Small white boxes on LCD cannot boot up.  

RE: Small white boxes on LCD cannot boot up.

I am having the same issues after having multiple problems with the Thermal Runway and thermal anomaly errors. I have had nothing but issues with this hotend, purchased the same time. I've replaced both the thermistor and the heatring element as well as the heat block (because I could not get the grub screw off). I'm searching for answers as well.   

RE: Small white boxes on LCD cannot boot up.

Posted by: @thatbeatleguy

Hello everyone, over the last couple of days I have been getting the THERMAL RUNWAY error and a continuous loud beep I’m sure you are all familiar with.  This was after I upgraded the firmware to 3.13. After talking to support, they suggested I downgrade. So I went back to the previous firmware. I shut down the printer, looked over the cables. Everything looked ok. I tried to print again and it printed great.  
    Well, today the same thing happened. So I bought a new hot end thermistor replacement. An actual prusa replacement. After I installed it, I turned on the printer and all I got was little white boxes on the lcd screen. And nothing else will start up. Here’s what I’ve tried so far:

-checked all the fuses with a multimeter (including the small ceramic one near the power jack). 

- plugged the printer into my computer to try and re-flash the firmware. It won’t connect.

- tried to turn it on, press the reset button and then hold down the selector knob per the instructions.

-inspected each cable and made sure everything was plugged in correctly. Even though the only cable I unplugged was for the old thermistor. 

- tried reversing the lcd cables even though they have never been been unplugged since I assembled this printer. (You never know!)

I’m fresh out of ideas. I have a feeling this board is fried.  I just bought this printer in March so I’m hoping that’s not it. I have been trying to get online support again but the wait times keep going up to at least 50 min so I thought I’d try you all. Hope you are all having better luck than me!

Unplug everything bug lcd and power cables then power in same thing then unplug lcd see if it will connect to prontoface if not then contact prusa and tell them it's probably a fried einsy the lcd should still be good unless you also fried it because it's under warranty so you should get a free one sent out. Also why fid you buy a thermistor it's under warranty. You probably fried it from esd (electric static discharge)

RE: Small white boxes on LCD cannot boot up.

Posted by: @tyler-giesa

I am having the same issues after having multiple problems with the Thermal Runway and thermal anomaly errors. I have had nothing but issues with this hotend, purchased the same time. I've replaced both the thermistor and the heatring element as well as the heat block (because I could not get the grub screw off). I'm searching for answers as well.   

Do you too have white squares

RE: Small white boxes on LCD cannot boot up.

Those grub screws can be a pain. I feel for you! Anyways,  I ended up fixing mine. Were you using Octoprint? Or keep it in an enclosure? Once I bypassed Octoprint  it printed one full print without the dreaded beep from hell.  But then did it again….Upon further inspection, I noticed that the heat bed cables were getting pressed against the plexiglass in my enclosure when it moved. A. Once I centered the printer, more centrally in the enclosure, it seemed to do the trick. I have now had several Prints with no errors! So, I think I have figured it out. Hopefully this can be helpful to you. 

RE: Small white boxes on LCD cannot boot up.

I have the Prusa enclosure, so there is a lot of space, but I will definitely move it around and move cables to see if this is the issue. It's interesting that we have near identical problems with our machines, purchased at the same time. I wonder if there was a batch of printers with quality issues. This is very frustrating for me, as I'm in a school, and it is very hard to work with Prusa support during the day, and I can't take equipment home with me to work on it. I've lost almost 6 months on this machine. I just don't have a way to sit on a chat thread waiting for help (not to mention IT issues I run into trying to launch a chat). The dreaded beep you describe is right on the money! Flat or low prints printed beautifully, but anything above a certain height would hit the dreaded beep. I know these are great printers, and they are work horses, but I'm considering all Bambu's for the future, because at least my students can print with minimal problems out of the box. My goal is to get students into 3D printing, not having the printer on the lift like a classic car, talking about how good it is on the road.

RE: Small white boxes on LCD cannot boot up.

Posted by: @hello

 

Posted by: @tyler-giesa

I am having the same issues after having multiple problems with the Thermal Runway and thermal anomaly errors. I have had nothing but issues with this hotend, purchased the same time. I've replaced both the thermistor and the heatring element as well as the heat block (because I could not get the grub screw off). I'm searching for answers as well.   

Do you too have white squares

Yes, I have white squares

RE: Small white boxes on LCD cannot boot up.

Posted by: @tyler-giesa

I have the Prusa enclosure, so there is a lot of space, but I will definitely move it around and move cables to see if this is the issue. It's interesting that we have near identical problems with our machines, purchased at the same time. I wonder if there was a batch of printers with quality issues. This is very frustrating for me, as I'm in a school, and it is very hard to work with Prusa support during the day, and I can't take equipment home with me to work on it. I've lost almost 6 months on this machine. I just don't have a way to sit on a chat thread waiting for help (not to mention IT issues I run into trying to launch a chat). The dreaded beep you describe is right on the money! Flat or low prints printed beautifully, but anything above a certain height would hit the dreaded beep. I know these are great printers, and they are work horses, but I'm considering all Bambu's for the future, because at least my students can print with minimal problems out of the box. My goal is to get students into 3D printing, not having the printer on the lift like a classic car, talking about how good it is on the road.

If your saying that above a certain hight it does it then go to firmware 3.11 that will stop your beeps then print to the hight and see if the tps fluctuate 

RE: Small white boxes on LCD cannot boot up.

• The classic car reference made me laugh out loud because it describes my office exactly! Indeed it is a great printer when it works. But the thought of having to undo the zip ties and taking it apart again makes me want to go buy a Bambu immediately! I’ve learned a lot by having this printer that’s for sure! Let me know if you get it working!

RE:

This is strange. Maybe something happened to the quality of new printers but my 4 year old Mk3s is a pure work horse. Never had a single thermal runaway. The only thing that was causing issues was the crash detection but that one, can be simply turned off and be not missed. The idea that an Mk3s would be a fancy oldtimer thing one would use to brag instead of the old workhorse which just prints, especially compared to a Bambulab is so strange to me. Try maintenance on a Bambulab or their support and then compare.

For Firmware my rule is simple: Don't fix it if it isn't broken. Unless it introduces a great feature you really want to have, why update the firmware if the printer is an island which not connected to the Internet? 

RE: Small white boxes on LCD cannot boot up.

I would love to have a farm of Prusa's. We're just not at a point where we have enough printers to have one be out of service and not effect the flow of things. My point about switching to Bambu's (which I know raises the hackles of old school 3D printing enthusiasts) is that as far as introducing the wonders of 3D printing to new students, it doesn't do me much good (with limited time and resources that teachers have), to have a supposedly great printer, sitting in the corner, gathering dust. You want to get students excited about the possibilities of 3D printing, not have them jump in feet first to the frustration of it. Of course, frustration comes with the learning process, but you want to foster a curiosity that will push them through frustration. Our Bambu worked out of the box. I tried to save money by building the Prusa from a kit - maybe this was my mistake. Probably buying it assembled would've saved me the frustration and maybe the thermistor issue would've been caught (but probably not, because the setup wizard never caught it). 

As for the firmware issue, I just worked with what was provided or instructed through Prusa's own material. I've been 3D printing long enough to know this is a great piece of equipment, it just might not work in Prusa's current support environment for educational use. 

RE: Small white boxes on LCD cannot boot up.

But that's about your argument I do not understand. Maybe new machines have changed but I know Prusa Mk3s at least only as down to earth plug and print printers, not as "gathering dust in the corner white elephants". It sounds like you should have gotten assembled machines in your setting.

Bambulabs are great but are you planning on using them heavily for long? Then ease of maintenance will become an issue and quality of support will become a major topic. If you think Prusa is bad in this regard I'd be interested hear about the experience with Bambu.

The reasons I don't want a Bambu are the following: Noise levels, app (with all that social engineering nonsense, not as bad as with the Creality app but still) and data security/privacy. Im doing it just as a hobby but those things might be also revelevant in an educational setting, or maybe not, possibly depends on the details.