Is my controller board broken? (Geeetech Prusa i3 Aluminum)

[printbus]

Was the hot end at printing temperature when you tried to drive the extruder stepper motor? Most if not all variations of printer firmware will prevent you from driving the extruder motor when the hot end is cold. If there is filament loaded in the hot end, preventing cold extrusions will keep your extruder drive from chewing into the filament or from doing mechanical damage to your extruder.

The small boards are the stepper motor drivers. There should be one for each stepper motor. On your x-axis issue, figure out which one of those boards is for the x axis motor and swap it with the board from another axis. This will help determine whether the stepper motor driver for the x-axis is bad.

[SLCPUNK]

Most if not all variations of printer firmware will prevent you from driving the extruder motor when the hot end is cold.

Good to know. I can't recall if I had the element heated when I switched off the e-axis to the y-axis, so I'll have to heat it up and give it another shot.

The small boards are the stepper motor drivers. There should be one for each stepper motor. On your x-axis issue, figure out which one of those boards is for the x axis motor and swap it with the board from another axis. This will help determine whether the stepper motor driver for the x-axis is bad.

Do you know if I run the risk of damaging the y-axis stepper motor driver by swapping the non-functioning x-axis for this test? It makes sense to do it, but I'm concerned I'll break it.

If I do need new stepper drivers, will these work? http://www.amazon.com/Mcdectech-A498...0Y/ref=sr_1_12

edit: and thank you for the quick reply and help!

[printbus]

Do you know if I run the risk of damaging the y-axis stepper motor driver by swapping the non-functioning x-axis for this test? It makes sense to do it, but I'm concerned I'll break it.

I doubt there'd be much risk, but it's your call.

If I do need new stepper drivers, will these work? http://www.amazon.com/Mcdectech-A498...0Y/ref=sr_1_12

Please understand that I don't have a Geeetech printer or familiar with that control board. That said, the stepper motor drivers are pretty universal, but there are some variations. First, there are a couple of different driver chips that boards use; you'd want the new board to have the same chip as what you have now. I can't make out the part number on the square black part in your photos - are they marked with A4988, consistent with the part used on the Amazon board? I've seen two different pinout schemes to these boards; I can make out the DIR, EN, and GND labels on 3 of the 4 corners of one driver board in your photo, and this matches the photo in the Amazon listing. The pinouts probably match, but you could verify a few more of the pins that I can't read in your photo.

BTW - have you tried adjusting the trimpot on the driver board for the extruder motor? Maybe it's set to too low of a motor current. That'd be another thing you could try before committing to by a replacement board.

I'm happy to try and help. I don't like to envision people getting frustrated over unanswered questions.

[SLCPUNK]

First, thanks a ton for all the help.

I doubt there'd be much risk, but it's your call.

The risk is like $2 in parts from Amazon, so I feel pretty good about trying it out at least .

Please understand that I don't have a Geeetech printer or familiar with that control board. That said, the stepper motor drivers are pretty universal, but there are some variations. First, there are a couple of different driver chips that boards use; you'd want the new board to have the same chip as what you have now. I can't make out the part number on the square black part in your photos - are they marked with A4988, consistent with the part used on the Amazon board? I've seen two different pinout schemes to these boards; I can make out the DIR, EN, and GND labels on 3 of the 4 corners of one driver board in your photo, and this matches the photo in the Amazon listing. The pinouts probably match, but you could verify a few more of the pins that I can't read in your photo.

The photo of the product and the photos I have of my own motors look nearly identical, but I'll check tonight when I'm back from work. If I provide a more detailed image would you mind helping me verify?

BTW - have you tried adjusting the trimpot on the driver board for the extruder motor? Maybe it's set to too low of a motor current. That'd be another thing you could try before committing to by a replacement board.

I don't even know what the trimpot is to be honest. Is that the little screwable metal circle on the stepper motor driver?

I'm happy to try and help. I don't like to envision people getting frustrated over unanswered questions.

I really appreciate the help. Thankfully I got my printer in 2 days (from Hong Kong, go DHL) which was about 3 weeks earlier than I expected so I'm feeling good and way ahead of my internal schedule. I've got a Make 3D print certification class on Wednesday as well, so I may bring my printer to see if I can get some hands on help as well.

[printbus]

The photo of the product and the photos I have of my own motors look nearly identical, but I'll check tonight when I'm back from work. If I provide a more detailed image would you mind helping me verify?

I'll be around. Note that we're talking the little driver boards, not the motors themselves.

I don't even know what the trimpot is to be honest. Is that the little screwable metal circle on the stepper motor driver?

Yes, that's it. If your printer documentation doesn't address the trimpot, you can search the net for something like "stepper motor driver adjustment" for info on how to go about the adjustment. You'll likely need to adjust the trimpot on the replacement board if you go that route.

[SLCPUNK]

I'll be around. Note that we're talking the little driver boards, not the motors themselves.

Yeah I mistyped there. The driver boards look identical.

Yes, that's it. If your printer documentation doesn't address the trimpot, you can search the net for something like "stepper motor driver adjustment" for info on how to go about the adjustment. You'll likely need to adjust the trimpot on the replacement board if you go that route.

Cool. Thanks again! Now I just desperately want to get home and tinker haha.