"No Connection to Acorn Discovered" Error

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Krenovian
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"No Connection to Acorn Discovered" Error

Post by Krenovian »

Hi Folks. I'm having a problem communicating with my acorn board. History is as follows: I made all the connections to the board using the Leadshine schematic. I powered up the board and opened CNC12 to check the function of the proximity switches and the E-stop. I pessed ALT-I and got the sceen with the rows of LEDS. Sensors and E-stop worked fine triggering the appropriate LEDS. I noticed in the message area that there was a drive fault. I turned the power off to the Acorn board and the mill. I found a poor connection on one drive going to the Z stepper and secured that connection. Powered up the mill and Acorn. The drive fault message was cleared. I had left CNC12 running while I powered Acorn and the mill down.

I closed CNC12 and opened up the Wizard. I don't recall the message exactly but it indicated that I needed to update CNC12 I think and to do this I needed to exit the Wizard and start CNC12. I did this and got an error message in CNC12 "Ethernet Communication error, CNCPC to controller. See Tech bulletin 270, firewall, antivirus, windows update." All these were already turned off. Tried to start CNC12 again and got the message "No connection to Acorn discovered." Checking the Acoorn boad I noticed the blue "heartbeat" LED was not lighting up. Somehow the board got bricked.

I followed the debricking procedure, got the the blue "heartbeat" LED going again. Opened CNC12 to complete the debricking procedure and got the "No connection to Acorn discovered" meassage. Opened up the Wizard and got the message "Acorn firmware update required." Ran diagnostics on the ethernet adapter and cable and came up with: Connection Status: failed, Cable Link Status: failed. Cable diagnostic tests all passed, Hardware diagnostics all passed. Tried swapping Ethernet cables with the same results.

Anyone have any thoughts on what I need to be checking or testing?

CJ
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Re: "No Connection to Acorn Discovered" Error

Post by cnckeith »

run cnc12 before the wizard so that it updates the firmware on the BBG. wait for it to update! ignore any mpu.plc error messages.
after firmware update, close cnc12, power cycle acorn, reboot pc, make sure firewall is off, run wizard. select BENCH TEST radio button and press "write settings the cnc control configuration" , close wizard and start cnc12..

you can follow the update instructions found here. http://www.centroidcnc.com/centroid_diy ... ctions.pdf
Need support? READ THIS POST first. http://centroidcncforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=60&t=1043
All Acorn Documentation is located here: viewtopic.php?f=60&t=3397
Answers to common questions: viewforum.php?f=63
and here viewforum.php?f=61
Gear we use but don't sell. https://www.centroidcnc.com/centroid_di ... _gear.html
Krenovian
Posts: 43
Joined: Thu Dec 21, 2017 12:50 am
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Re: "No Connection to Acorn Discovered" Error

Post by Krenovian »

Hi Keith,

I've followed your instructions as above in attempting to update the firmware on the BBG. I've had no success in reestablising commucation with the board. I open CNC12, the "Initializing MPU" screen comes up, after approx. one minute the error message "No communication to Acorn" appears and shortly after that CNC12 closes (on it's own). Firewall is turned off, antivirus is off, CNCPC is disconnected from WiFi network, I don't have any other programs open.

Here is another development. I took a break for an hour or so, came back and powered up the Acorn Board only to find no blue LED "heartbeat". The board appeared bricked again. I followed the debricking procedure which restored the "heartbeat", opened CNC12 and experienced the same sequence as noted above.

CJ
Last edited by Krenovian on Tue Jan 16, 2018 10:57 pm, edited 5 times in total.
Krenovian
Posts: 43
Joined: Thu Dec 21, 2017 12:50 am
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Re: "No Connection to Acorn Discovered" Error

Post by Krenovian »

More information:

While powered up the BBG on the Acorn board lost it's blue LED "heartbeat" after running for about 40 mins. I went through the debricking procedure again to reestablish "heartbeat".

I tried uninstalling CNC12 and re-installing according to the installation instructions in this sequence: Unistalled CNC12 > Reinstalled CNC12 > Wizard prompts for firmware update > Exited Wizard > Opened CNC12 (CNC12 goes through sequence described in previous post) > cycled power to Acorn board > restarted CNCPC > Open Wizard again > Wizard calls for firmware update.

The Acorn board was powered up and blue LED "heartbeat" was present prior to and during re-installing CNC12. Is the CNCPC not able to communicate with the BBG? Is the BBG memory acting as if it is volatile (not sure that is the right term) and degrading over time?

CJ

Edited to add additional steps taken in outlining procedure followed.
Last edited by Krenovian on Wed Jan 17, 2018 12:55 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Gary Campbell
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Re: "No Connection to Acorn Discovered" Error

Post by Gary Campbell »

CJ...
I had a similar experience when using the Leadshine schematic. Not saying anything is wrong with it, but something is up. I can assume you used a separate 5vdc power supply. If what I think is true, try removing one lead from the 5v power supply DC out terminals to see if that will allow your Acorn board to boot normally. Humor me. Give it a try.


EDITS: for clarity
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Krenovian
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Re: "No Connection to Acorn Discovered" Error

Post by Krenovian »

Thanks Gary!

You’ve pinpointed the problem. I unplugged the 110 VAC going to the 5 VDC power supply, powered up the Acorn board and the blue LED “heartbeat” came back on without having to go through the debricking procedure. The “heartbeat” was off when I powered up the Acorn with 5 VDC PS plugged in first thing this morning. I was able to go through the installation procedures and run the bench test without further problems. Now I’m back to where I was 36 hrs. ago. Lost a day and a half trying to find the problem. This would seem to point to an issue in the Leadshine schematic.

I’m not an electrician nor do I have a background in electrical engineering and so being ignorant in this area was concerned about connecting the 5 VDC common to the 24 VDC common. I did a bit of reading this morning and learned that it is ok to make such a connection. There was a caveat that doing so with switching power supplies might produce unusual or unexpected behavior in a system. Something about ripples was mentioned. Both the Meanwell 24 VDC and the 5 VDC power supplies are switching types. I wonder if this is the source of the problem? I’m assuming that a way to correct this would be to isolate the two power supplies. If that is the case where would one terminate the 5 VDC common?

Thanks again Gary for directing me to the problem. I appreciate it. I was beginning to think I had a bad BBG board. Now to see if the issue crops up again when I choose the Leadshine button in the Wizard and run the system with the 5 VDC PS. This is the point where the blue LED “heartbeat” started dropping out.

CJ
Gary Campbell
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Re: "No Connection to Acorn Discovered" Error

Post by Gary Campbell »

CJ...
I don't think there is anything wrong with the schematic. This issue does not occur in all cases, just some. That said, "something doesn't like something", which means a little testing may generate a possible change for the future.

I found that once the BBG booted, I could apply the 5v to the Leadshine step and direction circuits and all works as desired.

What I did to solve this was to route the 5Vdc com (-) thru realy one and set output 1 as "NoFaultOut", which toggles on the output after the BBG has booted and verified no faults. Modified schematic attached. Connection that is circled and marked: NC means No Connection.
Acorn to DM series Modified.pdf
(647.72 KiB) Downloaded 198 times
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Krenovian
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Re: "No Connection to Acorn Discovered" Error

Post by Krenovian »

Gary Campbell wrote: Wed Jan 17, 2018 12:18 am CJ...
I had a similar experience when using the Leadshine schematic. Not saying anything is wrong with it, but something is up. I can assume you used a separate 5vdc power supply. If what I think is true, try removing one lead from the 5v power supply DC out terminals to see if that will allow your Acorn board to boot normally. Humor me. Give it a try.


EDITS: for clarity
Gary,

Anything specific that you changed in wiring your system up to resolve the problem? Did you use a different schematic?

Thanks,
CJ
Gary Campbell
Posts: 2164
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Re: "No Connection to Acorn Discovered" Error

Post by Gary Campbell »

See my post above. Along with explaining the changes, I attached a modified schematic
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Krenovian
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Re: "No Connection to Acorn Discovered" Error

Post by Krenovian »

Thanks Gary,

For some reason your post with the schematic didn't show up on my end until after I posted asking about changes you had made even though your post is time stamped before mine. I apologize for the confusion. I probably didn't refresh the page before posting.

Looking at the Leadshine manual for my drives (MA860H model) there is the option to connect +24 VDC at PUL+, DIR+, and ENA+ on the drives with a 2K ohm resistor between the drives and the appropriate terminals on the controller (Pul-, Dir-, Ena-). +24 VDC could come from Meanwell 24 VDC PS through the controller eliminating the +5 VDC power supply and possibly cleaning things up and getting the various parts and pieces to play nice with each other.

Thanks again for the schematic and your explanation of the changes you made. It makes a lot of sense. I'll give it a go.

CJ
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