Hi all. Yesterday, my printer stopped responding to commands from the touch screen, so I shut the printer off and turned it back on. Now, the printer and screen turn on (power fan spins and screen backlight comes on), but the screen does not display anything, and the printer cannot be reached via USB. Multiple power outlets and cables have been tried, and all cables inside the main chassis are securely connected except for the Z- cable (which has been replaced by a BLTouch). There is a single red LED on the motherboard that lights up when the machine is powered on. Does anyone have any ideas how I can try to diagnose this? I’ve sent an email to elegoo, but I’ve heard it can take weeks to get a response, and I’m trying to get things ready for a DnD campaign starting this weekend… thanks for any tips.
Edit: for anyone finding this post looking for help, you’re SOL. Elegoo responded to me, and after sending them a couple pictures, they’ve determined my motherboard to be dead, and are not willing to provide a free replacement since I’m just outside of warranty. Now I’m torn between getting a new motherboard (waiting on a quote from them) or just saving for a better printer.
Edit 2: after some very light complaining, Elegoo is making right and sending me a new motherboard free of charge.
nothing that says what it does.
(would that be too much to ask for… Elegoo? or whoever made that board. those LED’s cost money. It’s such a shame they don’t have a top level “troubleshooting” guide that lists what they do… /sigh)
Yeah, It sounds increasingly like there’s something wrong with the hardware on the board. that may or may not have wrecked the firmware, but unless you can identify what went wrong, and have the skills and tools to deal with soldering in things… you’ll need to get Elegoo to send you a new board. sorry I couldn’t be more help.
And just to verify, that LED isn’t normally on?
That LED is normally on. It’s been about a year since I’ve had the chassis open so I can’t recall if there are normally more than one on when it first boots up or if it’s only the one. Looking at the diagram it seems like it’s just a main power indicator.
Thanks for taking them time to respond. You may not have been able to fix the problem, but you’ve at least assured me there’s no other troubleshooting steps I can take until I hear from Elegoo.
I guess my DnD players will have to live with quarters and pen caps in lieu of customized minis. Haha.
I read a lot into that “Haha”… like “They wont live that long anyway,”
maybe I’m projecting a bit.
It’s my very first campaign. I’m actually afraid the combat and encounters are going to be laughably easy, since I’m running a premade campaign made for beginners and I don’t feel comfortable yet tweaking with monster stats.
There’s nothing wrong with easy, even no-combat fluff campaigns.
My players prefer a mix of challenging one shots (that don’t kill characters they’re attached to,) and easier, longer campaigns.
I mostly set up homebrews for the campaigns- I like the world building. The current campaign uses the Stardrifter rule set, and the galactic domination has gotten far enough along they have plenty of in-world one shots. That help affect the overall story arc.
The best advice i can give is two things: have fun, and make sure everyone else is having fun too. Also, contrary to popular belief… one can have too many printed terrain tiles.
Did you say…
Printed terrain tiles?
I’m honestly so thankful the printer only decided to die after I got the terrain project finished. It would’ve killed all the motivation I had to getting a game started.
Thanks for the advice. My players are all well aware that I’m a baby DM and they fully expect it to be a rough, choppy campaign that’s harder for me than it is for them. But if we all have fun, the next campaign will be better, and so will the next.
Those look great!
I suck at the painting part so they never quite look right for me.
Thanks! The painting is much easier than you might think. The models I printed have indents for the brick mortar (don’t know if that’s the right word), so I spray painted everything black, then used a sponge brush to quickly paint the bricks gray while leaving the black lines. Used a small brush to paint some of the bricks brown, a napkin to dab some green over everything, then a basic wash layer (tiny drop of brown/ black paint in a bunch of water) to finish it off.
Terrain and buildings are easier to paint than minis and figurines and whatnot. I have very, very little painting experience, but things like this are easy to make look good. Keep trying if you’re not happy with how yours looks, the next one will always look better than the last!
Hey, in case you were curious, Elegoo emailed me back and diagnosed it as a motherboard failure. And since I’m a couple months out of warranty, they won’t send me a new part. 😔 I’m now debating if I want to pay for a new motherboard and wait a month to get it, or just save up some cash and buy a better printer a month from now.
A few months out of warranty? That ain’t suspicious timing….
It sucks that you’re down for a month. But, you don’t necessarily need to get their board.
Yeah, I figured there are other places to get it, but when it comes to circuit boards and whatnot (especially ones from China) I’m always a little hesitant about getting off brand stuff. I figured I’d see what quote they hit me with and take it from there
Edit: they’re actually sending me a free one! I halfway complained in my response but stayed polite (basically just said I was disappointed in the response) and the guy messaged me back overnight that they’d send me a new one.
That’s nice of them. A little surprising though. I haven’t had any interaction with them, so, I would have assumed they were like creality- warranty repair being like pulling teeth.
I’ve seen mostly positive stories about their customer support online, mostly only complaining about response times. I was pretty surprised when they told me no initially. At least they decided to do right