Help Me Please ... Locking-up ... (and stuff)

[haumana 1,221]

SignBlazer is locking up after doing a single cut. There is nothing that will dump the application once it's locked up. In the process viewer, there are two instances of SignBlazer, regardless, neither can be stopped and closed. I'm running XP Pro, Service Pack 2; 1G RAM, USB connection. I downloaded the update that I saw in the other thread that said that it would help patch that problem. Is it better to use the serial port for communication?

I admit that I'm still going through the learning guide to get a better grasp of stuff. I have no idea what some of the icons mean. Right off the bat I printed the sample file and everything was backwards. I know that I'm able to mirror it someplace so that's not a huge deal. However, I opened up SB and changed the font to Banker's Gothic LT. When I sent it to the cutter there were cuts that seemed to go off track and returned to the origin - cutting over anything between those two point. Are there only certain fonts that I should be using?

Any advice on what I should be doing with SB? Is there a work around for the freezing/locking-up?

Another thing that seems strange is that after it completes a cut, I can't get the cutter to go offline. It seems the only answer is to toggle the power on the cutter, or hit the red reset button. Is this normal?

[BannerJohn 1,324]

You should go directly to the SignBlazer forums and register. Post there. Both Jerry and Bruce are extremely active on those forums.

http://www.signblazer.net/forum/index.php?PHPSESSID=3e6575d903ad36ed6466a6be5a2b9fb5;

every problem you describe I have heard of before but Bruce and jerry are more likely to spot the cause quickly.

[haumana 1,221]

Mahalo. I will definitely scour their forum for some answers. 

I'm just sometimes unsure if it's a software thing or a hardware thing. Ahh technology, you gotta love it!

[BannerJohn 1,324]

I think in your case it is a software problem...not something wrong with SB but a communication problem of some sort. I would definately try the serial cable and see if it helps. USB can sometimes be tricky

[haumana 1,221]

Dang and here I actually thought I had a serial port on my laptop ... nope. Not even on the docking station for it. (sigh). Dang these newer laptops that think that serial is antiquated. 

[BannerJohn 1,324]

I think that there is something you can get called a keyspan adapter:

http://www.keyspan.com/products/usa19hs/homepage.spml

I have heard people say it solved their problems. YOu should be able to find one locally. Radio Shack maybe?

[haumana 1,221]

I will definitely look into it. Mahalo again!

You must be the only person that's online now. Not that your assistance isn't appreaciated. 

[tservice 3]

There was a bug, may be on your release.

http://forum.uscutter.com/index.php?topic=2398.0

[haumana 1,221]

Mahalo T!

I thought I had downloaded the right update, but I must not have (sigh). Regardless, I followed the yellow brick road to the land of Oz, and that update worked like a charm. No more locking up ... although I still need to figure out why the cutter won't go offline after completing a cut.

[tservice 3]

It will not go offline on its own. Sorry just read your post all the way through.  After you cycle the power I am assuming there is no problem going to offline? Loose cable maybe.

[haumana 1,221]

The wiring seems to be okay, and the downloaded update fixed the locking-up problem.

What's happening is that after I cut something I press the online/offline button so that I can feed the vinyl forward, but it won't go offline. It seems the only way for me to get that is to use the red button to reset or to power down/power up the cutter. I just want to know if it's normai. If it is, then I'm good with that, if it's not - is that something that I need to be concerned about either now or down the line?

So many little questions ... thank you to everyone for being patient.

[BannerJohn 1,324]

I press the reset button after every cut. If I don't,the vinyl will feed itself back and cut right over the last cut. IN other words,you are setting the origin every time you press reset.

[tservice 3]

That is not normal. Mine I can take offline, I would contact Ken, maybe he has some insight.

[LILJO 0]

I HAVE THE SAME PROBLEM. CAN YOU TELL ME WHAT YOU DID TO FIX THE PROB? DID YOU CHANGE FROM A USB OR JUST GET AND UPGRADE?

[kenimes 42]

Ran into this problem yesterday with a customer, and they had the wrong model selected for thier cutter.

[Jerry Bonham 1]

Hello,

All the suggestions here are excellent.

Nothing is more frustrating than these sort of problems.

There is one little thing that has not been mentioned.

I have solved an number of almost identical problems by correcting this factor.

What is it?

Flow Control!!!!

In SignBlazer in the setup and Comm Settings you will find Flow Control.

Now normally this is set to HARDWARE.

If you look in Windows Device Manager and double click on the port you are using you can also access Com settings

There MUST BE THE SAME AS IN SignBlazer.  If they are not then problems occur.

If you check i am almost willing to put money on it, you will find Flow Control is set to NONE instead of HARDWARE.

Change it to HARDWARE.

Another little known tip for computers that are reluctant to let you cut is to change in Device Manager AND SignBlazer your Flow Control to Xon-Xoff.

This is one of the those last resort sort of things.

Jerry from SignBlazer.

[haumana 1,221]

I HAVE THE SAME PROBLEM. CAN YOU TELL ME WHAT YOU DID TO FIX THE PROB? DID YOU CHANGE FROM A USB OR JUST GET AND UPGRADE?

I downloaded the an update I was pointed to by the Sign Blazer guys, then I made sure that I had the correct plotter selected to use with my laserpoint (which should be set to PCUT).

Here's the link that they gave to me that resolved the craqsh and burn problem:

http://www.signblazer.net/signblazer/updates/uscutter/setup_111107.exe

Good luck!