NextStep powering up problems

[prchalc]

Andy - I have been working with Steve on this one - but have lost communication over the past two days. He must be on holiday.

Situation - Machine - Microrouter Compact - 5 years old

When NextStep is powering up - I have a middle dash in the LED light in the upper left hand corner. I understand that that indicates the power up test failed to find any valid firmware in the flash device.

I've checked all the fuses on the circuit boards and switched out the cable with one I have on my other machine (1000).

More ... when I hit the estop the relay is not kicking in!

Also - when powering up we are not getting through to the guard mechanism to auto unlock. We've taken out the estop and blown it out and it appears to be mechanically functioning ok - what I mean is there are no broken parts and the switch isn't mushy.

The NextStep USB is loaded and running.

I'll send a couple of pics - one will show the z axis motor control switch on the blank panel - that is where my problems first started - I was getting the z axis traveling down toward the table when autohoming and bottoming out at the end of travel and bouncing hard up and down. I responded to this problem by looking at, then cleaning the limit switch. That's when my other problems began to emerge.

Could I be seeing the circuit board with the motor controls and relay on it, going out???

[Martin]

Have you tried EasyUpgrader to check the card?

Failing that try connecting with Workbench.

Both are on the VRMilling CD.

[prchalc]

When installing Easy Upgrader, we get an error message that says 'the machine cannot be found'

When we run Work Bench - we get a similar message that says no comms can be found?

Is this a circuit board issue? Remember the machine is power up Next Step and it cannot find a valid firmware in the flash device???

[Martin]

It would sugest that the NextStep top card is faulty.

[Denford Admin]

Does the machine appear under USB devices in Device Manager ?
viewtopic.php?f=54&t=611&hilit=device+manager

It looks as though the machine has RS232 and USB connections - which one are you using ?
If it's USB, try connecting directly to the NextMove ST from the PC