Sending Program Crashes Computer

[Chris91]

We have recently purchased a new computer and have been running for 3 weeks with no major issues. In addition to running MasterCam on this computer we also send our programs to our 3 Haas CNC machines using DNC Software’s SE DNC via RS232 cables. We set up our DNC software with the same settings as the old computer and everything appeared to be working fine. Then this week something changed. It is now taking forever to send programs to one of the machines. 45 minutes to an hour for programs that used to take minutes. And, it is only happening on one of the machines. The other 2 are working fine. We tried to change some of the settings but each time we do that the program starts to load and then crashes the computer. We did get updated DNC software for the 64-bit machine. We are wondering if we need to update our driver for our USB connector. This particular RS 232 is connected to a USB adapter and then into a USB port on the computer. The other RS 232 cables plug into the serial ports.

 

Thanks for your help.

[1 master]

i had this happen to me twice. i found out that the placement of the cable going out to the machine was the fault. also the other time it was a lose connection in the cable. try looking at that. hope this helps

[Chris91]

We double checked the cables...everything appears to be good. We can send the programs, it is just taking 8-10 times longer than it has in the past.

[bogusmill]

Our HAAS machines came with 2 serial ports and we've had one go bad. Have you tried moving the cable to the second port? Have you tried swaping cables on the bad port with one that works? That should tell you if it's your PC's port or the HAAS port/cable thats at fault.

[Chris91]

This is the error message that we are getting when the computer crashes:

 

Problem signature:

Problem Event Name: BlueScreen

OS Version: 6.0.6001.2.1.0.256.6

Locale ID: 1033

 

Additional information about the problem:

BCCode: d1

BCP1: 0000000000000068

BCP2: 0000000000000002

BCP3: 0000000000000001

BCP4: FFFFFA6009DF4A34

OS Version: 6_0_6001

Service Pack: 1_0

Product: 256_1

 

We are not sure what it means.

[Anthony CIMCO]

Start with the driver. If that fails, get a diagnostics tool from the device mfg. It is possible that something happened to the physical device when it was disconnected. (Shouldn't be the case, but we're talking about hardware so Murphy's Law applies.)

 

Poor cable placement/routing may cause errors / data loss on transfers but should seldom cause an OS or program crash. However, if the device sees something strange (noise?) and the device driver or firmware can't handle it, it could cause a device driver related crash. So, you're back to the device driver or damaged hardware either way.

 

Let us know what you find.

[Mike Mattera - TFM]

Personally I never liked having my DNC on the same system as my Cam programming.

 

Why not just use the old PC as a dedicated DNC server?

 

Mike Mattera

[Chris91]

Mike - Old computer has already been dumped and set up in another department within the company.

 

Anthony - We ran the diagnostics on the drive and it came back fine. I should start over by saying that we can send programs to the CNC, it just takes awhile. When we try to change some of the settings in the DNC software that is when we start running into problems. We currently have our settings at the following (which work):

Parity Bit - Even

Data Bits - 7

Stop Bits - 1

Flow Control - XON/XOFF

Baud Rate - 115200

 

The following settings worked the fastest for us on the old computer but this is the setting that is causing the problem. We are able to get smaller programs out with this setting but the larger ones get anywhere from 40%-70% and the system crashes.

Parity Bit - None

Data Bits - 8

Stop Bits - 1

Flow Control - Xmodem

Baud Rate - 115200

[bogusmill]

Are you using MCX3? I have X2 and X3 on a laptop with an in serial port. I can send fine with X2 but X3 seems to take about 5X longer. Haven't had time to figure out why but if I'm not the only one this may be a bug.

[bogusmill]

Your machine is within 6 ft. of the PC? According to our HAAS manuals thats the longest distance to use 115200 baud rate.

[htm01]

i've had to slow down to 9600 on a machine before,it was in the cable

[Colin Gilchrist]

I never go above 19,200 baud when communicating to a HAAS. Just my personal preference, but 19,200 should send even long programs in less than 30 seconds...

 

Make sure you change the baud rate in each of the HAAS controllers to match the baud rate that you are using...

[John_Carpenter]

Hi Chris,

 

The BCCode d1 error sounds like a USB driver issue. I have seen automatic MS updates effect communications in the past. Move this HAAS to a direct com port communication and see if the problem follows the machine or the usb port.

 

Ocassionally you will have trouble with HAAS machines because of the way they handle shield ground. Most communications gurus will tell you to use low capacitance braided shield cable and tie this shield to the shell or pin 1 of the CNC or the DB shell on the PC, serial hub, multiplexer, etc. (not connected to both sides.) If you are getting induced noise on the line and the shield is not grounded properly then it may be causing spurious noise to interrupt the UART on the machine during transmission. Although most likely - you would at some point get a parity error.

 

John Carpenter

www.WireFreeCNC.com

27 Quality Ave., Somers, CT.