Original Ultimaker Connection Issues.

[motogpfan82 0]

Hi everyone, how’s it going? I’m having a connection issue with my original Ultimaker and was wondering if you all could offer some advice on what’s wrong. My Ultimaker has been sitting for a month or two and when I went to use it the other day I couldn’t get it to communicate with Cura. I updated to the newest version of Cura, and plugged my Ultimaker into my computer. When I plugged it into my computer Windows automatically recognized a USB device was plugged in and downloaded the Arduino drivers. I ran the Cura first time setup wizard, it was able to upgrade the Marlin firmware, but after that when I went to run checks it couldn't communicate with the machine and kept giving me an error. I restarted Cura and tried to upload the firmware again to see if there was a connection, but no connection to the machine could be found.

I have a spare Arduino and spare Chinese imitation Ultimaker PCB control board I was going to use for a custom printer build and decided to hook that up to my Ultimaker to see if that would work. I got the same results as with the original Ultimaker electronics. I hooked everything up, plugged it into my computer, Windows automatically recognized a USB device and downloaded the Arduino drivers. I then ran the Cura first time setup wizard, again it was able to upgrade the Marlin firmware on it, and then like the original after when I went to run the checks it Cura couldn't communicate with the machine and gave me the same error as I got with the original electronics. I restarted Cura and tried to upload the firmware again to see if there was a connection, and just like with my original Ultimaker electronics, no connection to the machine and Cura could be found.

I tried different combinations of the two boards and Arduinos and but could never get them to communicate with Cura. I have also tried numerous different USB cables and about three different PC’s to rule anything like that. I also tried hooking just the Arduino’s, and just the Arduino and board together without steppers and stuff up to Cura and still couldn't get any communication. Any ideas what the problem could be? I've spent all day trying to trouble shoot this and still can’t get my machine to work. Any helps appreciated. Thanks!!!

 

[anon4321 16]

Do your have a heated bed and did you select the UM1+self built heated bed option (possibly by mistake)? If so, Cura flashes the firmware for the soon to be released UM1 heated bed upgrade. The problem is that the upgrade uses a different temp sensor than most self built kits. This means the firmware is basically wrong for a self built bed. This causes the firmware to immediately enter a BED TEMP error mode.

If you have a self built bed, you can rebuild the firmware and reflash it and the printer will work. However, in my case, for reasons I don't understand, I needed to remove the arduino and use the arduino IDE to flash the firmware as Cura was completely unable to communicate with the printer

 

[motogpfan82 0]

Nope, no heated bed at all. Definitely made sure everything was checked correctly like which Ultimaker, heatbed, etc.

 

[anon4321 16]

Is it still stock? did you mod anything like a different extruder/hotend with a different temp sensor?

 

[motogpfan82 0]

Yep, everything is still stock. Nothing has been modded.

 

[anon4321 16]

sorry then I got nothing. You can get the version of Cura that was working at the link below and install it and then get the firmware from it and try flashing it through the Arduino IDE.

http://software.ultimaker.com/?show=all

Do you have the ulticontroller? Does it display any messages?

You could try a terminal program like putty to connect directly and see if the print is outputting anything. speed will either be

250000 or 115200

Check the implicit CR with every LF option under Terminal and force local echo on.

 

[motogpfan82 0]

Yeah this is a hard one to figure out. I tried older versions of Cura, but after that first firmware update Cura won't recognize the machine to put an older version on. I do have a ulticontroller like device that I just hooked up this afternoon, instead of showing usual temp, X,Y, Axis, etc, it's just white squares covering the display.

This is the error log I get:

Changing monitoring state from 'Offline' to 'Detecting serial port'

Connecting to: COM8 (programmer)

Error while connecting to COM8: 'Timeout'

Serial port list: [u'COM8']

Connecting to: COM8 with baudrate: 250000 (auto)

Trying baudrate: 230400

Send: M105

Baudrate test retry: 4

Send: M105

Baudrate test retry: 3

Send: M105

Baudrate test retry: 2

Send: M105

Baudrate test retry: 1

Send: M105

Baudrate test retry: 0

Send: M105

Trying baudrate: 115200

Send: M105

Baudrate test retry: 4

Send: M105

Baudrate test retry: 3

Send: M105

Baudrate test retry: 2

Send: M105

Baudrate test retry: 1

Send: M105

Baudrate test retry: 0

Send: M105

Trying baudrate: 57600

Send: M105

Baudrate test retry: 4

Send: M105

Baudrate test retry: 3

Send: M105

Baudrate test retry: 2

Send: M105

Baudrate test retry: 1

Send: M105

Baudrate test retry: 0

Send: M105

Trying baudrate: 38400

Send: M105

Baudrate test retry: 4

Send: M105

Baudrate test retry: 3

Send: M105

Baudrate test retry: 2

Send: M105

Baudrate test retry: 1

Send: M105

Baudrate test retry: 0

Send: M105

Trying baudrate: 19200

Send: M105

Baudrate test retry: 4

Send: M105

Baudrate test retry: 3

Send: M105

Baudrate test retry: 2

Send: M105

Baudrate test retry: 1

Send: M105

Baudrate test retry: 0

Send: M105

Trying baudrate: 9600

Send: M105

Changing monitoring state from 'Detecting serial port' to 'Closed'

Changing monitoring state from 'Closed' to 'Error: No more baudrates to test, and no s...'

Connection closed, closing down monitor

 

Thanks for the help.

 

[anon4321 16]

Hmmm I've seen the white squares when the temperature error occurs. Check the connections for the sensor all the way back to the board.

Also try putty which will allow you to connect directly. The problem with Cura is if it doesn't get exacltly what it expects, it sequences through the baud rates. The might prevent you from seeing the error.

http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/download.html

You can probably update the firmware through the arduino ide. One way is to download the source, compile it and let the IDE flash the firmware. There are other ways but the IDE might be a little less technical.

Source is here:

https://github.com/Ultimaker/Marlin%C2%A0

If you don't have git, use the download zip on the right.

Arduino IDE is here: http://arduino.cc/en/Main/Software

See Compiling here http://wiki.ultimaker.com/Marlin_firmware_for_the_Ultimaker

 

[motogpfan82 0]

Thanks, I'll try that. Not sure if this matters, but forgot to mention, if I go to Device Manager in Windows, under my Ports (COM & LPT), Arduino Mega 2560 (COM8) appears, so I'm guessing my PC is recognizing the connection so would that rule out broken PCB board or Arduino?

 

[anon4321 16]

in my experience, the arduino and shield are probably fine. Something is causing the firmware into an error state as soon as it is reset. This trips up Cura's attempt to communicate with it.

You might have better luck with getting more info using putty.