Looses connection with PC: Win11 or just trouble?

Troubleshooting
1

Hi Maslow community

It seems the WiFi connection with my laptop fails when I do anything with the maslow 4.1. For example, I will start the maslow 4.1 from a cold boot start up, extend all and while extending the computer will show the lost connection message in the browser window. If I simply reconnect the maslow does not do anything. Log files attached.
I cycle power to the maslow and reconnect and it again drops and still nothing.

Maslow-serial cold boot.txt (2.2 KB)

Maslow-serial after connection lost and reconnect - no power cycle.txt (1.6 KB)

Maslow-serial cycled power and retracted belts.txt (1.6 KB)

The 3 log files were collected in series and in “cycled power…” The log immediately showed the three messages after the retract all command, but it went and retracted like it always does, but after that, nothing.

I wondering if this could be a PC problem. My laptop recently updated to Win11. I connect to the maslow WiFi manually and it connects. It will connect and then open a browser window. Chrome says the page is “Not Secure”. The Wifi connection manager says “Action needed, no internet”.

Any suggestions of things to try or settings to check? I cannot get far enough to cut anything.

Dave

2

Dlhein wrote:

The Wifi connection manager says “Action needed, no internet”.

this is the problem. Current Operating Systems have decided that a network that
does not connect to the Internet is not valid to use.

you have to fight it to get it to stay connected to the network

a quick google search for:
How to keep windows 11 connected to wifi without internet

returns:

Manually connect and disable auto-connect: Go to your Wi-Fi settings, find the
network, and disconnect or disable “Connect automatically.” This ensures you can
stay connected to the local network without Windows trying to reconnect to the
internet.

Remove other Wi-Fi networks: From “Manage known networks” in your Wi-Fi
settings, remove any other Wi-Fi networks to prevent accidental connections that
might include internet access.

Disable power saving: Go to Device Manager, find your wireless adapter, open its
Properties, and go to the “Power Management” tab. Uncheck “Allow the computer to
turn off this device to save power”.

1.13 includes some work to try and trick the system into staying connected, but
it appears to not be working in your case

See what you can do from the list above to get something working, then if you
are willing to do more experimentation, I’d like to get some logging from you
with debugging to see what it’s actually trying to reach so we can try to trick
it into accepting the maslow.

David Lang

2 Likes
3

Hi Dave. Thanks for the suggestions. I have tried them all and still no change in behavior of the maslow/computer. I tried a USB WiFi adapter and still the same outcome but noticed some differences. One the USB adapter, it was interesting that when the browser window opened it went to MSN and did not go to the maslow page. I was able to put 192.168.0.1 for the address and the maslow page was there. I did some Z up and Z down, test,etc a few times successfully and was hopeful. I did extend all and by the time i was extending the second belt, i could see the “lost connection, please reconnect or download serial” message on the computer. Another interesting difference is that when I went to reconnect w/o cycling the maslow power, the maslow WiFi was not in the available list to connect to…. cycled the maslow power and entered the IP address it popped up fast and looked to fully reset as ALARM was showing in the interface.

I am up for helping debug.

4

forgot to note, went to retract all and during the retraction, it lost connection

5

This is an important insight. Does it usually say alarm or is that only after you power cycle?

6

It is only after a “successful” power cycle. Once I clear the ALARM button, it normally goes to IDLE. After it loses WiFi connection to the PC, I manually reconnect and it is IDLE. If I tell it to do anything, z-up, z-down, test, retract……. the log shows the command is sent but the machine does nothing. I do a power cycle of the maslow, reconnect the WiFi, launch the browser and it shows ALARM. I tell it to retract or extend all and it loses connection before the first belt is out.

7

Have you tried a different browser? Which browser are you using?

8

Hi Ian. I have been using Chrome since the beginning with the Maslow.

9

Update for this weekend. I have been successful to a point. I have been able to have the PC and Maslow 4.1 stay connected via WiFi for over an hour now (does not sound like much, but better than the <5 minutes for the last few weeks).
I am using second WiFi USB, set device power management to none, still using chrome, left internal WiFi card not connected to anything (no home WiFi).
Maslow will respond to z axis jog commands and setup/test. Everything on the browser page looks good. Z position updates promptly and correctly for example.
Other than one retract all (already retracted) I have not asked the 4 belt motors to do anything.

I checked output voltage from the brick. 24.28V.

Gave it the command to extend all. Settings upper bar says State: Extending. Alarm button is green button and is showing “Home”…… I just waited (play jeopardy theme music) and the browser page shows it lost connection after about 20 seconds. Did not move anything on the Maslow, just listened to the fan run. WiFi manager on the PC shows not connected, but Maslow is present and full signal. Checked brick voltage after command an no change.

10

Some things you can try:

Can you connect using an alternate computer or a mobile phone.

When you are Extending, do you pull all the belts out until the fan stops?

In your log when you pressed test you only got a minimal output,
Test
Index.html Version: 1.12

It should be more like:
Test
Index.html Version: v1.13
[MSG:INFO: Firmware Version: v1.13-6-g13c33c4c]
[MSG:INFO: I2C Timeout: ]
[MSG:INFO: 10]
[MSG:INFO: All tests passed on Top Left]
[MSG:INFO: All tests passed on Top Right]
[MSG:INFO: All tests passed on Bottom Left]
[MSG:INFO: All tests passed on Bottom Right]

11

Thanks Ian. I only have the one PC to use and the web interface on the phone is very hard to use, but I can run some tests later with the phone connected.

Yes, extending the belts until they stop. usually do it one belt at a time. Off the current topic, but retracting and extending over and over with a vertical frame is….. a…… not my favorite part. I look forward to updating to 1.13 soon.

Yes, the log i shared is showing that the communication with the Maslow was only one way at that time.

12

Can you put a copy of your maslow.yaml up and next time you start the Maslow click test and put a copy of your serial.log up.

13

Hi Ian. Per your request, I brought the Maslow out, connected and downloaded the yaml file for you first. I then hit the test button and it worked normally, so I continued to extend and retract successfully several times. You will see all this in the log. I do not understand, but it seems to be working now. I used the built in WiFi on the laptop which before seemed to be more troubling. I did notice something this time. When the maslow is sitting idle, the WiFi manager shows “action needed”, even when the browser is open and the index page automatically opens.

Screenshot 2025-11-03 174350
Screenshot 2025-11-03 174350376×203 23.8 KB

when I send a command such as extend or retract, it now switches to say this

Screenshot 2025-11-03 174614
Screenshot 2025-11-03 174614380×182 24 KB

Once the maslow is done, it switches back to “action needed”…..I may be wrong, but before it always stayed at “action needed”…..

Maslow-serial (20).log (5.4 KB)

maslow dlhein.yaml (6.7 KB)

I am a bit baffled. The only thing I did different was downloaded the yaml file first thing after connecting.

14

You could try updating to 1.13, it allows you to resume without retract, extend, apply tension steps across a power cycle. You only need to update index.html.gz (from green button under FluidNC tab) and firmware.bin (Orange button, FluidNC). No need to update maslow.yaml file.

DO Keep a copy of your current maslow.yaml file, I save and rename mine with the date as part of the name.

I suspect some of the changes you make to browses don’t always stick, and some need a restart to take effect. Hope you can now start to make things.

15

That log is saying that you are loosing connectivity, but it can’t tell us if it’s doing so because the laptop is deciding there isn’t Internet on this wifi, so it tries to find another network that does have Internet, if it’s going into power saving mode and disconnecting, or if the maslow is restarting. The only way to tell which end is having the problem is to connect via USB and see what’s happening.

16

Hi Dave. Picked up a USB cable. When I connect to my PC i hear the ding, but nothing happens. Are there instructions for using the USB connection?

When I plug the USB in, Device Manager shows

Ports (COM & LPT)/USB Serial Device (COM5) with message

image
image404×450 10.7 KB

Universal Serial Bus devices/USB JTAG/serial debug unit and it shows a similar message.

image
image398×451 11.4 KB

17

Dlhein wrote:

Hi Dave. Picked up a USB cable. When I connect to my PC i hear the ding, but
nothing happens. Are there instructions for using the USB connection?

use a terminal program like putty to open the serial port (the baud rate can be
set really high, in the ballpark of 300000, but it can work with anything)

I think that the zip file for a full install includes a terminal program as
well.

David Lang

18

not sure I did this correctly, but did the full install of fluidnc-maslow4-1.12-win64. Windows command prompt opened and I had this….

  • ------ Erasing flash- *
    win64\esptool.exe --chip esp32s3 --baud 921600 erase_flash
    esptool.py v4.6
    Found 1 serial ports
    Serial port COM5
    Connecting…
    Chip is ESP32-S3 (revision v0.2)
    Features: WiFi, BLE
    Crystal is 40MHz
    MAC: e8:06:90:d8:de:70
    Uploading stub…
    Running stub…
    Stub running…
    Changing baud rate to 921600

A fatal error occurred: No serial data received.

  • ------- Installing filesystem *
    win64\esptool.exe --chip esp32s3 --baud 921600 --before default_reset --after hard_reset write_flash -z --flash_mode dio --flash_freq 80m --flash_size detect 0x5F0000 wifi_s3\littlefs.bin
    esptool.py v4.6
    Found 1 serial ports
    Serial port COM5
    Connecting…
    Chip is ESP32-S3 (revision v0.2)
    Features: WiFi, BLE
    Crystal is 40MHz
    MAC: e8:06:90:d8:de:70
    Uploading stub…
    Running stub…
    Stub running…
    Changing baud rate to 921600

A fatal error occurred: No serial data received.

  • ------- Installing firmware *
    win64\esptool.exe --chip esp32s3 --baud 921600 --before default_reset --after hard_reset write_flash -z --flash_mode dio --flash_freq 80m --flash_size detect 0x0000 wifi_s3\bootloader.bin 0xe000 common\boot_app0.bin 0x10000 wifi_s3\firmware.bin 0x8000 wifi_s3\partitions.bin
    esptool.py v4.6
    Found 1 serial ports
    Serial port COM5
    Connecting…
    Chip is ESP32-S3 (revision v0.2)
    Features: WiFi, BLE
    Crystal is 40MHz
    MAC: e8:06:90:d8:de:70
    Uploading stub…
    Running stub…
    Stub running…
    Changing baud rate to 921600

A fatal error occurred: No serial data received.

  • ------- Done *
    Starting fluidterm

FluidNC v1.2.0 using COM5
Exit: Ctrl-C, Ctrl-Q or Ctrl-], Clear screen: CTRL-W
Upload: Ctrl-U, Reset ESP32: Ctrl-R, Send Override: Ctrl-O

19

more once i disconnect/reconnect via the USB. I then connected with the WiFi which does not seem correct, but terminal was logging as shown below. Did some commands out of order just to see the log, jog z then went to extend all. Seemed to loose WiFi connection when I started to extend the first belt. I paused when pulling belts but when all were out, last 3-4 lines came in.

FluidNC v1.2.0 using COM5
Exit: Ctrl-C, Ctrl-Q or Ctrl-], Clear screen: CTRL-W
Upload: Ctrl-U, Reset ESP32: Ctrl-R, Send Override: Ctrl-O
Serial port disconnected - waiting for reconnect
Type Ctrl-] to quit
Serial port reconnected
Resetting MCU
ESP-ROM:esp32s3-20210327
Build:Mar 27 2021
rst:0x15 (USB_UART_CHIP_RESET),boot:0x8 (SPI_FAST_FLASH_BOOT)
Saved PC:0x40378016
SPIWP:0xee
mode:DIO, clock div:1
load:0x3fce3808,len:0x4bc
load:0x403c9700,len:0xbd8
load:0x403cc700,len:0x2a0c
entry 0x403c98d0

[MSG:INFO: FluidNC v3.0.x (noGit)]
[MSG:INFO: Compiled with ESP32 SDK:v4.4.7-dirty]
[MSG:INFO: Local filesystem type is littlefs]
[MSG:INFO: Configuration file:maslow.yaml]
[MSG:INFO: Machine Maslow S3 Board]
[MSG:INFO: Board Maslow]
[MSG:INFO: UART1 Tx:gpio.1 Rx:gpio.2 RTS:NO_PIN Baud:115200]
[MSG:INFO: SPI SCK:gpio.12 MOSI:gpio.11 MISO:gpio.13]
[MSG:INFO: SD Card cs_pin:gpio.10 detect:NO_PIN freq:8000000]
[MSG:INFO: Stepping:Timed Pulse:4us Dsbl Delay:0us Dir Delay:0us Idle Delay:240ms]
[MSG:INFO: Axis count 5]
[MSG:INFO: Axis A (-5000.000,0.000)]
[MSG:INFO: Motor0]
[MSG:INFO: Axis B (-5000.000,0.000)]
[MSG:INFO: Motor0]
[MSG:INFO: Axis C (-5000.000,0.000)]
[MSG:INFO: Motor0]
[MSG:INFO: Axis D (-5000.000,0.000)]
[MSG:INFO: Motor0]
[MSG:INFO: Axis Z (-100.000,0.000)]
[MSG:INFO: Motor0]
[MSG:INFO: tmc_2209 UART1 Addr:0 Step:gpio.15 Dir:gpio.16 Disable:NO_PIN R:0.110]
[MSG:INFO: Motor1]
[MSG:INFO: tmc_2209 UART1 Addr:1 Step:gpio.46 Dir:gpio.38 Disable:NO_PIN R:0.110]
[MSG:INFO: Z Axis driver test passed]
[MSG:INFO: Z2 Axis driver test passed]
[MSG:INFO: Using spindle NoSpindle]
[MSG:INFO: STA SSID is not set]
[MSG:INFO: AP SSID maslow IP 192.168.0.1 mask 255.255.255.0 channel 1]
[MSG:INFO: AP started]
[MSG:INFO: WiFi on]
[MSG:INFO: Captive Portal Started]
[MSG:INFO: HTTP started on port 80]
[MSG:INFO: Telnet started on port 23]

Grbl 3.0 [FluidNC v3.0.x (noGit) (wifi) ‘$’ for help]
[MSG:INFO: ‘$H’|‘$X’ to unlock]
[MSG:INFO: Encoder connected on Top Left]
[MSG:INFO: Motor detected on Top Left]
[MSG:INFO: Encoder connected on Top Right]
[MSG:INFO: Motor detected on Top Right]
[MSG:INFO: Encoder connected on Bottom Left]
[MSG:INFO: Motor detected on Bottom Left]
[MSG:INFO: Encoder connected on Bottom Right]
[MSG:INFO: Motor detected on Bottom Right]
[MSG:INFO: Center coordinates updated in MaslowKinematics: X=1631.068 Y=1269.591]
[MSG:INFO: Current z-axis position loaded as: 49.000]
[MSG:INFO: Starting Maslow Version 1.12]
[MSG:INFO: Channel auto report interval set to 50 ms]
00,“tr”: 0.000,0,“ebr”: -0.011,“ebl”: 0.000,“extended”: false}
[MSG:INFO: Current state: 0]
[MSG:INFO: Channel auto report interval set to 50 ms]
[MSG:INFO: Caution: Unlocked]
[MSG:INFO: Extending all belts]
[MSG:INFO: Requesting state change from Unknown to Extending Belts]
[MSG:INFO: Cannot extend the belts until they have been retracted]
[MSG:INFO: Current state: 0]
MINFO: { “homed”: false,“calibrationInProgress”: false,“tl”: 0.000,“tr”: 0.011,“br”: -0.011,“bl”: 0.000,“etl”: 0.000,"e}
[MSG:INFO: Retracting all belts]
[MSG:INFO: Requesting state change from Unknown to Retracting Belts]
[MSG:INFO: Succeeded]
[MSG:INFO: Current state: 1]
00,“tr”: 0.000,“br”: -0.075,“bl”: -0.011,“etl”: 0.000,“etr”: 0.000,“ebr”: -0.075,“ebl”: -0.011,“extended”: false}
[MSG:INFO: Bottom Right pulled tight with offset -0.075]
[MSG:INFO: Top Left pulled tight with offset -0.011]
[MSG:INFO: Top Right pulled tight with offset 0.000]
[MSG:INFO: Bottom Left pulled tight with offset -0.064]
[MSG:INFO: Requesting state change from Retracting Belts to Belts Retracted]
[MSG:INFO: Succeeded]
[MSG:INFO: Current state: 2]
[MSG:INFO: Extending all belts]
[MSG:INFO: Requesting state change from Belts Retracted to Extending Belts]
[MSG:INFO: Center coordinates updated in MaslowKinematics: X=1631.068 Y=1269.591]
[MSG:INFO: Succeeded]
[MSG:INFO: Current state: 3]
MINFO: { “homed”: true,“calibrationInProgress”: false,“tl”: 0.000,“tr”: 0.000,“br”: 0.075,“bl”: 0.075,“etl”: 0.000,"etr}
[MSG:INFO: All belts extended to 2005.000mm]
[MSG:INFO: Requesting state change from Extending Belts to Belts Extended]
[MSG:INFO: Succeeded]
[MSG:INFO: Current state: 4]
[MSG:INFO: Channel auto report interval set to 50 ms]
MINFO: { “homed”: true,“calibrationInProgress”: false,“tl”: 2017.342,“tr”: 2012.082,“br”: 2019.876,“bl”: 2023.698,“etl”}
[MSG:INFO: Current state: 4]
[MSG:INFO: Channel auto report interval set to 50 ms]

20

Dlhein wrote:

not sure I did this correctly, but did the full install of fluidnc-maslow4-1.12-win64. Windows command prompt opened and I had this….

this is reinstalling the firmware, I was referring to the fluidterm program that
is shipped in this zip file.

that does not look like it reinstalled the firmware properly

David Lang