New to the laser industry. Loaded lightburn on my HP laptop but can’t get it to find my laser. Any suggestions?
Hi Denise, welcome.
Not 100% familiar with your brand of laser, however a couple questions:
- Have you installed the drivers - if any supplied?
- If you right click windows menu → click device manager. Expand Ports area and plug and unplug your laser USB cable. Does a device appear and disappear? IF so, can you take a screenshot with and without USB cable connected?
Adding a bit of info i found:
Driver download page, for Windows seems a simple CH341
Manual if needed:
It does say if windows 10 or higher drivers shouldn’t be required, however can’t hurt:
Must install drivers as administrator
Hello, welcome to the site…
Usually these are drivers … I don’t have windows, but I’m semi familure with some of the signs and symptoms.
Does it make a connection tone when you plug it in?
If it does that means it’s seeing the device… it should connect, even if you have to do it manually.
You should also be able to see the device in the windows device manager.
If you can’t see it in the device manager, Lightburn won’t be able to find it either.
I am assuming you are running Windows and are using a diode. Sometimes Lightburn does not recognize your laser, usually it is because of the control board firmware sometimes it is because it is on the wrong com port. With the laser connected and powered on, go to your device manager > ports and check what is listed. Normally it is com 3. Make sure in Lightburn, under the Laser window bottom middle next to devices, that the com is the same.
Your laser should have come with a usb stick that also has the needed driver. It is CH340. It’s a serial to usb converter. This needs to be installed. If you did not get one, this website will help you. Https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/how-to-install-ch340-drivers/all Once again keep the laser powered on during and after download or it won’t show up in LB or Device Manager.
If the laser still isn’t being found, but it is connected to your computer (check from device manager that your computer sees it) simply create one. Under the Laser window in LB, click Devices > Create Manually. Click Grbl and Next. Click Serial/USB and Next. Name your laser then enter the workspace dimensions. (Can be found on manufacturer’s website) and Next. Most diode origins are Front Left, unless XTool. I do not recommend auto homing on start up. Click finish.
You should be all set. Have fun lasering.