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Author Topic: What can cause a Corrupter Mach 4 profile?  (Read 2391 times)

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What can cause a Corrupter Mach 4 profile?
« on: November 04, 2019, 11:19:51 AM »
Hi All,

Over the weekend I somehow ended up with a corrupted Mach 4 profile. Fortunately I had a relatively recent backup and was able to copy my scripts back into it. Maybe cost me two hours - no big deal.

I am curious why it got corrupted. Are there common pitfalls that cause this?
Re: What can cause a Corrupter Mach 4 profile?
« Reply #1 on: November 11, 2019, 03:23:00 PM »
What happened when it was corrupted?  Im running into random issues. Like probing showing as as made in diagnostic but throwing a code.  probe did not strike during m3 touch  move. When i hook up my plasma sense it works when t test it with a dc supply in its range and enables THC but quits. Ive started manually cut parts only to have it abruptly cut them in half. Set up parts in sheet cam test with simulator worked great. Put it on the table and it cuts lines where holes are to be. Now mind i ran version 1 of 4 with a stand alone thc with no problem.
Re: What can cause a Corrupter Mach 4 profile?
« Reply #2 on: November 12, 2019, 03:05:45 PM »
When I had a corrupted profile, my screen set loaded to the WX4 (super old) screenset and wiped out all of my ESS settings. I was able to reselect my screenset, but my settings were lost. Had to revert to a backup.
Re: What can cause a Corrupter Mach 4 profile?
« Reply #3 on: November 13, 2019, 06:53:57 AM »
Mine is freezing and just dropping off when I’m in the middle of setting up my pokeys. I’m losing com on my controller to my torch height control. I’ll start a run it touches the plate the light in diagnostics lights I see it has made a strike but I get an error. I can write some G code with Sheet Cam run it in the simulator and the sheet Cam simulator it runs fine. Started up and it makes lines where they’re supposed to be circles and if you get it to run every now and then I’ll cut my part in half motors are over torking. Even without the torch running I can see it just randomly Skip gcode as it’s running. I had my hard drive replaced and I copied over the files I thought that was the problem but I deleted everything out I thought and started over from scratch. Don’t know where to go from here it ran fine until I switched to version 2 And added a different torch height Control
Re: What can cause a Corrupter Mach 4 profile?
« Reply #4 on: November 13, 2019, 06:56:12 AM »
Motors are not over torquing

Offline smurph

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Re: What can cause a Corrupter Mach 4 profile?
« Reply #5 on: November 13, 2019, 10:56:07 AM »
I will address the OP question of what can cause a corrupt profile. 

1.  Turning the power off without shutting down Windows.
2.  Turning the power off without shutting down Windows.
3.  Turning the power off without shutting down Windows.
4.  Maybe a hard disk issue. 
5.  Turning the power off without shutting down Windows.

:) 

In all seriousness, that is about it! 

Skipster67, you don't have a corrupt profile.  I would check your machine for a virus.  Freezing and dropping off, as you say, are indicative of a poorly running PC. 

Steve
Re: What can cause a Corrupted Mach 4 profile?
« Reply #6 on: November 13, 2019, 11:48:23 AM »
Thanks Smurph!

That's exactly what happened!

Curious though... Why? This is coming from a non-computer programmer so I might be totally naive. If I kill my computer without closing MS Word, or my CAD programs, or my CAM programs, they don't seem to go corrupt. Would it be possible to save a "last good state" automatically in Mach so if my computer gets shut off by a power outtage then all I would lose would be settings changed in the last session. I know making backups is a necessary part of using Mach 4 (and I am diligent about making them), but couldn't it auto-recover for most cases?

Just curious  ;)

Also can I edit my glorious typo in the title of the post? Whoops!

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Re: What can cause a Corrupter Mach 4 profile?
« Reply #7 on: November 13, 2019, 12:52:43 PM »
The reason is that Word and the other programs may not have their files used in the same manner as the Machine.ini file.  Even so, if you just modified a word document and shutdown uncleanly, that document has a high probability of getting corrupted.  I have seen it 1000s of times.  The issue is that while you might have saved the file, the OS may not have completely flushed the changes to the disk.  Thus the file is in an incomplete state.  Word will try and "repair" it or replace it with an earlier version if it detects a file as being corrupt.  We save earlier versions of the profile (Machine.ini) files in the profile directory's "Backup" directory for the same purposes.

A backup of the previous Machine.ini is saved in the Backup directory every time you exit Mach.  It is a circular buffer that overwrites the oldest backup with the newest with the default number of backups set at 20.  The number of backups kept can be changed with the BackupProfiles key in the Preferences section of the Machine.ini.  If the key is not in there, you have to add it.  e.g:

[Preferences]
BackupProfiles=25

These backups can be restored with the "Restore Backup" button on the Mach4 Loader profile selection dialog.

Steve

Re: What can cause a Corrupter Mach 4 profile?
« Reply #8 on: November 13, 2019, 02:26:27 PM »
Ok let’s start at the beginning. I had mach4 set up and running on this computer. And I was using it for plasma. It was set up for an ohmic sensor and a generic stand alone THC. Mach4 version 2 came out and opened the door to incorporate a Polabs Plasma Sense THC. This I had purchased over a year ago waiting for this day. In getting ready I figured I should have my computer upgraded to a larger solid state hard drive. Wanted to start saving all my g code. Had drive replaced by the company that keeps all our computers at work going. Good company. Got it back upgraded to v2 and switched to plasma sense using pobus2 on my pokeys57E. Set it up exactly as pokeys and Mach say and I can’t hold communication with the plasma sense. I removed Mach and all related pokeys drivers  and programs. Reloaded everything. Relicensed  and have the same results. I can run without and it skips lines of code with or without the torch running. It will touch off I can see it in diagnostics that it touched off. It will cut lines for circles. While I’m watching it skip lines of code. It cuts then cuts parts in half. I’m at a loss.   
Re: What can cause a Corrupter Mach 4 profile?
« Reply #9 on: November 13, 2019, 02:50:39 PM »
Steve!

Wow! A million miles ahead of me  ;D Always saw this option but never knew how to use it. Thank you for sharing.

Mike