RTAPI error and realtime delay at EMC launch

Hey, John, thanks for the reply. I reran the Latency Test and still got a maximum base thread jitter of just over 28,000. I had that before but ran the Stepconf Wizard again anyway, repeating the value (always trying something, particularly when someone trying to help suggests it).

I ran the EMC2 software and got NO errors. I got excited and then closed EMC2 and relaunched it with no errors. Really excited and repeated the restart with no errors and actually turned on the power source to the table and randomly ran it around a bit with no occurrence of errors. Relaunched the EMC2 software a fourth time and got the "unexpected realtime" error. Over several more relaunches I got a combination of the RTAPI error and unexpected realtime error, some times just one or the other, some times both. The successful runs are a first on this system, but it still had the errors. It's sporadic now. I'll try rebooting, just for grins.

As I've found little else about this in general Google searches (at least that I either understood or seemed relevant) and I've got you and Andy (who both seem to have large amounts of experience with EMC2 and Ubuntu and getting this stuff to work properly) unable to simply say, "oh, that, here do this...". I am thinking that maybe there is some low-level problem either inherent to my hardware or to this computer in general. This is a hand-me-down PC and perhaps there is a problem with it (although nothing was indicated to me by the previous guy who handled this system). The point being, it seems to be an aberration. I am tempted to just say the hell with it, I have several more systems to try before I build one and the cost of a new motherboard is so small (the Intel Atom D510MO you mention) that I may just build one for the other CNC system I'm going to work on.

My point is that would like to understand and solve the problem but I don't want to waste your or Andy's time if it's likely a hardware problem inherent to this computer.

Thanks again for your time and Merry Christmas.

--HC

HC,

Not sure if this has anything to do with your sporadic error situation. One of the computers I use has a large latency in the first 3 or 4 minutes of use. I simply turn it on and let it "warm up" for a couple of minutes before I start EMC, after that no errors. If I start right away I will get the unexpected realtime error.

Rick G

Hey, Rick, thank you for your input. I have experienced the errors from startup to the next day after the system was started, unfortunately.

--HC

I usually only run the test for a few minutes. I will start it now...running...and leave it there. I've read that page you linked to, thank you. I've decided to monkey with this just a little more and then, if it doesn't get better, scrap this system and move on. I have two or three more PCs I can try loading the Live CD on and see if they work okay. They're older systems and that one Intel board you mentioned is sounding good to me. But I've not given up yet. I just changed some settings in the BIOS trying to resolve the aberrant latency problems and I've got a couple more I'll try later.

As long as I've got you, and tell me if I should post this as a separate topic, which CAM software do you use for creating G code for your plasma table? I'm using Vectric's Cut2D for the router table but I don't think it's going to do well for planning cuts on a plasma table.

Thank you.

--HC

Hey, Andy, I stopped the latency test I had started after Johns post and ran stepconf and set it to 40,000 and then ran EMC2 and immediately got the RTAPI error.

I've restarted the latency test to let it run a long time (overnight) and we'll see what I get.

Thank you.

--HC

Hey, John, I ran the latency test from after my reply to Andy until now (about a week) and with the system (obviously) running through the Matrix screensaver and a couple of random uses of the system (web searches) and through being out of town for Christmas. The latency times are:

Servo thread max jitter: 273915
Base thread max jitter: 113919

If you're still doing the holiday thing I'm sorry to be repetitive but what software do you use for CAM for your plasma table?

Thank you.

--HC