MakerGear Forum

I have been using the M2 for more than a year successfully. Sometimes I can't connect to it (I use Simplify3D) but some switching around usually fixes the problem.

But today I could not connect to the printer at all and no matter what I tried, Simplify3D shows me this:

Attempting connection at COM4...
Testing plaintext communication protocol...
Testing binary communication protocol...
Attempting RTS reset and trying again...
Connection failed.

I know that COM4 is the correct port because if I unplug the printer, COM4 disappears from the Port drop-down list entirely. Under Devices and Printers in Windows 7, the printer is listed under COM4 as well and reported to be "working properly."

I tried everything: unplugging the printer, pressing the little reset button to the left of the USB cable socket, rebooting the computer even -- nothing works. It feels like the printer is completely unresponsive! And it was working fine only 2 days ago and I did not change anything since then.

There is one thing I discovered: when I hit the Connect button and then, within a second, press the small reset button on the printer, the connection gets established, albeit momentarily. The console shows some response from the printer and the Connect button turns green. But then it breaks again immediately -- no additional commands can be sent, and no additional messages from the printer are received.


What can I do to troubleshoot the problem? Thanks in advance.

Pop open the top of your electronics enclosure, and see if you have a RAMBo 1.2:


Look for more than just the blue fuse -- it'll say 1.2 on the board. They had a static electricity problem which could kill parts of the controller.

Looks like it's version 1.2. Attaching a photo.

Contact MG support then, I bet it got fried with static .

Already have, they are not very responsive for some reason. Do you think the entire motherboard would need to be replaced?

Thanks for your replies.

-- pp