Machine stopped and Computer froze

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18 Jul 2020 16:13 #175054 by fc60
Greetings,

Two events happened yesterday in which the mill was going to position and suddenly it stopped and the LinuxCNC froze. No mouse, no keyboard, etc. Power off and restart was the only option.

First event erased all the G54 offsets. Upon reboot, X,Y,Z,A were all zero after homing.

The second event was similar except that G54 was not erased.

The tool table was not affected.

Running Ubuntu 10.4 with LinuxCNC 2.5.5

Both stoppages occurred during a Z axis move.

I did notice the CPU temperature was 120 degrees F.

Also, the machine was left powered up for four days as I was machining a series of duplicate parts. I can only spend about 3-4 hours per day actually making chips. (I press F2 when not actually machining.)

So, back to the stoppage. I looked at the /var folder trying to find a file describing what failed. No luck as I do not speak computer that well.

The machine has been running great for the past few years.

Any help trouble shooting would be well received.

Cheers,

Dave

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18 Jul 2020 19:01 #175062 by tommylight
sudo dmseg
In a terminal might offer a bit more info.

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02 Aug 2020 17:31 #176913 by fc60
Greetings,

Machine froze again yesterday.

Again, during a Z axis move.

No keyboard, mouse, etc. Pulling the 'plug' and it rebooted with no errors during POST.

CPU temperature was 125 degrees F.

I am attaching two 'dmesg' files hoping someone can have a look to see what might be the source of my problem.

It is a Stepper machine that uses GECKO 304 drivers, if this helps.

Cheers,

David

File Attachment:

File Name: dmesg_0.txt
File Size:31 KB

File Attachment:

File Name: dmesg.txt
File Size:28 KB
Attachments:

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02 Aug 2020 20:43 #176934 by tommylight
Nothing there to indicate anything wrong.
So that might be caused by:
failing power supply
failing memory or memory controller
overheating CPU despite what temperature says
failing graphic card
changing PSU or graphic card can help figure out what is going on, also removing all memory banks and testing them one by one and removing the cpu heatsink and cleaning it properly then adding some thermal compound and reseating it.

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02 Aug 2020 20:58 #176939 by fc60
Greetings tommylight,

Thanks for the suggestions. Many I can implement myself.

What is a 'PSU'?

Cheers,

David
The following user(s) said Thank You: tommylight

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02 Aug 2020 21:08 #176940 by tommylight
Power supply unit.

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06 Aug 2020 17:50 #177533 by fc60
Greetings,

Some progress...

I opened the door of the electrical cabinet and directed a small fan into it.

CPU temp went from 125F to 95F. The CPU is the only device that has a sensor.

I also ran the machine for two day without failure!!!

Since the stoppage always occurred during a Z-axis move I now suspect the Gecko card.

What happens when a stepper card fails? Does it lock up the computer?

I plan to buy some heat sink paste and remount the Gecko boards.

Cheers,

Dave

PS The photo attached shows the control cabinet contents.
Attachments:

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06 Aug 2020 18:15 #177535 by tommylight

What happens when a stepper card fails? Does it lock up the computer?

It will have to fail miserably to do that, so no a failed stepper drive usually does not cause the computer to lock up.
The picture explains a lot, the pc board is mounted horizontally at the top so there is no air movement to help with cooling and the processor nor the northbridge have fans as far as i can see. Fanless pc boards are to be mounted vertically with the cooler fins also vertically.

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06 Aug 2020 18:25 #177536 by Mike_Eitel
How is the orientation of this cabinet. Standing on a small side or laying on the big area.
And be carefull sink paste is not very heat conductive. A lot only makes heat transfer only a lot worser.
The small vent on the lower part will not bring out alot of heat.
Do you have some kind of dust problem. If not place a big vent in the middle of the door and have holes leave air good positioned near to mobo and driver..
Mike

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06 Aug 2020 21:49 #177557 by fc60
Greetings Mike,

The cabinet stands vertical.

I thought about adding some ventilation holes. Need to sort out a way to avoid getting metal chips where they do not belong.

I did converse with Gecko. They said my issue is with either the "motion controller", motherboard, or software.

Thanks to all for your insight.

Cheers,

David

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