LightBurn 1.0.04, built Sat 2021-10-02 @ 15:40 Mac Bug Back

Good evening. I’m running Mac Big Sur 11.6 and LightBurn 1.0.04, built Sat 2021-10-02 @ 15:40 and I connect to my Ruida controller via USB. The last version that I could run with no errors was 0.9.24. I did have lots of luck with 1.0.03, it never errored out on me, but I don’t know if that was just luck since 1.0.04 came out so quickly.

Same malfunction as before, it burned about 9 minutes of a job then errored out. I’ve uploaded the file that triggered the problem. The last thing to burn is the crest on the right, it made it about 80% of the way up the crest when it died.

I know this is a known bug, but I hope that reporting it can give some insight and bring the reliability of the software back.

I did notice one other difference in operation. The tool layers behave differently. The “Frame” toggle would cause the origin to orient itself where the operator chose, but the “frame” button that outlines the work wouldn’t follow the frame before. It was very helpful to check for centering. With 1.0.04, the “frame” button will follow the tool layer objects. Was that intentional?

2021 10 13 Beasley Lamp.lbrn (218.4 KB)

I just ordered the LightBurn Bridge. Looking forward to putting it through it’s paces. Sounds like an ambitious project.

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To the LightBurn crew. That LightBurn Bridge is AMAZING! I followed the step by step instructions and it JUST WORKED. Goodby USB bug and hello Wifi Bridge!!! Thanks for an amazing product!

I just re-ran the offending file that errored out on me and it worked flawlessly.

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Thank you and glad to hear you are sorted and enjoying the LightBurn Bridge as much as we did developing it. :slight_smile:

We continue to hunt for a software only solution as well. But the macOS is notorious for having USB comms issues, but we have not given up on finding some ‘magic software’ resolution. :wink:

Thanks for the prompt reply. You guys are the best. I just had an issue and hope it’s easy. When I first configured the LightBridge, it came up with 10.0.0.16. I did one job testing the file that failed above and it worked! Took time to post my success. And when I came back to use my laser, my computer couldn’t talk to it. I did a scan and the address and changed to 10.0.0.17. Any thoughts how I can lock this down?

You should not need to scan again, and that won’t work as you are already connected. It is like trying to call yourself from a phone. :slight_smile:

You should not need to change the IP address once you have successfully connected (proof, you ran this job). You should be able to simply right-click the ‘Devices’ button to reconnect.

When you say, “I came back to use my laser, my computer couldn’t talk to it.”, tell us exactly the steps taken to determine this. Did you try to move the laser head around and get no response? Did you try to send a project and get a failure of some sort? Need a little more detail to understand the potential issues here.

We recently refined our communications channel, releasing it when not in use, so you may be observing this. Try the ‘Right-click’ trick and let us know how you progress. :slight_smile:

Edit: I just found this good troubleshooting post Oz just posted that is worth review.

Again, amazed at the prompt response.

When I got back to the computer, my next job was on my rotary tool. I went to read the machine settings and the machine settings came up with the message “Communication with the controller failed”. Then I tried moving the head and I got like three seconds of the spinning beachball and “No device connected to LightBurn Bridge”. Right clicking the devices button gives me the spinning beachball and “No device connect to LightBurn Bridge” message at the bottom of the screen.

And I just edited to put the address back to 10.0.0.17 and it works again.

I think I know the issue, I use Apple Airport Expresses. I wonder if the Bridge originally connected to the the base station (making one address), then jumped to one of the expresses (making the next address). Is that possible?

One more bit of strange behavior. I had a burn crash at the 14 minute mark. The software gave the “File Transferred” message. I figured I was in the clear. But sure enough, the laser just froze about 14 minutes in.

To make things weirder, I re-burned the exact same file and it worked fine. I couldn’t duplicate the malfunction. How weird is that? I’ll post if I learn anything else.

Yes. The LightBurn Bridge is given its IP address by the user’s router. It’s usually possible to tell the router to assign a specific or ‘fixed’ IP address to a device with a given MAC address, so that’s the simplest path. Otherwise, the router may occasionally alter the IP address of the device, depending on what else is connected to the network and when. :slight_smile:

It is so refreshing to be in the company of NERDS! Thank you, I didn’t even think of assigning it a fixed IP. Trivia, before 1980, an IP address was just where I went to the bathroom. I’ve changed the settings and see if it stays stable. Is there any need to power down the Bridge when not in use?

On a different note, I’ve not been able to make the machine hang up again. It’s only done that once, but then burned the same file just fine. Very strange. I don’t think it was an issue with the file not being transferred completely, I got the “File Transferred” message. I wonder if the data got corrupt in transit. Is there any way to pull the file off the laser controller and look at it?

If it happens again, I’d like to be able to provide more useful information. In the meantime, I’ve moved the LightBurn Bridge further away from the laser in the hopes that the HV supply was causing some sort of interference. Hopefully I will not be “bugging” you about this again.

Well played sir. Well played.

You have no idea how much I didn’t want to write this post. The data transfer bug is back. I’ve attached the file that errored out.

I’m running LightBurn 1.0.04, built Sat 2021-10-02 @ 15:40
On Mac Big Sur 11.6 on an 8-Core Intel Core i9 3.6 GHz 27 iMac using LightBridge.

Behavior was the same, it made it most of the way through the burn and errored out about 4 min 40 sec into the burn.

I’m going to change my workflow to instead of hitting the “Start” button in LightBurn, I’m going to use the “Send” button and run the file from the controller on the laser. I have a guess, but it’s a long shot. Maybe you can confirm if the machine should start burning before the data transfer is complete when I hit “Start”. If so, maybe something in the laser is garbling the data stream.

I’m trying the same file using the “Send” button and it finished the burn with no problem.

Is anybody else complaining of similar behavior?

Very strange, I never had any issues on 0.9.24. That is the biggest hole in my theory.

2021 11 02 Lt Casem Plaque.lbrn (2.2 MB)

No, not using the LightBurn Bridge. This is the first report of any communications issues outside a few setup procedural things, corrected with a small edit to the documentation, adding a section for setting a fixed IP from your router for the bridge connection, and the addition of a re-scan button, which will be in the next release.

I don’t like to do this, but… Please hold, as I drag this into the dev team for review. :wink:

And yes, for now… ‘Send’ would be the preferred method for file transfer. You can also try this, hold the Shift key when you click the Send button in LightBurn to, and LightBurn will automatically run the file on the laser when the send is completed.

Thank you for reporting this, and let us know if you observe anything further you think might help us reproduce this issue here. :slight_smile: I will post back once I have something of value to share.

I’d like to suggest something. If a file can be read off the controller, could the software send the file, then read it back from the controllers memory and check for data integrity before initiating the burn? I cannot imagine that taking more than a few milliseconds. Maybe it could be set up as an option in preferences? Just a thought. I know you guys will crack the code on this. LightBurn is head-and-shoulders better than any other system I’ve seen.

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