4.20 & Win10 - Closing on start < solved>

[ShawnM]

Dyllan at Centroid is logged into my CNCPC as I type this trying out a few things. He's trying to find the issue and why 4.19 beta 6 works but beta 7 crashes. I'll keep everyone updated.

[cnckeith]

you can always post large files to a free file storage system like google drive and then just post the link in the thread

[GBCues]

Dyllan at Centroid is logged into my CNCPC as I type this trying out a few things. He's trying to find the issue and why 4.19 beta 6 works but beta 7 crashes. I'll keep everyone updated.

Thanks ShawnM
I am like some others and ran into this problem where 4-18 works and 4-20 doesn't on a Dell Optiplex 780. Then I checked my CPU against the PassMark website and it only had a single thread rating of 1127 or so, well under the 1500 minimum requirement for Acorn Mill. So I picked up a used Dell Optiplex 9020 with an I5-4570 @ 3.0GHz. It has a PassMark rating of 2057. It is running 4-20 just fine, so I can continue with my work.
Now, I'm not saying that the PassMark rating stops 4-20 from running when 4-18 does run. But apparently they've looked at the internal processes and determined what is going to provide satisfactory performance on their software, so that's why I followed their guidelines.
After I got the 9020 running, I refreshed the Windows10 installation on the 780, but 4-20 still won't run - crashes on startup. I'd like to be able to run it on a third Acorn I have to try out a new build, but I won't depend on it for production, I'll upgrade the PC once I get Xmas bills paid off
Sorry for the ramble, but I am interested in this problem and know the Centroid programmers will figure it out.
My 2 cents,
Gary

[cnckeith]

hey guys looks like our crack team has homed in on the issue you are having..looks like some older CPU's (even though they meet the speed benchmark) don't have a function that we are using to check on the Ether1616 status on start up of CNC12, the function has to do with counting the number of set bits in an integer, its called "popcnt". The guys came up with a work around and used another method to check the status of the ether1616 (is one connected or not? and are the setting the same? etc..) that doesn't use this function. So, the result is that more older CPU's will continue to be supported by CNC12. I have a CNC12 beta with the fix to test out this evening and if it passes my tests i'll be glad to install it on your machines for further testing.. then after that we will make it a public release.

[GBCues]

Great news - THANKS!!

[ShawnM]

I'm still having a few issues with the beta from Keith.

With a fresh install to the OEM settings (I'm not restoring my .zip file) everything seems to work out of the box. Motors move but very slow. The cycle start button on the VCP does a simple home like it should. When I set input 7 to "CycleStart2" which is my N/C push button for my machine mounted "remote" cycle start, the cycle start button on the VCP stops working. I'm not making any other changes to any of the other wizard settings. Trying to hunt down why this might be happening.

I'm playing around with a few variations now. I'll report back when I know more.

[cncsnw]

You will need to have INP7 inverted, so that the start button appears to be normally-open.

If the Wizard does not do that for you, then you can do it yourself on the Alt-i PLC Diagnostic display. Arrow over to INP7 and press Ctrl-Alt-i so that an overscore appears above the colored dot. The dot should then show Red when idle and Green when pressed.

[ShawnM]

Well you get the door prize today, that worked.

It's weird but it worked. I would have liked all my inputs to be green and red when tripped but I'll take what I can get. All my switches and inputs are N/C.

Thank you, I'll run it through its paces tomorrow and see if anything else pops up.

Other than this issue the beta 4.20 for older PC's seems to be working so far. No more crashing on startup.

[cncsnw]

I would have liked all my inputs to be green and red when tripped but I'll take what I can get. All my switches and inputs are N/C.

That is not smart design.

Any "stop" switches (limit switches, emergency stops, cancel buttons, etc.) should be normally-closed, as you suggest.

Any "go" switches (start buttons, jog buttons, turret-index buttons, etc.) should be normally-open. This is called "fail-safe" design.

If you have a failure, such as a break in the wire leading to the button, you do not want that to cause the machine to do something unsafe such as start or move unexpectedly.

[ShawnM]

That is not smart design.

Any "stop" switches (limit switches, emergency stops, cancel buttons, etc.) should be normally-closed, as you suggest.

Any "go" switches (start buttons, jog buttons, turret-index buttons, etc.) should be normally-open. This is called "fail-safe" design.

If you have a failure, such as a break in the wire leading to the button, you do not want that to cause the machine to do something unsafe such as start or move unexpectedly.

Ah, very good point and thank you. It's an industrial switch and has both N/C and N/O contacts. I'll change it right now and report back. Thank you for taking off my "normally closed blinders".