cant write to printer after crashing the y-axis without the endstop in place

im a complete noob and after getting all 3 axis' to run smooth i got a little too excited and tryed a dry print just to see if it was working correctly. i made the mistake of not installing the endstops, thinking i could just manually hit the switch when it homed and i must have hit the max switch instead of the min and the motor binded. could this damage the comms on the arduino? i reinstalled the firmware and the driver on the mega. i keep getting this: [ERROR] Can't write to printer (disconnected?) (SerialException): Write timeout

Check your USB cable and that you are using the correct com port

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Waitaki 3D Printer

I've unplugged and replugged the usb multiple times and im using comm 8 as its the only option the arduino ide and pronterface are giving me. I'll try using a different cable when I get home from work.

so i tryed two other usb cables and checked them with an ohmmeter and they're all good. i've try marlin and sprinter . my computer reads that the arduino mega 2560 is on com8 under the devices and printers and is working properly, also drivers up to date. some times i have to unplug and re-plug the usb to get the arduino ide v 1.0.5-r2 to be able to connect to the serial port. . i've tryed mulitple usb ports on my computer and tryed wiggling the port on the arduino. also have tryed different baud rates. i just keep getting errors or it will just keep trying to connect. Connecting...
Connecting...
[ERROR] Could not connect to COM8 at baudrate 115200:
Serial error: could not open port COM8: [Error 5] Access is denied.

Well, crashing the motor shouldn't really do any harm - the motor will just growl until you stop it. Might be worth removing the Ramps from the Arduino (power off) and try connecting again to see what you get.

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Waitaki 3D Printer

i didn't think it should harm it, just maybe draw too many amps and trip the fuse, thats just the last thing that happpened before runnning into problems.yeah i've removed the ramp. tryed rebooting the computer a couple times. im running out of ideas and getting frustrated. thanks for the replies

unfortunately I'm not entirely sure, if I'm addressing the right problem, but could you please try to move the axis away from the triggered endstop (kidding ), trigger it by hand and then try to reconnect.
there is a safety mechanism, that when a endstop is triggered unexpectedly, you have to trigger it again in order to tell the machine everything is fine again - then you might be able to reconnect.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/18/2014 11:42PM by Rotz.

is the switch wired correctly? What type of switch is it?
if it is just a switch (not the board) check to see if you have V+/signal wired instead of ground/signal. I made just this mistake yesterday and every time I hit the switch my printer disconnected.

the endstops were wired correctly.i made sure to triple check, they were the sainsmart mechanical endstops. i had everything working smoothly before i tryed a dry run. i could home it on all three axis' and would manually click them.
i uploaded the ramps test firmware and it would run smoothly for a couple seconds then the motors would jitter. the voltage regulator on the arduino lit up in smoke. im going to try to remove the d1 diode when i get some time to work on it again in the next couple days. im starting to think 12 v was going into the arduino causing the communication problem. does this sound right to anyone? and what possible mistakes did i make to cause this?