CNC Brain Startup Niggles.

[Dougal]

I've finally progressed from bench test to testing on the actual mill, but things are not going soo smoothly.

The first problem I've got is the CNC Brain not being recognised. This is a new computer which been recycled from other duties. I installed the CNC Brain software and it powered up fine, entered and exited the program about 4 times but now it's not showing.

The only option I get is "demo mode", it's not detecting the brain even though the brain internal lamp is on. Swapping USB ports doesn't change things. I'll give it a shot with a different computer (the one I was using for earlier tests) later and see how that goes.

Once I get that sorted, I'll need some help with the setup parameters for each axis.

[TOTALLYRC]

Keep posting and I will keep watching.
It looks like when it is fully up and running, it will be a good control option.

[striplar]

Does the unit work if you have only the USB port connected ie without any encoders or connections to M1 or M2?
The PC will earth the 0V on M1.25 and M2.25 and you will have huge stability problems if you connect 0v from these anywhere to ground.

You may get better responses from the CNC Brain forum at http://www.safeguardrobotics.com/default.aspx?tab=forum where there are some people, like myself, with real machines under development.

[Dougal]

Originally Posted by striplar Does the unit work if you have only the USB port connected ie without any encoders or connections to M1 or M2? The PC will earth the 0V on M1.25 and M2.25 and you will have huge stability problems if you connect 0v from these anywhere to ground. You may get better responses from the CNC Brain forum at http://www.safeguardrobotics.com/default.aspx?tab=forum where there are some people, like myself, with real machines under development.

It doesn't communicate with the machine unplugged either.
I have posted on the CNC Brain forums before, with two forums now it gets a little confusing as to which place will get the best response. I guess posting here is more likely to be found by others with the same questions or problems.

I suspect the computer, I will hopefully try another one tonight.

[Dougal]

Okay, I have re-created the problem.

The second computer (the one I used for testing) worked fine first time I plugged it in.
But then I accidentally kicked the power plug and the CNC brain lost power.

When the CNC brain got power again, the laptop picks it up as a new USB device and trys to look for drivers for it.
Once it starts the driver wizard (which I cancelled) it recognises it as a device without a driver and shows an error on an unknown usb device in the device manager.

How do I fix that?

[striplar]

The drivers are located at...
C:\Program Files\SafeguardRobotics\CNCBrain\Drivers
You should be able to right click the unknown device in the device manager and select to update the driver. Alternatively you can right click and choose properties to get to the drive tab and install it from there. When it asks about the driver, browse to the above location and it should hopefully install correctly.

[Dougal]

Originally Posted by striplar The drivers are located at... C:Program FilesSafeguardRoboticsCNCBrainDrivers You should be able to right click the unknown device in the device manager and select to update the driver. Alternatively you can right click and choose properties to get to the drive tab and install it from there. When it asks about the driver, browse to the above location and it should hopefully install correctly.

Unfortunately the device found won't accept those drivers.
Those are the onese I used to install the brain originally and they worked fine until it lost and regained power. Now Xp thinks it's something different.

It's almost like the brain needs reset. Is there a set time without power that will do that?

[striplar]

As far as I know, you just unplug it for say 1 minute and that's all. I would be inclined to force XP to uninstall the device and see if it will work correctly from scratch.
If you go to device manager and right click the unknown device, you can select 'uninstall' from there. Of course it's always possible that this isn't the device you think it is. I'll take a look at my system later and see how it's presented in the device manager.
Anyway, once you have done this you can click Action in the device manager menu and select 'scan for hardware changes'. You can then point the wizard at the driver to see if that works now.

[Dougal]

Originally Posted by striplar As far as I know, you just unplug it for say 1 minute and that's all. I would be inclined to force XP to uninstall the device and see if it will work correctly from scratch. If you go to device manager and right click the unknown device, you can select 'uninstall' from there. Of course it's always possible that this isn't the device you think it is. I'll take a look at my system later and see how it's presented in the device manager. Anyway, once you have done this you can click Action in the device manager menu and select 'scan for hardware changes'. You can then point the wizard at the driver to see if that works now.

I have done that many times, with no improvement. Once I've uninstaled the troublesome usb device driver (with show nonpresent and all that) I plug the CNC Brain back in and the cycle repeats.

Finds a new USB device, asks for a driver location and won't accept the normal CNC Brain drivers.

Where are the setup files located? I want to copy those out and reinstall the CNC Brain software to see if that helps. Then I can copy back in my setup files to avoid all that button clicking.

[striplar]

I've just checked my XP machine and it has the CNC Brain installed under 'Unisversal Serial Bus Controllers' as 'CNC Brain'. The driver is accessed from there.

I presume you mean the files that hold the Axis information for that machine. You will find those files at...
Program Files\Safeguard Robotics\CNC Brain\Machines\SN[xxxxxxxx]
There should be two folders 'Brain Control Panel' and 'CNC Brain' and I would copy everything there' I believe all of the information is stored as .xml files.

When you say that you have recreated the problem, do you also mean that it now doesn't work on either computer?

[Dougal]

Originally Posted by striplar I've just checked my XP machine and it has the CNC Brain installed under 'Unisversal Serial Bus Controllers' as 'CNC Brain'. The driver is accessed from there. I presume you mean the files that hold the Axis information for that machine. You will find those files at... Program FilesSafeguard RoboticsCNC BrainMachinesSN[xxxxxxxx] There should be two folders 'Brain Control Panel' and 'CNC Brain' and I would copy everything there' I believe all of the information is stored as .xml files.

Cheers.

Originally Posted by striplar When you say that you have recreated the problem, do you also mean that it now doesn't work on either computer?

Yes, same behaviour on both.
These computers are close to identical, one runs XP home, the other XP pro.

[Dougal]

Here is the device ID for the "unknown USB device" which I cannot get any drivers to attach to:
USB\VID_04B4&PID_8613\5&ABDE788&0&3

Here is the device ID for the CNC Brain which shows up as a "non present device"
USB\VID_04B4&PID_8613\5&ABDE788&0&3

Do these make any sense to anyone?

Uninstall and reinstall did not help.
Now I have no "CNC BRAIN" installed under USB Controllers, just the USB device errors.
Unplugging for a minute doesn't help, I'll leave it overnight.