Problem- Sporadic VF3 network connection

[Pressco]

Finally got all 4 of our Haas machines to connect to our network. Whew! But now I have another problem:

Our VF-3, which has identical settings as the other 3 Haas machines besides a unique static IP, will only connect to the network about half the time or less. Seems only waiting and waiting and waiting will fix it. It does what it wants...

The other machines don't have this problem. Is there some setting on the VF3 that's causing a time-out or something? Any suggestions or helpful hints? We run everything off of net share, and this is really slowing things down.

Thanks!

Client (VF3, all office machines, all haas machines) > Ethernet > hub > switch > server

[KenFoulks]

Check the cable and assign a static IP.

[Pressco]

Cable is fine and it has a static IP.

[KenFoulks]

Then remove or change the static IP.

[Pressco]

Same effect. Been there already. Thanks for the suggestions though.

[KenFoulks]

That is just the beginner's troubleshooting.

Next step is to check the physical path of the cable, is there any point in the cable's path where noise might be introduced into the line? This could be a light, heater, motor, compressor, or other mechanical device.

After that, check the grounding of the machine. Is it going to the same position as the others? Is it grounded to the electrical box or a grounding rod?

[Pressco]

The cable is fine. You can plug anything into it all day long and those machines will connect, be it another machine on the floor or a laptop. It's JUST the VF3 which is why this is so annoying.

All 4 Haas machines ground to the same place, but I don't know whether it's a box or rod.

[KenFoulks]

What is the serial number and software version for all machines? There might be a software bug in that version.

[Pressco]

It's a new occurrence (we've had the machine for 6 months) so I don't think it is software. I will have to look at what version it is, I don't know off the top of my head. Is there a "known problems" list somewhere?


Thanks for your help. I appreciate it.

[Wizzard of H]

Do you have a way to check the cabling quality all the way to that machine?

One method is to bring a portable to that location and run it with the same cable that was plugged into the CNC machine.

Other more complicated way is to use "ping" from another computer on the nextwork and see if the network "sees" that CNC as connected. You might need a network geek to do that. Maybe wait until after it stops working and see if ping still replies.

[Pressco]

Originally Posted by Wizzard of H Do you have a way to check the cabling quality all the way to that machine? One method is to bring a portable to that location and run it with the same cable that was plugged into the CNC machine. Other more complicated way is to use "ping" from another computer on the nextwork and see if the network "sees" that CNC as connected. You might need a network geek to do that. Maybe wait until after it stops working and see if ping still replies.

You can ping the VF3 all day long from the server. You can ping the server from a laptop on the same cable. You can ping from the laptop to the VF3. You can ping from the server to a laptop connected to the same cable. It's just the VF3 randomly won't let you access the network even though nothing has changed. Sometimes you wait 5 minutes, other times 10 minutes, sometimes a matter of seconds and VOILA you can access it again. Which is the weird part.

[KenFoulks]

If I could get that info, I have the resources to troubleshoot it and I can tell you if the Haas is responsible. At the very least, do you know what kind of processor? MainCon, ColdFire, etc...