Losing faith in my 'Buddy'

[richard_saylor]

I have a Buddy PRS Standard BT32. It's been working perfectly for hundreds of hours of perfect cuts until last week. It started having problems finding the comm port, so with help from ShopBot techhelp, I reloaded the firmware. This worked for a couple days. Then I was in the middle of a cut file when I realized the Y axis was not working. I had a nice set of cuts along the X axis. So I reloaded the firmware and no luck this time, the software could not recognize the hardware.
I opened both computer cases, blew them out. They didn't seem to be warm or dusty. I tried booting everything up again, and success! I ran through some more cut files. Half way through the third file I got the yellow error msg window. Comm port not recognized again. Fortunately, everything justed stopped. I rebooted, reloaded the firmware, rebooted and now the comm port was recognized but the Keypad would not work. After several more attempts at reloading and rebooting everything seemed normal again.
Nothing has changed for literally years. The shop is the same, the grounding the same, the weather's always the same(wet in the winter, dry in the summer). After searching comm error problems on the forum, the only thing that is unusual with my case is missing the control on one axis that one time. Also the software seemingly recognizing the hardware and then not being able to use the keypad.
So, here I am, not wanting to sacrifice more expensive hardwood to the machine.
Anyone have any ideas where to start troubleshooting?

[jerry_stanek]

Try doing a UR to reset your machine to default settings and rerun the setup then do a firmware update and see what happens.

[Brady Watson]

Your USB hardware could be on it's way out. I would install a PCI to USB expansion card (Staples or Best Buy should have them locally) and a new USB 2.0 self powered hub. The computer USB hardware can get flaky and unreliable. By putting in a new USB card, you get it on it's own USB channel separate from all the other USB devices and you'll probably get a COM speed boost compared to your current setup.

-B

[richard_saylor]

Thanks for the suggestion Jerry. I did what you recommended and am still hesitant to run any 'real' wood through it. I'll try running some files on sheetgoods.
Is there any online troubleshooting guide? I remember asking ShopBot about this after I bought the machine. All I need is a logical system to trace down a problem. That and a log of user problems and solutions.
Anyway, in the meantime, I'll take whatever ideas you have into consideration short of magic.;)

[richard_saylor]

Thanks Brady! That sounds like a distinct possibility. This old XP is getting mighty long in the tooth. I could also hook up my Windows 7 laptop if guys out there aren't having problems with that platform.

[richard_saylor]

Got the new USB board. Could be my imagination, but everything seems to work faster. Since then, I've only had one problem. Upon booting the machine one morning, the Keypad wouldn't move the router. I rebooted everything, and all was well.

[adrianm]

The keypad not working is usually the window losing focus. Next time it happens try clicking on the yellow keypad window first.

[richard_saylor]

The Keypad definitely had focus. I was inputting numbers into the X Y and Z positions as well as using the arrows on the keyboard. The readout was acting as though the machine was moving, but the machine was static.

[Brady Watson]

Close SB3.

Run SpeedTest.exe in the ProgramFiles\ShopBot\Diagnostic folder.

Post your efficiency percentage.

You are running the latest version of the SB3 (v3.6.44) AND you ran the UI command to update the firmware, yes?

-B

[richard_saylor]

Yes, latest version of the SB3 (v3.6.44) AND the UI command to update the firmware. Ran Speedtest and got 35.7 kHz and 77.5% transmission efficiency.