Hi all. Yesterday, my printer stopped responding to commands from the touch screen, so I shut the printer off and turned it back on. Now, the printer and screen turn on (power fan spins and screen backlight comes on), but the screen does not display anything, and the printer cannot be reached via USB. Multiple power outlets and cables have been tried, and all cables inside the main chassis are securely connected except for the Z- cable (which has been replaced by a BLTouch). There is a single red LED on the motherboard that lights up when the machine is powered on. Does anyone have any ideas how I can try to diagnose this? I’ve sent an email to elegoo, but I’ve heard it can take weeks to get a response, and I’m trying to get things ready for a DnD campaign starting this weekend… thanks for any tips.
Edit: for anyone finding this post looking for help, you’re SOL. Elegoo responded to me, and after sending them a couple pictures, they’ve determined my motherboard to be dead, and are not willing to provide a free replacement since I’m just outside of warranty. Now I’m torn between getting a new motherboard (waiting on a quote from them) or just saving for a better printer.
Edit 2: after some very light complaining, Elegoo is making right and sending me a new motherboard free of charge.
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So, I’ve had something similar happen to a creality printer, which was just the excuse I needed to bench it. I gave it to a student later, he plugged it in and it just …worked.
So my first reflex would be to tell you to unplug it and hold the power button, to empty any residual charges/memory.
That was one of my first thoughts, after a few attempts at power cycling I did the same with the printer unplugged to make sure she was empty. That’s awesome it worked for your student though; you got an excuse to buy a fun new toy, and they got a great learning tool 👍🏽
Well, there is a reason I was trying to get rid of that printer 😅. The school had two Creality CR-5S that were donated from a Chinese university. You won’t find anything about them online (except for one YouTube video describing how terrible they are). Not sure how much of a gift it was to the student.
Well… like I said. Great learning tool. They’ll spend so much time working on the printer that when something stupid happens to their next one, they’ll already know how to fix it!
I was wondering if the new motherboard worked? I have the exact same problem. I was wondering how long did it take for you to get your motherboard? Are you in Canada or US? Was the swap easy? just plug and play?
Yeah the new mobo worked for a while, I think it took around 8 or 9 days to ship to US. The tracking site never updated past saying the shipper was waiting for the item (even a week after it was delivered). But I started having some really odd issues with it after a month or two. I’m still not 100% sure what the cause of the issue was or if it was even specifically mobo related (I posted a lot here during that time if you peep my post history), but I ultimately ended up replacing it with an SKR mini E3 mobo, which I’m much more happy with.
Replacing the mobo should just be plug and play, all the cables are labeled, well routed, and are appropriate length, so it’s easy to rewire the stock configuration. Just to be safe though I would grab the newest version of the board firmware from their GitHub page and flash it, no telling what version it ships with.
thanks for the tips!
I was actually looking at switching to The BTT octopus v1.1 in the future so I can do true dual z with dual extruder.
was it hard to swap it for a btt board? I assume you can’t just plug and play.
The swap is just about as easy as installing the stock board, except the cables aren’t perfect lengths and you have to look up a pin out for the board to put stuff in the right spot. The port in the front of the printer’s case also won’t line up, not will the mounting holes for the board itself; I just kinda janked mine in and it’s been working fine.
did you have to adjust the board firmware to get it to work with the Neptune 3?
Yes, I don’t know what (if any) firmware ships on BTT’s board, but their GitHub page has both Marlin and Klipper builds for all of their boards.
If you don’t know what Klipper is or how it works, now is a great time to learn. With the mods you’re mentioning it sounds like you’re very into printing as a hobby, Klipper is an eventuality. Within the first 15 minutes of having it set up you’ll be wondering why you ever used the stock firmware.
Yeah the new mobo worked for a while, I think it took around 8 or 9 days to ship to US. The tracking site never updated past saying the shipper was waiting for the item (even a week after it was delivered). But I started having some really odd issues with it after a month or two. I’m still not 100% sure what the cause of the issue was or if it was even specifically mobo related (I posted a lot here during that time if you peep my post history), but I ultimately ended up replacing it with an SKR mini E3 mobo, which I’m much more happy with.
Replacing the mobo should just be plug and play, all the cables are labeled, well routed, and are appropriate length, so it’s easy to rewire the stock configuration. Just to be safe though I would grab the newest version of the board firmware from their GitHub page and flash it, no telling what version it ships with.
Do you have a picture? looking at images online, there’s… alot of LEDs on that board. There should be documentation somewhere saying what it means. (Not holding my breath on that documentation…)
since the LCD and fans turn on, it’s unlikely to be a power issue. (a bad PSU will usually either just not work; or work until there’s high draw and crap out on you.)
It’s unlikely to be a physical connection issue, unless there’s some sort of jumper pins for flashing fresh firmware, which might put int into a different mode for that. (i assume you weren’t doing that recently?)
I suspect something happened to the firmware; If you have a copy of the firmware, either the stock firmware or whatever you flashed last time it was working it may take a fresh firmware from the SD card. Personally, I’d hunt down what the board does during boot first and identify what that LED means.
if you can, also check the board for signs of physical damage, something may have shorted out, etc. if it’s hardware, you’ll need to work through Elegoo for replacements.
I also suspected a firmware issue but hadn’t yet tried anything. I just loaded the stock firmware on to an SD card and still no response from the printer.
I managed to find a circuit board diagram for what I believe is my main board. There are several indicator LEDs, but I think most of them are for indicating that a heating element or fan is turned on, I only see one LED in the diagram that looks like it should be on with the printer.
I’ve just tried completely disconnecting the BLTouch and reconnecting the stock cables. No change in behavior.
Note that in this picture the nozzle thermistor has been disconnected, but the behavior is still the same.
When you flashed the firmware, did it do anything to show that it was taking the firmware?
either way, I’m thinking you’ll have to get help from Elegoo- either instructions to clear it, or a new board. Apparently, though there’s two boards in those printers that need flashing. (the main board and the LCD touch screen.) Unfortunately, I can’t find any resource online identifying what the LED’s indicate :/
EDIT:
So I found MKS’s github, which seems to have things for the board here, but i’m not seeing any board hardware stuffs that match a Robin Nano_DW v2.1
I was unable to flash the firmware. Putting the SD with the stock firmware does nothing to alter the behavior. It’s still just a blank screen with the backlight on.
Here’s a link to the PDF I found of the board’s schematics, if you’re curious. The LED that lights up for me is on the 3rd sheet. All the others are connected to the hotend, bed, fans etc.
nothing that says what it does.
(would that be too much to ask for… Elegoo? or whoever made that board. those LED’s cost money. It’s such a shame they don’t have a top level “troubleshooting” guide that lists what they do… /sigh)
Yeah, It sounds increasingly like there’s something wrong with the hardware on the board. that may or may not have wrecked the firmware, but unless you can identify what went wrong, and have the skills and tools to deal with soldering in things… you’ll need to get Elegoo to send you a new board. sorry I couldn’t be more help.
And just to verify, that LED isn’t normally on?
That LED is normally on. It’s been about a year since I’ve had the chassis open so I can’t recall if there are normally more than one on when it first boots up or if it’s only the one. Looking at the diagram it seems like it’s just a main power indicator.
Thanks for taking them time to respond. You may not have been able to fix the problem, but you’ve at least assured me there’s no other troubleshooting steps I can take until I hear from Elegoo.
I guess my DnD players will have to live with quarters and pen caps in lieu of customized minis. Haha.
I found this diagram for V2.2 which looks the same. The lit LED is D5 which is the one you mentioned on the 3rd page. It looks like it only indicates that the 5V to 3.3V regulator beside it is working and has power.
That LED being lit at least more or less confirms that power is not the issue. Thanks for digging that up.
I guess my DnD players will have to live with quarters and pen caps in lieu of customized minis. Haha.
I read a lot into that “Haha”… like “They wont live that long anyway,”
maybe I’m projecting a bit.
It’s my very first campaign. I’m actually afraid the combat and encounters are going to be laughably easy, since I’m running a premade campaign made for beginners and I don’t feel comfortable yet tweaking with monster stats.
Hey, in case you were curious, Elegoo emailed me back and diagnosed it as a motherboard failure. And since I’m a couple months out of warranty, they won’t send me a new part. 😔 I’m now debating if I want to pay for a new motherboard and wait a month to get it, or just save up some cash and buy a better printer a month from now.
A few months out of warranty? That ain’t suspicious timing….
It sucks that you’re down for a month. But, you don’t necessarily need to get their board.
Yeah, I figured there are other places to get it, but when it comes to circuit boards and whatnot (especially ones from China) I’m always a little hesitant about getting off brand stuff. I figured I’d see what quote they hit me with and take it from there
Edit: they’re actually sending me a free one! I halfway complained in my response but stayed polite (basically just said I was disappointed in the response) and the guy messaged me back overnight that they’d send me a new one.
According to elegoo’s firmware instructions, the screen itself has updatable firmware too. Maybe you could try updating that as well
Thanks, I had forgotten about the screen firmware. Unfortunately, I just tried that, to no avail.
