Shapeoko 3 XXL - Worked fine, sat for a long time, won't connect on Linux

Short version: Shapeoko 3 XXL, bought new, took a long time to assemble, finally got things working, even put a J-Tech laser on it and was starting to use that. got covid, and about 18 months later I can finally get back to this. I was using a Raspberry Pi to run it. I did the design on my Mac, saved the files, then went over to the CNC and used Carbide Motion, on a touch-screen setup with the Pi, to run things.

So, after about 18 months of this sitting in my shop, I am FINALLY getting back to it. Due to an issue with the UPS, I actually had some kind of surge and the Pi, that was working fine after 18 months of non-use, got hosed, so I’m setting up a new system with Carbide Motion (and UGS and G-Sender - but CM first, since I used it a fair amount).

Things were working fine, the Pi and Shapeoko were talking to each other, things worked. Then, with a new Raspbian OS install on the Pi, as I’m trying to set up the Shapeoko again, I get this:


With the Shapeoko turned on, I find /dev/ttyACM0 on the Pi system. It’s gone when I turn the Shapeoko off. So I know the Pi and Shapeoko are communicating at some level, but CM doesn’t even see the Shapeoko.

I’ve tried the simple things: Rebooting, turning the Shapeoko off and on, even changing read/write permissions on /dev/ttyACM0 (I’ve had that issue with some devices in the past).

CM just does not see my Shapeoko, even though the device node is there.

I can’t find anything on this particular issue on the web and, after verifying a device node appears when the Shapeoko is on, I have no idea where to go next in troubleshooting.

(And let’s please just NOT do the “Control it through your Mac” discussion. The CNC is in the middle of the floor, in a workshop, where I’m NOT about to run cables along the floor - and if I did, it’d be too far for a USB cable to go. I was doing okay before I got covid, so I know this setup works and it worked well for me.)

Have you tried changing out the USB cable from Pi to the CNC controller? Unlikely culprit, but you never know.

What version of Rasbian did you load up on your new Pi?
The latest Bookworm build has a significant change to the GUI interface backend… They switched it to Wayland from X11. I found CM had a bit of an issue with that. But using Raspi-config to turn off Wayland & re-enable X11 solved the weird issue I was seeing. Seems doubtful that this would be relevant to your USB connectivity, but you never know.
The only time I’ve had an issue with my Pi not talking to my SXXL3 was from a bad update in the previous Rasbian version(Bullseye) - which had a whole thread on the forum.

Agreed, unlikely, but I’ll try another cable tomorrow.

Again, agreed - not likely the issue, but I disabled it.

I’ll look that over. This is a freshly downloaded image through Raspberry Pi Imager and I’ve run apt update/apt upgrade, so it should not be an issue. I am using 32 bit Bullseye on a Pi 3, so this could be related

I found this thread, but that seems to be a general “CM on Linux” thread. Is that the one you were talking about? If not, do you remember anything else about what was said, since I can’t find anything by searching.

Check this one out:

I found the issue. The Pi is in a special touchscreen case and is upside down from how I would normally expect it to be. Visually, I check the RJ45 - if it’s on the right of the USB sockets, it’s a 4. On the left it’s a 3. Like I said, it was upside down. I was running 32 bit Raspbian for a Pi3 on a Pi4. Once I changed to a new 64 bit image for a Pi4, it cleared it up immediately.

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