This machine is designed to home to front-right… that’s where the limit switches are located. Personally I don’t use homing… I prefer to use a “user/job” origin for each job.
In your Device settings, you can turn off auto-homing if desired. I think @cmenard’s Grbl settings are supposed to handle homing and limits properly… and @RockinRiley has confirmed. Until you get the Grbl settings straightened out, however, the machine will often get “lost” (think it’s out of bounds) and lock up (refuse to move)… $X to unlock. Nothing wrong with steppers or hardware.
Sounds like you are connecting okay… confirm with reference to Grbl 1.1f in Console window. “$$” to see all the Grbl settings. Before powering (turn off auto-homing), manually move (slowly!) the laser out in the middle of the workarea and try a few small moves (10mm or so)… riight/left, back/forward and note which are reversed, if any. Play/jog gently with smallish moves and get familiar with the machine… it should start to make sense as you get familiar with it.
– David