No stepper power? Or lost firmware?

I'm not sure what I've done. I have a Techzone LC Mendel which has been working with an older version of repsnapper. Yesterday I loaded up a new Linux machine and put the latest repsnapper on it. It had the wrong baud rate on it, and I hit the reset button on the motherboard several times in the process of trying to get the software communicating. Never did get it to connect.

So today, I go back to the machine that had previously been working with it. Repsnapper shows that it is connecting, but nothing happens. I can't move the steppers with the printer control tab, in fact, the steppers appear to not be powered up. (I can move the axes by hand very easily). The 12 volts DC is there, it's just not powering up the steppers..

Is it possible that with hitting the reset so many times that I wiped out the firmware that Techzone pre-loaded on the card? If so, how would I go about reloading it? Or is it something else? Any suggestions welcome.

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Is it possible that with hitting the reset so many times that I wiped out the firmware that Techzone pre-loaded on the card?

No.

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Generation 7 Electronics	Teacup Firmware	RepRap DIY

Traumflug, thanks for the reply. The only other thing I can think to add is that when it had been working, I was getting a lot of COM errors (checksum or LineNr errors) while it was printing. So I was thinking that maybe the ribbon cable between the USB/TTL board and the MB was picking up noise, so I took the cable off and wound the ribbon in a spiral to make it a bit like twisted-pair wires. So I thought maybe I had caused a bad connection there. But I re-made that cable with new wire and new connectors (22 ga stranded wire, and connectors made for 22 ga), but it didn't change anything.

In looking at the COM settings, the newer version of repsnapper I built came with the serial speed set at 115200, while the older version I had been using was set at 19200. So I'm assuming that 19200 is the correct speed to set.

I don't think twisting the ribbon cable to reduce noise would work. You can buy shielded ones but I think the best way to reduce noise is to keep the cable as short as possible. I suppose that you checked your new cable for continuity and short with a multimeter.

The speed that you need to set your PC is the same speed that you specify in the firmware that you loaded on to the MB. My Gen 3 remix never worked well at 115200.

The cable is only about 4 inches long, so I really don't think it's long enough to be a problem at 19200, which is what I'm pretty sure is the right speed.

The firmware is whatever was flashed by Techzone. I've never had to do anything with the firmware to this point - I wouldn't even know where to begin. As I understand it, there's a jumper I'd have to short on the MB to flash it, and I'd even have to install a 2-pin header to put a jumper there, as there is none now.

I did check both the old and new cables with a multimeter and they both test good. Thanks for the reminder. Since I had used a professional model AMP crimping gun, I had made the assumption that my new cable was good, but I hadn't checked it until you mentioned that. I use those connectors with my job, so I'm fortunate to have the crimper available. Also, because I use it so much, I'm pretty familiar with things that are likely to cause a bad connection, but even so, I shouldn't have been making the assumption that the cable was good without testing it.

You don't need to do anything special to the Techzone Gen 3 remix to load the firmware if that's what you have. The same should be true of the Monotronics.

BTW, I also experienced a lot of COM errors, prints stopping randomly even without COM error, and heater losing temperature with the Gen 3 remix. I was never able to fix it until I finally changed my electronics to RAMPS 1.2 with the Sprinter firmware.

The motherboard I have is silkscreened with "RepRap MB v1.2 - TechZoneCom.com remix". It was purchased earlier this year (maybe 6 months ago?)

So it sounds like the COM errors might not be anything I can fix with the electronics I have. But at this point, I'd be glad to get back to having the COM errors. :-) I have been thinking about replacing the electronics, and what you're telling me is making me lean toward going with something different rather than just replacing what I have with the same. I'll look into the RAMPS and such. I'll have to educate myself a bit more before I make that decision. But thanks for the reply.

I always got loads of com errors when using repsnapper with baud 19200 (and it didn't work with anything else). When I switched to pronterface with the same baud rate, the com errors went away never to be seen again.

This is on windows 7 64bit, with close to three meter usb cable running through the usb hub in my monitor.

I'll be updating my gen3 remix sets with gen3+, and use sprinter on them instead.

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-Nudel
Blog with RepRap Comic

So Bnrd, since I've never had to mess with the firmware before, I don't have a clue where to begin. Can you tell me anything that would help (like a pointer to a FAQ page or something) ? Even if it's just to re-load the TZ firmware, if that got it talking again, it would be something. Or if the Sprinter firmware will work on the TZ m/b, I'd be willing to try that. Anything else will mean waiting until I can order some additional hardware.

I switched to RAMPS before Pronterface came out so that sounds like Nudel's suggestion would be a good thing to try. When I get around to making a second Mendel, I'll might give the TZ Gen 3 remix another try.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/30/2011 10:08PM by brnrd.

OK - I've found (what I think is) the right firmware file, but I'm stuck at this point. I got the arduino-0022 software, and it runs, but I don't know what type of board I should select. The chip I have is marked ATMEL Mega644PA MU1108, but there is no such chip listed in the choices in the arduino software.
If anyone who has successfully re-loaded their firmware on a TZ Reprap v1.2 controller board, I'd sure appreciate a chance to talk to you.

The correct choice is Sanguino. But it won't show up until you install the Sanguino extensions from this site: [code.google.com].

You can read more about firware installation for Gen 3 in the wiki.

brnrd Wrote:
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> The correct choice is Sanguino. But it won't show
> up until you install the Sanguino extensions from
> this site:
> [code.google.com].
>
> You can read more about firware installation for
> Gen 3 in the wiki.


Thanks - I'll go get that. Now that the weekend is over, it might take me a day or two to get back to it, but I'll see what I can get done and report back. Thanks for the reply.

I had seen that wiki page, but the controller board in the photos was different from mine, so I didn't know if anything on that page would apply to mine.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/07/2011 08:51AM by ShayWalters.