Connection to arduino broken (sort of)

[tjhawkey]

I had my drawbot almost working great with new arduino, motor shield 2, and Makelangelo 7.4.5
I got the home location, machine size, and pulley size set. I changed the steps from 400 to 200 and the i2c clock to 400 khz, Now however, it’s as if the software won’t really connect to the arduino.
It says it’s connected, but the controls were grayed out. I reverted to an older version of the firmware, but when I ask it to print something, all I get is endless lines of this:
N0 M101 T40.6 B-40.6 L-26.830000000000002 R26.830000000000002 I-1 J1

Any suggestions about what I did or what I should do?
I can get the adafruit stepper test program to run fine, so it doesn’t seem like a hardware problem.

Thanks!

[Dan]

v7.3 had this endless loop problem. It was fixed in the next release.

v7.4 has a new safety rule: you must click “set home” before you can start a drawing.

[tjhawkey]

Thanks. I’m running 7.4.5 and I see that I have to set home before I can ask to draw.
I re-did my arduiono IDE install and re-downloaded the firmware to the arduino (after changing to use motor shield 2 and 200 steps/turn).
I can use all the manual controls (pen up and down) move left/right/up/down, set home, find home. etc.
But when I send a file for printing, it never starts to print, the software just reports endless streams of the line below. It never starts printing.
However, when using a different computer, it prints fine (and it’s really cool).
Hmm, maybe a bad USB port? I can’t see in the arduino code where the N0 is coming from.

N0 M101 T40.6 B-40.6 L-26.669999999999998 R26.669999999999998 I-1 J1

[Dan]

On what computer does it work, and on what computer does it not? What is the difference?
Do they both have the same version of java? Should be 1.8

[tjhawkey]

Thanks!
Both are windows 10 machines with 7.4.5 on them but I’ll have to check the java version.
It seems that maybe the board isn’t responding for some reason to one of them and the software keeps sending the N0 line.

Also, in digesting the firmware, I noticed two things.
1) The lines to use 400 kHz I2c are there, but commented out. Should they be un-commented?
2) There’s a motor definition near the end that seems backwards. Is this just an artifact of how adafruit names things?
#if MOTHERBOARD == 2
// start the shield
AFMS0.begin();
m1 = AFMS0.getStepper(STEPS_PER_TURN, M2_PIN);
m2 = AFMS0.getStepper(STEPS_PER_TURN, M1_PIN);
#endif

[tjhawkey]

Hmm. Maybe I do have arduino problems. Both machines have java 1.8. The one that had been communicating OK now doesn’t with the same symptoms–the computer seems to send line
N0 over and over and over again, apparently never getting a reply from the arduino. I did try swapping cables.

Tim

[tjhawkey]

Success with a different computer running Windows 7 loaded with arduino 1.6.9. Huzzah!
I’ll try windows 10 with the latest arduino. Also maybe with a USB hub in case it’s some weirdness with wimpy usb ports.

[tjhawkey]

Still no luck with any windows 10 machine.
The PC sends line N0 over and over again.
The scrolling in the java software seems a little flaky, so it’s difficult for me to tell if it’s that the arduino isn’t responding (firmware version 1.03 with setting for motorshield v2), or the PC isn’t listening. Works fine on windows 7.

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