pronterface becomes unresponsive. 

Im running Mac OS X Lion, so it seems the problem is cross-platform. However I did use 2 USB extenders (I know - bad practice) so i assume its that. Im using 250000 as my baud rate.