another com error

[blazinon3z]

hi im new to the forums here and i have a shopbot sb3 and lately ive been running into the problem that when my shopbot is running and any random point the spindle will stay running but my computer will say missing com and i will have to restart my computer and re-zero all axis's and try and re-run the cut. normal jobs that should take an hour are taking me days and ive called shopbot for support and they havent been very helpful. if anybody has any input that could help it would be greatly appreciated thank you!

[adrianm]

There are pages and pages of information about missing comms problems on the forum.

Enter this into Google "comm error site:talkshopbot.com"

The usual suspects are background processes (virus scanners, screen savers, program updaters etc) kicking in on the control PC and grounding problems.

[dana_swift]

The new beta control software has a feature to attempt to recover from communication loss without stopping the job. (Thanks to the developers!) I dont get comm errors on my bot, so I cant tell if its an improvement or not. The current stable release probably has some recovery built-in also, but clearly not enough. If you can quit the software and restart, the software could "do it itself" and keep running from where it dropped off.

The Beta software is Beta (not stable), but it may stop the problem by correcting itself without your intervention. (I wonder if it notifies us that correction was required so we can improve our grounding? Rather than just hiding the problem).

Anybody at the factory care to comment? Is this a good recommendation for people experiencing comm errors?

D

[blazinon3z]

Another problem that i have is when i do tool changes, when i click back into cut mode it has some other error that doesn't say comm error. Ive searched though Google and on here i just haven't managed to find any real fixes Ive almost pulled all of my hair out trying to figure it out

[adrianm]

Not sure I understand what you mean by "click back into cut mode" when changing tools.

What is the error that comes up?

[blazinon3z]

it says "can not find any active ports"

[jkaras]

We had the same comm error symptoms that you explain. We installed a USB 2.0 drive into our computer, that didn't work. We grounded the **** out of our Shopbot, still didn't completely solve it. Humidifier for reducing static electricity, still doin it. Separate all the power wires from data wires, maybe helped a little, but still comm errors. I hooked up my newer laptop, no problems at all. We then bought a new computer and the comm errors have never happened since. I think it was processing speed.

[jkaras]

Also our new computer is completely bare bones and 100% dedicated to the Shopbot. We have no background processes running either. I hope you figure it out.