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  1. #1
    When I first installed UCCNC a few months ago all seemed well. But recently it has shut down for no obvious reason on about 5 occasions. Up until today I hadn't seen the screen display when this occurred and wondered if the Ethernet connection was the problem but the connection seems OK. This last time I was standing in front of the laptop when it happened. The machine was idle at the time and I was made aware of the problem by the sound of the Z axis dropping under it's own weight due to a loss of the motor enable signal. I looked at the screen and saw the program just disappear. There was no warning display or anything obvious that I noticed, it just closed a second or so after I heard the Z axis and looked up.

    When this happens I can always start UCCNC up again normally and it will then run for hours with no problem. It has happened soon after first starting up the machine and before I've got as far as powering up the VFD but I've also been able to leave the laptop and controller on all night and it's still normal in the morning. So far it hasn't happened during a cut but that luck can't last for ever.
    The software is running on a 10 year old HP laptop with an intel i7 processor running Windows 10 and has a direct Ethernet cable to the AXBB-E controller. Wi-Fi is turned off and the machine is plugged into it's charger. I don't run any other programs at the same time and have turned off almost everything on the 'startup' menu. In every other respect the laptop seems to be working correctly. It's winter here in Tasmania so it's not an overheating problem. Windows is up to date.

    I COULD try loading the software onto my shiny new DELL laptop but am not keen on taking it into the dusty workshop if I can avoid it. Has anyone seen this behavior before? Is there a known issue with an easy fix that I haven't heard about?

    All help gratefully received.

    Kit
    An optimist says the glass is half full, a pessimist says the glass is half empty, an engineer says you're using the wrong sized glass.

  2. #2
    Any chance that Windows 10 has 'forced' an update at some point at all causing random blips?.
    I absolutely despise win10.

  3. #3
    Check if HP Support Assistant is running or not. Also, check W10 Task Manager when it crashes next time to see if there is a process which runs and uses a huge amount of CPU percentage. Lately I noticed that the fan of my otherwise very quiet HP Elite Desk is occasionally running at high rpm. After some investigations, I found an exe file running and taking something like 50-70% of my CPU capacity for no understandable reason. I did some googling and it said that it's a buggy HP app or driver, but there is no fix or recognition on HP, except that the task can be killed and then everything is back to normal after that. I don't remember the file name, but in case it happens later on today, I'll add the information here. Anyway, it seems that my computer works fine without that task, so for now, I just kill it when I hear the fan speeding up. No side effects noted yet.

    I don't know if the above would help you, but I suspect the issue is not UCCNC, but your installation, or Windows trying to access the server to get updates. Another question is your Windows version. UCCNC is not very demanding on the computer performance, so your PC is not too weak. After all, it can happily run on a 20+ years old PC with W95 or XP also, so if changing to your brand new Dell would help, it is probably because the differences in the installation, not because of the better PC.

    What I would do is that I'd just do a clean install of the HP, not just UCCNC, but start from factory reset with the original installation. After the PC is up and running with Windows, install ALL updates (HP and Microsoft) and don't kill any tasks (you may have killed one too many earlier). Once that is done, install UCCNC. That way you get a fresh start. I am running Windows 10 Pro on my computers, so I can prevent or postpone W10 updates, but I really don't believe that Windows updates causes your issues. It won't crash UCCNC unless something else is wrong.

    Note, that I am assuming you are running UCCNC version 1.2111, which is the latest official release. Test versions can have all different bugs.

  4. #4
    Hi Kit,

    Looks like you've got two good responses to explore already; I'd add that you can find more information out using event viewer which may help figure out what has gone on. For the uninitiated, here are a couple of screenshots which should help show how to get there and what to look for. Gold dust would be finding an application error on UCCNC at the time of the crash, and you can use the other tabs to see if anything else on the system was happening simultaneously.

    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	Screenshot 2021-07-15 at 19.02.19.png 
Views:	211 
Size:	168.2 KB 
ID:	30246 Click image for larger version. 

Name:	Screenshot 2021-07-15 at 19.05.19.png 
Views:	222 
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ID:	30247

    Are you running any plugins on UCCNC?

    Have you double checked the power management settings to ensure that the PC never sleeps/hibernates etc? Sometimes you can also look at the drivers for the network card and set this specifically to stay awake which is important to keep UCCNC working well and connected.

    FYI I've recently updated my CNC PC to Windows 10 (to get wireless Xbox controller support... I might to a how-to on that soon, it is after all awesome), I'm running v1.211, so will keep an eye out for similar behaviour.

  5. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by A_Camera View Post
    I don't know if the above would help you, but I suspect the issue is not UCCNC, but your installation, or Windows trying to access the server to get updates. Another question is your Windows version. UCCNC is not very demanding on the computer performance, so your PC is not too weak. After all, it can happily run on a 20+ years old PC with W95 or XP also, so if changing to your brand new Dell would help, it is probably because the differences in the installation, not because of the better PC.
    Completely agree with A_Camera on this, it will 99% be a windows issue and not UCCNC or the controller. I have installed over 30 AXBB-E controllers since Xmas and most are running on Refurbished Dell PC's which are low spec compared to your i7 laptop and running on Win7, 8, and 10 without any issues if using V1.12111.
    I have had a couple of issues with the development versions but these mostly revolved around low memory, it seems the new Development versions are more memory intense so if memory is on the low side, which the Refurbs tend to be then occasionally it would crash.

    I'm not a Windows OS guru so follow the guy's suggestions and I'm sure you'll find the cause.
    -use common sense, if you lack it, there is no software to help that.

    Email: [email protected]

    Web site: www.jazzcnc.co.uk

  6. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by dazp1976 View Post
    Any chance that Windows 10 has 'forced' an update at some point at all causing random blips?.
    I absolutely despise win10.
    I think W7 was probably the best version from the user point of view.
    An optimist says the glass is half full, a pessimist says the glass is half empty, an engineer says you're using the wrong sized glass.

  7. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by A_Camera View Post
    Check if HP Support Assistant is running or not. Also, check W10 Task Manager when it crashes next time to see if there is a process which runs and uses a huge amount of CPU percentage. Lately I noticed that the fan of my otherwise very quiet HP Elite Desk is occasionally running at high rpm. After some investigations, I found an exe file running and taking something like 50-70% of my CPU capacity for no understandable reason. I did some googling and it said that it's a buggy HP app or driver, but there is no fix or recognition on HP, except that the task can be killed and then everything is back to normal after that. I don't remember the file name, but in case it happens later on today, I'll add the information here. Anyway, it seems that my computer works fine without that task, so for now, I just kill it when I hear the fan speeding up. No side effects noted yet.

    I don't know if the above would help you, but I suspect the issue is not UCCNC, but your installation, or Windows trying to access the server to get updates. Another question is your Windows version. UCCNC is not very demanding on the computer performance, so your PC is not too weak. After all, it can happily run on a 20+ years old PC with W95 or XP also, so if changing to your brand new Dell would help, it is probably because the differences in the installation, not because of the better PC.

    What I would do is that I'd just do a clean install of the HP, not just UCCNC, but start from factory reset with the original installation. After the PC is up and running with Windows, install ALL updates (HP and Microsoft) and don't kill any tasks (you may have killed one too many earlier). Once that is done, install UCCNC. That way you get a fresh start. I am running Windows 10 Pro on my computers, so I can prevent or postpone W10 updates, but I really don't believe that Windows updates causes your issues. It won't crash UCCNC unless something else is wrong.

    Note, that I am assuming you are running UCCNC version 1.2111, which is the latest official release. Test versions can have all different bugs.
    The machine originally came with the HP version of W7 but it has long ago had it's mechanical HDD replaced with a SS version and loaded with generic W10 which I got when it was still free to upgrade. I do have a spare drive I can fit (the joys of old machines with removable drives!) and do a clean install on so that will be one to try.

    Thank you for the suggestions.

    Kit
    An optimist says the glass is half full, a pessimist says the glass is half empty, an engineer says you're using the wrong sized glass.

  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by AndyUK View Post
    Hi Kit,

    Looks like you've got two good responses to explore already; I'd add that you can find more information out using event viewer which may help figure out what has gone on. For the uninitiated, here are a couple of screenshots which should help show how to get there and what to look for. Gold dust would be finding an application error on UCCNC at the time of the crash, and you can use the other tabs to see if anything else on the system was happening simultaneously.

    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	Screenshot 2021-07-15 at 19.02.19.png 
Views:	211 
Size:	168.2 KB 
ID:	30246 Click image for larger version. 

Name:	Screenshot 2021-07-15 at 19.05.19.png 
Views:	222 
Size:	161.3 KB 
ID:	30247

    Are you running any plugins on UCCNC?

    Have you double checked the power management settings to ensure that the PC never sleeps/hibernates etc? Sometimes you can also look at the drivers for the network card and set this specifically to stay awake which is important to keep UCCNC working well and connected.

    FYI I've recently updated my CNC PC to Windows 10 (to get wireless Xbox controller support... I might to a how-to on that soon, it is after all awesome), I'm running v1.211, so will keep an eye out for similar behaviour.
    Looks like we have gold dust Andy! I wasn't aware of Event Viewer but the two errors in the picture below would be about the right times. I owe you many, many HobNobs!. All I have to do now is work out what on earth the explanations mean. At least I have something to work on.

    The only plug-in I'm using is the X-Box pendant one. I'll have to try running without it and see if that makes a diference. It worked fine for quite a while before this problem reared it's ugly though.

    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	UCCNCerrors.jpg 
Views:	211 
Size:	126.9 KB 
ID:	30248
    An optimist says the glass is half full, a pessimist says the glass is half empty, an engineer says you're using the wrong sized glass.

  9. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by JAZZCNC View Post
    Completely agree with A_Camera on this, it will 99% be a windows issue and not UCCNC or the controller. I have installed over 30 AXBB-E controllers since Xmas and most are running on Refurbished Dell PC's which are low spec compared to your i7 laptop and running on Win7, 8, and 10 without any issues if using V1.12111.
    I have had a couple of issues with the development versions but these mostly revolved around low memory, it seems the new Development versions are more memory intense so if memory is on the low side, which the Refurbs tend to be then occasionally it would crash.

    I'm not a Windows OS guru so follow the guy's suggestions and I'm sure you'll find the cause.
    I am using V1.12111 but as you will have sen above, Andy's pointing me to Event Viewer in W10 has thrown up some evidence. As a simple first option I'm gong to try re-loading UCCNC itself (after ensuring the configuration is saved!) in case there's been a corruption of the .dll file mentioned in the error report. If the problem shows up again at least I know where to find the error log which I can send to Balazs if necessary.


    EDIT:
    Having done some research on the ntdll.dll file blamed for the problem, this turns out to be a Windows issue as suggested. This little file has been part of every version of Windows since NT (hence the name) and it's corruption is a know cause of crashes of all sorts.

    Thanks to everybody for the help.

    Kit
    Last edited by Kitwn; 16-07-2021 at 05:08 AM.
    An optimist says the glass is half full, a pessimist says the glass is half empty, an engineer says you're using the wrong sized glass.

  10. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by Kitwn View Post
    Having done some research on the ntdll.dll file blamed for the problem, this turns out to be a Windows issue as suggested. This little file has been part of every version of Windows since NT (hence the name) and it's corruption is a know cause of crashes of all sorts.

    Thanks to everybody for the help.

    Kit
    Hi Kit,

    Unfortunately the ntdll.dll error is quite a common one, but common because it can have a wide array of causes. It's basically the Windows kernel is freaking out and killing UCCNC. The status code it's given (0xc000374) is telling us that the reason is memory heap corruption - i.e. UCCNC is trying to use a bit of memory that it thinks should belong to it but Windows thinks otherwise. If you can copy paste / screenshot more of the details that screen shows it might be helpful, also slightly worryingly you have a lot of other warnings there which could give some clues.

    This can be caused by a new update introducing a bug, a new bit of software that is being evil and corrupting the memory, a bad device driver (or a device misbehaving), or the PCs RAM is starting to fail.

    I would try the following in this order:
    Swap out the RAM for fresh / alternative sticks if you have them handy. If not, but slightly less conclusive, run a memory test tool like memtest86
    See if disabling that plugin helps, could be the Xbox controller device / driver is faulting.
    Swap to another ethernet card if possible to rule out the ethernet driver or NIC dying.
    Try the windows SFC repair tool - long shot but if it works then easier than reinstalling everything.
    Fresh reinstall of Windows, preferably on a new SSD (they're a lot cheaper than they were!)

    Hope we get to the bottom of it soon...

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