Hi,
I'm about at my wits end trying to solve a communication error.
I bought a (lightly) used PRS 4896 recently and it has suffered from USB connectivity errors since I got it. I have tried:
5 different computers. The current one is a core i5 with 8 GB ram and has a fresh Windows 10 install with nothing other than vCarve and the ShopBot (SB) control software. It connected to the internet when I bought it long enough to install all the updates and then I put it in Airplane mode. It has only USB 2.0 ports.
I put ferrite cores all over the place.
I've replaced the USB cable a couple of times with brand new ones, never more than 10 feet.
I put an AC line filter on the incoming AC.
I've turned off updates as much as you can in Windows 10 and disabled sleep as given in the Windows Notes that SB provides.
I'm only running it with the router off and the shopvac dust collection off. I zero it at home for x and y, and in the air in z so it's just the SB motors running.
I replaced the controller card with a brand new one from SB.
I have ordered a USB isolator that will be here next week.
It will often fail at the same line in the same file, but sometimes not. I once did a test where I ran the same file 10 times and it failed on one particular line 8 times and a different line the other 2 times.
The latest thing I've noticed is that when it fails, input 2, 4, 7 and 8 are on. Outputs 1 and 4 are always on for some reason.
It's taking up half my garage and I'm pretty frustrated. A raspberry pi ought to be able to run this thing but I can't get more than several hundred lines through a program before it loses communications and has to quite. It's a giant boat anchor unless I can figure it out.
I've seen people mention "make sure it grounded well" but the instructions I've read don't mention anything other than grounding the incoming AC which is securely attached to the ground bar in the cabinet. There's only one other wire that goes to the ground bar and that goes to the stepper drives. It's secure. Can't figure out what else to ground.
Any suggestions for what I could try? I was super excited to do so many things with this but now I'm trying to figure out how to get rid of it. I can't rightly sell it if it doesn't work.
Thanks for reading, and any suggestions would be welcome. I should note that the SB support guys have been very nice, but I've tried every thing they can think of and no changes.
Cheers,
Steve