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Controller Not Detected HD4

Posted: Sat Apr 22, 2017 11:41 am
by ChubbyRooster
Ok, thought I had blown a fuse, but not the case. The pendent powers up, but the controller is not being detected. Checked all the connections and made sure I had not hit a limit on the gantry. Cycled the power several times, same result, nothing. Ideas?

Re: Controller Not Detected HD4

Posted: Sat Apr 22, 2017 3:35 pm
by Rando
ChubbyRooster wrote:Ok, thought I had blown a fuse, but not the case. The pendent powers up, but the controller is not being detected. Checked all the connections and made sure I had not hit a limit on the gantry. Cycled the power several times, same result, nothing. Ideas?
Shotgun. 8 Ga.....

Ugh!

You can always open the controller and see if there's a connection loose somewhere.
Try a different USB port (it has to reload the drivers, in case the already-loaded one got corrupted or confused)
Reboot the computer from a cold power-down state.
Uninstall the control panel and driver, then re-install
NWA will try and claim it's a bad USB cable, which I have never once seen in an undamaged cable, but they claim it nonetheless...

Those are what I'd do, but given your working with the fuse, most of the above has probably already been done a bajillion times...

If you don't have an 8Ga, a double-barrelled 12Ga will "fix" it. ;-)

NOT...don't shoot the thing or yourself!

Regards,

Thom

Re: Controller Not Detected HD4

Posted: Sat Apr 22, 2017 3:47 pm
by ChubbyRooster
Hey Thom, well I am using a pendent not the computer. I have disconnected and reconnected every cable, I have looked inside the controller (removed cover) and could not find anything lose. Guess I am left with calling tech support on Monday...no projects for me this weekend. :(

Re: Controller Not Detected HD4

Posted: Sat Apr 22, 2017 4:00 pm
by Rando
Ugh....sorry to hear that. And unlike endmills, it's not really feasible to have a "cold spare" on hand :(.

OTOH, can you plug it into a computer and try it? You don't have to have the steppers connected if you don't try to actually run any code. Just wondering if that produces different behavior, not trying to claim you should switch to using it ;-).

Thom

Re: Controller Not Detected HD4

Posted: Sat Apr 22, 2017 4:30 pm
by rcrick
Did you disconnect the pendent. If you did make sure you didn't bend any of the pins. I had a similar problem chased it for a while then discovered that I had bent a pin. Worth a try.
Rick

Re: Controller Not Detected HD4

Posted: Sat Apr 22, 2017 5:16 pm
by ChubbyRooster
Yes, disconnected the pendent (after the controller quit working), reconnected, and just went a checked the pins. All good there. Very confused. The most interesting part is I had just finished a job, hit stop (was going to be deeper than I wanted). Pulled the piece off, came back in a few minutes to start new project and no controller.

Re: Controller Not Detected HD4

Posted: Sat Apr 22, 2017 6:08 pm
by ChubbyRooster
Rando wrote:Ugh....sorry to hear that. And unlike endmills, it's not really feasible to have a "cold spare" on hand :(.

OTOH, can you plug it into a computer and try it? You don't have to have the steppers connected if you don't try to actually run any code. Just wondering if that produces different behavior, not trying to claim you should switch to using it ;-).

Thom
Thom, I have not done this before so I think the computer replaces the pendent?

Re: Controller Not Detected HD4

Posted: Sat Apr 22, 2017 6:25 pm
by ChubbyRooster
Tried that also, nada, however, dont think I broke anything else.

Re: Controller Not Detected HD4

Posted: Wed Aug 23, 2017 9:53 am
by EMTPJ
Any update to this? My HD4 controller keeps giving me the "controller not detected" too.... grrrr I have not even go to use this stupid thing yet, and I already want to set it on fire.

Re: Controller Not Detected HD4

Posted: Wed Aug 23, 2017 4:25 pm
by SteveM
When you power up the control box, what is showing on the pendant screen?
You are saying pendant not detected, is that the message on the pendant screen?