Printer halted. kill() called!

I have not used my printer for some time. Then I suddenly notice the LCD is reading "KILLED". I assumed this was just some software bug that eventually had surfaced due to having been just sitting idle and powered on for a couple months (USB power by computer, no power to PSU, motors, bed or extruder of course).

I reconnect the USB cable to the Arduino, I can connect with Pronterface, the PSU starts up. I can move one of the axis for about a second before it kills itself again.

This is what it looks like:

Connecting...
start
Printer is now online.
echo:Marlin1.0.0
echo: Last Updated: Apr 11 2015 00:01:46 | Author: (none, default config)
Compiled: Apr 11 2015
echo: Free Memory: 2878  PlannerBufferBytes: 1232
echo:Hardcoded Default Settings Loaded
echoteps per unit:
echo:  M92 X52.49 Y52.49 Z2015.75 E476.00
echo:Maximum feedrates (mm/s):
echo:  M203 X500.00 Y500.00 Z5.00 E45.00
echo:Maximum Acceleration (mm/s2):
echo:  M201 X900 Y900 Z80 E10000
echo:Acceleration: S=acceleration, T=retract acceleration
echo:  M204 S3000.00 T3000.00
echo:Advanced variables: S=Min feedrate (mm/s), T=Min travel feedrate (mm/s), B=minimum segment time (ms), X=maximum XY jerk (mm/s),  Z=maximum Z jerk (mm/s),  E=maximum E jerk (mm/s)
echo:  M205 S0.00 T0.00 B20000 X20.00 Z0.40 E5.00
echo:Home offset (mm):
echo:  M206 X0.00 Y0.00 Z0.00
echoID settings:
echo:   M301 P41.47 I2.94 D146.07
echoD init fail
Errorrinter halted. kill() called!

From googling I've noticed that thermistor issues is a normal cause for this. However, my temperature readings look fine. 22.6 degrees C for the extruder, 22.6 degrees C for the bed, no spikes in the graph before it kills itself.

What is the cause of this?

If you have a pushbutton your LCD, it calls kill as an e-stop . . is it perchance stuck or broken?

- Tim

No, this is not the issue. I just tried physically removing both cables from the LCD controller to the RAMPS. It still gets killed about a second or two after I connect to it with Pronterface.

Do you have a heatbed? is the Thermistor configured in Marlin? Is it connected to the right pins? Also for your hotend thermistor. Do you have any other Thermistors configured in Marlin?

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/31/2015 03:51PM by madmike8.

Quote
madmike8
Do you have a heatbed? is the Thermistor configured in Marlin? Is it connected to the right pins? Also for your hotend thermistor. Do you have any other Thermistors configured in Marlin?

I have a heated bed. I have two thermistors in total and both are configured and correctly connected. Both are also working correctly. I can see that when I connect, briefly before I get forcibly disconnected they both give a correct temperature reading with variations that would correlate with the ambient temperature. E.g. when I checked today, the temperature reading they gave was slightly warmer as it is slightly warmer in the room than yesterday. There are also no spikes to be seen in the graph prior to being disconnected.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/31/2015 04:46PM by fractal5.

From reading the source code and adding debug serial prints I found that it killed itself due to the kill switch being pressed, even when I have removed the LCD and its adapter plate. Perhaps I have a short on my RAMPS.

And sure enough.

My pin 41 is shorted to ground. How the heck did that happen by just sitting there unused for some months?

The pins are only shorted when the Arduino has power. Does this tell anyone anything? Is it a configuration error or a hardware fault?

When a circuit is powered, ohmmeter readings are not valid . . . not certain exactly how you are making the determination of pin 41being grounded when the Arduinomis powered. There should be a pullup resistor on that pin high until the kill switch pulls it down by connecting to ground . . . and I think that pullup *should* be on the Arduino . . . For now, you should be able to redefine KILL_PIN to -1 instead of 41 to keep the printer operational while you figure this out.

- Tim

Quote
tadawson
When a circuit is powered, ohmmeter readings are not valid . . . not certain exactly how you are making the determination of pin 41being grounded when the Arduinomis powered. There should be a pullup resistor on that pin high until the kill switch pulls it down by connecting to ground . . . and I think that pullup *should* be on the Arduino . . . For now, you should be able to redefine KILL_PIN to -1 instead of 41 to keep the printer operational while you figure this out.

- Tim

Strange, I tried to replace the Arduino, but the issue persists.

I did try to set the pin to -1, which works, but obviously there is something wrong with the hardware since this was not an issue before.

That pin is passed directly through RAMPS . . . what happens if you run just the Arduino, is it OK? If so, look for Chintastic solder work, bridges, and/or swarf on your RAMPS board.

- Tim

I have this same problem, I turn on the hot end and I get the kill called error. I don't have a LCD connected so I changed the #define KILL_PIN to -1 which didn't seem to do the trick.

I'm going to see if I can bypass the Hot end and run it with no filament to see if I can get it to run.

thanks for any suggestions!

weav

SOLVED (for me) ..

I was receiving the same error.

After inspecting the board I discovered that the back of the Arduino pins were making contact with the printer's frame, causing it to short and call kill().

Considering the printer has run for years without trouble this was a tricky one to debug. Thankful to this thread for the hints.

As a quick solution, I applied some electrical tape to the frame where the Arduino is mounted and all is working properly now.

Posting in case this helps somebody else.

Cheers
Ross