What would you describe your skill level with CNC and GRBL on a scale of 1 - 10 ?
As a millwright / mech eng my hardware skills are pretty high.
As far as G-CODE goes my skill level is probably about a 4+.
Are you using USB 2.0 or 3.0 ?
It seems you are seeing the board OK but that's not always a sign of a good connection.
In the UGS lower console when you connect to the board do you see any messages at all and what are they (copy paste and use the CODE TAGS ( </> ) that the forum provides for you.
OK thats a good start but There is usually a longer message that follows.
You might want to expand the lower console a little upwards into the display area in case you missed it.
Should be similar to below but some numbers may be different and that would be normal as I changed a lot of my parameters.
When shutting down these types of program always do a disconnect first as just closing can on occasion leave the COM port a little stuck in limbo.
If you see the longer message then that's the best sign as it means the program can not only see the board but fully communicate with it too.
Manually dial in the steppers so they are about half way across each lead screw.
Then play with the direction buttons and listen for any noise produced by the steppers etc.
Do you have anyone else you can call upon for help in any way that may be a little more experienced ?
When shutting down these types of program always do a disconnect first as just closing can on occasion leave the COM port a little stuck in limbo.
If you see the longer message then that's the best sign as it means the program can not only see the board but fully communicate with it too.
Manually dial in the steppers so they are about half way across each lead screw.
Then play with the direction buttons and listen for any noise produced by the steppers etc.
Do you have anyone else you can call upon for help in any way that may be a little more experienced ?
After taking time to read up a little it is possible you might have corrupted the bootloader or there was none on there to start with ?
There are a few ways to re-install the bootloader but the easiest is to try and hold down the RESET button at the correct time during upload.
Quite often if that method fails it usually means you need an additional bit of hardware and that can range from another Arduino to a cheap dedicated ICSP device which is very cheap.
Do you see that small magnifying glass at the top of the page.
I would suggest you learn to use it as I don't remember the exact details
However it goes along the lines of holding down the reset then uploading a sketch (yes I know I said DON'T we can worry about that later) and holding it down until it says "uploading" at which point you would release the button.
I would suggest using either the BLINK or MINIMUM example sketches in the IDE (yes you would need to use the IDE for this)
I suspect it is critical to get the timing correct so it may take a few tries.
Again use the search option to get better detail and search for "bootloader reset"
the supplier reply my email today, he told me to upload an HEX file that she gave me using xloader apps, during uploading the blue light flashing and i don't know what is that and the apps hang and have to force to close.
OK go with the supplier support for now don't try mix the two and check each step CAREFULLY !
Sometime we try too hard and go too quickly and miss or forget something.
Also check that you have enough user privileges on your machine and you might also have to turn of your security for a brief while to get some things to work.
BTW what do you use for security JIC that's where part of the issue lies ?
I would say hold off until you get your new controller.
Even if you got a UNO you would still need the driver shield (Have multiple variations here) and to be honest I prefer my machine with the supplied GRBL board.
Think you would be better off spending that money on some push buttons and limit switches.
Being so new to this I am almost certain you will need both of them at some point in the near future and they may well save you some problems with crashes !
I know I'm really late to this conversation, but there wasn't a resolution, and I have a suggestion.
I recently obtained a 3018 PCB mill device, and when I went to hook it up to my linux workstation, no dice getting comms - the serial connected, but at best, if I hit the reset on the controller, I'd get the Grbl version banner and that was it.
If you have the little gamepad like controller - disconnect it. Chances are, that device is tying up the serial. It struck me that I was getting the initial banner, but couldn't seem to transmit (and this was in a console session using 'screen /dev/ttyUSB0 115200'). Unplugging the gamepad and resetting got me what I was expecting.