Network connection

Connection via a network lead is new area for me, however I have been doing a little exploring from Windows 7.

From "Network Connections _> Local area Connection
I find it reports the IP address as 169:254:100:212 and subnet mask as 255:255:0:0

Running diagnose eventually returns an error message "Local Area Connection" doesn't have a valid IP configuration"

I have tried editing the entries to match the Duet microSD setting but always get the same error message.

I'm not expecting an answer to this, but just thought I would share my findings.

Note these are using a cross over cable.

Hi Treth,

It looks like you may have "Use DHCP" (or "set Address Automatically" - not sure what the options are in Win7) selected - so your computer is setting that port to a local network address (since you don't have a router attached to assign one to it). You could try manually assigning an address in the 192.168.1.xxx range for that card, or edit the config to set the printers address to something suitable (eg 169:254:100:200). There's some info on whois.net on that address range:

Quote

NetRange: 169.254.0.0 - 169.254.255.255
CIDR: 169.254.0.0/16
OriginAS:
NetName: LINKLOCAL-RFC3927-IANA-RESERVED
NetHandle: NET-169-254-0-0-1
Parent: NET-169-0-0-0-0
NetType: IANA Special Use
Comment: Computers use addresses starting with "169.154." when they do not have a manually configured address or when they are not told which address to use by a service on the network. They are commonly called the "link local" addresses.
Comment:
Comment: Routers are not allowed to forward packets sent from an IPv4 "link local" address, so they are always used by a directly connected device.
Comment:
Comment: These addresses were assigned by the IETF, the organization that develops Internet protocols, in the Standards Track document, RFC3927, which can be found at:

which I may or may not be interpreting correctly

Ray

I agree with rayhicks, your ip address looks like a self-assigned one, which usually happens when it searches for a DHCP host but doesn't find one. Try setting it manually to:
ip address: 192.168.1.20
network mask: 255.255.255.0
gateway: shouldn't matter

This should put it in the same range as either the firmware or SD card settings. Connecting to the firmware ip address won't bring up the web interface, because the html is stored on the SD card, but you should be able to ping the address. If you can ping the firmware ip address, it means the SD card isn't working. Connecting to the SD card address via Google Chrome should bring up the password screen.

Duet Firmware ip defaults - line 170-172, Platform.h, here: [github.com]
#define IP_ADDRESS {192, 168, 1, 10} // Need some sort of default...
#define NET_MASK {255, 255, 255, 0}
#define GATE_WAY {192, 168, 1, 1}

SD card ip defaults - from sys/config, SD-Image, here [github.com]
M552 P192.168.1.14; Set the IP address
M553 P255.255.255.0; Set netmask
M554 P192.168.1.1; Set the gateway

Ian
RepRapPro tech support

I had the usual supplied SD card not working issue, after buying a new card the printer reads the config.g file but when i try to connect to the web page it doesn't work and i get the following error on the serial connection:

HTTP request: GET / HTTP/1.1
send_data: error

To get the ethernet interface to work i have to press the reset button on the duet board after power up

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/18/2013 10:20AM by mdearman.

I tried the Duet before I connected it to the printer and when I connected the Ethernet cable the duet didn't notice it. After restarting Duet the connection worked.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/19/2013 04:24AM by nof.

Hi Treth, I'm running my Ormerod connected to my laptop, which is wirelessly connected to my router. To get the laptop talking to the Ormerod via Ethernet, I had to bridge the wired and wireless network adapters, so that both can use the same subnet i.e. 192.168.1.x. Bridging the network adapters under Windows is very easy, you just open the network adapters page in Control Panel, highlight both ports, right-click and select "Bridge".

Like mdearman, I have to press the reset button on the Duet first. In my case it is because the Duet software is not processing config.g after a power-on reset. Maybe the SD card they supplied is too slow to start up.

I've added this to the commissioning page, as I believe it to be at least part of the problem

IMPORTANT: note about USB 5V power

When using the Duet with 5V power supplied by the USB cable only (ie not ATX PSU power), you may find that the board doesn’t respond correctly. The web interface, SD card reading, IR sensor may all be unreliable. Three different voltages are used on the Duet: 12V for motors, fans and heaters, 5V is used to drive the MOSFETs, and is converted to 3.3V for most other parts of the board (ARM chip, thermistors, stepper drivers, proximity sensor, SD card, USB, Ethernet).

It’s possible that your 5V USB power source does’t supplying enough voltage, or current, to power the Duet, particularly if you’re working through a low quality USB power supply, an unpowered USB hub, or laptop with low power USB ports. The Raspberry Pi, which uses a similar ARM chip, also has this problem. Plugging all the other connections in may also drain enough power to cause problems. A way to test this would be to check the actual voltage of the 5V and 3.3V power lines. You can measure the 5V on pin 1 of the expansion header, 3.3V on pin 3 – these are the pins closest to the heated bed connection, just under the ‘SION’ of ‘EXPANSION’. Anything below 4.5V on the 5V line will make for a marginal 3.3V supply, and could cause a multitude of strange effects on the board.

The Duet should work correctly when 5V is supplied by the ATX PSU, but don’t plug this in yet!

Ian
RepRapPro tech support

Ian
RepRapPro tech support

@Ian,
Mine appears to be 'just' OK from my new(ish) laptop.
FYI 4.51V and 3.28V (Note: 12V supply switched off, just static conditions after USB connected).

@Treth: you may find you get 0.1 or 0.2V more by removing JP9 (5V_EN), if it's on. I *think* it made a difference when I tested it earlier today!

Ian
RepRapPro tech support

I reworked the duet so that 5v power is supplied correctly from the ATX PSU, it doesn't make any difference to the reliability, it still need a reset and works about 1 in 5 times.

@Ian

Quote
Ian
@Treth: you may find you get 0.1 or 0.2V more by removing JP9 (5V_EN), if it's on. I *think* it made a difference when I tested it earlier today!

My tests were with JP9 removed. Just repeated the test (having found the jumper!)
4.51V and 3.29V USB powered only and JP9 did not have any effect.
4.91V and 3.30V with JP9 and powered by supply.

In conclusion I believe I was OK with the USB only, but with little margin, so will now continue with JP9 in place for all future testing.

@All, I will get back to network testing and configuration later and thanks for advice and tips, but I seem to be able to do everything by Pronterface at the moment, so am currently concentrating on getting to know "how to print".

Quote
dc42
Hi Treth, I'm running my Ormerod connected to my laptop, which is wirelessly connected to my router. To get the laptop talking to the Ormerod via Ethernet, I had to bridge the wired and wireless network adapters, so that both can use the same subnet i.e. 192.168.1.x. Bridging the network adapters under Windows is very easy, you just open the network adapters page in Control Panel, highlight both ports, right-click and select "Bridge".

@dc42, thanks for this, that is precisely how I want to configure my system. I shall investigate further when things quieten down!

Up until recently Pronterface was doing everything I required so this was a back-burner task, but now with our "Strange behaviours" [forums.reprap.org] this may have gone up in priority!

Hi,
Looking forward to connecting the Ethernet next week, (my knowledge here is/was stopping me!) I have collated a list of issues and tips.

dc42 states "and Ethernet works provided that I don't connect with Pronterface over USB first - but I guess that is a software issue." [forums.reprap.org]

mdearman and nof state "To get the ethernet interface to work i have to press the reset button on the duet board after power up" and "connected the Ethernet cable the duet didn't notice it. After restarting Duet the connection worked."

dc42 states " I'm running my Ormerod connected to my laptop, which is wirelessly connected to my router. To get the laptop talking to the Ormerod via Ethernet, I had to bridge the wired and wireless network adapters, so that both can use the same subnet i.e. 192.168.1.x. Bridging the network adapters under Windows is very easy, you just open the network adapters page in Control Panel, highlight both ports, right-click and select "Bridge""

dc42 states "If like me you have it connected to a computer that is wirelessly connected to the router, then you need to bridge the wired and wireless network connections on the computer. When you have sorted this out, try pinging the printer. You may have to set it to an address that is outside the range managed by the router, I use 192.168.1.80. Once you can ping it, try opening it in Chrome." [forums.reprap.org]

From memory in other posts:
Need to get the power supply sorted and a new fast SD card to ensure config file is read.

In the instruction pages it states "To double check, press the Duet's RESET button."

Conclusion is that once your SD card and 5V is working and you have your connection (I will follow dc42 arrangement) make sure you select out of range IP address, then try without running Pronterface and also do a DUET reset (or two!).
If anyone knows any other tips (or more detailed Windows steps) then please post here.

personally I can now ping the duet but I CAN'T connect to it with Chrome... any idea?

I find that I need to power up the Duet, and start trying to connect with Chrome within a few seconds. The first few attempts are unsuccessful because the Duet isn't ready, but after a few tries it connects. Occasionally I find it won't connect, and I have to power the Duet down and start again.

Alternatively: power the Duet up, start pinging it, and as soon as I get a successful ping, connect with Chrome.

As well as changing the IP address, I changed the gateway IP address in config.g to match my router. But I don't know whether the firmware needs to talk to the gateway, or why it should want to.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/24/2013 06:48AM by dc42.

Hi everybody

I have exactly the same problem than arnaud31
ping ok but no connection with chrome under win 7
with direct ethernet link between my laptop and the duet

is threre something to configurate on the computer ?

If you can ping it then your network settings are probably fine. My procedure to get it to work is turn on power to the printer with network cable plugged in, then open chrome, try to connect if it doesn't work close chrome and reset the duet then repeat until it works. It's pretty frustrating for a released product.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/24/2013 12:27PM by mdearman.

I have tried all your suggestions and i can't connect, ping yes connect no.
Could the firmware version dated 17th december (rather than the latest) be the problem?
I cannot update firmware because my usb socket has snapped off and cannot connect via ethernet.
I despair... Whn is RepRap reopening?

I was able to connect over Ethernet using firmware that I downloaded on 20/12, so I think it must be have been the 17/12 firmware

If you can ping it, then the Ethernet connection must be working and you should be able to connect. A few suggestions:

- Have you checked that you really are pinging the Duet, i.e. the ping fails if you disconnect the cable or turn the Duet off?
- Are you using Chrome, with JavaScript enabled?
- Are you certain that the Duet is reading the SD card OK? [If you are using the SD card shipped with the kit, change it for a better one]
- Did you also copy all 3 folders in the SD image folder to the SD card when you updated the firmware? [in particular, the www folder]

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/24/2013 03:52PM by dc42.

Thanks dc42,

SD card is working as I have been printed approx. 400grs (120metres) of parts, mostly on SD card, before my USD socket snapped;
All 3 folders are on the card indeed and I confirm to be pinging the Duet and nothing else.
I am indeed using Chrome (on Linux Mint - same as Ubuntu) and I have just checked that JS is enabled.

So it must be the firmware but I cannot updated since I cannot connect to board.

My only hope now is for RepRap to replace my board asap, whenever that may, as for now life is too short to be wasting it trying to get printer working again!

at first i could also not connect by ethernet to my OR170. i did allow cookies (there was a yellowish icon in the upper righthand corner of chrome). after that I unpluggged / re-plugged 5V shortly after i could connect for the frist time using ethernet.
even now i sometimes get into a state where i can ping the duet-board but not (correctly) load the web-interface. i have a feeling this happens if waiting to long after power up....

no more ping on the duet today
yesterday I had wifi enable on the laptop so maybe I was pinging something else on my network via wifi

so today :Firm updated, Sd changed with new SD image , M503 returns all the parameters of config.sys
to be sure config.sys parameters are sent manually via arduino interface,wifi off,direct link between duet ad laptop and ...no ping

I can print by Pronterface but as it is the most bugged software I've ever seen I would prefer to use chrome interface which seems to work better

So, my Network connection was fine from the start - yesterday I started the commisioning using both the serial and network as instructed. But today when I resumed, the initial loading of the webpage completed (the full control panel, before it's replaced by the login) but then the Login page comes up for the password and everything ends there. Clicking Submit button does nothing nad reloading the page fails with "No data received". At this point I can still communicate over the serial terminal and the printer seems perfectly OK but it won't respond from the Chrome browser.

I can re-boot everything and go round this loop any number of times and still not get past the password submission phase. I just can't think of what it could be given that it all worked fine yesterday and the network connection is celarly all there. All I did between when it last worked and now is edit the G31 line in the config file to store my Z probe details. I can do an M503 and see the correct config in the serial terminal so the SD card is still OK.

I have now realised that it is very likely I was pinging something else...
I have been using my router to monitor the duet ethernet connection and although the router sees the duet (returning any IP i set on the SD card, and retuning a MAC adress) I am actually unabled to ping the duet (doing it directly from my router (a virgin media netgear router chich web interface allows me to ping directly);

So I am wondering whether there is actually something wrong with my board or my firmware. Either way having lost my USB socket I can only wait for RepRap to reopen...

I appear to have been able to solve my Login issue by using an externally powered USB hub to power the Duet board. I still have 5V_EN on the board but most of the current is being supplied from the USB port which is shoving in 5.5V

I would have suspected that it's a power-up rise-time issue but for the fact that pressing the reset button didn't solve it. Still, it seems to me to be something to do with 5V quality in my case. Hope this helps someone else.

I almost never get the web interface working. Either with the USB connected to my laptop, nor with a hub or a standalone 5V USB-supply. Also the suggested "reset button after start" etc. didn't help.

When I try to access the webinterface page I can see control page for a short time, but then it redirects to the login page and loads forever. After that I can't even connect to the IP.
I have the latest firmware installed and a replaced Duet board. JP9 is enabled. Browser is Chrome - settings are default.

Markus

---

XBee & electronics blog: [lookmanowire.blogspot.com]

I'm having the same problem as markbee and others - often I get nothing, sometimes I get the control page for a second or two, then a login page from which I can go no further.

The combination of Ethernet not working, and pronterface not running files properly off the card is really annoying. This seems to be an issue, please can we get some help in sorting it out.

@skebengaboy:

1. Check 5V voltage, as described in the first couple of paragraphs of the commissioning instructions. You will get drop-outs if the 5V voltage is marginal (4.5V). Either find a good USB power source, or power the board from the 12V supply (if you haven't got one of the first 220 kits).
2. Check the SD card is working reliably. You won't get a reliable connection to the web interface without it, because the web interface files are stored on the SD card (for easy update). Use a different card if the supplied one seems unreliable.
3. Plug in ethernet, check you get a green light - this is a hardware connection.
4. Ping the ethernet port, to check the hardware it working.
5. Update the config.g with your network settings.
6. When you connect, you should get the login page, not go straight into the controls. I think if you go straight into the controls, there is a problem with reading the network settings, or the web interface from the SD card. This will be subject to a lot of improvements in the coming months, but basic communication is the first hurdle.

It is possible your board hasn't been soldered well; it seems the mini USB connector and SD card are the most likely to develop a fault. We will replace any card under warranty, but would like defective cards returned to us, so we can improve manufacturing.

With such a new board, and quite a number of factors that can potentially cause issues, it's hard for us to see a common thread that causes problems, and networking is perhaps the most problematic to troubleshoot, as it relies on all the other parts functioning correctly. We are trying to address issues as they arise.

Ian
RepRapPro tech support

When I connect via Ethernet, I always see the control page briefly before the login page appears. So I think this is normal behaviour.