Ok. Bit of background. My computer sees my smoothieborad 5x fine, I can connect with pronterface and print no problems. I can access and change the config file. . All functions like home etc work so no problems there. I bought my board fully populated
Problem 1 - the only lights on my board are VBB and 3.3v. None of the other leds are lit. I have removed the card, copied the files over, formatted the card to fat 32 and put the files back on but that did not fix anything. What should be my next move?
Problem 2- I set the small mosfet P2-6 to switch my hotend since the current draw is only 3.5A at 24v. However now the mosfet led is always on if 24v is applied to the power in and there is 24v continuosly from the output. Has something failed or did I fry the mosfet? Everything on the board looks fine, no fizzes, smells or smoke. Just the mosfets do not turn off unless it is related to problem 1
thanks for your help
Brad
Imported from wikidot
This does sound like there is something funky with your board or your electrical setup.
Did you uncomment this line : https://github.com/Smoothieware/Smoothieware/blob/edge/ConfigSamples/Smoothieboard/config#L61
Mosfet 2.6 is not working, did you check if other mosfets work ?
Cheers.
Hi Arthur, for some reason leds disable was true but now it is false so all leds are as normal. Must have been like this from day when when I loaded the Delta config. Just never noticed until todays fet fault.
As for the fets P2-5 and P2-7 can be controlled on and off as normal. Small fets P2-4 and P2-6 leds are on all the time and are feeding power to the output, 24v in my case
Are you using a jumper to feed power from VBB to the two small fets ?
No Jumper fitted. The small fets are just staying in their closed state. When power is applied to the small fet input the led’s are instantly on and outputs passing current, just will not turn off reagardless of what codes are sent via proterfce. Even making the output pins false or commenting the pins in the config changes nothing. I am tempeted to desolder them and test
Well if this has been the case ever since you received your board, I think you can ask for a replacement board.
However if you want to avoid having to send the board back and wait for a new one, you can try replacing the mosfets yourself if you feel capable of doing that.
HI Arthur, Confident on replacing the fets but now I have another problem. I printed several things this moring, the last being a vase that took around 2 hours. All printed fine. Went to print another file and Pronterface would not connect. Unplugeed and plugged back in smoothieboard and windows error usb device not recognised came up. The only leds on smoothieboard are the 3.3v and the 2 network adapter lights. Pulled the sd card from the smoothiebaord and it cannot be read by my pc so must have failed.
This is what I have done:
-formatted 2 other micro sd cards to fat 32 and loaded the last working firmware and config file to each but still not recognised.
-reloaded the smoothie windows drivers and tried again, still no go.
-the loaded backup firmware.bin file and the latest config file from github but still no go. Firmware file does not change to .cur so not being read.
-loaded drivers on another computer and tried another cable also with no effect.
Not sure what to do next. Any suggestions ?
Thanks for your help
Do you any toher suggestions?
Hey.
The fact that your Smoothieboard stopped answering -and- the SD card got corrupted, makes me think that there is something very wrong with your machine’s electrical wiring.
The fact that your two mosfets stopped working also indicates this.
It looks like your board may have died. Maybe by feeding 12V into one of the 3.3V inputs, or by some EMI or electrostatic issue.
Can I get pictures of your wiring and Smoothieboard setup ?
Cheers.
Hi Arthur, I cannot post images here but you can see my setup by accessing photo’s on my google plus page adding http in front and eliminating spaces “plus.google.com / u/0 / +BradSmith72 / posts”
Smoothieboard 3.3v comes from usb connection and stepper and other power is from a 24vdc psu. The heater bed is on P2_5, hotend on P2_7 and hotend cooling fan on P2_6 as per the 3D print guide. Both PWR IN inputs are fed with 24v from the psu. Alpha, Beta, Gamma and the extruder motors are connected to the stepper outputs. There were thermocouples TO and T1 soldered to the connectors but removed when the board failed so I could bench test more easily. Three end stop mechanical limit switches are connected to x_max, y_max and z_max. The Board is supported on a custom mount and the drivers are cooled via a 24v fan under the board fed directly from the psu.
The printer has been running fine for weeks and today printed several test cubes and a 2 hour vase print, all finishing fine without electrical probelms. Bit of a mystery really why it failed with no evidence of any problems. Printed had returned to the home position after the print and turned off teh heater bad and hotend via ind print gcode.
Thanks for your help with this.
Cheers
Brad
Hey.
Well your wiring setup does sound correct.
So, this sudden death of the board is very very strange.
Can you try : removing everything connected to the board, removing the SD card, and plugging -only- the USB cable, and telling me what the LEDs do exactly when you do that ( wait about 1 minute before looking at the leds after connecting the usb cable ).
Thanks, hope we figure this out, I know being unable to print is unpleasant.
3.3v led comes on first, then a few seconds later both leds on the RJ45 come on but are solid. No other leds light up. Windows post message usb not recognized.
thanks
Do you happen to own a ftdi cable that you could use to connect to the Serial port and listen for any message smoothie might be sending ?
Also, if you put a new firmware.bin file on the SD card, then reset, do the LEDs do a little dance, and does the file get renamed to firmware.cur ?
No i do not have an ftdi cable but can pick one up from my local electronics store. . Firmware.bin just stays the same and resetting does not alter led state so it is not trying to read it at all.
Yeah ok that does look like your MCU is dead unfortunately 
Thanks for all your help so far Arthur. I emailed the guys at Robotseed yesterday but am still awaiting a response. Certainly is strange to be working fine then just die. Brings a tear to your eye as the board is fantastic.
If worse comes to worse and the guys at Robotseed cannot help me can the LPC1769 be de-soldered, replaced and re-flashed? No idea how to tackle the re-flashing but the soldering part is easy.
Hey.
Re-flashing is documented on the wiki and is pretty easy.
Cheers.
Was just a though as it will cost less to purchase a new mcu and a couple of n-channel fets than it would to ship the board back to France, assuming it is only the mcu that failed.
Thanks Arthur
Picked up a FTDI cable and there is no communication from from the board so safe to say the mcu is dead. I have purchased one from digikey if the new from Robotseed is not good.
If I solder in another do I need to do anyhting with mbed? There is not much info on this in the documentation?
Hey.
Robotseed will exchange your board if soldering a new chip does not solve the problem.
To bring the new board to life, you need to first give it a bootloader :
http://smoothieware.org/flashing-the-bootloader
And then simply use the SD card to flash the firmware :
http://smoothieware.org/flashing-smoothie-firmware
Cheers 