Please Help!! Dell optiplex mach3 problem

[lmcl5150]

This one has me stumped. I have been experimenting with Mach3 on my Toshiba laptop with vista64 for about a week. Everything seems to function normally, but it has no parallel port and I didn't want to use smoothstepper. I bought a used Dell optiplex g280 on ebay to dedicate to cnc but it will not finish a run of code. I can look at the code in any editor and it is ok, but mach3 gets to somewhere in the neighborhood of line 150 and stops cold. The window where the code is displayed shows the line it stopped on and all lines after it being identical. If I take the very same file and run it on my laptop it completes without a problem. I first ran Win7 32bit on the Dell and when the problem showed up I loaded a clean XP sp3 32bit. It still does the same thing. Drivertest shows the system as being excellent with less than 2 us variation. The system is a 3ghz processor with 1 gig of ddr2 memory and a 80 gig sata drive. I can't begin to understand why it is so different between two computers with the very same file. files are created with Mastercam and I have tried every post possible and they all do the same, so I have to wonder about the Dell hardware. Has anyone else had any problem with Dell?
     Regards, Les

[Tweakie.CNC]

Les,

Are you saying that the Dell corrupts the GCode program with the first 150 lines or so being correct and then the remainder being corrupted and incorrect ?

Tweakie.

[Hood]

I presume it is Turn you are running as it has a 150 line limit in Demo mode. Mill has a 500 line limit in Demo.
Hood

[lmcl5150]

I presume it is Turn you are running as it has a 150 line limit in Demo mode. Mill has a 500 line limit in Demo.
Hood

Hi Hood, Perhaps it could be that then. when I first load the program the e-stop is flashing. if I scroll through the code right then it appears to be correct. Once I hit the button to shut off the e-stop the code after line 150 becomes corrupted. If it is just the trial limit I can get a licensed copy and solve it. What concerns me is the fact that on my Toshiba it does not exhibit this behaviour which makes me wonder if I can even use the Dell computer at all. I just bought it and would be reluctant to buy either a license for Mach or replace the Dell till I can be certain I won't be getting into a can of worms. Thanks, Les

[Hood]

Is it Turn or Mill you are using?
Hood

[Hood]

Just for kicks go onto the Toshiba and reinstall Mach but this time choose to install the Parallel Port driver and then see what you get. My guess is it will exhibit the same limit as the Dell.
To see whether the Dell will be suitable run the driver test (with Mach shut down) and see what the graph looks like. If its smooth it will more than likely be fine with the driver. If its full of spikes then try the optimisation steps on the downloads page and that may help.
Hood

[Hood]

In fact you dont even need to reinstall Mach on the Tosh, all you need to do is run the driver test and it will install the driver.
Hood

[Hood]

Just read your initial post again and see its Vista 64 on the Tosh, I know the driver doesnt work with 64bit OS's so it may not help let you see. However on the Dell go to device manager and uninstall the pulsing engine (driver) for Mach 3 and I bet you will see all the code displayed and running. To reinstall the driver again just run the driver test.

Hood

[lmcl5150]

Hi and thanks to all who have replied. I went back to the Dell and disabled the parallel port and removed the mach3 port driver and it will now run the full code. I guess the limit doesn't kick in till Mach sees a potential connection to an actual machine, and since my Toshiba laptop has no parralel port it never loaded the driver. Now I can confirm my code and designs on the computer that will be used, before I make the investment in the necessary hardware. Again thanks to everyone for the unbelievably quick and accurate assistance found on this forum. Regards to all, Les

[Hood]

Still best to run the driver test on the Dell to see what it looks like.
Hood