Dynomotion

Group: DynoMotion Message: 11670 From: himykabibble Date: 6/9/2015
Subject: KFlop Weirding Out

Tom,


Just wanted to see if you had any thoughts on a problem I've seen several times now.  Once or twice a year, my machine acts strange  Yesterday I started it up, setup a job, and started running.  Partway through, I got an error dialog - "String was not in a correct format" - at which point the job setup was hosed - all fixture offsets cleared, program reset to first line, etc.  I re-booted (several times), and the sequence repeated (several times).  So, I did what I've done every time something similar has happened - I unplugged and re-plugged the USB cable from the KFlop, and started over, and all was fine the rest of the day.


This makes no sense to me, since even powering down the PC did not correct the problem.  Yet, every time I've seen unpredictable behavior, this has cured it. The only thing I can figure is minor corrosion on the USB connector causing the USB connection to become unreliable, but I've never see this on any other device.  Any ideas?


Regards,

Ray L.
Group: DynoMotion Message: 11676 From: Tom Kerekes Date: 6/10/2015
Subject: Re: KFlop Weirding Out
Hi Ray,

I'm not aware of any such message.  May be that is from your Visual Basic Code?  Possibly where you try to convert a String from KFLOP to a number?  I can't think of why it would be in a bad format?  Or why messing with the USB cable would fix it?  When you cycled power on the PC was KFLOP power also cycled?

Maybe a multi-Thread issue with one Thread getting the response from another Thread's command?

I can't really see why there would be a problem but are you printing Console messages from multiple KFLOP Threads? 

Anything odd in Task Manager like multiple instances of anything like KMotionServer.exe or your App?

Regards
TK

Group: DynoMotion Message: 11677 From: himykabibble Date: 6/11/2015
Subject: Re: KFlop Weirding Out
Tom,

The error message comes from my c# app, but the problem is the board has gone wonky, and in a way that it remains wonky - even across multiple PC power-downs - until I un-plug and re-plug the USB cable.  It's very odd, but only happens 1-12 times/year, so not really a big deal.

Regards,
Ray L.
Group: DynoMotion Message: 11680 From: geraldft Date: 6/11/2015
Subject: Re: KFlop Weirding Out
Hi Ray

I have seen Kflop glitch ocasionally due to errant code or maybe a bad USB link. If your Kflop is powered independently, then restarting the PC won't clear the glitch in Kflop.  The Kflop actually needs to be rebooted. 
If it is powered via USB then only re-plugging the USB will reboot and clear it.

Sorry if this is already obvious...

regards Gerald
Group: DynoMotion Message: 11685 From: Steve Simpson Date: 6/12/2015
Subject: Re: KFlop Weirding Out
Hi Ray,

Long time no talkie . .

Probably more than 90% of my support problems are with the USB interface. I really have grown to despise it.

Most of the problems stem from two causes;

1) if your device is one of the many that are not native USB, but use a FTDI (or equiv) single chip Serial to USB converter chip, then the problem is usually drivers tripping over each other.

I have not messed with the Kflop in a long time, but as I recall it has a converter chip and requires a driver for it. It has performed rock solid since I first programmed it quite some time ago now. However, I will be ditching it soon due to lack of MACH4 support and no Ethernet port.

Any USB device that requires a driver . . watch out!

A problem I had with Win8 was that it would suddenly decide a driver was 'incompatible' and summarily unload it. I do not recall specifically if it was unloading the Kflop driver, but definitely other USB drivers and I took win8 off and never touched it again, so can't be much help other that the head's up.

2) Ground loops. I found the best way to power USB devices is right off the PC power supply. This eliminates 'most' of the ground loops. However, a USB isolator is always a good idea.

Hope all is well with you.

- Steve

 

On Thu, Jun 11, 2015 at 7:12 PM, jagboy1964@... [DynoMotion] <DynoMotion@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
 

Tom,


The error message comes from my c# app, but the problem is the board has gone wonky, and in a way that it remains wonky - even across multiple PC power-downs - until I un-plug and re-plug the USB cable.  It's very odd, but only happens 1-12 times/year, so not really a big deal.

Regards,
Ray L.
Group: DynoMotion Message: 11686 From: himykabibble Date: 6/12/2015
Subject: Re: KFlop Weirding Out
Hi Steve!

This is not a driver issue - the drivers were loaded when I first got the machine about 3 years ago, and haven't been touched since.  This problem occurs on start-up, once or twice a year, and re-booting, even with complete power-down, does nothing to resolve it.  Only "exercising" the USB connector on the KFlop cures it.  The only thing I can think of is a corrosion problem, yet I've had no problems with any other devices or connections on the machine.  It's very odd...

Regards,
Ray L.