Testing Gen3 Motherboad, help please!

Hi,

I have been building the Gen3 motherboard and just finished construction and loading of the firmware. I have connected the board via a FTDI chip to my computer and am attempting to test the board as per the wiki using the host software (on my Mac running Snow Leopard). I was expecting to see the following to show a successful test:

comms: G-code: M105 dequeued and sent [9.140s/1502ms]
comms: GCodeWriter.waitForOK() - temperature reading: T:0 [9.158s/18ms]
comms: GCode acknowledged with message: ok EB [9.158s/0ms]
comms: G-code: M105 dequeued and sent [10.660s/1502ms]
comms: GCodeWriter.waitForOK() - temperature reading: T:0 [10.677s/17ms]
comms: GCode acknowledged with message: ok EB [10.677s/0ms]
comms: G-code: M105 dequeued and sent [12.179s/1502ms]
comms: GCodeWriter.waitForOK() - temperature reading: T:499 [12.197s/18ms]
comms: GCode acknowledged [12.197s/0ms]
comms: G-code: M105 dequeued and sent [13.699s/1502ms]
comms: GCodeWriter.waitForOK() - temperature reading: T:499 [13.717s/18ms]
comms: GCode acknowledged [13.717s/0ms]
comms: G-code: M105 dequeued and sent [15.219s/1502ms]
comms: GCodeWriter.waitForOK() - temperature reading: T:499 [15.237s/18ms]

However, although the power light is constantly illuminated and I get a flashing debug light, the console outputs the following:

WARNING: RXTX Version mismatch
Jar version = RXTX-2.2pre1
native lib Version = RXTX-2.2pre2
comms: G-code: N0 T0 *26 dequeued and sent [0.000s/-1291901666923ms]

And nothing else! I had a thought, the wiki says the jumper next to the 6-pin plug needs to be made to program the board, so I thought I would try running it without this jumper. This gave me a different output:


WARNING: RXTX Version mismatch
Jar version = RXTX-2.2pre1
native lib Version = RXTX-2.2pre2
comms: G-code: N0 T0 *26 dequeued and sent [0.000s/-1291900799882ms]
comms: Response: ok [0.010s/10ms]
comms: G-code: N1 M113 *1 dequeued and sent [0.011s/1ms]
comms: Response: ok intercom::waitError() [0.036s/25ms]
comms: G-code: N2 M105 *5 dequeued and sent [0.037s/1ms]
comms: Response: ok T:0 B:0 intercom::waitError() [0.070s/33ms]
comms: G-code: N3 M105 *4 dequeued and sent [1.572s/1502ms]
comms: Response: ok T:0 B:0 intercom::waitError() [1.603s/31ms]
comms: G-code: N4 M105 *3 dequeued and sent [3.105s/1502ms]
comms: Response: ok T:0 B:0 intercom::waitError() [3.137s/32ms]
comms: G-code: N5 M105 *2 dequeued and sent [3.144s/7ms]
comms: Response: ok T:0 B:0 intercom::waitError() [3.177s/33ms]
comms: G-code: N6 M105 *1 dequeued and sent [4.680s/1503ms]
comms: Response: ok T:0 B:0 intercom::waitError() [4.713s/33ms]
comms: G-code: N7 M105 *0 dequeued and sent [6.214s/1501ms]
comms: Response: ok T:0 B:0 intercom::waitError() [6.246s/32ms]
comms: G-code: N8 M105 *15 dequeued and sent [7.747s/1501ms]
comms: Response: ok T:0 B:0 intercom::waitError() [7.780s/33ms]


This seems closer to what I was expecting, as it appears the computer is talking to the board, but why is it saying waitError??

Is the jumper meant to be removed for normal operations and only there for firmware installation?

What can account for the difference in message from the expected output (waitForOK v waitError)??

Thanks for any help!

Milly.

Hi Milly

I think your second set of results may be correct.... See my post Testing my electronics - responses not as expected... and you will see your second set of responses is pretty much like mine.

What happens when you link your motherboard to the extruder controller?

VERY IMPORTANT !! NEVER CONNECT / DISCONNECT YOUR MOTORS WITH THE POWER ON - otherwise you may fry your stepper motor drivers.

fwiw - I fried one of mine and now never plug or unplug any component with the power on.

Cheers

Thanks for the reply,

I have all the components now for the extruder controller so I will start construction of that soon, but until its all soldered together I won't be able to plug it into the motherboard and verify the two work together.

I have also got into the habit of not plugging/unplugging anything without first turning the power off! USB has got some people into bad habits!

Milly.