# Laser cutting suddenly became very erratic

**URL:** <https://forum.lightburnsoftware.com/t/laser-cutting-suddenly-became-very-erratic/149434>\
**Category:** LightBurn Software Questions\
**Tags:** omtech\
**Created:** [September 9, 2024, 2:54pm UTC](https://forum.lightburnsoftware.com/t/laser-cutting-suddenly-became-very-erratic/149434 "2024-09-09T14:54:53Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 2

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**Author:** ![ednisley](https://forum.lightburnsoftware.com/user_avatar/forum.lightburnsoftware.com/ednisley/32/40455_2.png) [@ednisley](https://forum.lightburnsoftware.com/u/ednisley)\
**Post date:** [September 9, 2024, 3:42pm UTC](https://forum.lightburnsoftware.com/t/laser-cutting-suddenly-became-very-erratic/149434/2 "2024-09-09T15:42:23Z")

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> [@Karrion](#):
>
> - purchased a 2nd OMTech 60W laser
> - Both lasers are connected to the same laptop via USB

Before doing _anything_ else, ditch the USB and use the Ethernet connection. USB connections produce a wide variety of baffling problems, all of which Go Away™ with an Ethernet connection.

You can connect both lasers to your LAN or with a dedicated switch directly to the laptop.

In either case, the lasers will need separate IP addresses within the same subnet as the laptop.

Connecting to the LAN will require setting up the router (presumably you have a LAN for internet access) so that it cannot assign addresses to devices atop the laser IPs. How you do that depends on the routers, but previous discussions may help:

> [@Hello fellow laser wizards](https://forum.lightburnsoftware.com/t/hello-fellow-laser-wizards/139052):
>
> HELLO, I have a tech problem. My Omtech AF2028 stopped communicating via ethernet. I replaced the cable and still having message, Data not transferred, controller busy or paused. checked IP Adress and replace cable USB connection works fine my modem and hub is fine suggestions are seriously appreciated Bob

> [@Losing position at end of job](https://forum.lightburnsoftware.com/t/losing-position-at-end-of-job/139760/):
>
> I’ve just spent a long time upgrading an old machine to a Ruida controller + lightburn. Almost everything now seems to be working, happy days. One thing that is occurring which I cannot seem to resolve is that during complex jobs there often seems to come a point where the controller seems to lose position. A good example of this is a recent cut I did where in one layer in light burn I have a circle with leaves and vines and chains, etc some complex geometry. All gets cut quite well. In the nex…

That will most likely clear everything up.

**Do not** change any settings at random, because that’s very unlikely to solve the problem.

**Do** save a backup of the current machine settings, because you will eventually need them:

> **[Machine Settings - LightBurn Documentation](https://docs.lightburnsoftware.com/legacy/UI/MachineSettings)**
>
> Better software for laser cutters.

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