Reprap resetting laptop when plugging into USB

Hey guys, I'm feeling pretty dumb and defeated by my printer! I've had this printer for almost four years, and it has sadly mostly been out of commission. Feel free to grill me - I deserve it.

TLDR: you can skip to section IV - the rest is background info

I. Backstory: I purchased a Prusa i3 in Vietnam in 2015, pre-assembled. It had issues with the hotend, but the electronics were fine during this period. We had to move to Australia, so I dismantled it and reassembled it about a year later in Aus, where I upgraded the extruder to a titan + e3D hotend with Z-probe.

II. The first frying: All worked fine for about a month - I was printing off my computer, instead of through the LCD/SD card reader. One day I needed to print off the SD card reader (since I needed to use my laptop). I remember having my back turned from the printer while the print was starting and hearing a horrible screeching sound from the LCD screen (which was so bright and had those weird blocky artefacts). There was blue smoke, and when I swivelled around the printer, saw it was coming from the stepper driver for the Y-Axis. My arduino seemed to be fried after trying to plug it in.

III. The second frying: I decided to buy a replacement Arduino Mega, RAMPS1.4 and replacement stepper drivers. I also built an enclosure so I bought longer wires for everything. I (stupidly) figured new electronics would solve the problem. It didn't. I flashed Marlin, connected to the printer in Printrun, took a deep breath and flicked the power on and my computer (macbook) went blank and reset.

I tried to reconnect, but couldn't. I tried reflashing my firmware, but I kept getting timeouts.

I know where to begin checking what went wrong, so I just frustratedly left the printer.

IV. This weekend: I randomly tried connecting to the Arduino… And it worked! I figured I'd better give it another shot.

I thought I should check the PS before hooking it up again. It measured 12.34Volts. Which I assumed is OK(?)

I flashed the latest firmware onto the Arduino (I'll paste my configuration.h below in the comments). Note that I couldn't flash the hardware with RAMPS connected.

I then tried opening printrun and doing a "M119" command. Nothing came up. Odd. I then tried disconnecting all drivers and wires and sending some more Gcode commands. Still nothing. I then figured I should try my old RAMS 1.4 board from Vietnam. It connected, and it worked! I was also able to flash marlin while connected to RAMPS. Things were looking up.

I rewired everything (checking for continuity on all wires) and tried running some GCode commands from printrun - all seemed ok. So I hooked up the PS and flicked it on. All ok - good to hear the fans humming. I then placed the USB cable in and connected in Printrun - no restart yet. I then went to make the Y axis move and my laptop restarted! The bed also didn't move!

I then tried powering it up with the LCD display/sd card reader, to see if I could control it without the laptop, but it is still showing blocky artefacts like after the first frying.

I have given it another few tries, but they always result in the computer restarting. The usb port on my laptop doesn't appear to be damaged, but I do get scared every time I test.

I'm not too sure what else to test and it appears that it could be many things. Perhaps the voltage regulator on my Arduino? Maybe my powersupply is acting up? As you can tell, I'm a complete novice with electronics. If anyone could give any ideas, I would be incredibly thankful. Is it time to sell all my parts and get one of those cheapo Aldi printers?

Here's my config.h

Did the LCD show anyting reasonable at all? Maybe you have one of the LCDs, where the ribbon cables are the wrong way round. Some people have to cut off the polarity protection notch or remove the housing. Not sure, if that leads to overcurrent shut down, but you never know..
Another known issue is called "ground loop", the PSU and the laptop should be connected to the same wall socket, otherwise the USB cable can melt and cause all kind of hazards.

Are the drivers the right way around on the RAMPS?

Quote
SteveRoy
Are the drivers the right way around on the RAMPS?

They are all fitted so the sides with the screws are facing away from the bottom (the end where the power is connected). I believe this is the right way (this was one of the things I had initially thought I was doing wrong). I’ll send a pic when I get home.

You probably have a USB ground loop and a poor connection between the negative PSU output and the electronics. See [duet3d.dozuki.com]. That page is written for Duet electronics, but it is applicable to all 3D printer control electronics except the RAMBO family.

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Large delta printer [miscsolutions.wordpress.com], E3D tool changer, Robotdigg SCARA printer, Crane Quad and Ormerod

Disclosure: I design Duet electronics and work on RepRapFirmware, [duet3d.com].

Quote
o_lampe
Did the LCD show anyting reasonable at all? Maybe you have one of the LCDs, where the ribbon cables are the wrong way round. Some people have to cut off the polarity protection notch or remove the housing. Not sure, if that leads to overcurrent shut down, but you never know..
Another known issue is called "ground loop", the PSU and the laptop should be connected to the same wall socket, otherwise the USB cable can melt and cause all kind of hazards.

I can’t really see anything at all! But I did notice that it was brightly on when the wires were flipped, and kinda dim with some vaugue boxes in reverse. On one of the ways pushing the button actually made the “click” sound that it used to make. This was when it was plugged into the usb and not the wall.

That is really interesting regarding the ground loop. All the times I have had this shutdown, I have been running it off my battery. Is this a real stupid idea? Also replying to dc42 here!

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/16/2018 07:52AM by ferdibirdi.

Quote
ferdibirdi
That is really interesting regarding the ground loop. All the times I have had this shutdown, I have been running it off my battery. Is this a real stupid idea? Also replying to dc42 here!

Does your portable has a power supply with a grounded power plug or not ?

As for the printer power supply, most of the chinese one are an accident waiting to happen. They MUST be fitted with a grounded plug.
Ground loop may fry your electronic, but without proper ground, you may end up making the loop and fry ! Hope you have ground fault breaker.

Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 04/16/2018 11:39AM by MKSA.

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"A comical prototype doesn't mean a dumb idea is possible" (Thunderf00t)

If you were running your laptop off battery without a mains cable connected and no other mains powered devices connected to the laptop, then it's not s ground loop problem. Something is probably shorting +5V to ground, perhaps a miswired endstop switch or driver plugged in backwards.

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Large delta printer [miscsolutions.wordpress.com], E3D tool changer, Robotdigg SCARA printer, Crane Quad and Ormerod

Disclosure: I design Duet electronics and work on RepRapFirmware, [duet3d.com].

Here’s my wiring. Sorry, it’s the worst photo in the world! Note the heat sink fell off one of the stepper drivers just when unmounting the ramps.

Title should be "Reprap shorting laptop when plugging into USB" As I had this problem and it finally smoked the 3.5 inch USB card on my desktop.
Thankfully it only took out the removable 3.5 inch SD / USB Card slots could have taken the entire computer or worse my laptop.

I solved this problem I purchased two Raspberry Pi's 2 B's and I am running OctoPrint now, no need to install or remove the USB cable as they are always connected.
Now I send the File STL or GCODE over my wired network to the Raspberry pi's. While using a browser I can setup the printer and continue to watch the print in the other room.

I have install the emergency stop button, menu collapse, video camera full screen ect... to better control the 3D Printer from my environmental 3D Printer control center enclosure.

Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 04/17/2018 10:26AM by Roberts_Clif.

Quote
Roberts_Clif
I solved this problem I purchased two Raspberry Pi's 2 B's and I am running OctoPrint now, no need to install or remove the USB cable as they are always connected.
Now I send the File STL or GCODE over my wired network to the Raspberry pi's. While using a browser I can setup the printer and continue to watch the print in the other room.

I have install the emergency stop button, menu collapse, video camera full screen ect... to better control the 3D Printer from my environmental 3D Printer control center enclosure.

I’ve done this now (just with my raspberry pi 1b). Nice workaround. I’d much rather fry up a raspberry pi than a laptop!

I’m just waiting on a replacement mega- since it looks like the old one’s voltage regulator went. Hopefully history doesn’t repeat itself here...