How can I check if my extruder motor is working

First of all, I'm very new to all of this. To be specific , my filament is not being extruded. I removed the fan on the extruder and saw teethed wheel ( not sure what its called). I tried to spin it but it wouldn't budge. I'm not sure if this is normal or not. What I wanted to know if it was possible to maybe click something on the frontier software so that it could make that wheel turn the same way I can make the extruder move using the xyz buttons. Thanks you.

What software are you using? Repetier and matter control both have manual controls for the x, y, z, and extruder motors.

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Newbie with Folgertech 2020 i3.

By default you can only run your extruder motor with the hot end heated up above a threshold temperature (usually around 175). If you try otherwise you'll get a message
"cold extrusion prevented" and the motor won't turn. You can bypass this by sending the command M302 (disables cold extrusion prevention) and this will then allow you
to operate the extruder motor anyway. But to do so, make sure there is no filament in your hot end.

And yes, it is normal not to be able to turn the motors by hand when they are connected with the power on.

Okay I haven't noticed it but ill check tonight. Also I meant I can't turn it when it's off and unplugged. But thanks for all the responses. Will check back.

is it a bowden setup, or direct drive? You should be able to turn the bare shaft of a plain, unpowered stepper easily by hand, so there must be something keeping it from turning. Try removing it from the mount(s) and see if it spins then.

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Master Tinkerer

Any update?

I'm having the same problem at the moment.

A shorted driver chip on the extruder motor circuit can also make it difficult to turn the motor by hand. Even with the power off. A rudimentary check is to power down the machine and disconnect it. If the extruder motor cannot be turned by hand, unplug it from the electronics noting which way the connector is oriented and try rotating the motor. If it rotates with low effort when disconnected , then the motor driver may be shorted. If you are still unable to do so, then the motor has failed.
This last situation is not common with most nema 17 size steppers used for extruder drives.
A failed motor or mechanical drive component does not automatically mean the driver chip has failed as most are protected against overload.
DO NOT plug or unplug a motor from the electronics board with power applied to the printer!
Let me know how you get on with this.