I am unable to do anything on it says scanning but nothings moving on my machine- I have shut it off waited 15 minutes turned back on. I have shut down my computer rebooted started it over. I have rebooted my Wi-Fi. I have centered my camera over the bed and my laser.
This isn’t an issue with me opening the top too wide, I had seen this problem before I even got my Glowforge and was proactive about not opening it up completely. I’ve had this machine less than a month and may be five hours of work on it. I foolishly signed up for a craft show this next weekend. I have already sent an email, people have told me to try to get on chat but I see that it’s only when someone is around. No one on a weekend on the Saturday night it looks. Help!
See if this helps:
Yes, I have also made sure lenses were clean.
Sorry your first post is about an issue!
Could there be excess light–from a window or bright fixture? Or material on the crumb tray–both these conditions can confuse the system…
Haven’t really had it long enough to post in the community, I’m active on Facebook groups though. I was told to post in here to get quicker help from customer service.
No, I’m in an office with regular lighting, nothing bright. Clean crumb try with no debris or items on it
While you are waiting for Support, here is the list of things to check that I like to use:
- New thing to try - remove all materials and restart GF: Glow forge stuck on scanning
- Glowforge is Offline / Calibrating (support page)
- Lens inserted correctly?
- Turn the GF off, open the lid, turn it back on, and let it sit for a few minutes before closing the lid – if there’s a software update trying to download this will let it finish without interfering with the machine’s attempts to calibrate
- Recent exchange? Make sure correct GF is selected in the GFUI
- Look for any changes in the GF environment that might affect the wifi signal – one person had mounted a metal plate beside theirs, to attach their magnets to, and that was apparently enough to disrupt the wifi signal and throw the machine into eternal calibration…another piece of hardware could theoretically do the same (fan, printer, etc.).
- Try changing the GF’s wifi channel – too many devices maybe trying to use the same one.
- Sometimes cleaning the lenses seems to help – and also the Glowforge logo on the top of the print head, since the camera uses that for location purposes.
- Sometimes the ambient lighting can affect the camera’s ability to focus – could be too bright, or not bright enough.
- Check lid light cable clips Stuck on scanning during start up
- Don’t cover up the logo on the top of the print head
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Yes, all of those have been investigated- I looked up every possible scenario and not getting a response other than centering and scanning. How long is a typical response from customer service? I need to decide if I am going to try to even attempt this craft festival this weekend
It sounds like a lid cable issue to me, even though you were super careful with it and did all the right things, (good for you by the way), they can still weaken inside if someone was too rough while installing it. (It can happen.)
If the Support team agrees and sends you a replacement cable, it still might take too long for it to arrive for you to make your craft show…it would not ship out until tomorrow at the earliest and it takes a minimum couple of days to ship. So you might want to be thinking about an alternative plan if you can.
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Thank you. It’s so disappointing that their is no customer service on weekends for a machine that many people use on the weekends to do things like craft shows. Especially for the amount of money paid.
I look at it this way…the amount of money paid is about a tenth the price of an equivalent Epilog laser, and there are relatively few issues with it for a recent product that just hit the market. You’ve kind of got to look at the overall picture. Every new product has startup pains for a few years until things shake out.
None of which helps if you haven’t got one working when you need it for an emergency situation, so in those cases, if I were using it for business, I would either make sure I had a backup laser on standby, had access to a local makerspace, or make any items for sale well in advance and keep at least a small inventory on hand. (Probably the third one since I don’t have the room for a second laser.)
That’s just plain good old-fashioned business thinking…I’ve done a couple, and hit all the same issues, every time. Planning in advance for emergency situations can mean the difference between overall success and failure. There are always going to be bumps along the way. You’ll get past them.
In the meantime, I hope it is just the cable. That’s a relatively quick fix and you can get back up and running. Good luck with it! 
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Jules already said it - but in short: as much as you paid, you purchased a hobby machine, not a business machine. If you need business level support, you have to pay significantly more.
I’m a hobbyist, not a business. I have a new 7000 dollar machine I want to use. I shouldn’t expect any other than to be able to use it. It’s just that simple. Apparently this is a common issue. Thank you for your opinion.
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Signing up to sell things with a deadline is a business, not a hobby.
I agree it’s frustrating, but (again) compare what you paid to the cost of commercial-quality machines. The GF is an absolute bargain and fun toy, but not something to build a business around.
Unless you have a way to help me, your condescending opinions are a waste of your time and mine. You can continue if you’d like. But this is my last response. Thank you.
I don’t think anyone is trying to be condescending, just tossing out an idea or two about building up a little inventory in advance of craft shows and such.
If you’re not using it for business, then it doesn’t apply. Enjoy it for whatever you use it for .
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Only trying to set expectations, not be condescending.
You can expect support to respond within 72 business hours. Often much sooner. Then you can begin to walk thru a troubleshooting process.
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Hard to build up an inventory when I’ve had it less than three weeks. Purchasing a back up seems a little silly at this point. Thanks
Since you need to make an assumption about the situation, a friend asked me to take her place in a craft show. I had no reason to believe that a brand new machine wouldn’t be functional so I did and I paid the money. Dumb on my part, won’t happen again, lesson learned.
I asked for help with my machine on this thread, not a lesson in business. Yes, because I made an opinion about my displeasure of customer service not being available on a weekend, you decided to assume I had a business. You both felt the need to tell me how I was wrong in my opinion. That is condescending in my book. Thank you for your help with trying to fix my machine. Hopefully I’ll hear from CS soon.
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Yes, I absolutely did make an assumption about you that was incorrect, in that I thought you were using it for a business.
Do pardon the unasked for suggestions.
Your assumptions are absolutely reasonable given what this equipment costs. I was just (again) trying to align them with reality.
I see you already emailed us about this and we’re working on it there, so I’m going to close this topic.