Extruder fails to reach default temp

Extruder heats as normal, then struggles around 215c (normally reaches 230 no problem)... forcing me to shut everything down. Bed won't even heat up either.
The only difference is I've changed my heat bed to 0 (trying new method of printing onto cotton/denim).
**note: tried to go back to default bed temp of 90c to go back to "normal" and now I can't get anything working. (got an error of 'heater decoupled' and a couple 'comm timeout').

I did not change anything in firmware, just changed settings in Repetier (Printer Settings and Configuration window).

I was going to just replace my hotend (E3D Lite6 1.75mm) since they're relatively inexpensive, and hotbed... but thought I'd post here first and see if anyone had similar problems?
Thanks for looking!
- Richard

Prusa i3
Repetier-Host V2.0.1
1.75mm ABS
Extruder target temp: 230c
Buildplate (2yrs old, standard cheapo from China Prusa kit)

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/08/2017 06:59AM by PixelPusher.

Have done something similar, Where I changed my setting on the Slicer program sending to the Printer which confused other prints.
Found that if restored to Defaults from EEprom on my Printer Software it started working again.

Hope this helps

You could also Check that the Heater have not became loose on the heater block.

When you say changed heatbed to 0 do you mean you changed it to 0C, because thats a bad idea. All you really need to do is tell the slicing software that you have no heatbed and it wont heat it. Setting it to 0C will cause all sorts of issues.

Reset the EPROM like suggested above and change your repitear printer configuration back to normal

THank you for the feedback guys. fyi: (I know nothing about code or elec engineering. I'm just a 3d artist).

I have EEPROM disabled so is your suggestion still valid?
to reset EEPROM will typing "M500" do the trick?

Does resetting EEPROM erase all of my settings in config h? Cuz that was a total headache getting all those settings working correctly.

not sure if this is the problem, but it's a problem no matter what. I'm not a genius, but pretty sure a melted RAMPS board is a bad sign? LOL

I feel like I'm a carpenter that's trying to fix a cheap-ass hammer from China, and wasting my time. Perhaps I should cut my losses and buy a new fricken 'out-of-the-box' printer.

But, since parts are cheap for these kits, for now I'll just buy a new RAMPS board and hopefully that will solve my problem until I purchase a new Taz or Ultimaker, or something similar.

Thanks again for your help.