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Dec 2015
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Dec 2015
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Ryan_Burgess
Dec '15

I am trying to upgrade my CTC Dual to 7.6 (does .7 work well with the printer?) Sailfish but I can’t get it to work for some reason. We have the correct ReplicatorG version and followed instructions we found to the T but I can’t get it to work for some reason. I am not wholly sure as to which machine I should be choosing and which board.

I am currently running the stock 7.4 firmware that comes with the printer.

Any help would be greatly appreciated as I have been banging my head against this issue for a while now with no real end in sight.

wickwire
Dec '15

Hi,

I’ve recently upgraded my CTC to Sailfish 7.7 (r1432) - I followed the tutorial, used replicatorg-0040r33-Sailfish-linux.tgz from the thingiverse link as I’m using linux and it worked ok.

A member here helped me locate the reset button - it is a hole near the USB port in the back of the printer.

To upgrade the firmware, under linux 64bit, I had to install libusb-0.1-4 : i386 because RepG was reporting errors in the console regarding this lib not being found.

Once RepG was ok, doing the firmware update was as follows in my case:

Used RepG to scan serial devices and got /dev/ttyACM0 detected (the printer)

Machine > Machine Type (Driver) > The Replicator Dual (Sailfish)
Then Upload New Firmware > Makerbot Replicator 1 Single & Dual (v1.5) > Sailfish 7.7 (r1432)

/home/wickwire/Downloads/replicatorg-0040r33-Sailfish/tools/avrdude -C/home/wickwire/Downloads/replicatorg-0040r33-Sailfish/tools/avrdude.conf -cstk500v1 -P/dev/ttyACM0 -b57600 -D -Uflash:w:/home/wickwire/.replicatorg/firmware/mighty_one-Sailfish-v7.7.0-r1432.hex:i -pm1280
avrdude: stk500_recv(): programmer is not responding

As RepG does a few retries before it timed out again in the log, I just pressed the reset button with a pen tip and it started flashing.

I was done in a few seconds (the terminal reported flashing success) - powered down, powered up and the LCD on the printer was working. Going through the options on the LCD to printer info I got the Sailfish info.

Did a factory reset using the printer LCD screen options, rebooted the printer, then checked the printer nozzle offsets and stuff as the guide mentions and all was ok, didn’t change anything.

Printed a sample part as follow up using slic3r and being careful to update it to use makerbot (sailfish) instead of makerbot(makerware) and it worked properly.

I hope this helps you.

Ryan_Burgess
Dec '15

Thank you for the write up, I will try it again and hopefully with this new information it will work this time!

Ryan_Burgess
Dec '15

Okay so I am still having issues. The log does not move at all when I push upgrade and this would lead me to believe that it isn’t doing anything at all. The green light flashes for a second and then stops. I have tried using a different PC and I still get the same issue.

I have no idea what the problem is.

Sledz_UK
Dec '15

Just a thought, what computer OS are you using? I’ve found that I have to use Windows to upgrade, I use Linux most of the time and it’s virtually impossible to get it right. It’s all about the timing of pressing the reset and upload, it’s a bloody pain to get the timing right and it varies between each OS.

Ryan_Burgess
Dec '15

I am using Windows, do you think it is just a timing thing? I just don’t want to keep trying and have it keep failing because I have missed something.

Sledz_UK
Dec '15

It’s quite possible. I’m taking it you’re just getting the fail message when trying to upload. If that’s the case, it’s timing. With Windows, you need to be pressing both in very quick succession, there’s a very small window that it’ll work in.

Also there’s TX&RX LEDs right by the USB socket on the board, if you take the plate off you can see the timing on boot.

Ryan_Burgess
Dec '15

I can see the LED from the gap where the port protrudes, even when pressing at the same time or a slight delay either way there is no luck.

wickwire
Dec '15

About the timing issue… it could be that I just got lucky under Linux, but I don’t think so. Running ReplicatorG from the command line will output the app state to the terminal as usual, so positioning both windows to be visible on screen allows for pressing the upload button on RepG while watching the activity on the command line. The timing issue isn’t actually an issue considering that, if /dev/ttyACM* is present, then the OS is able to communicate with the printer. That said, after pressing the upload button I’m always getting two attempts at flashing the printer on the cli output, so between the first failed attempt and the second one, there’s enough time to press the reset on the back of the printer. In my case, I just keep the left hand ready to press the reset while the right hand clicks on upload, while watching the cli output. As for windows I don’t know how I’d measure the retry intervals, perhaps it would also work by running the RepG from a cmd or powershell and watch those…?

Sledz_UK
Dec '15

Hmm… Does your CTC have a usb dongle which you need to buy print time with? There’s some CTCs out there with that and they’re totally locked down, you can’t change the firmware on them.

Ryan_Burgess
Dec '15

I’ll see what I can do, I have some time to try some more now. I usually have my brother to hand though to help with the button pushing.

We were trying for 2 or 3 hours yesterday with no progress.

Ryan_Burgess
Dec '15

I have been trying for another hour or so and still no dice. On the verge of giving up, I have no idea how it can be a timing problem any more, I have tried every which way possible.

wickwire
Dec '15

Hi there,

Sorry to hear that things aren’t going that well for you. If we are to presume that it is hardly a timing issue by now, then it could still be possible that you’d be experiencing the same troubles I did in the beginning, in spite of me using linux - meaning, it could be that ReplicatorG isn’t actually communicating properly with your printer at all.

In my case, as stated below, while running Replicatorg-0040r33-Sailfish-linux.tgz from the command line, I would get the /dev/ttyACM0 device discovered but when pressing Upload for the firmware part, I got an error specific to linux claiming that lib-usb 0.4.1 could not be found. Without this library working, it made total sense to me to first fix that and then deal with timings.

My point is, if by some reason your system has an issue with the USB communication somehow specific to the printer and along the lines of what happened with me, that might be it.

Unfortunately I don’t have any other alternative besides suggesting you’d get an Ubuntu 14.04.3 LTS like I have and use it to replicate my steps. At least by that point and running ReplicatorG off of the command line, we might get some hints as to what is happening, either bad timing or USB communication all the way.

If no other solution is presented, I’d be willing to guide you with this if you decide to do it - you can reach me directly through my Hub and we’d take it from there.

Ryan_Burgess
Dec '15

I have a server here running ubuntu, when my brother gets home I’ll give it a try on there.

Here’s hoping that fixes it.

Thank you for all of your help it is hugely appreciated.

Ryan_Burgess
Dec '15

So I am trying it on Linux, just one problem though, ReplicatorG can’t detect the printer. It is says it can’t find a port to use, how do I fix that?

wickwire
Dec '15

Unplug the printer from usb; sudo dmesg -c Plug the printer dmesg It should output something there, in particular if any tty device is created. What linux distro are you running? EDIT post the results of dmesg and if available, the outputs of uname -a lsb_release -a as root

Ryan_Burgess
Dec '15

I will get to that as soon as possible, I have to give up for tonight though because its new years and I have to spend it with the other half. Thank you for your help, I will get back to you as soon as I get to try it.

wickwire
Dec '15

Same here and have a good one, we’ll eventually figure it out I believe, Happy New Year!

wickwire
Jan '16

ok, so you have an Ubuntu 64bit there and the printer is being detected as /dev/ttyACM0 as it should. If you run ReplicatorG from the command line and go to
Machine > Connection (serial port)

you should have ttyACM0 listed there, if not, it should appear once you click on

Rescan serial ports

Resize the command line window and the ReplicatorG window so that you get both windows visible on screen.

Follow the Sailfish installation guide as you did for windows and when you press “Upload” to upload the firmware, you should be able to follow the results on the command line beside it.

Try to upload the firmware again and post the command line results here as well, as the next step.

Ryan_Burgess
Jan '16

We have followed the instructions and tried rescanning but it still doesn’t show.

In the terminal it does say there is an error creating the lock file var/lock/LCK…ttyACM0: File Exists

EDIT: We managed to fix it by running as root.

Ryan_Burgess
Jan '16

Okay so we are basically getting the exact same thing happening. The same flashes, even though we can see on the terminal we have tried your method and it isn’t working for some strange reason.

wickwire
Jan '16

Are you able to post the terminal output as you do the upload/reset routine?

wickwire
Jan '16

Hi, it seems that all is ok in terms of USB there, so if you rule out the reset button pressing, I think we’ve hit a dead end with this one, unless anyone else has any suggestions. :confused:

Ryan_Burgess
Jan '16

Thank you for all the help, it was much appreciated, its a shame in the end it didn’t turn out well. I think I will try and get a replacement printer and see if another does the job. If not, then I don’t have a clue…

11 months later
Andr_Saraband
Dec '16

hi friend,

i update my ctc to sailfish 7.6 but it not works well.

i cant print with another software, i only print with makerbot original software.

with replicator G alows print but the bed plate not move… you knows how to fix this?

wich software i would use to best print with sailfish?