Control UI connection issues/freezes

AstroBox Troubleshooting
#1

Hey,

Just an update as I get familiar with using astrobox. Two “issues” I’ve noticed:

  1. I’m able to log into astrobox.com anywhere around the world and click “connected” and see my astrobox. However, clicking "launch astrobox UI " is a mixed bag. All of my computers are on the same network. Some days my wireless laptops will connect to the box via direct IP address but most of the time the connection will time out. I can go up to my desktop that’s wired into my home network and it tends to be much more reliable with connecting to the astrobox UI. I’ve also noticed that my iphone 5c seems to connect most of the time. Keep in mind I’ve still never been able to type in http://[boxname].local to work…ever. Not sure if it’s related.

I’d really like to get the “Launch astrobox UI” more reliable because I need to upload gcode manually and the only place you can do that is in the astrobox UI. Is this reliability a known issue? Are there certain communication ports you guys are using that maybe I need to unblock? What could be different between a wired connection vs unwired (keeping in mind I have full bars when I’m wirelessly connected)?

  1. While I was printing an 8 hour print last week, things were running smoothly and then I went and updated the webcam view and I got the dreaded “No box connected” on astroprint.com. I got home and saw the system was locked up with the nozzle touching the part. Is there any easy way to debug this if it happens again? I’d like to be able to confirm whether it’s an astrobox program lockup…did the power go out…did the entire raspberry pi B+ lock up? Mostly so I can find out where the culprit is and help you guys with data that might lead to a more stable-er astroprint :smile:

Thanks
Jim

#2

Thanks for this @Jim_Leemhuis. Here are some answers:

  • The “Launch astrobox UI” simply opens a new browser tab using http://. Due to browser security restrictions, we can’t test the connection before hand. If your computer is not on the same network or can’t reach that IP, it’ll fail. You might be connected to the same WiFi or wired network but have no route between devices. Usually if only the last number in the IP address is different, you’re ok but sometimes network topologies are different. Next time this happens please note the IP address of your computer/tablet/phone and that of the box (the one on the browser bar). We can debug further.

  • Regarding getting more info on the lockup. If you are able to log into your Rpi, get the astroprint logs from this directory: /var/log/astroprint. You can send that to us using http://astroprint.zendesk.com and we’ll analyze them.

Thanks for your help improving the product!

#3

Since I’m new to rpi and don’t want to waste your time. Is there a good tutorial on how to access my rpi via wireless network to grab that file? I’ll see if I can find the error log file then so I can help to make astroprint even more awesome.

#4

What OS are you on? Mac, Android, Windows, Linux?

I will assume you are on Windows.
ssh scp windows

and here is a good thing to read: http://winscp.net/eng/docs/start
Google “scp windows and raspberry pi” for how to pages

on Android see https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=lysesoft.andftp&hl=en and if needed https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sonelli.juicessh&hl=en

on Linux, well then you wouldn’t need help.

1 Like
#5

Can I access the rpi via putty with astroprint booted up? I started putty and copy and pasted the IP address astroprint uses when you click the astrprint UI (the one that opens in a new tab) to a computer on the same network but the connection times out before giving me an option to type in a username and password. I’m going to try a computer that is wired to the network tonight and see if that works at all.

I thought maybe I need to boot the rpi without the astroprint card installed in order to get it into some sort of mode when I can access the data logs? Instructions seem straightforward if I could just get putty to connect and not time out :smile:

#6

I use ssh to get into the box.

ssh pi@[ip address]

I use a Mac I’m not sure about windows. You do need to use the same SD card as that is where the logs are stored

#7

I can connect fine to my Astobox using putty on Windows, even with Astoprint loaded (I know it’s loaded because I can see it in the browser :wink:)

#8

With putty, double check that the connection type is ssh, it will refuse the connection if its on telnet. Port 22 is what you want. Scp is graphical and may be a better option for you as it is graphical and easy.

#9

I got into the log folder! Huzzah!

There are a ton of files in here:

auth.log
daemon.log
debug
dmesg
kern,log
messages
syslog

all .gz files and some other files. Is there specific files or do I need to send everything in that folder along with the model file name I printed?

#10

The contents of /var/log/astrobox

#11

I finally got the log sent to the astroprint link listed above. Thanks everyone for your help and patience as I learn about the rpi platform!
Jim