Computer Stopped Responding

[Money Pit]

I was using the PCNCII this afternoon, and as I was moving around Mach3 screens, the mouse stopped responding for about 10 seconds. It happened a couple of times. At first, I thought it was my trackball type mouse, but what happened next makes me certain it is not. I picked up the jog controller, and moved the Z axis. I switched to the Y axis, and used the "spring" wheel part to move the table. I let go of the spring wheel, it returned to center, but the table kept moving! I freaked, and hit the EStop button. (It was major panic, as I haven't fixed the Y axis limit switch actuator yet, so it would have slammed the column)

My first thought was "time for a cold boot". I exited Mach3, and selected "Shut Down". It hung when trying to shut down. I turned the power strip off, waited a minute or so, and turned it back on. At this point, my memory gets a little fuzzy. I don't remember exactly how many times I booted and shut down. I am positive I had it hang a couple times while booting up, once at the "Intel" screen, and once at the black "Tormach" screen. It hung on a few shut downs too.

Grasping at straws, I stopped turning the power strip off and on, and used the push-button on the computer to boot. I think this might have helped the situation. Once I had a good boot, I ran the DriverTest program. It indicated about 23,600, and half of the bar indicator was green. There was an occasional small spike on the graph.

Following that, I used the mill for 3 hours without a hiccup. Lots of mousing, switching between screens, jog controller, in and out of wizards, and cutting in the air. After I was certain my G-code was good, I even made some chips.

So, has anyone else had something like this happen?

[gsnorcal]

I use a Tormach PCNC 1100 at the Tech Shop in San Francisco (I haven't yet pulled the trigger to get my own).

I have had this (or similar) problem. The USB seems really flaky and slow. I usually transfer my programs via USB memory stick. Takes forever to even see the stick. Then sometimes the whole USB bus flakes out (no mouse, keyboard, etc). I have also had it fail to shutdown when I try to reboot. I just end up doing a hard power down once it hangs.

I'm interested in hearing more about this problem and any solutions, too.

Dave

[bevinp]

I doubt that the problems are related.

I think Money Pit's problem could be a faulty printer cable or perhaps electromagnet interference on the cable. If you purchased the computer (with cable) from Tormach it will be the type that is properly shielded. If purchased elsewhere, I would get a new one from Tormach and ask for the "EMF choke" to fit to the cable.

If you still have a problem I think it might be the computer and as you know intermittent faults on computers are very hard to diagnose.
Good luck Money Pit.

Gsnorcal, your problem sounds like a USB cable or USB socket problem. Or perhaps it could be that your computer needs to have the USB driver updated. Try connecing other USB devices or a quality USB cable (some of the cheap ones have poor shielding).

And good luck to you.

[Magnum164]

Are you by chance running a network card or any other software on this machine, like a virus software?

You didn't mention if this was a Tormach controller or another computer.

[Money Pit]

Update:
I've been using the mill for a few hours/day the last few days. No further problems have occurred*. I no longer switch the power strip off after shut down. I use shut down on the PC, and then turn the monitor off with it's switch. Powering on, I press the button on the PC. (Doubt this had anything to do with it, but hey, I'll try anything)

*Not exactly. Killed a $20 TinAlN end mill, when I left out a G01, and sent it into the material at "rapid". Oops... (Wife's comment: Ooooh, nice sparks!)


gsnorcal:
I thought it might be an intermittent connection too, until the jog controller incident. The table kept moving after I released the jog controller. You would think that the table would have stopped if the connection were "lost".

bevinp:
I purchased the computer and cable from Tormach. Yes, I know, good luck with those intermittent hardware problems. I will admit that all the cables are running in a 1" ID split loom. At first, I wondered if that might be a problem, but the last few days of no problems, indicates no.

Magnum164:
No network cards or anything else. It's bone stock. I'm even nervous to leave my USB SD card reader plugged in any longer than it takes to transfer files.

[btu44]

I have had instablity with my USB devices on my machine also. I had good results changing in the BIOS, the USB speed from "Hi-Speed" to "Full Speed". It may or may not help but won't cause harm either.

[zephyr9900]

This is kind of like the group of blind guys describing an elephant. We all have different aspects of a (possible) solution. After a bad experience with a couple of external USB hubs (one powered, one unpowered) I lead all the USB components (keyboard, mouse, jog shuttle, thumbdrive socket) back directly to the motherboard, with good double-shielded Belden extension cables with heatshrink over the cable-to-extension cable joint. I don't run gcode from the thumbdrive, but transfer to the hard drive first.

Randy

[Money Pit]

Update #2:

It happened again today. Hung while is was editing GCode. I was typing the word "comment", and it stopped responding at the "o". Kept hitting the "m" key, and finally six "m"s appeared in the editor. Then I ran a single line of GCode, "G01 x 2 y -4 z -8 f10". The mill started moving, and then stopped twice, for a second or so each time, before completing the instruction. Time to call Tormach for advice. Maybe a wipe and re-install of everything?

[Magnum164]

Might want to run a memory test on the computer.

[Money Pit]

I thought I would post the resolution of the problem. Tormach sent a DVD to re-install all the software. Tried to use it, but had all kinds of problems booting the computer. When I finally got it to boot without hanging, there was no DVD drive shown in Explorer. Emailed Tormach, and they sent a new computer. That appears to have solved all the problems.