Need Help! Ghost In My Machine (Robodrill)

Hi, I have a 2000 Fanuc Robodrill T14iaL with the 16i-MA controller.

I have a very perplexing situation that has stumped Tristar, as well as Method machines.. I could use some ideas to Exorcise a ghost out of my machine!

In the beginning. (two days ago...)
The Machine was fine. Yesterday, I loaded a program onto it using a Fanuc memory flash card (used many times) It loaded fine, written to O0001.

Immediately after that I navigated to load the program all OK till I pushed the "AUTO" button. The "930 CPU INTERRUPT" screen popped up and locked up the machine!

I shut it all down and restarted it. Everything was OK but as soon as I pushed the "AUTO" button BAM!! 930 again! I tried a few more times, as well as navigated all over through the system with no problem.. But as soon as the "AUTO' button was pushed the wheels came off.

After a few times of doing that I get a "750 SERIAL LINK ERROR" alarm! at this point it seems the sky is falling.

I was suspected that every time i pusher the "AUTO" it activated the SRAM to pull a program.. Soo I re-flashed the SRAM to my backup. That actually worked! Now I could push the "AUTO" and it all worked without an issue (except the 750 was still there)

I went to load a different program to the machine. I noticed in the DIR of the machine programs that the O0001 program was still there after a re-flash, but it was the number only, the name was gone and it was totally blank. It would not delete. I did however overwrite it then deleted it. WEIRD

So now I have a "750 Spindle serial Link" alarm aaaand now a interesting turn of events. The "OFF" button on the panel doesn't turn the machine off!? But the "CYCLE STOP FEED" button will shut the machine down as if it was the OFF button!! BUT only if I try the actual "OFF" button FIRST, then try the FEED STOP button.

I'm left with currently:
- 750 Spindle serial link alarm
- OFF button does not shut the machine off
- Cycle Feed Stop button will shut the machine off as if it were the OFF button if I attempt the OFF button first

Extra info:
The Spindle AMP LED is blinking "- -", with no AL code
All the other AMPS are readied up and able to be moved in MANUAL mode.


Things I've tried:
Used contact cleaner on the Spindle amp cable connection male and female.
Called it names.
Stared at it menacingly.
Called TRISTAR to no avail..
Called Method Machines to no avail..
Now I'm begging for insight from you all..


thanks

I read a few of those. I am not sure where to test the 5v.

I didn’t see the post about the memory module.. which is interesting as it seemed to all start with adding a program then trying to pull it up in memory to run..

I’ll look for that one. Thanks

I had something goofy like that years back and it turned out to be some characters at the begining of the program, houses, smiley faces and other shit I didn't even have buttons for, I couldn't see them in my editor or at the machine but I opened it in windows notepad and there they were bigger than shit, I was told later by someone that it was because I did somethinf wrong then inserting or removing the memory stick? I have never seen it since and I don't do anything any different

kustomizer said:

I had something goofy like that years back and it turned out to be some characters at the begining of the program, houses, smiley faces and other shit I didn't even have buttons for, I couldn't see them in my editor or at the machine but I opened it in windows notepad and there they were bigger than shit, I was told later by someone that it was because I did somethinf wrong then inserting or removing the memory stick? I have never seen it since and I don't do anything any different

Click to expand...

weird I actually typed " i usually open things in notepad before I put them on the card"

hmm, interesting

Dooo we have a cure?

kustomizer said:

Dooo we have a cure?

Click to expand...

No just a painful attempt at humor

What does a failed CPU happen to look like?

Leadnuts said:

What does a failed CPU happen to look like?

Click to expand...

About the same as a new one, just not quite as shiny

LOL!


could it also look like a black screen that says "Graphics ready, boot" and just hangs there indefinitely?

because that's the newest evolution.

When faced with such a bizarre range of troubles, the first thing to do is put your o’scope on the CNC power supply and look for noise. Since you will likely find some noisy levels,, place an order at Digikey for all the electrolytic caps in the power supply and change them. Frequently fixes many bizarre behaviors.

thanks for the advice.. I'll try and get ahold of one.

Leadnuts said:

thanks for the advice.. I'll try and get ahold of one.

Click to expand...

As a quick and dirty you can put a digital meter on the AC scale and read your DC. Not as good as a scope but gives you an idea.

I switched out the CPU board. no change.

still hangs on the "GRAPHICS READY , BOOT" screen. Will not enter any alt. boot screens upon start up.

Someone mentioned they think it could be a DRAM or FROM failure.

In the same breath as replacing the FROM or DRAM he also mentioned something to do with special files that only a Fanuc tech will have on a flashcard. but wasn't sure if mine was old enough to be pre-special file install.

Does anyone know when that transition occurred or if there is a way to tell?

In regard to the LEDs on the back of the mother board.

LED1 / LED2
LED3 / LED4 all green

SERVO - green / SYSEMG - RED
SYSFAIL - RED / PARITY RED

Leadnuts said:

...

Someone mentioned they think it could be a DRAM or FROM failure.

Click to expand...

What is a "FROM". I know what a DRAM is but could this be a reference to something with a different first letter?
Agree most failures are power supply. Do not go chasing old caps until this side stable.

kustomizer said:

Dooo we have a cure?

Click to expand...

Now that Catholic priests are in low esteem ? No.

Just don't let it near the split pea soup, I guess.

I'm not sure but, I think it has the operating sys and those files on it... maybe its short for F(anuc)ROM.

its a DIMM slot on the motherboard behind the Servo card (in the 16i)

FROM stands for Flash ROM.

Vancbiker said:

FROM stands for Flash ROM.

Click to expand...

Do you happen to know what is actually stored on the FROM or DRAM? Are these things that I can swap in a 2000 robodrill without a Fanuc tech? I know there are some parameters that are accessible on the machine that are locked on later models, i don't know if that is a clue or not?

for info I have these types of files on my back up flash card.

CEX_20M
CEXDATA
CEX9NIEI
CNCPARAM
MACROVAR
MINFO
P11M_CAP
PD1M_CAP
PITCHERR
PMC-RB
ROBODRILL.CPS
SRAM0_5A
SYS_CONF.DAT