Melzi won't connect to PC

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bobbing
Posts: 2
Joined: Thu Jan 23, 2014 4:54 am

Melzi won't connect to PC

Post by bobbing » Tue Feb 11, 2014 11:56 pm

I'm building a Mendel 90 and today switched on for the first time. All the stepper motors drove the axes against the stops, the extruder operated, the extruder heater and fan operate as does the bed heater. To allow progress i detached the motor connections from the board. I have downloaded the FTDI drivers and they are shown as being present in device manager in USB serial port under COM3 and there is a USB converter in the USB converters.
I have downloaded the Arduino software and under tools/hardware there is no Meltzi 644P.
Also if i go to My Computer there is no indication of a connection to the printer.
If I go to Pronterface and click connect it sits showing "connecting..."
I'm clearly doing something wrong. Help!
Bob

Twisty
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Jun 24, 2014 8:34 am

Re: Melzi won't connect to PC

Post by Twisty » Tue Jun 24, 2014 8:56 am

Ive got a reprap i2 kit with a melzi ardenstissimo board. This exact same board is seen apparently controlling an identical machine to mine (kit bought it came with wrong parts compared to the B.O.M. which was frustrating) The software that came with it wouldnt work on my WIn7 PC yet referenced this O/S in the documentation which exactly like these Wiki Pages of wisdom was all over the fricking place with multiple half baked copies of everything remotely related to ANY developmement or "improvement' on the original Darwin and Huxley printers. Woe is me, it's all doing my head in, but each time I see the extruder and hot plate heating up (allegedly in the case of the E) and the motors swinging into action I feel renewed excitement & hope for getting everything working one day.

SOMEONE posted online that Wireless Meeces or Keyboards can interfere with use of Ports linking PC to 3D printer. I'd say this is correct as one of the error messages to flash past my eyes def said something about the MOUSE. Helpfully, though QBoney's youtube uploaded vid of the Melzi board driving MY 3D printer model is encouraging, he fails to post where he obtained Repetier 0.83 which like the 0.91 version doesnt exist in this Universe, but a seemingly random collection of files that I dont know what to do with - they do exist - was found on Github? :) argh! TRY borrowing a corded mouse/keyb and see if that makes any difference; also try earlier versions of drivers or software versions and if you have a Win 7 or 8 PC try running as Administrator with Compatibility set to Win XP SP2.. or even earlier. Crap I know but one of these solutions may help. Repetier gets the EXT and plate working, Replicator G gets the motors and plate but no extruder Heating. I also noticed when trying every possible randomised combination of Rep Installations that the software leaves data behind in unconnected directories which is then read by the next Install. Hm. THAT seems to be relevant as it causes pointers to point to incorrect directories during the new install's operation. Thats a flaw surely? Plan Z is to remove ALL copies of Repetier and any other 3D printer-related software from my PC and keep them all on DVD, then from a cleaned Registry and steam-cleaned hard drive, start again with a single laod of the s/w that got me closest to Everything Working, then go from there.

I have no clue about Python/Pyglet or Java but these too are sources of TROUBLE if the wrong combination of versions are installed. And then there's .NetFX which has to be 3.5 for early SD software setups and 4.0 or higher for others. Any advice or halp you can now post in reply will be appreciated. All to the good.
Sally

Alex-w
Posts: 148
Joined: Thu Jun 05, 2014 2:24 pm

Re: Melzi won't connect to PC

Post by Alex-w » Tue Jun 24, 2014 10:23 am

our board‘s bootloard support windows os 。
here is arduino IDE‘s link:http://www.geeetech.com/wiki/images/0/0 ... -1.0.1.zip
here is firmware’s link :http://www.geeetech.com/wiki/images/9/9 ... rinter.zip
here is Printrun ’Introduction and how to install:http://reprap.org/wiki/Printrun

Twisty
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Jun 24, 2014 8:34 am

Re: Melzi won't connect to PC

Post by Twisty » Wed Jul 02, 2014 5:24 am

Sean, thanks for posting those links but Ive already got that far. I find Ive now followed so much advice that my PC is full of files which all purport to run together as one configurable 3D printer-driving suite, but dont seem to, as thousands of other perfectly smart folk are finding out. There may be a problem with having a wireless mouse/keyboard in use, I saw someone mention this and Ive also found ref's to this in other posts advising use of a section of code which allows non default posts to be assigned to other hardware. I also tried removing and even uninstalling my modem as it's port use seemed to interfere with the one was assigned to the usb link to the Melzi board. Various programs have had the motors working and the heated bed, but not also the Extruder. Others get E +HB but no motors. It didnt help that I doscovered that half the files hadnt unzipped and organised themselves into a copy of the pre-zipped directory structure, so continuing that process presumably got me a step closer. When I have motor control and hit HOME, the printhead continues trying to escape off the left side of the machine. THUD! I will get there eventually but it's annoying to be finding files for the same software setup with the same name and the exact same machines referenced within, but conflicting PIN assignments. Who thought that up :)

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