PRS Alpha Stuutering and Spindle won't start

[ssflyer]

Hi all,

I've had this machine since 2009, and it has performed pretty much flawlessly. I came in yesterday, and when trying to move in x or y, it stutters badly enough it sounds ready to break something. Z seems OK. Then I also noticed that my spindle won't start. When I toggle output 1 and hit start, absolutely nothing happens.

All my mains voltages are fine. When I power up with the control box open, there is a 7-segment display that cycles 1,2,3 and repeats. When I hit reset to start the machine, the display goes out, but there is a small red LED that comes on this display. All the oter LED's appear to be OK.

I tried updating the sb3 to version 3.8.50 from 3.8.46, including updating the firmware. No change. I also noticed that running UD diagnostics, I'm showing, Supply VDC = (no reading). I can't see any indication of damage to the boards - it all looks pristine!

Any ideas, or more troubleshooting info on the control boards? The board says v. 201a

Thanks and best regards,
Ron

[srwtlc]

Hey Ron,

Since converting mine over to Centroid/Acorn, my "memory picture" of these is starting to fade, but do you have full power to the drivers (LED's lit and enabled)? It sounds like your controller might be ok, since you were able to obtain a connection and upgrade the firmware. Can you check power supply voltages? I wonder if your mainboard has gone bad or maybe a power supply. Does your spindle fan spin up (24V)? You could try jumpering output 1 to see if the spindle kicks in.

Might want to check with SB HQ.

[ssflyer]

Thanks Scott,

All LED's appear normal and the spindle and fan work fine. The spindle part was a brain fart on my part - didn't have the keypad open when I turned on output 1.

The issue looks to me to be a communications issue, perhaps due to some insidious Windows Update. I re-installed the firmware and just replaced the USB hub, along with changing ports - same result, massive stuttering on X and Y moves.

[srwtlc]

If you are on 3.8 yet, try the UD again and see what the Packet ET's are, or if on 3.6, see what the transmission % is with the usb test file that is in the install directory. Not sure of the path for that, since I don't have it installed anywhere. Could try swapping with the Z to see if it follows the Y or stays with the driver. Try another PC.

[scottp55]

Just a thought Ron.
Similar things happened to our 2 machines, and didn't affect Z for some reason.
Luckily the first time, the keyboard died the next day and made it obvious...and swapping it out fixed it.
Happened 3 more times over the years...once again a keyboard/mouse 2 times/and then a loose HDMI connection.
Cleaning USB ports fixed 2 times...other times swapping out peripherals solved it(but peripherals died shortly after on a different computer).

May just want to clean USBs connections and swap peripherals out to eliminate easy fixes?
scott

[bill.young]

It may be a hardware issue and the tech support team can help you work though that, but when things work one day and then act odd the next, I suspect a corrupted setting file with something like the unit values being out of whack.

It's a quick and easy fix if it is...type UR for Utilities Reset and follow the steps. Just be certain to select the correct type of tool when you are asked to pick your new settings file.

This is basically a factory reset, so afterwards you will have to redo any settings that you may have modified over the years, like a z-axis upgrade or non-default pinion gears?

[dlcw]

I've had many instances of everything working on Friday when I shut the machine off then Monday morning weird things are happening. The only thing I have been able to figure out is that when shutting down on Friday, somehow configuration settings got corrupted so Monday morning is a nightmare trying to get it working again. Or maybe Gremlins are crawling into the computer or control box over the weekend. One of those "WHY?" moments....

[coryatjohn]

I think one probable reason why these configuration files get corrupted is from shutting down a computer by putting it to sleep, then while it's asleep, the power fails or the computer resets itself (Windows is like God and works in mysterious ways), which could corrupt files that are open. My suggestion would be to first, make sure your computer is on a UPS and second, on Friday, shut the computer down completely by going through the power down sequence instead of pressing the power button (that puts it to sleep).

[dlcw]

My machine is NOT connected to a network (no auto Windows updates). I shut down ShopBot control using File->Exit. I turn off my computer using the Start>Shutdown. I use an Acer All-In-One PC. The sleep when pushing the power button is turned off. I shut down screen savers and all power saver modes. Don't need the machine gong to sleep in the middle of cutting a job.

This has been my routine since I started using my machine in 2009. I still get fairly regular (4 to 5 times a year) that I shut down on Friday, turn on Monday morning and nothing works correctly. Computer is working just fine. The CNC (or control software) has some sort of a brain fart while it's sleeping, LOL.

I've never been able to track down why this happens. Just spend a half day getting my machine running again. Then it's good for a few months, then repeat.....

[coryatjohn]

I've had the corrupt settings problem happen to me once since 2013. I traced it back to a power failure while the computer was sleeping. Luckily, I did screenshots of all the settings pages because of this potential problem so I was back up in minutes instead of hours. I suggest doing the same. Take screenshots, save them in a folder you can find and when you have the Friday-Monday problem, just compare the screenshots to the actual values and adjust accordingly.

[srwtlc]

You can save your configuration as a settings file (MySettings.sbd) and then reload it when "corruption" happens (not if, but when).

[coryatjohn]

You can save your configuration as a settings file (MySettings.sbd) and then reload it when "corruption" happens (not if, but when).

Unless that file gets corrupted. That's why I like the screenshot thing. I have it on a completely different system (my phone) and I can look at it while paging through the settings.

[srwtlc]

That's the point of saving one with your custom settings (or none) and keeping it as a backup in several places, hard drive, USB drive, another PC, cloud, etc..... When you need it, you just reload it, no need to manually enter values from a picture. ;)

[bill.young]

Ron Sloan...did you ever solve your problem?

[ssflyer]

Hi all,

Thanks for all the suggestions. Sorry for taking so long to get back - been slammed with a rush order for Christmas.
It turned out to be the anti-virus software that I've been using for years, BitDefender. (I know, but I need it connected to the internet) Never been any problem, before. This time, after an update, it turned on, "Advanced Threat Detection", that I always had turned off. Time to ditch Bitdefender - the built-in Microsoft Defender is good enough these days and doesn't appear to turn **** on by itself. BTW, I turn off my wireless before running a job.

[bill.young]

Glad you got it figured out...that must have been a hard one to track down!