Brand New and won't turn on!

[AD5CDA 3]

Hello to anyone listening.

 

I was excited to turn on my brand new S5 Pro Bundle today for the first time and, it won't turn on!  The Ultimaker logo flickers on the screen a couple times, then it gets stuck on a spinning wheel.  I did a hard shut down after about 30 minutes, then a hard shut down after about 15 minutes the 2nd time, and now I am about 20 minutes in on the 3rd start up and all I have is a spinning wheel!  Please tell me there is an an easy answer for this.  This is a very discouraging way to begin my relationship with my new EXPENSIVE toy.

[gr5 2,172]

Well that sucks.  I'd call the reseller immediately.  Pretty much all of them can deal with this kind of thing.

 

However I've heard of similar sounding issues from people on the forum (but usually not on the first day!) and here are some ideas:

1) Unplug the Air Manager and the material Station cables from the S5 so that there is no communication between them and then power up the printer.  Definitely give it at least 5 minutes.  If it boots up fine then after you go through the initial setup, try turning the printer off and reconnecting the "bundle".  This trick has helped many people.

 

2) Try the unbricking procedure also knows as "firmware recovery" procedure.  There are some notes about this here:

https://support.ultimaker.com/hc/en-us/articles/360019088780-Firmware-recovery-procedure-for-the-Ultimaker-S3-and-the-Ultimaker-S5-mid-2020-

 

One reason the recovery procedure may help is that the "hard drive" in the S5, which is a solid state drive or a "flash drive", can get a few bits corrupted - especially after a few years of use but also there can be something called "infant mortality" which is just referring to the fact that electronics usually fail in the first few hours or otherwise last quite a long time.

 

One issue with the firmware recovery procedure is that it involves removing the bottom cover and inserting a uSD card - it's not a trivial procedure and you should talk to your reseller about this first.

[gr5 2,172]

I watched 3 youtube videos just now about flyback diodes and this was the best one.  The electronic switch is the same kind of switch inside the ultimaker but you are planning to use a physical switch.  Probably if you used a huge switch like the light switch for your house - well the sparking will be minor inside and only create small pits if any inside the light switch that can probably last for many thousands of switchings.  But this high voltage can be a bit tough on the fan as well.

 

Well in the video the voltage only got up to 40V so obviously a switch rated for 120V or 240V should be fine without the flyback.  I'd still add the diode - if you are using a dimmer which is turning the fan on and off many times per second - that's a lot of 40V (every fan is different - could be 200V) spikes which can dammage the dimmer circuit.  Note that a dimmer designed for AC powered equipment won't work with 24V DC.  You need one designed for your situation.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXGtE3X2k7Y

 

 

[AD5CDA 3]

Thanks for the reply, GR5.  Most definitely sucks, especially right out of the box!  I will be calling the reseller as soon as they open (I'm on the west coast).  Your ideas make sense, and I may give them a go after talking to the reseller, but troubleshooting my brand new S5 right out of the box makes me think there will be more issues to come.  I'm thinking replacement.

[gr5 2,172]

Well every printer is tested.  Something happened between then and now.  Shipping can be rough but in this case I suspect the Linux computer board inside the printer just had some kind of infant mortality on a few bits of flash memory and reinstalling the firmware will fix it:

 

Flash memory these days have their own built in controller - really another whole computer - that detects and reroutes bad blocks automatically and also does load leveling.  The bad blocks are detected and marked to be never used again but meanwhile you have bad data there causing a bootup crash.  If you just reinstall the firmware, the flash will know to avoid the known bad blocks and should be fine going forwards.

 

[AD5CDA 3]

Thanks for the info.  We'll see what happens.  I've been nervous about the shipment from the get-go, since they decided to ship from their Pennsylvania location to me in North Idaho, so it was bouncing around in a truck for a week.  Then when it got here the freight company decided to take it off their truck, store it in their warehouse in 90+ degree temps, and deliver it to me a day late.  You may be right, but I have not felt comfortable about this and have had my fingers crossed it would all be good, so for it to not turn on has only added to my discomfort.

[gr5 2,172]

90+ temps aren't a problem.  But if they put a 200 pound box on top - that's a problem. And they often do that kind of thing.

[AD5CDA 3]

Update: I was waiting to do any troubleshooting until I heard back from the reseller, but after talking to them, your first idea would have put me on the right path.  Evidently there was a firmware conflict with the printer's mainboard and the new microcontrollers used in the Air Manager, so I unplugged the Air Manager last night and the S5 turned on.  From there I was able to update the firmware and when I plugged the Air Manager back in I was good to go!  Wasn't an ideal start to my journey with this machine, but I am happy it was an easy fix and now I can get going.  Thanks for your help, gr5.

[gr5 2,172]

You are welcome.  But I wish more people would believe me.  You are not the first person to tell me of this trick.  That's why I mentioned it.

 

Anyway it's probably good you spoke to the reseller.  Now you'll probably do that immediately if something else goes wrong (and check the forum as well of course!)  🙂