Ender 3 Random Printer Pauses

3d Printing / Slicers / Setup / Problems
1

Hi everyone!,

Im pretty new to 3D printing. Got my first Ender 3 Pro about a month ago and completely consumed by this now.

I started printing a few longer print time jobs, and have been getting some odd pauses very far into the print.

Im using the Ender 3 Pro via Octoprint.

Today, 17.5 hours into a 30 hour ish print, the machine just paused. The terminal in Octoprint shows a message that says ‘Changing monitoring state from “Printing” to “Pausing”’ each time this happens.

The last few long prints, its happening each time.

Here is a few lines in the log when the machine stops.

Any idea what I should be looking at to trouble shoot this?


Send: N436814 G1 X201.773 Y35.408 E0.02909*102
Recv: ok
Send: N436815 G1 X201.853 Y35.943 E0.01831*97
Recv: TT::205.62205.62 //205.00205.00 BB::60.0060.00 //60.0060.00 @@::6161 BB@@::2222
Recv:
Recv: ok
Send: N436816 G1 X201.901 Y36.807 E0.02927*99
Recv: ok
Send: N436817 G1 X201.873 Y37.307 E0.01696*106
Recv: ok
Send: N436818 G1 X218.025 Y53.459 E0.77318*106
Recv: ok
Send: N436819 G1 X218.025 Y52.286 E0.03970*105
Recv: ok
Send: N436820 G1 X197.909 Y72.402 E0.96294*101
Recv: ok
Send: N436821 G1 X197.909 Y73.642 E0.04197*104
Recv: TT::205.62205.62 //205.00205.00 BB::60.0160.01 //60.0060.00 @@::6161 BB@@::1818
Recv:
Recv: ok
Send: N436822 G1 X218.025 Y93.758 E0.96294*103
Recv: ok
Send: N436823 G1 X218.025 Y92.585 E0.03970*104
Recv: ok
Send: N436824 G1 X197.909 Y112.701 E0.96294*86
Recv: ok
Send: N436825 G1 X197.909 Y113.941 E0.04197*87
Recv: ok
Send: N436826 G1 X218.025 Y134.057 E0.96294*87
Recv: ok
Send: N436827 G1 X218.025 Y132.884 E0.03970*91
Changing monitoring state from "Printing" to "Pausing"
Recv: ok
Send: N436828 M400*20
Recv: TT::205.62205.62 //205.00205.00 BB::60.0060.00 //60.0060.00 @@::6060 BB@@::2222
Recv:
Recv: echo:busy: processing
Recv: TT::205.04205.04 //205.00205.00 BB::60.0060.00 //60.0060.00 @@::7474 BB@@::2222
Recv:
Recv: ok
Send: N436829 M114*21
Recv: X:218.02 Y:132.88 Z:31.60 E:562.23 Count X:17442 Y:10631 Z:12640
Recv: ok
Send: N436830 G91*43
Recv: ok
Send: N436831 M83*35
Recv: ok
Send: N436832 G1 E-6.5*117
Recv: ok
Send: N436833 G1 Z2.5*66
Recv: ok
Send: N436834 G90*46
Recv: ok
Send: N436835 M83*39
Recv: ok
Send: N436836 M104 S0*89
Recv: ok
Changing monitoring state from "Pausing" to "Paused"
Recv: TT::205.00205.00 //0.000.00 BB::60.0060.00 //60.0060.00 @@::00 BB@@::2222
Recv:
Recv: TT::204.48204.48 //0.000.00 BB::60.0060.00 //60.0060.00 @@::00 BB@@::2222
Recv:
Recv: TT::203.89203.89 //0.000.00 BB::60.0060.00 //60.0060.00 @@::00 BB@@::2222
Recv:
Recv: TT::202.85202.85 //0.000.00 BB::60.0060.00 //60.0060.00 @@::00 BB@@::2222
Recv:
Recv: TT::201.53201.53 //0.000.00 BB::59.9959.99 //60.0060.00 @@::00 BB@@::2626
Recv:
Recv: TT::199.63199.63 //0.000.00 BB::60.0060.00 //60.0060.00 @@::00 BB@@::2222
Recv:
Recv: TT::197.73197.73 //0.000.00 BB::60.0060.00 //60.0060.00 @@::00 BB@@::2222
Recv:
Recv: TT::195.91195.91 //0.000.00 BB::60.0060.00 //60.0060.00 @@::00 BB@@::2222
Recv:
Recv: TT::193.64193.64 //0.000.00 BB::60.0060.00 //60.0060.00 @@::00 BB@@::2121
Recv:
Recv: TT::191.19191.19 //0.000.00 BB::60.0060.00 //60.0060.00 @@::00 BB@@::2222
Recv:
Recv: TT::188.62188.62 //0.000.00 BB::60.0060.00 //60.0060.00 @@::00 BB@@::2222
Recv:
Recv: TT::186.09186.09 //0.000.00 BB::59.9959.99 //60.0060.00 @@::00 BB@@::2626
Recv:
Recv: TT::183.37183.37 //0.000.00 BB::59.9759.97 //60.0060.00 @@::00 BB@@::3131
Recv:
Recv: TT::180.77180.77 //0.000.00 BB::59.9759.97 //60.0060.00 @@::00 BB@@::3333
Recv:
Recv: TT::178.02178.02 //0.000.00 BB::59.9959.99 //60.0060.00 @@::00 BB@@::2929
Recv:
Recv: TT::175.67175.67 //0.000.00 BB::59.9959.99 //60.0060.00 @@::00 BB@@::3030
Recv:
Recv: TT::172.99172.99 //0.000.00 BB::60.0060.00 //60.0060.00 @@::00 BB@@::2727
Recv:
Recv: TT::170.47170.47 //0.000.00 BB::60.0060.00 //60.0060.00 @@::00 BB@@::2727
Recv:
Recv: TT::168.12168.12 //0.000.00 BB::60.0060.00 //60.0060.00 @@::00 BB@@::2828
Recv:
Recv: TT::165.57165.57 //0.000.00 BB::60.0060.00 //60.0060.00 @@::00 BB@@::2828
Recv:
Recv: TT::163.27163.27 //0.000.00 BB::60.0260.02 //60.0060.00 @@::00 BB@@::2020
Recv:
Recv: TT::160.77160.77 //0.000.00 BB::60.0260.02 //60.0060.00 @@::00 BB@@::1919
Recv:
Recv: TT::158.48158.48 //0.000.00 BB::60.0160.01 //60.0060.00 @@::00 BB@@::2222
Recv:
Recv: TT::156.06156.06 //0.000.00 BB::60.0060.00 //60.0060.00 @@::00 BB@@::2525
Recv:
Recv: TT::153.91153.91 //0.000.00 BB::60.0260.02 //60.0060.00 @@::00 BB@@::1717
Recv:
Recv: TT::151.60151.60 //0.000.00 BB::59.9959.99 //60.0060.00 @@::00 BB@@::2828
Recv:
Recv: TT::149.52149.52 //0.000.00 BB::60.0160.01 //60.0060.00 @@::00 BB@@::2020
Recv:
Recv: TT::147.34147.34 //0.000.00 BB::60.0160.01 //60.0060.00 @@::00 BB@@::2020
Recv:
Recv: TT::145.25145.25 //0.000.00 BB::60.0060.00 //60.0060.00 @@::00 BB@@::2323
Recv:
Changing monitoring state from "Paused" to "Resuming"
Send: N436837 M109 S205*82
Recv: T:143.52 /205.00 B:60.01 /60.00 @:0 B@:19 W:?
Recv: TT::143.19143.19 //205.00205.00 BB::60.0060.00 //60.0060.00 @@::127127 BB@@::2323
2

Maybe the Octopi card is corrupted, try a different card? Print from a SD card instead of Octoprint?

3

In addition to the SD card, make sure you have a 3A power supply for the Pi and a good (shielded) USB cable from the Pi to the printer.

Cheers

4

I agree, definitely try printing directly from an SD card. The 1st rule of troubleshooting is “divide the problem in half”. Your using a printer & OctoPi/OctoPrint. Obviously, you can’t eliminate the printer, so that leaves the OctoPi/OctoPrint.

5

All great suggestions. I will print the next large file from the SD.

Then I will change the cable for the Octoprint, and if that doesnt resolve it, I will re-flash the raspberry pi on a new SD, and start over on that.

6

One thing that I found most curious is that somehow it seems to be receiving a pause command. I have been able to resume each time this has happened, and fortunately the print was salvageable, but the fact that it keeps happening is the concern.

7

I see M400 in the commands above. I don’t know about the Enders, but one of my machines doesn’t like it. Are you using (or have used) Cura’s G-code Post Processing extension?

Cheers

8

I have had the pauses occur with both Cura and Prusa Slicer.

I will check out the Post Processing extension.

What is the M400 command telling the machine to do?

9

[Description

This command causes G-code processing to pause and wait in a loop until all moves in the planner are completed.
Usage

M400Example

Wait for moves to finish before playing a beep

M400 M300 S440 P100

And, yes, why on Earth is there an M400 in the code at all?

BTW, when you have a Marlin question just go to [U]https://marlinfw.org/meta/gcode/[/U]. It’s the Marlin bible.

10

That link for Marlin is dead. Do you have another, please.?

11

Its weird. the root link is bad, but googled the error, and the M400 link is working. Couldnt find the correct root link for this.

12

Found the link

13

It works now, Thanks.

14

Huh. So the pause just happened printing directly from the SD card. Wasnt expecting that.

Any suggestions on what I should be troubleshooting on the printer?

15

That tells us it’s most likely not the printer. In the g-code file, did you comment out all lines with M400 in them?

16

Ok. Taking another crack at this. As Ender5r said, elimination is important to identify the problem, and I realized later that although I was printing directly from the SD card earlier, I had NOT disconnected the mini USB cable connecting the Ender 3 and the Pi.

So I disconnected the pi completely, printed the same part again, and the part finished with no pauses.

However, the problem is a little intermittent. So tonight I started a new print that is another long one (20+ hours), and I’m printing this directly from the SD, and no pi connected.

We will see how this goes. Thanks for all of the troubleshooting suggestions.

17

Good luck with it (and don’t feel bad about missing the USB cable; that’s a minor oversight & it’s impressive you spotted it so quickly).