$2500 in orders that need done by end of week!! I need support right now!
I had to say this, but GF Support is really slow. Where are you located? Maybe there is someone with a GF nearby who can help you out.
Start with these steps. Stuck Centering/Focusing: How to Troubleshoot for potential Lid Cable issues before contacting Support 😲 (One of these days I’m going to automate a flowchart for troubleshooting.)
The big items:
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Electricity: Does it power on? Do the lights inside turn on? Does the head make the “focusing” clicks?
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Network: When it is off, does the web-based interface (UI) say “Offline”? When you turn it on, does it change to “Lid Open” as soon as the head begins clicking? (If so, then it’s not a networking issue.)
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Is it clean? Dust and dirt and particles can cause all sorts of issues.
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Are the cables along the lid seated properly?
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When the lid goes down, does it go all the way down? How about the front fold-down door – is it closed? (I don’t know if you have a Basic or Pro, but make sure everything that can close is closed.) See: Stuck on "Lid open" message at my first attempt to print!
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The worst case is the dreaded “black cable”. If that’s the problem, then you won’t be done by Friday. Fortunately, I haven’t heard of the “lid open” problem being related to the black cable.
Sorry I can’t offer more help.
Support takes a few days to respond, but by posting here you have opened a ticket. There are a series of things you should try, and edit your response to post the results here so that we users can either help you figure out what’s wrong, or support knows what you’ve done and can troubleshoot from there.
Thanks for the reply krawetz. This is the second unit to die on me and the third one in my family (my sister is on her second one). After doing a LOT of orders today, I simply closed the lid again and it was done. I am an electrical engineer also so I am somewhat familiar with what to look for.
I am also familiar with the snail-like support with Glowforge. Really, I love the machine (I have a Plus) but for a unit as expensive as this is, it needs much better support.
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You can get same day phone support with a Trotec…but they start at around 15k…
Have you run through the suggestions above?
In that case, I’m leaning toward the magnets in the lid.
NOT RECOMMENDED; PROBABLY VOIDS WARRANTY: If you have some strong magnets, you can try to trip the sensors (front, sides of the door) and see if you can rule that out. I’ve had magnet sensors die in alarm systems, so it wouldn’t surprise me if the GF had them suddenly stop working.
Assuming you can force the sensors: Definitely do NOT run it with the lid open. But maybe you can jury-rig some magnets with the lid down just to get you through the orders.
Yea, I thought of the magnets already. Nothing seems to get it to go. Still futzing with the cable a little but I don’t want to make it worse.
It’s likely magnets won’t help because the error is caused by the signal from the lid detecting the magnets being interrupted, due to a broken cable.
You’ll probably need to replace the lid cable.
Cable has plenty of slack and no rips that I can see. I re-seated all ends. What a stupid design to be knocked out by a ribbon cable??
When I replaced the black cable on my machine, I had to replace the left LED strip as well. I got the lid open error afterwards. I slid the connector out from the LED strip to the camera and replaced it, and the error went away,
Assuming it’s the black cable…
You won’t see any breaks. It’s a FPC cable (flexible printed circuit) and it’s the stiff kind – not intended for repeated flexing. With the lid open, it has a gentle bend around the back. But look when the lid is closed – it has two sharp right-angle bends at the back wall and the lid.
Again, assuming that is the problem, maybe my short-term hack will work for you: Black Cable Hack for Voiding Warranty
I see you already emailed us about this and we’ve just followed up with the next steps there, so I’m going to close this topic.