After flashing a working Marlin firmware (uncommented the right code & worked on 5 other Prusa i3s) this is what I’m getting from this printer. Not sure what’s up, thought I’d post.
Another weird issue is that the LCD will light up only when it’s still plugged into my laptop. Goes blank and very dim when unplugged. Any suggestions would be awesome.
Is there a way to completely erase everything on the Mega and restart fresh? Is something corrupt?
I’ve had that happen from time to time. It’s almost always when I change the firmware.
Mine will go back to normal whe I click the scroll wheel. And it usually happens part way into a print. Does yours do the same?
You’re right man - i’ve had this on the others while it prints (i’ve gotten it to go away by unplugging Connection #2 - it pauses the print, but will return the LCD to normal)
But on this one - this is how it starts up and nothing I do will make it go away…so weird.
@Greg_Carron_pixeladd I am no expert on this but I know that with most of these lcds the cable lengths are very very particular. If you cut them you have to replace them. If could be possible that your cable length is off enough to change the frequency going to the lcd or something along those lines that is throwing it off. If you have 5 machines the I would suggest that you try the lcd on a different machine and see if the problem goes away.
The Development branch (which is the main one) isn’t guaranteed to be stable, per se. But also, “stable” versions are only stable in terms of their code not changing, not in terms of being 100% bug-free. From time to time the Marlin EEPROM layout changes, and it is supposed to erase the old values in this case. So you may have some luck resetting the EEPROM. At the moment, I would recommend using the Development version of Marlin from about 3 weeks ago, not in its current state, which is interacting badly with some versions of the Arduino compiler, and producing some strange behavior. Hopefully we’ll have the code back to a more happy state in the next week or so!
@Griffin_Paquette Thanks man - i’ll try that - it’s not the LCD itself - thinking it has to be the firmware, something is not getting updated - idk.
Make sure the cable to the LCD is separated from the other wires, especially the ones for the motors (and from the motors themselves). The LCD cables are sensitive to electrical noise and can pick it up from other wires.
As far as the LCD losing power when you unplug your laptop, if you’re using RAMPS, make sure the RAMPS board has a diode (and that it’s facing the right direction) in D1 – it’s needed to power the arduino, but sometime’s it’s left out because they expect you to just leave the USB plugged in all the time. It’s underneath one of the drivers, as shown at http://reprap.org/wiki/File:D1D2.jpg
Ferrite rings at both ends your getting random rf interference
Usually this sort of jibbetish occurs when there is not enough memory for all (special) characters.
You can try to write to the display from flash memory by adding a capital “F” before each write to the display.
You’ll have to google for it because i don’t know exactly how to, anymore…
Or if the baud rate is not correct you will also see this type of output.
i have seen similar when u have some EM noise on cables - shorten cables, ferrites…
ferrite filters can stop that but it’s usually interference that causes it. when i see it on i just press reset button on the side of my ramps controller
Looks like a classic case of embedded tourette syndrome.
I can’t say for sure however I have heard in some instances this could be a fried voltage regulator on your mega. I’m not saying that’s what it is but it’s something to check out. If end stops have ever gone in with power down + line.
I run four Marlin installations at home and this is a common occurrence every now and then. Marlin is not aggressive enough at updating the display and the viewable output sometimes gets garbled. It doesn’t happen with Repetier. Chokes on the cables might do some good as well as routing the cables differently (away from the motor cables). For me, the garbled screen goes away whenever something causes Marlin to draw a new screen, like changing menus.
Try some shielded tape on both display wires.
@Awesome_Coder not a bad idea considering I have some metallic tape I didnt know what to do with until now.
@Rustin_L_Haase It fixed my problem… https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B019OTRL5O/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Remember the tape might be conductive… Use caution.
