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Weird spindle problem
« on: April 13, 2019, 05:47:33 AM »
I have had my machine running great I fitted a 8 position tool changer using Mach4  and been using the machine with no problem on a daily basis and is has run maybe 40 to 50 hours
Today after not using it yesterday  every thing appeared to work except the analog out put for the spindle after about 3 hours going through the electronics ( I use ESS smoothstepper)  I could not get a 0 to 10 volt output for the spindle
I also noticed the screen  where tool path ops is shown had gone to a different background color a pale orange from blue
I had a full program backup so did a copy of back up program over and every thing now works I have both programs and have gone through all the setups in configure and they both look the same some thing must be corrupted but I have 2 questions why would it be corrupted it was working and shut down properly and where would the corruption  likely to be I would like the find the file so as to get a better under standing  I will start comparing the  2 programs file by file  but there are lots of files and will take some time
Any ideas any one ?
is this relatively common or a rare one off  I sure am glad I had a backup even if it is not completly my current spec
Regards Ray
Re: Weird spindle problem
« Reply #1 on: April 13, 2019, 12:08:08 PM »
Hi,
I would start by looking at the machine.ini in your profile directory.
This is fairly near the top of file in my .ini file:

Code: [Select]
[Toolpath]
BackgroundTopColor=16744448
BackgroundBottomColor=16744448
RapidColor=255
LineColor=1703808
ArcColor=65280
HighlightColor=16777215
AxisColor=0
LimitColor=65535
ShowLimit=1
UseFrame=1

Craig
'I enjoy sex at 73.....I live at 71 so its not too far to walk.'
Re: Weird spindle problem
« Reply #2 on: April 13, 2019, 07:22:10 PM »
Hi  Thanks
I looked at the machine.ini and it appears to do a backup regularly I compared a few days back to the current one and there are dozens of entry's that have changed some to do with the spindle and some with the colors but also a bunch more
I  am not sure of what a lot of them do for instance  there are a heap of entry's called Angle and these are all different
Any idea what would cause that?  and more importantly what can I do to try and not have it happen again for sure I will backup more regularly from now on
regards Ray

Offline reuelt

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Re: Weird spindle problem
« Reply #3 on: April 13, 2019, 07:30:04 PM »

Why would it be corrupted it was working and shut down properly and where would the corruption  likely to be
Any ideas any one ?
Regards Ray
If you are still using a Hard Disk - migrate to a SSD.
The phenomenon is very likely because you had ONE "bad block" in the HDD which is automatically relocated by the drive's internal logic but unfortunately with LOSS of some data. If the bad block is the directory track you won't be able to boot PC.

Don't waste you time analyzing - it is very common.
(I still custom build and sell computers for plasmacam  CNC machines but now only with SSDs).
JUST upgrade to a Solid State Drive.
« Last Edit: April 13, 2019, 07:32:14 PM by reuelt »
"the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord"
Re: Weird spindle problem
« Reply #4 on: April 13, 2019, 07:34:30 PM »
Hi,
a lot of questions there, and next to no bloody answers here!

My understanding is that if and/or when you make any alterations to your profile the changes are recorded
in the .ini file. Note that does not include scripts. Thus if in a Mach session you wrote a small script in the PLC script
for instance, then the script would be saved in the PLC script, which is in turn part of the GUI chunk, which is in turn
part of your screen set, which in turn is nominated in your profile.

When you close Mach changes that you have made during the session get flushed to the .ini file.

I would guess that in your last session you did something which was flushed to the file and affected Machs behavior
the next time you started up.

I'm not 100% but I believe there is a mechanism to lock the .ini file to prevent accidental corruption. I'm unsure how
specific it is.

Craig
'I enjoy sex at 73.....I live at 71 so its not too far to walk.'
Re: Weird spindle problem
« Reply #5 on: April 13, 2019, 07:45:22 PM »
Hi
I use a SSD hard disk and it has not had any problems I also have a standard hard disk in the machine that I keep the backups on ( as well as a separate computer)

I personally suspect a file is opened in Mach4 and then not closed properly and left open I have seen this before and causes random problem but in the past it has always ascii characters    the corruption in this case seems  not to be random character's
Windows did down load a update while the machine was running but did not install it until I closed every thing off and then went to shut the computer down and I do not believe this to be a problem …...BUT
RegardS Ray
Re: Weird spindle problem
« Reply #6 on: April 13, 2019, 08:05:40 PM »
Hi,
I agree, I do not suspect physical corruption of the drive but some competing process like the download
maybe, or some unintended consequence of something that you did.

I've had the same problem when I've managed to screw up, and had to use WindowsTaskManager to shut
Mach components down. Whether the current settings are flushed to the .ini file is not easy to determine or
predict. In some cases the normal flush seems to occur but in other circumstances it does not.

Craig
'I enjoy sex at 73.....I live at 71 so its not too far to walk.'

Offline reuelt

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Re: Weird spindle problem
« Reply #7 on: April 13, 2019, 08:46:52 PM »
Hi
I use a SSD hard disk and it has not had any problems I also have a standard hard disk in the machine that I keep the backups on ( as well as a separate computer)

I personally suspect a file is opened in Mach4 and then not closed properly and left open I have seen this before and causes random problem but in the past it has always ascii characters    the corruption in this case seems  not to be random character's
Windows did down load a update while the machine was running but did not install it until I closed every thing off and then went to shut the computer down and I do not believe this to be a problem …...BUT
RegardS Ray

If you use INTEL brand SSDs, they will never have a bad sector on reboot. Intel SSD will always check new sectors before writing to them so will relocate to good sectors BEFORE writing to ensure data is always readable. 
Other Brand SSDs can lose data just like a HDD if there is a bad sector due to S.M.A.R.T logic on reboot.
"the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord"