[cnckid]

I sent a PM to Maver1ck but it has been a couple of years since I last contacted him so I don't know if he is still on the forum. So while I wait I though I would throw this problem out there to see if any of the other members can offer any help.

Now I have a real problem. The mill has been running great, but yesterday started giving a realtime timeout error and the z axis would drop about a quarter inch and the machine would shut down. I shut the machine down and powered back up and everything ran the rest of the day without problems. Today the machine ran for about an hour and did the same thing. I rebooted again and it ran about 30 more minutes and failed again. This time it will not let me power down without turning main power off but it still keeps the realtime error onscreen when it boots up. What's your best guess as to what to do now? I am attaching screen shots for your information.
Thanks,
Mike Butts,
South Carolina

[meckardt55]

You may have 2 problems. I think the real time battery may be going bad. If you pull the RT board and check the battery voltage it should be about 3.3 volts DC. You can't pull out the battery and replace it without losing the BIOS.. You need to send it to Maver1ck for a re-flash. You may also have a hard drive going bad and not reading a file correctly. You may need to get a software/hardware upgrade.

Mike CNC Machine Services INC | Cincinnati Milacron MachinesCNC Machine Services

[JordanMach]

I do agree on both. Although you should be able to replace the battery if you pull the power supply as well. You can use the power supply to power the board while you replace the battery. This way you do not loose Amy settings. This is what I did for both my batteries on my 1250C. This will solve one of the issues. Not sure how tech savvy you are. But an SSD replacement doesn't look too difficult as long as you have the right equipment. I havent done one myself, but been looking into it for a while and doesn't look to bad. But I'd say start with the easiest thing and replace batteries like meckardt55 says. Then see if the issue persists.

[cnckid]

Thanks for the response Mike. I sent both boards from my machine to Maver1ck a couple of years ago because I had tried to replace the battery using some instructions off the web and wound up in worse shape. He said at the time he got a lot of work from that battery installation post, lol. Any way, he replaced the batteries, and did a re-flash. The machine has been running great since then until now. In response to JordanMach suggestion about an SSD, I did replace the original hard drive with a flash drive from Jacobson Machinery about 5 years ago and have had no problems with it. That's not to say there could be something wrong with it now. I tried to go to their website but it is apparently not there anymore, so don't know what or how to check to know if it is the drive. I don't think it is the battery since they are only 2 or 3 years old and the first batteries lasted over 10 years, using the machine daily.

[cnckid]

Thanks for your input JordanMach. I tried doing a battery replacement once before and wound up sending both board from my machine to Maver1ck to get them right. I have replaced the hard drive with a flash drive from Jacobson Machinery, but as far as I can tell they are no longer around. At least their website link does not work. So, I'm down for the count right now.
Mike

[JordanMach]

I see. I was unaware that you have already attempted to replace the realtime battery. I do find it hard to believe that the battery is what is bad as they should last much longer than 2-3 years. But I guess anything is possible. Also I was unaware you have already installed an SSD inside your machine. I too find it hard to believe that your new drive is bad as well. You try talking with FivesGroup? I have been dealing with them a lot on getting my machine up and running and they have been EXTREMELY helpful. they be able to point you in the correct direction. I had issues with my PROFIBUS communication shortly after receiving my machine and they helped me go through the process and found all I had to do was reinstall the A2100 software on the machine. Was easy as cake and that took a wopping 5 minutes. Good luck with the fix. Let us know if you figure it our or have any other info.

[JordanMach]

Quick add to my last post. My touchscreen stopped working on my system as well. Actually never worked in the first place. But was able to remove the KTI board in the back of the unit that holds the LCD screen and I sent it out for repair. I wonder if maybe for some reason that board is playing games with the system? I can upload a picture of the back of my case with the board removed if you want. Its fairly simple. But that way with it removed it cant send any sort of weird signal to the computer in the back. And you can maybe get it fixed to. Cost me $200. Its actually in the mail on the way back to me from repair, will see if it works when I get it back. Just thinking of ANYTHING.

[cnckid]

Thanks for the touchscreen tip. I would be interested to know more about removing the board as you have done. My screen worked great for about 6 years then went crazy and finally went black. I just sat an old monitor next to it in the front and ran the monitor cable from the machine to my separate monitor. Was so used to the touch screen I kept trying to touch my monitor like it was a touch screen, lol. It's been working fine and I also took the keyboard off of the machine and put it in front of the monitor and hooked up a mouse so I could get away from the thumb pad. I used that little thumb pad for 6 years so I had gotten fairly good with it as I had reduced the movement area to the point I didn't have to move my thumb around on the pad, just "lean" in different directions and could cover the entire screen without picking up my thumb. The mouse is still much better and more comfortable.

I powered up the machine today and just transferred programs from the control to my pc and the 2 hours I spent doing that the machine did not throw up a real time error or any other error. I didn't try to run the machine but will try tomorrow and will let everyone know if some little magic munchkin has slipped in and fixed it, but I doubt it.