Hi,
I’m posting this here to alert others to some trouble I had and how to fix it:
BLUF (Bottom Line Up Front) I was getting this error most, but not all the time, shortly after turning on the printer:
HMS_0500_0100_0002_0001: The media pipeline is malfunctioning. Please restart the printer. and the
TL;DR fix is not to turn the printer on with a USB drive inserted.
The long story is that the printer from new complained that I had filament still in the RHS nozzle, which was plainly incorrect. I had to fully disassemble the head to “free up” (or something) the Hall effect sensor magnet. After reassembly, that error went away. I did not actually find anything wrong in that part of the head—it was just fixed when I reassembled.
After fixing that, I continually got the pipeline error message. I contacted support, and after several suggestions, sending them a logfile and reseating the camera FPC at both ends, the unit seemed to start without the error, but not every time.
As an aside, the instructions for replacing the camera don’t directly show how to access the “AP” PCB at the other end of the cable. It’s hidden behind a plastic cover along the top left of the printer and opening it requires finding a screw at the bottom edge all the way to the left hand end. I managed to find this myself after some amount of sticking my head in the unit and searching with a strong light.
After these attempts, Bambu support sent a replacement camera and FPC (flat cable). While the support desk responses are less than lightning fast (I usually had to wait 2-3 days for a response), the replacement did come, and they included a spool of PLA Basic (no reel) for my troubles. Nice touch.
Sadly, that didn’t fix it. Initially, I only replaced the camera because the FPC was impossible to figure out how to change. Much later, I found a page explaining this. The procedure is very long and has many steps, and I was not in the mood to have to do this to my new printer just to get it to work.
After reporting that this had not solved the problem, Bambu support asked for another log file dump, which I duly supplied (noting this one was over 500MB compared the the first one I sent at about 68MB. Goodness only knows what private information they send off in the log file …).
A couple of days more wait, and the advice was “don’t turn the printer on with a USB stick installed”.
I’ve tried this a few times now and it seems consistent - with the stick installed, it fails and without it, it starts and runs successfully!
Hooray!
Now nearly a month after receiving the new printer I can use it.
Apparently this is a known bug and there is a fix on the way.
Bambu could improve knowing their known problems and finding and communicating them with customers but in all, I was happy with the polite and patient support I received.
Let me know if you found this post useful.
