Resetting firmware

[variador 0]

Just finished finding a problem where the UM would start printing out of alignment near the beginning of the second layer because the firmware became corrupted.

Tried resetting the firmware from Cura 13.03 , didn't work.

Went to Cura 12.12 and tried from there, didn't work.

Went to replicator 26 and tried from there, didn't work.

Went to Netfabb and tried reset machine settings.

Went back to Cura 13.03 reset firmware. Took 5 times to connect.

Once connected it printed in alignment for the entire print.

Why is firmware so hard to reset, for me anyway?

I use arduinos and make little sketch changes all the time and never need to upload twice.

Does this arduino need to be cleared in some way before uploading?

This is the same problem you encounter if you want to go back to Cura 12.12 for some reason. Cura 12 won't work after making 13 work with firmware change.

Why won't the firmware from 12 reinstall?

Is this the same problem?

Do I ask too many questions in one message? :-)

Is a firmware upload the same as uploading a sketch to arduino?

Could someone point me in a direction of enlightenment?

Thank you

[illuminarti 18]

That's really weird, variador. And pretty frustrating sounding. But the differences between the recent versions of the firmware shipped with Cura are not that great, and I'd be very surprised if they changed anything significantly about your printer. I suppose its possible that there might be a slightly different default setting in an earlier version of the firmware, and that is showing up some mechanical issue with the printer, but in general not a lot has changed recently.

I think it's also unlikely that firmware 'corruption' in and of itself would cause the printer to print out of alignment on the second layer... so far as the firmware is concerned, even the concept of layers is a bit meaningless - it just deals with individual axis movements, one set at a time. If any of them work (e.g., to print the first layer) then there's no particular reason that they all won't work, so far as the firmware is concerned.

If I had to guess, I'd say that you possibly experienced some skipped steps during a 'fast travel move' as the printer was moving into position to start the second layer. You might want to check your speed and acceleration settings, and perhaps lower the travel move speed a bit. It might be that the earlier firmware had lower maximum speeds compiled in, and that might have slowed the troublesome moves to the point that they were no longer causing problems.

I've never had problems uploading firmware to the printer, and I do it a lot. And I'm not aware of any reason why you shouldn't be able to move back and forth between versions at will. There's nothing that ties together Cura and particular firmware versions - Cura creates standard gcode, and the firmware understands it. Pretty much any version of Cura should talk to any version of the firmware.

It sounds more like some sort of USB issue - which could be on the printer end, but equally could be on the computer side, or perhaps the cable. I'd be inclined to try different ports and cable just to try and narrow that down. And I'd also be sure to power cycle the printer when switching between client programs, just to be sure that you're starting from a known-good state.

It's an odd problem, and it shouldn't be that hard to upload firmware and connect. Let us know if you're able to narrow down the problem any.

 

[albert 2]

Hi Illuminarti,

I would like to know how I can "downdate" to coin a word - to an earlier version of the firmware.

My machines awre now running with the firmware version that comes with CURA 13.03. I really like the progress as far as the display on the Ulticontroller is concerned- all of a sudden there are long file names, and more info on the display. But when I updated the machine I asked myself "what if for some reason the new firmware won't work?" I suddenly realized that I did not know the way back....Sometimes there might be bugs in newer versions of a firmware, and I am not well versed in the handling of the Arduino. I'm basically an artist who always had bad grades in math....

[illuminarti 18]

You can just download a previous version of Cura, and run the install firmware option from that. The firmware hex files live inside the Cura application folder structure - you might want to find the hex files and copy them separately onto your hard disk somewhere, and that way you will always have them handy. Then you can just use the 'Install Custom Firmware' option in Cura, and point it at whichever hex file you want to load, if you want to go back to an older version that you have saved.

 

[albert 2]

Thank you very much!

I had a scare this afternoon when my hotend went into thermal runaway after a firmware update. Turned out the update had nothing to do with it but it got me thinking....

[calinb 11]

>I think it's also unlikely that firmware 'corruption' in and of itself would cause the printer to

>print out of alignment on the second layer...

 

Yes. It's puzzling, illuminarti, but I've seen it happen. I'm using an Ulticontroller and printing from an SD card. I've had something like this happen at the very beginning of a print and it didn't matter what slicer / gcode I attempted to print. The head homed just fine, but when the print started, the UM printed offset in X/Y (I think both X and Y) in the wrong place!

I think it's happened to me three times since I assembled my Ultimaker last October under three different firmware revisions, including at least once with a .hex file that shipped with Cura. Power cycling, restoring safe defaults from the Ulticontroller, etc. did not fix the failure in any case. The only fix I've found is to re-flash the firmware. I'm using the Arduino 1.0 IDE to compile custom firmware and flash, but you could just use Cura to flash (update) with the standard Cura firmware.

<set rant on>

The electronics board assembly quality that shipped with my Ultimaker sucks! The only board that exhibits good workmanship is the little TC amplifier board on the print head. I've now disassembled my Ulticontroller three times to correct solder defects and I've spent more time trying to keep my Ulticontroller working correctly than I spent assembling my entire Ultimaker! The last time I disassembled the UC, I had to de-solder the LCD display single row header (very time-consuming) and re-solder it twice before I got the UC working right. Many components on the board cannot be accessed without removing the display and the alignment of the LCD connectors on the board fingers is much more critical than with most LCD displays. I finally installed a very low profile socket for the LCD display to aid servicing, but this also required milling 0.200" deep relief into the wood face place for LCD display bezel clearance.

Given the problem I've experienced, I'd prefer kits that DO NOT come with assembled electronics and connectors. I would have spent less time soldering and crimping them together myself than I've spent dealing with the poor workmanship of the boards. No--I'm not drinking much UM user Kool-Aid after my last UC rework session, where I reflowed ALL the solder on the boards.

Unless a perspective user is capable, equipped, and willing to rework poorly assembled electronics boards, I would not recommend an Ultimaker purchase at this time--kit or fully assembled. My failures have all been related to poor solder, causing intermittent shorts and opens, and the failures are latent. They are just as likely to rear their ugly head down the road with a fully assembled and warrantied UM (good for DHL, though :(). I suspect that Daid will say my experiences are rare (as he's responded to other similar reports). Given that I have multiple boards exhibiting poor workmanship, I'm not so sure. I have also seen several forum reports of similar problems, or problems that may very well have a root cause similar to my failures.

 

[illuminarti 18]

Calin, I can totally understand where you're coming from - those sort of electronics problems can be really frustrating, and very hard for most users to diagnose.I certainly wouldn't know where to begin. I'm fortunate that I haven't had that sort of problem so far.

Perhaps the only difference between your experiences and what variador experienced is that in his case the print failed on the second layer, rather than as soon as the print started.

 

[calinb 11]

Yes, this is only why I mentioned it here, but it's a tough problem to debug. And now that I think about it, it may have been on the second layer for me too, because the netfabb gcode files have a nozzle prime/test pattern on the first layer and it printed okay but then it went to the wrong place to print the part. Very strange indeed!

I tried some Cura gcode on it too, but the print had a very small footprint and, when I saw the head go to the wrong place, I knew it wasn't netfabb related (plus I'd printed these files previously with no trouble). I wasn't very hopeful when I resorted to re-flashing the firmware the first time but it cured it. When I saw the problem the second and third times, I knew what to do!

After twice previously fixing solder problems (a poorly soldered through hole that resulted in an intermittent open, and a solder splash outside of the solder mask, resulting in an intermittent short) that I decided to just de-solder the display and reflow/resolder all the solder on the boards!

Sorry that I was still stinging when I started writing, from most of a weekend's worth of Ulticontroller rebuilding, but my machine is running very well now. I've been printing non-stop since the weekend. By the way, I'm still very happy with your menu fixes! It really makes the UC work as I originally expected it to function.

 

Calin, I can totally understand where you're coming from - those sort of electronics problems can be really frustrating, and very hard for most users to diagnose.I certainly wouldn't know where to begin. I'm fortunate that I haven't had that sort of problem so far.

Perhaps the only difference between your experiences and what variador experienced is that in his case the print failed on the second layer, rather than as soon as the print started.

 

[signe 0]

Dear all.

We too have met with this problem. After checking all physical hardware (tightening a few screws as well) we are now down to software.

We use the current build of Cura and have uploadet the default marlin firmware (twice).

Any ideas?

Signe

 

[mihan 0]

Hi, after "completing" and thoroughly aligning the fully assembled UM, which came in a complete mess inside from outside untouched delivery box, with loosen front X belt etc. and after upgrading the firmware with Merlin from Cura 13.04 I see the same problem: small models go sloppy after cca 0.5 cm in Z axis, but larger models start to misalign in both X and Y axis just after first or second layer. If I do not stop the printing process immediately, the head start to bump into both X and Y stops in shorter and shorter moves, so there is no other option than stop the printing at all... Any suggestions how to proceed would be much appreciated.

Originally I made the purchase of the fully assembled printer for architectural models, but did not know that it is so FAR from plug&play...

Mike

 

[sandymaker 0]

Hi Mike,

I have the same Problem!

first layer start with printing near home, instead in the middle of the platform, as per default defined.

any idea, how this phenomenon could be solved?

 

greetings

sandy