Hi, I'm hoping someone will be able to help.

So my problem is, I create and load my gcode into mach 3 with no problems and intermittently my laptop screen will go black half way through a job with no way to exit, but the spindle is still rotating.  The only way I can start over is to press and hold the power button - this leaves me with..... reloading mach 3 and either manually zero to a point or start again.

Yesterday I managed to do a few jobs and on the last job of the day, it crashed....luckily the job was only a few lines away from being completed.

Please does anyone have any ideas as I'm losing a lot of work.

Please see specs below.


Product Type   Notebook
Operating System   Windows 10 Home 64-bit Edition
Processor / Chipset
CPU   AMD E1 7010 / 1.5 GHz
Number of Cores   Dual-Core
Cache   L2 - 1 MB
64-bit Computing   Yes
Memory
RAM   4 GB (1 x 4 GB)
Max RAM Supported   16 GB
Technology   DDR3L SDRAM
Speed   1600 MHz
Form Factor   SO-DIMM 204-pin
Slots Qty   2
Empty Slots   1
Storage
Main Storage   500 GB HDD SATA / 5400 rpm
Graphics Processor   AMD Radeon R2
Memory Allocation Technology   Shared Video Memory (UMA)

Wireless   802.11a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.1
Wireless Controller   M.2 Card
Network Interface   Gigabit Ethernet
Battery
Technology   3-cell Lithium Ion
Capacity   3220 mAh
Run Time   Up to 5 hours
AC Adapter
Input   AC 120/230 V (50/60 Hz)
Output   45 Watt, 19 V
Connections & Expansion
Interfaces   2 x USB 2.0
USB 3.0

Thanks again

You're probably losing the connection to your motion controller, maybe due to power saving features on the laptop.

I wish it was but all power saving features are set to never and is plugged in when running. It's intermittent so could be 10 minutes, could be 50....it's never the same.

What motion controller are you using?

Did you go into Device Manager and disable power saving for all the USB ports?

I never knew that option ever existed.  I'm an ex PC user now using mac.

But I will take a look and report.

This is a 64 bit system?  I was under the impression could only be 32 bit.