VLS 3.6 Problems

[David Dustin]

I was going to wait to hear back from the rep on this machine but it is the weekend and (negative comment intentionally left out, but you get the idea).

Our system was humming along and we ran into one problem with the doors. The interface said the door was open but none were. After some troubleshooting we were able to isolate it to a door switch which we "jumped out". There are 2 switches on each door so we were still safe.

Next problem was we were putting in the vector table for some cutting and while moving the table down, the front panel buttons stopped functioning and the table would not move. It was a long way from end of travel in both directions so it is not the limit switches. Anyway a few seconds after that occured the machine shut down, everything went off.
The interface said the machine was disconnected.

When we disconnect and reconnect the USB cable, we get the windoze tone for connection, then 5 seconds or so later the windoze disconnect tone.


Trouble shooting steps:

Removed battery and tested. Battery measures almost 11 volts (which seems high, but it is over 9 volts so it should work).
Removed and tested the line fuses with a meter. Tested OK
Uninstalled the driver, then reinstalled it. No Go
Tried a different USB cable. No Go.
Installed the driver on a different computer. No Go.
Tried all the other USB ports on the computer
AC Voltage is present.
Are there any other things I can try?
I will keep you apprised as to how the rep handles the situation, but 2 failures in less than 24 hours (one of them catastrophic) has me rather "testy" at the moment...
David

[Mike Mackenzie]

David,

I am not sure what happened but it does seem like something came loose during shipping. Cable connection to the CPU or perhaps the USB board went bad.

Unfortunately these things can happen and as usually they happen in the early weeks of owning your system. Once all the electronics are burned in good the systems have few issues.

[Margaret Turco]

David,

I'm so sorry you're having trouble. I don't know much about the electronics but it doesn't sound like a computer problem. The actual circuit breaker isn't tripped, right? You might actually unplug the laser for 5 minutes and then try again. You should be able to adjust the Z without the computer being connected at all. That's all I can think of at the moment, but good luck. You're freaking me out because I'm about to buy a laser of my own....

[David Dustin]

I am hoping it is an isolated thing (very, very isolated), and it isn't my intention to freak you out. If the solution is simple, great, if it is more involved than that then well see what the rep will do to fix the situation.

My approach is that of being a very vocal consumer. If something is good I make sure I let people know, if not then I make that known too.
The only real power we have is where we spend our money.
I like to give those supplying equipment to me the benefit of the doubt, but patience is not one of my better attributes, so the longer I wait the more upset I get.

Ask me sometime about my opinions about HP and Dell computers (I own 25 computers all together).........

David

[David Fairfield]

advice-- chill till tech opens on monday, study operating manual in meantime.

[Steve Clarkson]

Ask me sometime about my opinions about HP and Dell computers (I own 25 computers all together).........

Sorry to hear about your laser problems......I guess it's loke opening your favorite present on Christmas morning, only to find out that i doesn't work and you have to wait ALL DAY until you can bring it back to the store to exchange it on the 26th!

OK, I'll bite......what's your opinion about HP and Dell? I just walked in the door with a brand new HP laptop not five minutes ago! I haven't broken the seal on the box, so I can still return it!!!!!!

[Dee Gallo]

Dave, I had a similar problem with my laser bed after shipping. I had a screw loose (and not just the one in my head!). All I knew was the bed seemed "wrong", since it was shaky in one corner. I could not see or reach it, but the tech took the whole side off and showed me where it was before he fixed it. It was not an easy reach for him either, even with the side off, since it was the screw holding one of the bed stop/supports at the very bottom of the case. So it's possible it is something simple and cheap in some cases.

I wish you luck, we all hate having sick babies.

cheers, dee

[David Dustin]

Oh man....

I own 7 HP's (one notebook) and 9 Dells (2 notebooks, 1 desktop and 6 killer work stations with quad core Xeons). The rest are a variety of mutts..

The HP note book is the 3rd one, meaning it has been returned 2 times already. The video on the machine quits after about 6 months of use. Service was a nightmare (both times) and getting them to actually fix it took an act of congress. A good friend of mine had one too and the same thing happened but he knew someone in HP and they took it back for him.
They acknowledeged there were a boat load of machines out there with issues and they just decided to let them die.

The common thing was we both had AMD Turion processors which make them run hot. If yours in an Intel it might be OK.

My Dells have all been absolutely rock solid. I am sure there are stories about bad dells too, but my personal experience is they are bullet proof.

The HP desktops actually run OK, in fact I converted one over to linux to use as a server.

David

[David Dustin]

advice-- chill till tech opens on monday, study operating manual in meantime.

I have been over the manual a bunch of times.
Your advice is sound of course.

I think there are 2 things things that upset me the most:
1. When I was going to buy the machine, the rep would respond to emails and take phone calls at all hours. That is not the case now
2. I was assured there would always be someone I could call with equipment issues.

it seems I have had the misfortune to buy a new machine, have "issues" and a weekend all at the same time. My luck should turn anytime now, maybe I should go play the lottery.

So... I have been trying to remain as calm as I can, and give them the benifit of the doubt. I am very hopefull all this will be a a minor hickup in the big scheme of things.

On top of that my lovely bride of 30 years (this coming Thursday is our anniversary) is calling me to rub her feet........

breath in...... breath out......

Thanks,
David

[Kim Vellore]

David,
I also have many PC's and laptop almost one for each application... but 2 weeks back I got a MAC, now there is no turning back, I dislike working on the PC now. I installed Vmware fusion which can simulate a virtual machine with any OS... I have 3 XP, ubuntu, and MAC all running at the same time I use coreldraw, windows print driver on ethernet and have acces to all hardware just like a PC. Windows takes 10 seconds to start. I can drag and drop files between all OS. I never enjoyed a computer this much before... Anyway if someone is tired of PC and want something stable and fast get a MAC and everything that you used on a PC will work on the MAC. No words to describe how thrilled I feel to use the MAC or all the advantages of using it...

Kim

PS: I used to be a MAC basher and I have no affiliation with Apple or Vmware...

[Kevin L. Waldron]

David,

I have two ULS systems(VLS-ILS) and you will find that the factory wants things right! I think that you will find that they want happy cutomers or they will refund your monies.

For the VLS system, as a whole there are problems with the HP computer systems and the usb port remaining stable(tech is working to making there software work even with unstable computers). Try another brand of computer, also if your cable exceeds 6-12 feet shorten back to the 12' or less. Not saying that it want work up to 15' but eliminate the problems first and make sure you have a working system.

As for the lock outs they are simply magnetics on the top door and front door and laser tube cover. The magnetics do have two screws so that you can adjust them in or out. The cutting table also has a magnetic at the bottom side that tells the software that it is in. You might also check to see what version of sottware you have. I have been using ver 5.21.33 and it is relatively stable. I think that you will find that all software with some circumstances will fell, the idea is to keep this to a minimum. You will also find that the physical button on the machine want always turn it off and on, not sure why. The on/off button in the software will always work or at least for me it has.

If you did further assistance e-mail off-site. I also don't have all the bugs on the ILS worked out but I am in contact with the factory weekly.

Kevin

[David Fairfield]

Had a Mac once, never again, nothing but problems. I use Adobe Illustrator on a 5 yr old Dell, its sorta ugly but it works perfectly and the price is hard to beat.

The interior of the Dell is full of very fine sawdust from the workshop, but aside from a CD drive that broke last week, it works like new! Typing to ya on it now ! :)

Dave

[David Fairfield]

5PM EST Monday... status?

[David Dustin]

I called my rep's tech support line this morning.
The tech's were friendly and after some trouble-shooting they determined the CPU is bad.
While I am not sure how they came to that conclusion they are sending one one over night delivery for me to install.

There was a rather long period where the tech was implying my computer had "a lot of stuff on it" and that some of that "stuff" might be interfereing with the USB driver. I pointed out the machine had been working fine for a day.

The owner (I think) called me back and gave me his cell number to call in case of another situation. He also said if this did not fix it, he would send someone up to fix it. All of this later part made me quite happy...

I will let you know tomorrow.......
David

a new one

[David Dustin]

Here is an update.

I am happy to report the new main board came this morning.

We replaced it and thought we were out of the woods, then found we couldn't home the X or Y. It turns out I pushed one of the sensor leads out of the connector when I was pushing it on. Once that was fixed we were cooking again.

This was handled very well by the company we purchased the machine through. The initial lapse in communication seems to have been a fluke.
The tech I dealt with was right on both the problems I had.

Thanks for all the help and kind words from everyone.

David

[Margaret Turco]

All right David! I'm glad for you that it seems to be working out finally. I'll bet that was one looooong weekend.

[David Dustin]

It was a very long weekend and I know now everything will be OK.

The problem I have in general is for whatever reason I seem to find the most intellectually challenged people on the planet. It seems everywhere I turn I run into incompetance.

Now; I am far from a rocket scientist, but you seriously have to wonder how some people find their way home..

Anyway, when I run into problems with things I have a tendency to go off a little, particularly if I smell incompetance (I have a good story to tell about buying my dust collector, but will save that for another post)

David