Documentation User manual

Troubleshooting

What to do when something does not work as you expect. Each section says what you see, what it usually means and where the full answer is. If none of them fits, collect the diagnostics and write to us (the last section).

Studio does not start

Studio needs 64-bit Windows 10 or 11; the installer stops on other versions. See System requirements.
If the window opens but the 3D view stays empty, or says that it is not available: Tools > Settings… > Files, tick Software rendering (when the graphics card has trouble; at the next start), and start Studio again. Updating the graphics card's driver often fixes the cause. See When the 3D view cannot start.
If Studio closed while it started, the next start offers the report (see Studio closed unexpectedly).

The machine is in alarm

In an alarm the state on the machine bar turns red. The bar names the alarm and what it means, and gives the Next step with the key that does it; All steps lists the way back to work when there is more than one. Click the key, or use Machine > Do the next step: Studio works the steps out again after each one.

A probe move that touched nothing stops with ALARM:5: do the steps (Reset, Unlock), then check where the cycle expected the face.
A move past the machine's travel stops at the soft limit: look at the line the listing marks red and at the work zero it ran with.
After an alarm the position may no longer be trusted (a line under Position says so): home again before you cut.

The steps for each case: Alarms and what to do. Every alarm, its causes and what clears it: Alarms.

A line of the program answers an error

error: and a number means the controller refused that line: it did not run it, and the machine did not move for it. The message gives the number and what it means.

Program > Check program sends the whole program through the controller's check mode while the machine does not move, and lists the first lines it refused: "line 5: error:22 (…)". Fix those lines and check again.
The commonest causes are a code the controller does not take, a word missing (an arc without its centre or radius, a cutting move before any F) or two codes in one line that cannot go together.

Every error and its causes: Errors.

The program check finds a problem

The editor checks the program as you type, when it is loaded and after a run. Each finding stands under its line with its rule's number and its kind: an error, a warning or a note.

An error is a line the controller would refuse or a move the setup cannot take; fix it before you run.
A warning is a line that runs but may not do what you mean: a rapid below the work's top, a spindle started without S, a tool change after which the program moves down before it is over its start.
The preview part of the check needs the machine powered and homed and no program running; until then it waits.

The rules and how to fix a finding: The program check. What a run in the twin checks beyond that: What the twin checks.

The probe cycle will not start

Start probing… stays grey while a check on the probe card is red, or while something is missing; the line under the keys then says what (give X and Y, give the ring's diameter, wait for a call that is going on).

The spindle holds no touch probe: in Setup, step Tool, choose the touch probe and click Change tool.
The spindle turns: stop it (Spindle stop, F11).
No room above the blank to move across: the line gives the probe tip's height with Z at the top, the setup's top and how much is missing. Use a shorter probe, or hold the blank lower: clamps or double-sided tape instead of the vise.
The twin follows a real machine: probe there with the machine's own control.
A cycle that touched nothing stops with ALARM:5 (see The machine is in alarm).

See When a cycle stops.

Licence and activation

Help > Licence shows the edition in force, the licence's state and when it ends.

Activating online: type the code as you received it; Activate is available once the code reads as one. The server's answer appears under it. When the answer is that the licence is on too many computers, has ended, is paused, unpaid or refunded, Open the licence page opens it on our website: there you free a computer, renew or manage the subscription.
Without internet: the same dialog has the offline steps. Studio gives a request code; on a computer with internet you get the licence file for it on the licence page, then import that file here.
A subscription that is not renewed keeps working for 14 more days (the licence shows In grace). After that, or when a licence ends, Studio is the Learning edition again; your projects and programs are untouched.

See Licensing, and When a licence ends.

The AI assistant does not answer

The line under the input says what the assistant is doing (waiting for the service, the twin working on a tool).
Check the Provider, the Base URL and the Model; for a cloud service, that a key is saved (Save key).
For a local model, its server must run (LM Studio's server, Ollama) and a model be chosen (List models).
An answer can take a while; Stop ends it.
The first message to a cloud service waits for you: Studio shows once what goes to it, and sends only when you agree (asked once for each service). Use a local model… keeps everything on this computer. See Privacy.
When the AI wants to change the window's machine, a bar at the bottom of the window asks you. With no answer in 60 s, the request counts as refused.

See The AI assistant.

Studio closed unexpectedly

At the next start, Studio asks what to do with the report of what happened: open its folder, or save it as a file. Nothing is sent. The report leaves out programs, file and folder names, keys, codes and people's names; reports older than 30 days are deleted at the start. See Privacy.

Getting help

Help > Report a problem… sends a problem, a question about how to use something, or an idea to Twinwright's support. Say what you did, what you expected and what you saw; give an e-mail address if you want the replies there too. Always sent with it, and shown in the dialog (See all… shows it whole): the version and build, the edition, the system, its language and screen, and the audit log's last 50 records in short - what was done and how it ended, no program's contents, your own folder written ~. Attach the diagnostics package and Attach a picture of the window are not ticked when the dialog opens; nothing of them goes unless you tick them. After Send the dialog shows the ticket's number (for example TW-1042). Without a connection the report is kept as a file, problem-<time>.zip, in Documents\Twinwright Studio\Reports: send it again from the dialog, or upload it on the website's support page. Save as a file… keeps it without sending.

An AI client can draft a report for you (report_draft): the same dialog opens with its words and a line saying which client wrote them. Read it, change what you like; only you can send it, and only you can attach the package or the picture.

Help > My reports lists the reports sent from this computer: each one's number, its status (received, in progress, answered, solved) and when it last changed; a dot marks a reply you have not read. Pick one to read the conversation; Add something… sends more to the same ticket (Attach the diagnostics package… adds the package to it). The replies are in the customer centre's "My tickets" too. While a report is not solved, Studio asks for new replies every 30 minutes and the Help menu shows how many are new; Settings > General > Look for replies to my reports every 30 minutes turns that off. What is sent and kept: Privacy.

Help > Collect diagnostics information… puts what support needs into one ZIP file in Documents\Twinwright Studio\Reports: the version, the settings (keys written as ***), the machine archive, the controller's settings, the last 7 days of the audit log, the crash reports and the licence's state. The program and the setup now is left out unless you tick it. Paths, file names and the computer's user name are removed.

Open the file and look before you send it; this file is not sent by itself (a report takes it only when you tick Attach the diagnostics package). The address to write to is in Help > About.