I?ve inherited eight 3D printers!

[curious aardvark]

check the connections to the motherboard.
The lcd screens are only about $10 - but could be the board.

Do any of the other printers have similiar screen ? Might be worth trying one if they do.

[fred_dot_u]

If the machine has a USB port (B type, typical of printers), what would happen if a computer is connected to the printer? Wouldn't it be possible to communicate using something like Pronterface or Octoprint (OctoPi)? At the very least, it can tell you if the board is working and the display is bad.

[curious aardvark]

good point, yes has usb connection.
what you want is makerware.
http://www.mediafire.com/download/6b...4.0.14_x64.exe
that version is much better for the older machines than the current one.

[matthewkphx]

Ooops, I missed the last two posts. Good suggestion. I'll try it on Monday. I have a box with eleventeen billion A/B USB cords in it.

[matthewkphx]

If the machine has a USB port (B type, typical of printers), what would happen if a computer is connected to the printer? Wouldn't it be possible to communicate using something like Pronterface or Octoprint (OctoPi)? At the very least, it can tell you if the board is working and the display is bad.

I am disappointed to report that Makerware does not seem to recognize my Makerbot.

[matthewkphx]

I am thrilled to report that I got one of the Solidoodles to be recognized by my computer and successfully extruded 100mm of blue PLA.

Onward!

[fred_dot_u]

Let the pigeons loose! Huzzah and hoorah, even!

Seriously, that's good news. Thanks for passing it on to the forum.

[fred_dot_u]

When you connect the Makerbot to the computer, does a new port or device appear in the device manager? This would indicate at least that the FTDI device is talking to the PC (if Makerbots are so equipped). If so equipped and no port assigned, that's not such good news.

[matthewkphx]

I successfully printed Benchy the boat on two Solidoodles this morning in ABS. I?m thrilled and relieved. I?ll start trying to refine my print quality this week.

MakerBot appears to be dead. MakerBot tech support suggested a firmware update to try flashing the Replicator with but it didn?t work. They said they could not provide any further support on such an old machine.

This is fun!

[fred_dot_u]

MakerBot appears to be dead.

This is fun!

If the primary components (steppers, hot end, heat bed, etc) appear to be in good shape, you might get away with replacing the controller board with something more contemporary and flashing the required values into the firmware. Advanced 3D printer repair 601.