Strange 7i76e problem when starting linuxcnc

tommylight wrote:

In your attached picture, the debug info says:
iptables no chain/target/match by that name
That means you have edited one of the networking files manually and they ended up not working. Now you have two different host names for your PC, they must be the same.
Linux keeps two files with the hostname:
/etc/hostname
and
/etc/hosts
Again just so other users can see this: it is never advisable to edit networking files manually

Awwwwwww but that just breaks Unix philosophy

I've seen that iptables message when the user doesn't have execute permissions for iptables. If memory serves me correct.

So this morning I started off with an fresh Linux install. Configured the network as described by tommylight's post. Turned off IRQ. And Linuxcnc started without problems, ping times around 0.13. Is there some way to always turn it off, because after a reboot the ping times where bad again and had to turn off IRQ again.

Now I still am getting the errors in the attacent, does this have anything to do with the fact that I haven't put much time into configuring the Hal and ini file?

Further more any tips on proceeding to configure my cnc/hal/ini?

Take a look at the hm2_eth manual page.
it explains how to setup the interfaces file to automatically run
the ethtool command at network initialization.

Note that if you edit the interfaces file, it takes priority over the network
manager GUI, that is you can no longer use the GUI to setup that interface.

The errors you have show a real time issue, likely with networking.
These would be expected if you did not disable IRQ coalescing,
or if you have the servo thread rate set too high, or if the basic
host PC latency is too high.

Did you run a latency test?

Yes I did run a latency test, it had a max base thread around 340000 ns and a servo thread around 320000 ns. And set it in the pnfconfig

The error seems to be about the serial ports, but I'm not using those? My setup is just a mesa card and steppers atm

The servo thread should be set to 1000000 ns (= 1 ms)
This is not something you should normally change

Also when you run the latency test you should not have a base thread:

latency-test 1ms 1ms

or

latency-histogram --nobase --sbinsize 1000

When I run the latency 1ms 1ms I indeed don't have a base thread. Changed the servo thread back to 1ms, now linuxcnc is running without errors. Only thing is that my cr1 led comes on.
Also don't have any steppers running yet, but have to double check my wiring and the documentation.
Anyway, thanks a lot for the great help so far!

The reason you run the latency test without a base thread is because the final
configuration will not have a base thread and adding a base thread will make
the servo thread latency numbers invalid.
(either a bit better or much worse depending on the system)

CR1 indicates a watchdog bite, it should come on after you exit LinuxCNC but should not
be on when LinuxCNC is running. If it does come on when LinuxCNC is running, it indicates
that you either still have a real time issue of some kind (maybe BIOS power management left on)
or that the watchdog timeout has been set to too short a time.

The watchdog time out is set on 500000ns. My ping times are still around 0.1.

Somethings not enterily clear to me:
What is the servo thread used for?
My driver has a dir- and a pul- can I connect these to the dir- and step- on my mesa or an I supposed to connect them to ground?
Is the fact that cr1 is on the reason I can move my steppers?

"The watchdog time out is set on 500000ns."

This is 0.5 ms which will cause an instant watchdog bite at a 1000000ns (1 ms) servo thread period

Normally this should be set for 10-50 ms (100000000 ns to 50000000 ns)

The servo thread is the real time thread that runs almost all LinuxCNC real time operations
including the generation of position waypoints for motion control, reading positions for
spindle synced motion, or probing operations etc etc, basically everything LinuxCNC does
in real time is done at the servo thread rate.

If your drive has + and - inputs you can wire them to the 7I76Es + and - outputs for differential drive
which has better noise immunity than single ended drive.

If the watchdog bites no motor /spindle motion will be possible (that's the main the intent of the watchdog hardware)