Help troublshooting M400 control (RESOLVED)

[densman]

Hello
I have a vertical mill with a M400 control ( #6119). I was establishing X and Y zero points on a new program. Screen said Y zero accepted but the display did not zero out. None of the functions on screen were working so I had to power down manually. When powering back up I get system configuration screen, at the bottom it says
"VERIFYING DMI POOL DATA......
DISK BOOT FAILURE,INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER.
I do not have a disk and cant get past this screen to give you a report.

Is this something Centroid can email me to copy to floppy disk .
I have a feeling it may be a sign of something that's failed like the motherboard.
Thank you for any help or suggestions any one can offer.
Dave Ensman
DME MACHINE Shop
Control # 6119

[BodeRacing]

Sounds to me like you lost your hard drive. Do you have backups? What kind of PC are you using?

I would pull the hard drive and hook it up to another PC and see if the hard drive can be read.

This does not do you any good now, but when I get a new machine I use a $40 clone box and I clone my hard drives so if the original ever fails I can just install a cloned hard drive and then restore the files with by backup files I generate on a fairly regular basis.

I would also take the cover off and re-seat all cables. There are other things that can be done but that depends on your computer expertise level. I am interested on what others say.

[densman]

Thank you for your reply BodeRacing.
Of all your suggestions I tried the one that was the easiest for me. I opened the back of controller and wiggled wires focusing on hard drive. Fired up with no problems! I didn't have the forethought to try powering it up before trying to re seat wires to confirm it was still not functioning so not positive I did any good but your getting the credit anyway
I think having to do a hard shutdown did not help. curious if there is any safer way to power down when your screen is locked?
Anyway I am up and running again.
Thank you again for taking the time to help.
Dave

[BodeRacing]

Glad it worked but definitely make sure you have a proper backup! This could be a sign of an upcoming failure. At minimum do the backup in the controller.

You could always try ctrl-alt-del and go to task manager and close the offending programs but if it is truly hung up your only option is the power switch.

[cncsnw]

This is not a Windows-based control. It would have originally come with MS-DOS and CNC7. If it has been upgraded since ca. 2003 then it would have Linux and CNC10.

With MS-DOS, there is no particular need for a graceful shutdown. Just reboot (Ctrl-Alt-Del) or turn off the power.

With Linux, depending on the nature of the freeze-up, you may be able to kill the X window server with Ctrl-Alt-Backspace, then enter the command "shutdown" at the resulting command prompt.

In any event, now would be a good time to update your archived Report files and Intercon program backups; or, as suggested, copy the entire hard drive.

[densman]

Yes,the control has been upgraded to CNC 10 v 2.36.
As suggested I backed up my cnc/icn program files and report files. The report files has a few folders. one named INSTALL ms-dos batch file and
another called INSTALL.SH sh file. If the control errors again and I get the VERIFYING DMI POOL DATA......
DISK BOOT FAILURE,INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER screen is what it wants in any of these files I copied. If not how do I create a system disk.
Thank you both for all your help,I very much appreciate it.

[cncsnw]

No, a Report is not a bootable operating system. It is just a copy of all the Centroid CNC setup information that customizes the Centroid software to your machine.

When a computer says "INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER", it is looking for a disk with a bootable operating system on it. A floppy disk -- even a bootable one -- would be of minimal use at this point, since the problem is that the internal hard disk (probably a compact flash card in an IDE adapter, in this case) is apparently failing. If the internal hard disk is not functional, then there is not much you can do from the command prompt you could get using a bootable floppy. You would need to replace the hard disk (compact flash card) with one that contains a non-corrupted copy of the Linux operating system and CNC10 control software.

The value of the Report, CNC and ICN backups is in recovering your CNC functions once you have installed a working hard drive or compact flash card. I can make you a compact flash card that contains Linux and CNC10, in a generic form. You would need to add your machine-specific files to it (the report and program backups); then it would be ready to run your machine.

[densman]

Thank you for your clear explanation. I would like you to make me the compact flash card,seems like the smart move. What about all of my machine parameters can that get copied from what info you have from previous times sending control in for repair? How do we go about making this happen.
Thank you again for your help.

[cncsnw]

I am not the Centroid factory, and as far as I can tell have never worked on your control before.

I would just need the report files you just made -- and optionally the program backups -- via e-mail.

I will send you a PM.

[densman]

I found my problem. I never pulled the front panel off the controller when checking connections just the back cover.I reached in from behind and thought the 40 pin IDE connection to the motherboard felt sound. It wasn't.It was slightly lifted up on one end. Been kicking myself for my lack of thoroughness but another lesson learned the hard way.
Thank you again boderacing ,you have earned a "I told you so"
Thank you cncsnw for all your help and sharing your knowledge.
Hope my lesson learned helps someone else down the road