RE: Mk4 screen goes blank after some time
"me too". Got the kit so calling for warranty isn't so easy, however, I am not giving up yet on trying to fix it myself. On my system, the display first starts to flicker, then it goes off entirely. At random it comes back, however, black and white and sometimes just a full white screen. Then after a while it may start to render parts of the screen, sometimes mirrored or even rotated by 180 degrees.
I can tell so far: a hard reset doesn't cure the problem. I have now taken the flat cable out of the tight bundling with all the rest of the wires and I am testing it right now. Thx to @fab1150 !
One thing on the thought that its interference with the motors: Right when the print job starts, the probing for the bed leveling happens with high acceleration moves, much higher acceleration than later during the print. In my case it happened a few times during the period where the head probes the leveling points.
Should it turn out that the flat cable picks up noice, I will wrap it in aluminum foil and then put some cover around it.
RE: Mk4 screen goes blank after some time
Hi,
English is not my mother tong, so I must admit that, speaking of ESD, it was the electrical interference I meant (not Electrostatic Discharge).
I also forgot to mention fab1150 whose opinion I also share on this interference (sorry for that ☹…).
Hxd, I’m awaiting your feedback in concern of aluminum wrapping. To be effective,, the shield (Aluminum or Copper) must be grounded at at least one end. Grounding on both sides improves the dipslay’s ground reference.
RE: Mk4 screen goes blank after some time
Hey guys, Support helped me completely fix my problem, as of now 24hours in, my screen issue are completely gone.
Here are the steps :
- I was on firmware 5.0.0, removing the usb stick didn't change the screen issue
- Update to firmware 5.1.0 alpha2 (or more recent), you can do this without screen by just pressing the button on startup
- For me, the screen issues kept happening, but this time, when I removed the USB stick, the screen was usable
- Navigate the menu without the USB stick inserted to Settings -> System -> Factory Reset -> Hard Reset
- Re-insert the USB with the firmware (screen going black again for me) but you can press the button to start the Hard Reset
- After the Hard Reset completes, you will be prompted with the initial setup, and after that, the screen should work flawlessly (at least it was the case for me)
Hope this helps,
RE: Mk4 screen goes blank after some time
I have spoken too soon, the problem came back within 2 days.
RE: Mk4 screen goes blank after some time
An update: was in a live chat today with Prusa support. I got two procedures: (1) take out the flat cable make sure it is really flat, support said put books on in until it is really flat (2) take out and reseat the foil cable of the LCD on the LCD PCB. Did both. Problem didn't show up ever since. I think the reseating of the foil cable might have been the culprit. This would also be in sync with earlier comments which said ESD problems are most certainly connection problems and noise from other cables running parallel. Fingers crossed .....
When I did (2) I also cleaned the contacts with isopropanol before reseating it.
RE: Mk4 screen goes blank after some time
I haven't done the aluminum wrapping. It should be copper anyway and yes, the shield must be grounded on both sides There is another post in this forum, explaining this procedure. All I can tell, running the flat cable as far away from other cables as possible didn't work. the flickering came back so I contacted support. See my other post with respect to what support told me to do and what I did. Too soon to declare victory but the printer at least ran one full day w/o the issue surfacing again.
RE: Mk4 screen goes blank after some time
Update: after two full days of keeping the MK4 busy, including Poff / Pon between prints, the display stays up nice and clean. Perhaps still a bit early do declare victory but it looks promising. Here again what support suggested (1) make the flat cable really flat (2) reseat the foil cable on the display unit, the foil that connects to the LCD panel. I did both and I kept the flat cable running free and away from the other cables, on order to keep it really flat as (1) suggested. I would assume it was ultimately (2) that cured my machine. YMMV though. It cannot hurt to apply these two procedures if you also experience these symptoms. However, please be careful with (2), these foil cables are quite filigran and specifically the connector's lock comb must be handled with care. If it breaks the display unit needs to be replaced.
RE: Mk4 screen goes blank after some time
It looks like 5.1.0-alpha2 completely fixed the issue for me. I think updated boot loader making all the difference.
I will continue to test but no single issue since 23/10.
RE: Mk4 screen goes blank after some time
So I contacted support and they advised me to check cables. I disconnected all cables leading to LCD screen and main board (only cables for LCD) and then reconnected everything again. It didn't helped.
I contacted support again and they advised me to install new firmware. This completely solved issued with screen issues.
Just to say I did also assembly of my Prusa Enclosure and put printer inside. So far for one week I didn't noticed any issues.
I'd like to point out that when I was expiriencing any troubles with display it was just enough to restart printer and then I was getting proper ''Welcome screen'' which meant this is pure software and not hardware issue. I guess there might be something with signal interference which was disturbing signal and finally leading to picture ''decoding'' issues.
Hope this will help others to stop worrying and just update to latest firmware and continue their printing without issues.
RE: Mk4 screen goes blank after some time
Hey there. I've been plagued by the screen blackout issue ever since I got the MK4 when it first came out. The latest firmware (5.1.0) is working fine so far - I should have experienced the issue already if not for the upgrade. For reference I went from 5.0.0 to 5.1.0.
The obvious change is that 5.1.0 is using print status status updates in form of text rather than the part rendering and vertical progress bar.
Perhaps there was some mem leak when updating the graphics.
Thanks,
gabriel
RE: Mk4 screen goes blank after some time
Let me point out, not all display flickering blicking turning off issues disscused here can be solved by simply updating firmware. There are occassionally issues with cable connections. On my newly assembled MK4 it was not a firmware issue, at least I did never update it from what came preloaded. It turned out in my case that the flat ribbon cable that connects the LCD to the controller board had a bad contact even though making that connection was not part of the assembly process. Support told me to re-seat that very specific connection and this solved my problem instantly and the problem never came back ever since.
RE: Mk4 screen goes blank after some time
Here is another tip from Prusa support: re-route the ribbon cable by removing it from the brackets attached to the bottom left linear extrusion rail and tuck it into one of the grooves of that rail. They sent me a link to a picture showing how to do it, but I cannot find it right now. While doing that does make some sense, I would only consider it as a last-resort, troubleshooting step. I wouldn't want that cable squeezed in there permanently.
RE: Mk4 screen goes blank after some time
Well, the MK3 had the display cable routed in a similar way (inside of the grooves). It should be fine to keep it that way
RE: Mk4 screen goes blank after some time
Interesting... indeed, there it is... I guess I never had to look for that cable on the mk3. Thanks for the info.
RE: Mk4 screen goes blank after some time
Gabriel, Try pulling the printer out of your enclosure and see if the issues go away. My enclosure had similar material as I see in your photo, and pulling the printer out of the enclosure fixed the issues. Mine has been running for months without issue since I pulled it out of the enclosure.
RE: Mk4 screen goes blank after some time
We had the same problem with the display. For the first few days after assembly everything worked without a problem. Then all of a sudden the display went black. When I turned on the printer, the logo appeared and then it was black, rarely all white. Through chat with support, I checked for proper wiring, tried running the cable outside the printer body. Nothing helped, so I arranged for a replacement. However, after a couple of days it started working by itself. I didn't touch the cables or the display, I just restarted it once after printing and it's been working ever since. I tried putting the display and cable back into the printer and it's been over a month since it's been working without a problem. I haven't even done any software updates. So I have cancelled the part replacement and will hope it doesn't come back again..
RE:
I had this problem for a while after assembling my printer months ago, but at some point it stopped and doesn’t seem to have returned. I did continue to press the cables in many times but haven’t had to now. I strongly suspect it is a matter of cable tightness, and either it’s very easy to get wrong or very difficult to get right. Many of the “fixes” boil down to ways to get users to simply touch the cables again, creating another chance to seat everything properly.
RE: Mk4 screen goes blank after some time
Hi,
Thanks for the feedback.
Myself I have, for some time, also suspected the enclosure was a factor. It would be interesting to fully understand why, although I could speculate on the LCD not being EMI-shielded.
Anyway, I went with this enclosure for a few reasons, some of which are:
- I use the same enclose with the MK3S+ with no issues.
- I print with filament prone to warping at high temps.
- It keeps the work area well organized.
- Creality enclosures are cheap - they cost a fraction of the Prusa enclosure price.
So, for a compromise, I cut a piece of cardboard from an Amazon shipping box and placed it at the bottom of the enclosure. I tested for a couple weeks, and so far I have not seen the LCD malfunctioning. I should mention that I also upgraded to the latest firmware (5.1.2).
Here is a pic:
RE: Mk4 screen goes blank after some time
Hi, I was recently plagued as well with this problem, have the MK4 upgrade kit (December shipment) and latest firmware. Nothing that was described here helped. After assembly it was working fine for weeks, then it slowly creeped in, could reboot or power switch and it went away for a little while, then became horrible, after loading screen first glitches in the icons, flickering, black. Otherwise printer works fine. Tried re-cabling and at first it seemed to help until it came back a few days later.
Then the epiphany. Why did it always seem to work at first if I reconnect everything? Until by some stupid try I >just< disconnected the power cable (have the old silver PSU), waited a bit and reconnected, bam, it works again for a few days!
This might go in the direction of some uninitialized memory, or even faulty memory? Power Fail code? What is the difference between pulling the plug and the switch? Does the switch disrupt just one phase pin? Next time I try to turn my power plug around, changing P/N. Ground loops could still power stuff... Right now its printing for a few days. Letting you know.
RE: Mk4 screen goes blank after some time
Update: After a month everything worked like a charm, now it suddenly is back and worse than before, without touching anything! Swapping phase didn't help, neither did pulling the plug. Strange.