The dreaded stuck on centering / scanning

Community Support
1

Hi there, our forge seems to be stuck on centering after booting it up.
We’ve done the usual troubleshooting steps:

  • cleaned the lid lens and top of the laser head
  • moved the laser head to the center before turning on
  • rebooted it and the router
  • checked cables on lid
  • reconnected it to the wifi

The machine is practically the closest device to the router, so I’m pretty sure it isn’t that. (Not to mention the status in the app updates between centering and scanning and offline… so it seems to be communicating with the cloud.)

So at the moment we’re out of ideas, and getting no laser joy. :frowning:

2

So apparently it just needed more of a rest. Things appear to be working now.
(I wonder if the cloud services were a little overloaded, but not enough to trip the alarms, so to speak.)

But whatever the case, we have laser joy now :smiley:

3

I take that back. After loading a new design it went back to ‘centering’. (This was after two quick cuts/etches from the previous design that was loaded.)

4

Sounds like a sketchy Wifi signal. I’ve had it happen a couple of times and just waiting a while sees it resolved. Sometimes it helps to reboot all devices (Glowforge, computer, router).

5

Changing the wifi channel has solved it for some people. Too many competing things on the same channel will confound the GF.

6

We’ve already done that, I’m fairly sure it isn’t the WiFi, since we haven’t had this issue in the year plus we’ve had the machine, and nothing seems to have changed since we last fired it up two days ago.

7

Our router is setup to auto-select a channel on boot up, and since we rebooted it in the process of troubleshooting this it should have selected the clearest channel.

8

Oh, that’s when it happens…it can be a blip with the ISP and there’s no way to know until it corrects itself.

I actually proved it once accidentally…I bought one of those little Vector robots, and happened to have it turned on at the same time that the Glowforge got stuck centering, and the little robot threw a “lost communications” symbol, then corrected itself.

The thing is…it can flip on and off in a fraction of a second…that’s all it takes to mess up communications, and the Glowforge will remain stuck if the signal drops while it is sending or receiving information. So just turn it off and try again. It clears the decks. If the ISP is no longer wonky, it should get going again.

(And my ISP is generally pretty good…I’ve only seen this a handful of times in a couple of years.)

9

well… we’re headed out to do some errands, so maybe things will be cleared up by the time we get back. :slight_smile: (Fingers crossed)

1 Like
10

I had the same issue last night after never having an issue in the last year.
I’m guessing it has something to do with the new updated UI. Something isn’t working correctly behind the scenes.

11

Thank you for taking the time to do some initial troubleshooting. Unfortunately, it looks like your unit is experiencing an issue that we can’t resolve remotely. I want you to have a reliable unit, so I’m going to send you a new part. I’ll be in touch via email to sort out the details. I’m so sorry about the bad news.