Stepper motors wont move, need help diagnosing issue

Eric Mcdonough

Hello everyone. A few days ago I started a print on my A5 and when it finished heating but before it homed I noticed smoke. By the time I noticed the smoke I couldn't figure out where it was coming from. Now, none of the stepper motors will move. I can still heat the bed and extruder but cannot home or extrude. If I connect to octoprint it is the same story, can still heat but not move. What do you think the issue is? Could it be the stepper drivers? I can't imagine that all of them fried at the same time. Do you think it is a problem with the stepper motors themselves? Main Board? Power supply? Any help is appreciated, thank you.

Stephen Todd

Switch mode power supplies are notorious for failing as they are high stress electronics - easy to test under load with voltmeter - but you can still heat the bed and extruder - power supply would normally go dead with no output voltage

I would expect to see burned electronic components, terminal blocks, wiring, etc. pinpointing the area of trouble - if you can't see anything, then I'd say its the MKS Gen L controller board - which are dirt cheap on Amazon, or the official makerbase store on aliexpress