No communication to FA CNC

1

Greetings
I am having issues with my FA Masutar Pro not communicating. I have been fighting this thing for the last three days. The issue is as follows.
Windows 10 64bit PC went through update, and lost functionality, meaning day before update all was working properly.
after update, home button was missing, tried to reinstall machine, but would not connect.
uninstalled candle on PC then reinstalled candle, no joy.
Then went back to FA to update drivers, then to easle troubleshooting to update drivers.
All has been done by the instructions in the no connectivity steps.
My com Port is CH340ser COM #3 in device manager, “port working properly”
In candle status window " port opened"
In easle all carve buttons are active, however no functionality to the machine, still no home button.
USB cable is good
the machine powers on but It’s dead,
FA has been contacted, but I won’t hear from them till next week. Has anyone else dealt with this issue? or can anyone help me confirm if it’s the board?

Additionally, out of curiosity, I typed in $$ in easl console and only received “?” in all lines.

2

Perhaps download Universal Gcode sender and see if it connects to that.

Don’t forget Easel has two driver software items that you need to install as well.

3

done and done,
both of the below drivers have been downloaded and installed, as stated prior. I have also downloaded the ch340 driver from FA, and installed.
In device manager port shows working properly. In easl buttons are green, but no home button, or functionality to the machine. (No movement when trying to scroll the machine) I will also add that my Z probe is not being detected either.
I have even gone and downloaded and installed chrome to see if it was an edge issue, but no change. I AM DEAD IN THE WATER

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4

additionally, I have attempted to move ports, and enter manually in easl, still no change.

5

Can you restore your computer to an earlier date?

6

Forgive me if I am making suggestions that you have already tried. It sounds like your machine was working, and the only thing that has changed was a Windows update?

I have issues sometimes with my laser machine, it just stops talking for no good reason. I can usually fix it, and this is what I do:

Unplug the USB cable from the computer and the CNC, and blow out the ends. Dust can get in there and muck up the communications. Sometimes just resetting the USB cable can do the trick. You should hear a sound when you unplug it (Windows recognizing that the connection has been severed), and then another sound when you plug it back in. This is an indication that your USB cable is good.

Fully shut down both the CNC and the computer. Not just a restart, but a full shutdown and complete power off. Leave it for a minute. This ensures that any residual power is not staying resident in memory in any of the circuits.

Something else that I have run into many times is that only one piece of software can communicate with the CNC at any time. I use Easel to design and create G-code, but I use UGS to do the work. If I open Easel first, then Easel takes control of the CNC, and UGS cannot connect (and vice-versa). I don’t know if you are using any other software like this, but it does make a difference. I open UGS first, establish a connection and confirm movement, and then I open Easel, and Easel will not be able to control the machine because it is already connected to UGS.

One additional question - Does your FoxAlien machine have a Home button, and will the machine move? Even if it is already home, it should make noises and slight movements to establish that it is indeed home, and that the machine itself is still working.

I also have a FoxAlien machine (a Masuter 4040), and I have found that the controller board has a glitch in it whereby sometimes the power will not turn on, and it takes me a while of messing around with it to try to get it to come on. I now have it plugged into a power bar and the switch is always turned on, and I shut off the power by turning off the power bar instead. Just a thought.

Hope this helps.

7

Good morning, Jordan
Thank you for your response. A friend and I spent hours trying to figure out what is going on.
I have done everything you suggested in your response to this issue, and more. I went so far as to remove candle, and install ugs. I wanted to see if there was anything change.
Since there was no change, I switched to an updated Win11 laptop, and had the same result.
I know it’s not the laptops, because there are no issues with my Falcon Pro laser. I have full functionality under the same drivers.
CNC powered on, homed, E stop good, yet pc was not getting any info from the machine. Cable is good also.
The end result is a bad board, and FA confirmed it after many emails. Additionally it’s my view that MS knows a lot of us rely on older computers to run our machines. So within the updates for Win10 that are no longer supported, sent a power surge through the usb cable frying the communication function in the board. It’s Microsoft’s subtle way to say I need to upgrade my PC.
So when my new board gets here, I’m going to just run it with this WIN 11 PC and see how things go.
Thank you for your time and attention.
Ray

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