suddenly I am getting waiterrors why? (SOLVED )

Hi All

I have been testing my temperature and one of the wires on my secondary (actually the Bed) thermistor came loose.

I don't know if that is the cause but I am getting a regular waiterror() message as a result of a M113 gcode being sent. (The example below I disconnected all thermistors in case they were causing the problem...) rebooted the printer etc.


comms: G-code: N213 M113 *0 dequeued and sent [51.511s/0ms]
comms: Response: ok intercom::waitError() [51.558s/47ms]
comms: G-code: N214 M105 *0 dequeued and sent [51.558s/0ms]
comms: Response: ok T:0 B:4 intercom::waitError() [51.605s/47ms]
comms: G-code: N215 T0 *28 dequeued and sent [51.605s/0ms]
comms: Response: ok [51.636s/31ms]
comms: G-code: N216 M113 *5 dequeued and sent [51.636s/0ms]
comms: Response: ok [51.667s/31ms]
comms: G-code: N217 M105 *3 dequeued and sent [51.667s/0ms]
comms: Response: ok T:2 B:4 [51.698s/31ms]
comms: G-code: N218 M105 *12 dequeued and sent [53.212s/1514ms]
comms: Response: ok T:2 B:5 [53.258s/46ms]
comms: G-code: N219 M105 *13 dequeued and sent [54.772s/1514ms]
comms: Response: ok T:2 B:5 [86.611s/31839ms]
comms: G-code: N220 M105 *7 dequeued and sent [88.124s/1513ms]
comms: Response: ok T:2 B:4 [88.156s/32ms]
comms: G-code: N221 T1 *26 dequeued and sent [89.669s/1513ms]
comms: Response: ok [89.700s/31ms]
comms: G-code: N222 M113 *2 dequeued and sent [89.700s/0ms]
comms: Response: ok intercom::waitError() [89.747s/47ms]
comms: G-code: N223 M105 *4 dequeued and sent [89.747s/0ms]
comms: Response: ok T:0 B:5 intercom::waitError() [89.794s/47ms]
comms: G-code: N224 T0 *30 dequeued and sent [89.794s/0ms]
comms: Response: ok [89.825s/31ms]
comms: G-code: N225 M113 *5 dequeued and sent [89.825s/0ms]
comms: Response: ok [89.856s/31ms]
comms: G-code: N226 M105 *1 dequeued and sent [89.856s/0ms]
comms: Response: ok T:2 B:4 [89.887s/31ms]
comms: G-code: N227 M105 *0 dequeued and sent [91.400s/1513ms]
comms: Response: ok T:2 B:6 [113.490s/22090ms]
comms: G-code: N228 M105 *15 dequeued and sent [115.003s/1513ms]
comms: Response: ok T:2 B:5 [115.034s/31ms]
comms: G-code: N229 M105 *14 dequeued and sent [116.548s/1514ms]
comms: Response: ok T:2 B:5 [116.579s/31ms]
comms: G-code: N230 T1 *26 dequeued and sent [118.092s/1513ms]
comms: Response: ok [118.123s/31ms]
comms: G-code: N231 M113 *0 dequeued and sent [118.123s/0ms]
comms: Response: ok intercom::waitError() [118.170s/47ms]
comms: G-code: N232 M105 *4 dequeued and sent [118.170s/0ms]
comms: Response: ok T:0 B:4 intercom::waitError() [118.217s/47ms]
comms: G-code: N233 T0 *24 dequeued and sent [118.217s/0ms]
comms: Response: ok [118.248s/31ms]
comms: G-code: N234 M113 *5 dequeued and sent [118.248s/0ms]
comms: Response: ok [118.279s/31ms]
comms: G-code: N235 M105 *3 dequeued and sent [118.279s/0ms]
comms: Response: ok T:2 B:4 [118.310s/31ms]
comms: G-code: N236 M105 *0 dequeued and sent [119.825s/1515ms]
comms: Response: ok T:2 B:5 [119.871s/46ms]
comms: G-code: N237 M105 *1 dequeued and sent [121.385s/1514ms]


oh god - just noticed it is now passing an additional waiterror after the M113 waiterror as a result of the following M105 - This is regular as well.

I did not get this previously. Can anyone think of any reason why I may be getting this these errors and what I could do about it?

damn - the problems never end. Sometimes I get rather despondent with this frigging project

later

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/09/2011 09:50AM by AgeingHippy.

Hi people

Someone must have an idea??

More info on the board. I am using unmodified Makerbot G3 boards.

The debug light on the extruder controller will flash 3 times (each flash very briefly) - seemingly once a second then just after the 4'th flash the debug light will stay on for close to 4 seconds... could it be something is happening in the code in the extruder that is hitting some strange loop? I cannot say for certain whether or not the waiterror was occurring immediately after I reloaded the firmware with the new bedtemptable for my thermistor or whether it only started happening later.

I do klnow that the waiterror after the M105 only started a little time later and I was only getting the waiterror after M113, and not each M113 either - only the second one.

The long burst of the debug light goes out after the successful M113 call...

This behaviour is rhythmic and constant.

I am at a loss. Any direction would be much appreciated.

Cheers

sounds like your thermistor may have touched 12v and fried your atmega, unplug everything from the motherboard except uplink to host and power and see if commands that don't need input still do this.

seems we need to start a discussion about how best to protect analog ports from 12v, I see lots of posts about atmegas frying from this one issue

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Wooden Mendel
Teacup Firmware

That is a bit tricky to do without affecting accuracy because the thermistor voltage covers almost the input voltage range. So something like a 5V6 zener clamp will leak significantly at 5V compared to 100K.

I think gen6 has a series resistor but if you look at the value and the input leakage current you see that it may cause inaccurate temperature readings.

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[www.hydraraptor.blogspot.com]

Hi Triffid

The thermistor itself came loose from the breadboard where I had put in the capacitor and 4.7k resistor as per this schematic. (simplified) So I don't think there could have been any 12v short.

My Motherboard seems to be working fine, passing commands to the stepper motors etc.

The problem seems to be with the communication to the extruder controller. I guess it is possible that there is a problem with the SN75176A transceiver chip... but then again it could also be the extruder Atmega chip missing cycles and hence not responding fast enough. It is weird in that each even numbered M113 (command to get the PWM from the extruder pot) seems to fail - see the commands and responses as per my first post.

Hmm.. I have just been looking at the gcode and responses on my first post and the waiterror seems to be occurring after the gcode tries to set the extruder controller to the second one (T1 command) and I only have 1 extruder controller. I did not modify my code to state I only have 1 extruder (address T0) when I updated the bedtemptable for my bed thermistor.

I will recompile and reload the firmware specifying 1 extruder and see if I have problems. Will post an update on the results.

SOLVED

The problem seems to have been occurring since my motherboard firmware thought it had 2 physical extruder controllers but it really only has 1.

The waiterror is because the motherboard was sending the (failing) M113 and M105 commands to the physical extruder 2 (gcode address T1) and of course since there is nothing attached to that port of course it will time out waiting for the response!

phew.

Below is the current output. The host is still sending T1 commands as the host thinks I have 4 extruders but the motherboard knows there is only one so it does not try communicate with the second.

Man - I can tell you all I am SO relieved. But as always, I have learned from this exercise.
1) If you remove the extruder stepper control the extruder controller can be simplified big-time.
2) More details about the code.
3) The purpose of the SN75176A (RS485 transceiver chip)

I tell you what - I spent close on £190 importing G3 electronics from Makerbot - That is the really expensive option. Having learned what I have so far I think one could build your electronics for much much less...


comms: G-code: N70 M105 *48 dequeued and sent [158.616s/8ms]
comms: Response: ok T:2 B:3 [158.640s/24ms]
comms: G-code: N71 T0 *44 dequeued and sent [158.648s/8ms]
comms: Response: ok [158.657s/9ms]
comms: G-code: N72 M113 *53 dequeued and sent [158.664s/7ms]
comms: Response: ok [158.673s/9ms]
comms: G-code: N73 M105 *51 dequeued and sent [158.680s/7ms]
comms: Response: ok T:2 B:3 [158.705s/25ms]
comms: G-code: N74 M105 *52 dequeued and sent [160.213s/1508ms]
comms: Response: ok T:2 B:4 [160.225s/12ms]
comms: G-code: N75 M105 *53 dequeued and sent [161.732s/1507ms]
comms: Response: ok T:2 B:3 [161.744s/12ms]
comms: G-code: N76 M105 *54 dequeued and sent [163.250s/1506ms]
comms: Response: ok T:2 B:4 [163.264s/14ms]
comms: G-code: N77 T1 *43 dequeued and sent [164.771s/1507ms]
comms: Response: ok [164.783s/12ms]
comms: G-code: N78 M113 *63 dequeued and sent [164.790s/7ms]
comms: Response: ok [164.799s/9ms]
comms: G-code: N79 M105 *57 dequeued and sent [164.806s/7ms]
comms: Response: ok T:2 B:4 [164.831s/25ms]
comms: G-code: N80 T0 *34 dequeued and sent [164.838s/7ms]
comms: Response: ok [164.847s/9ms]
comms: G-code: N81 M113 *57 dequeued and sent [164.854s/7ms]
comms: Response: ok [164.863s/9ms]
comms: G-code: N82 M105 *61 dequeued and sent [164.870s/7ms]
comms: Response: ok T:2 B:4 [164.895s/25ms]

AgeingHippy Wrote:
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> I tell you what - I spent close on £190 importing
> G3 electronics from Makerbot - That is the really
> expensive option. Having learned what I have so
> far I think one could build your electronics for
> much much less...

I did, see my blog

I think ramps and gen7 and friends are following very similar paths too, separate extruder controller is quickly falling out of favour

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Wooden Mendel
Teacup Firmware