ISSUE SOLVED: Lost Communication with Acorn: "Host Unreachable"

[walnuts]

I've been working through one small step at a time setting up the box which will house my Acorn and run my mill (picture attached). As of last night, I could communicate without any issues from the PC to the Acorn, move the motors, etc. Today, after I ran some pre-wiring for limit switches I will be installing down the road, I fired it up again just to fool around and I cannot get my pc to communicate to the board any longer. I did not change any settings on the PC from last night. I get a successful result when I ping 10.168.41.1 but when I try the board at 10.168.41.2 I get a message saying that the "destination host in unreachable".

I've been running through as many possible checks and solutions that I have had time for this evening but I simply am not getting any result. I reflashed the acorn as well but no luck. The Acorn powers up (blue light on), I get a good heartbeat indication (pulsing light on other side of board), but only solid lights on the ethernet port (showing no activity). I've checked the ethernet cable between the PC and the Acorn with a testing device and it passed so it doesn't appear to be a cable issue. I have also tried using a different ethernet cable also to no avail.




I cannot get into the CNC12 software to create a report file as it cannot connect to the Acorn and then shuts down.

Currently there is 24 power hooked up to H9 (along with common and ground wires). From H9 I have a connection from COM to the ends of the limit switch connectors. From H9 there is 24V going to a 5V regulator (for the motor driver logic) which has its COM wires leading back to H9. Also, there is 24V from H9 running around to 24 IN connection on H4. Lastly, the e-stop connector is wired from IN8 through the switch and back to the 24V COM on H9. The Motor drivers I have are connected to ST1, DR1, ST2, DR2, ST3, DR3, ST4, and DR4. These are two Leadshine CS-D508 units, one CS-D1008 unit, and an OMC-StepperOnline CL57T (a rebranded Leadshine CS-D508).

[martyscncgarage]

Perhaps unplug all the connectors from Acorn except the power connector, fire up Acorn and the PC and see if you can re-establish communication.

[walnuts]

Perhaps unplug all the connectors from Acorn except the power connector, fire up Acorn and the PC and see if you can re-establish communication.

That was one of the processes I tried yesterday evening based on my searches of the forum. No luck. I tried rebooting the board and the PC in a number of different orders. I used the "debricking" process to reflash the board, etc. I just can't get my head around why the ethernet host is coming back as unreachable all-of-the-sudden.

[martyscncgarage]

Perhaps unplug all the connectors from Acorn except the power connector, fire up Acorn and the PC and see if you can re-establish communication.

That was one of the processes I tried yesterday evening based on my searches of the forum. No luck. I tried rebooting the board and the PC in a number of different orders. I used the "debricking" process to reflash the board, etc. I just can't get my head around why the ethernet host is coming back as unreachable all-of-the-sudden.

If you have a flashing blue heartbeat led on Acorn, should be no need to reflash.
You said you could ping the PC but not Acorn. Long shot, but unplug the ethernet car from both ends, flip the cable end for end and plug it back in firmly, make sure the connectors seat well. Try again.
If that doesn't work, try another ethernet cable.

[Gary Campbell]

Computer's firewall back on?

[walnuts]

Computer's firewall back on?

Nope, confirmed that it is all set to off.

If you have a flashing blue heartbeat led on Acorn, should be no need to reflash.
You said you could ping the PC but not Acorn. Long shot, but unplug the ethernet car from both ends, flip the cable end for end and plug it back in firmly, make sure the connectors seat well. Try again.
If that doesn't work, try another ethernet cable.

I did not try flipping the cable end to end, but I did try a different cable. With that cable, I also connected the PC to my home network to confirm it is allowing data to flow. No issues getting to local network storage or internet with that cable.

[Fredsan]

Do you use a shielded cable?

I have tried a UTP Cat6 cable and had the same problem. I replaced the cable to a shielded cable and no connection problems.

[martyscncgarage]

Do you have any other PC or lap top to try ?

[walnuts]

I apologize for not listing out all of the things I tried last night, but it was late, and I was/am very frustrated with not being able to solve this on my own.

Do you use a shielded cable?

I have tried a UTP Cat6 cable and had the same problem. I replaced the cable to a shielded cable and no connection problems.

The cable that I'd been using when it was able to connect is one that I assembled myself and is a Cat6e shielded cable with metal end connectors (also Cat6e rated) and as part of the assembly process, I verified that the shielding has connectivity from one connector shell to the other. The second cable that I tried, which is the one that I verified network/internet connectivity with is the one that came from Centroid with the Acorn.

Do you have any other PC or lap top to try ?

I did try with my laptop and received the same results on the Ping after configuring the Network adapter to the proper IP and Subnet as well as disabling the Firewall, etc. However when I tried to install the CNC12 software on it, it would not allow me to select my network adapter... I suppose that could mean I have something configured incorrectly on the PC but I wasn't very through about going through the configuration of the laptop before I attempted that installation. The reason I don't think that would be the case is because it was working and now its not and that happened without my changing any settings on the PC.

P.S. I will use my other PC (not the one currently hooked up to the mill) this evening and try again. I will be sure to follow the computer configuration video/instructions to the "T" and report back.

[martyscncgarage]

So, lastly, did you try and use the ethernet cable that came with Acorn?
You say the cable that YOU made up was working?
Other than that, I am out of options other than to contact Centroid.

Marty