Duet power problems

Problem

  • No light turns on next to the USB socket on the Duet, when Duet plugged into USB
  • No light and/or fan when PSU is turned on
  • No USB or COM port appears on PC

Check the lights on the board

  • When USB power is applied to the board, a red LED should turn on on the board, next to the USB socket. If power is supplied by 12V power, and no USB is connected, this does NOT illuminate.
  • If the Y endstop wiring is connected, the LED near the Y endstop connector may turn on, if the y-carriage is away from the endstop. This will illuminate with USB power, and 12V power.
  • If the ethernet is connected, you should get a green light illuminate on the ethernet socket. This will illuminate with USB power, and 12V power.
  • When PSU power is applied to the board, and with the wiring connected, the hot end fan should start spinning. There may be no other indication that there is power to the board, if ethernet and the Y endstop wiring are not connected.

Test voltage

Test the voltage of the 12V, 5V and 3.3V lines. Test 12V at the large green screw terminals; using a multimeter, put the probes on the two screw terminals. If connected by USB, you will get 0V here, otherwise 12V. Test the 5V by using the probes between ground (the top of the SD Card holder is useful for this) and pin 1 of the expansion header, then 3.3V on pin 3 – these are the pins closest to the heated bed connection, just under the ‘SION’ of ‘EXPANSION’. Be careful when doing this – you don’t want to bridge the 5V to the 3.3V.

Solutions

  1. When the USB lead is plugged in, a red LED should turn on on the board, next to the USB socket. If no light appears on the Duet next to the USB socket when plugged in via USB, check the cable, then check the USB socket. The USB cable may be faulty; try another, if available.
  2. If you have the PSU connected, and you get 12V on the green terminals, but no 5V or 3.3V without the USB plugged in, check that a jumper is in place on JP10 (ATX_5V_EN). If it is, contact support; the 5V regulator may have failed.
  3. If the voltage is not as expected on 12V, 5V and 3.3V, contact support with your readings; there may be a short circuit in your wiring, your Duet board may have a fault with the 5V or 3.3V regulator, or there may be some other fault. Disconnect wiring and check the pins on the back of the board are not touching anything that may short circuit the board.
  4. Check to see if the main ARM processor on the board is getting warm/hot, under USB only power or with the PSU connected. If there is a fault with the board, it can represent itself by causing heat in the processor. There could be a short circuit in your wiring, or a fault with the board itself. Test again with all connections to the board removed, with just power applied to the Duet.
  5. We have seen issues with Mac OS X, where the Duet will show up when the firmware is erased, then disappear from the USB list when the firmware is updated. This should have been fixed in newer Arduino IDE software versions.

 

Duet software connection problems

Problem

  • Duet is listed as a USB or COM port, but can’t connect

Solutions

  1. When the USB lead is plugged in, a red LED should turn on on the board, next to the USB socket. Check the ‘Power problems’ section, above, if not.
  2. If the Duet is not recognised by your PC, check the USB cable is fully inserted. The USB cable may be faulty; try another, if available.
  3. Check the voltages on the board – see the ‘Power problems’ section above.
  4. If the Duet still does not show up on your PC, it’s possible that the USB socket on the Duet is faulty, or loose, and the USB lines have broken. Check the USB socket; it has four legs that go through the board. All four of these should be soldered, to hold the socket firmly on the board. If they are not, contact support.
  5. Check if the Duet is recognised by your PC:
    Windows: check that, when connected, the Duet shows up in the Windows Device Manager, in the ‘Ports (COM & LPT)’ section, as ‘Arduino Due’. If so, the firmware is running.
    Mac OS X: Open System Information, and check if the Arduino is listed under ‘USB’. If it shows as a ‘Composite Device’, the firmware is running.
    Linux: open a terminal window and send ‘lsusb’. The Arduino should show as ‘Arduino SA’ if the firmware is running.
  6. Has the firmware been erased?
    Windows: In the Windows Device Manager under the ‘Ports (COM & LPT)’ section; if it shows as ‘bossa program port’, the firmware has been erased.
    Mac OS X: Open System Information, and check if the Arduino is listed under ‘USB’. If it shows as a ‘Communication Device’ if the firmware has been erased. We have also had some problems with Macs not seeing the Duet; see: http://forums.reprap.org/read.php?340,509009
    Linux: open a terminal window and send ‘lsusb’. If the Arduino shows as ‘Atmel Corp. at91sam SAMBA bootloader’, the firmware has been erased.
  7. If the firmware has been erased, follow the firmware update instructions here: https://reprapltd.com/reprappro/documentation/commissioning-introduction/maintenance-duet/#RepRapPro_Firmware
  8. If the Duet is seen in the Windows Device Manager as ‘Arduino Due’ but you can’t access it by the Arduino IDE (and you are using the latest version), usually it’s because the device drivers haven’t installed, or are marked as ‘unsigned’ by Windows. You can try manually installing the driver, as described in the Arduino instructions here: http://arduino.cc/en/Guide/ArduinoDue#toc10 . On Windows 8, you may have to disable Windows Device Driver Digital Signing; see http://mytechblog.com/tutorials/arduino/install-arduino-drivers-on-windows-8/
  9. If the Duet is seen in the Windows Device Manager as something else, eg ‘GPS Camera’ or other device, there may be a clash between two devices on the computer, and both may have been assigned the same COM port. You will need to disable or change the COM port that has been assigned to the other device, or the Duet board. It may also be due to software installed on the computer, which is incorrectly identifying the Duet board, and taking over the communication, so that neither the Arduino IDE Serial Monitor not Pronterface can connect. See the step above about manually installing the driver.
  10. Check the port settings are correct. In the Windows Device Manager, in the ‘Ports (COM & LPT)’ section, right click on the ‘Arduino Due’ and open ‘Properties’. Check the ‘Port Settings’ tab. Windows sometimes sets the ‘Bits per second’ incorrectly – it should be 115200. Change this manually, or clicking ‘Restore Defaults’ should set it correctly. On Mac/Linux, the port settings are automatic.
  11. Open the Arduino IDE and check the settings are correct:
    Tools->Board menu and select ‘Arduino Due (Native USB)’. If this is greyed out, check the device drivers have been installed.
    Tools->Port menu and select the USB port for your Duet board; it’s usually named ‘Arduino Due (Native USB)’.
    Tools->Serial Monitor, and make sure the communication settings are correct at the bottom of the window; select ‘115200 baud’ from the drop down menu, bottom right, and select ‘Newline’ or ‘Both NL & CR’ from the other drop down menu.
  12. Depending on the firmware version, it can take up to 1 minute to show up in the Serial Monitor, if you don’t have the ethernet connected (this relates to old firmware; firmware after v1.04 starts up within a couple of seconds). Send any gcode, eg ‘M115’ (this checks the firmware version), and wait for up to one minute for the firmware to start up and respond.
  13. Check to see if the main ARM processor on the board is getting hot, when power is connected (USB or with the PSU connected). The processor usually runs at 20C above ambient temperature, ie around 40C, cool enough to touch with your finger. If there is a fault with the board, it can represent itself by causing heat in the processor, and it may become too hot to touch, ie over 60C. There could be a short circuit in your wiring, or a fault with the board itself. Test again with all connections to the board removed, with just power applied to the Duet. Usually, if the processor is overheating, the processor will have failed and the Duet will need to be replaced.
  14. For any other faults, contact support. Please explain clearly, from the list above, what does, and does not, work.

 

Firmware update problems

Problem

  • Cannot update firmware
  • After firmware update, Duet no longer visible

Solution

  1. Check the instructions, and follow them carefully
  2. If the ‘bossac’ command fails, make a note of the error, and contact support
  3. If the error is to do with the port not being found, try sending the update command without this part: ‘–port=COMxx -U true’
  4. If the board is inaccessible following a firmware update, but then does reappear after the ‘erase’ and ‘reset’ buttons are pressed. When you send the bossac command, leave the ‘-R’ off the end. Once the flash has completed, wait for 10 seconds, then press ‘reset’ button on the board, and see if the board shows up correctly