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Mach4 General Discussion / Mach 4 crashes within 3-5 minutes of starting a Gcode program
« on: February 11, 2019, 09:12:17 AM »
I just migrated from Mach 3 to Mach 4 and I am still running the demo version of the software. I understand the limitations of the demo timeout but I am fairly certain that the following issue is completely unrelated to the timeout. I wanted to ask here before I jump to conclusions and call it a bug.
System Setup:
Computer: Allen Bradley VersaView 5400 PC, 4 core Intel Atom E3845 chipset @ 1.90GHz, 4.0Gb of memory and runs Win 10.
Computer #2: HP Omen laptop, Intel i7 6700HQ 3.5GHz, 32Gb memory, running Win 10
Mach 4 version: 4.2.0.3804 Unlicensed
Warp 9 Tech ESS plugin version: 232 (1.0.1.232)
The issue I have run into over the weekend with Mach 4 is that it hangs after 3-5 minutes of running code. This is the demo version right now, but it is not the timeout (I have seen the timeout message and know what it looks like). The machine will be running and BANG, all the servos stop dead but remain enabled. The software ESTOP does not shut them down (thankfully I also have a hardware ESTOP to kill drive power). The Mach 4 greys out and the cursor is the blue Win 10 waiting circle. I cannot click any on screen buttons and task manager lists the program as "not responding". This happens repeatably both running Artsoft sample GCode (roadrunner and outhouse) as well as a 2 hour long program I recently ran without issues on Mach 3. The program never recovers and has to be closed with task manager. The Smoothstepper remains waiting for Mach signals and won't reconnect when Mach opens leading to me having to power cycle the machine.
At first I thought that this was due to an underpowered computer. The VersaView 5400 computer that is on the machine runs on a 4 core Intel Atom E3845 chipset @ 1.90GHz. It has 4.0Gb of memory and runs Win 10. This is very much on the bottom edge of the system performance requirements for Mach 4 (especially the memory), but there are posts in MachSupport about people not having issues running mach on much less powerful computers without issues. During loading of Mach 4 the CPU is between 70-80%, at idle it is 30-40%, when loading a Gcode program 70-80% and while running the machine it holds quite steady at the mid 60's%. The memory utilization never got above 2.0Gb (50%). This all seems like the computer was doing just fine, but I was convinced that this computer just didn't have the guts to run Mach 4. Until...
To test the situation, I installed the same version of Mach 4 and ESS utilities onto my laptop (Intel i7 6700HQ 3.5GHz, 32Gb of memory, Win 10). I copied the configuration file from the CNC computer to my laptop and connected to the smoothstepper without issues. I ran the same test files and sure enough, Mach 4 crashed about 5 minutes into the code same as the other computer. I tried this several more times and had the same results. I then tried running the machine from Mach 3 on my laptop and it finished the 2 hour and 20 minute program with no issue whatsoever.
My experience is that once I start running code, within 5 minutes Mach 4 will crash and become unresponsive. This seems to not be related to the computer it is being run on, and so far doesn't seem like it is caused by an underpowered PC. I have gotten the demo timeout message while jogging the motors, but this is not what I'm used to seeing.
Any experience or thoughts would be greatly appreciated. My first impressions of Mach 4 were very good, but if I can't run my machine without the program crashing then I'll probably have to stay with Mach 3.
Edit: I remember testing mach 4 on this laptop a year ago without any other issues than the demo timeout. Is it possible that I am having issues with this specific build of Mach 4 or the ESS plugin?
System Setup:
Computer: Allen Bradley VersaView 5400 PC, 4 core Intel Atom E3845 chipset @ 1.90GHz, 4.0Gb of memory and runs Win 10.
Computer #2: HP Omen laptop, Intel i7 6700HQ 3.5GHz, 32Gb memory, running Win 10
Mach 4 version: 4.2.0.3804 Unlicensed
Warp 9 Tech ESS plugin version: 232 (1.0.1.232)
The issue I have run into over the weekend with Mach 4 is that it hangs after 3-5 minutes of running code. This is the demo version right now, but it is not the timeout (I have seen the timeout message and know what it looks like). The machine will be running and BANG, all the servos stop dead but remain enabled. The software ESTOP does not shut them down (thankfully I also have a hardware ESTOP to kill drive power). The Mach 4 greys out and the cursor is the blue Win 10 waiting circle. I cannot click any on screen buttons and task manager lists the program as "not responding". This happens repeatably both running Artsoft sample GCode (roadrunner and outhouse) as well as a 2 hour long program I recently ran without issues on Mach 3. The program never recovers and has to be closed with task manager. The Smoothstepper remains waiting for Mach signals and won't reconnect when Mach opens leading to me having to power cycle the machine.
At first I thought that this was due to an underpowered computer. The VersaView 5400 computer that is on the machine runs on a 4 core Intel Atom E3845 chipset @ 1.90GHz. It has 4.0Gb of memory and runs Win 10. This is very much on the bottom edge of the system performance requirements for Mach 4 (especially the memory), but there are posts in MachSupport about people not having issues running mach on much less powerful computers without issues. During loading of Mach 4 the CPU is between 70-80%, at idle it is 30-40%, when loading a Gcode program 70-80% and while running the machine it holds quite steady at the mid 60's%. The memory utilization never got above 2.0Gb (50%). This all seems like the computer was doing just fine, but I was convinced that this computer just didn't have the guts to run Mach 4. Until...
To test the situation, I installed the same version of Mach 4 and ESS utilities onto my laptop (Intel i7 6700HQ 3.5GHz, 32Gb of memory, Win 10). I copied the configuration file from the CNC computer to my laptop and connected to the smoothstepper without issues. I ran the same test files and sure enough, Mach 4 crashed about 5 minutes into the code same as the other computer. I tried this several more times and had the same results. I then tried running the machine from Mach 3 on my laptop and it finished the 2 hour and 20 minute program with no issue whatsoever.
My experience is that once I start running code, within 5 minutes Mach 4 will crash and become unresponsive. This seems to not be related to the computer it is being run on, and so far doesn't seem like it is caused by an underpowered PC. I have gotten the demo timeout message while jogging the motors, but this is not what I'm used to seeing.
Any experience or thoughts would be greatly appreciated. My first impressions of Mach 4 were very good, but if I can't run my machine without the program crashing then I'll probably have to stay with Mach 3.
Edit: I remember testing mach 4 on this laptop a year ago without any other issues than the demo timeout. Is it possible that I am having issues with this specific build of Mach 4 or the ESS plugin?