NEED HELP - Stability issue

[Yotam Kasam]

Just emailed the following to support so why not posting it here:

----------------

I am using a licensed Mach 3 on a fairly strong PC with Win 7 32 bit connected via parallel port to a G540 (in Jeff Birt's box) and a Sherline mill with Sure Step motors. Until a week ago the system worked fine, was very stable and the motors worked smoothly. With no visible reason the system became unstable, the motors started to stutter and resets are initiated with no request.

The problem started right after installing a brand new ShuttlePro and its plugin. Needless to mention, I disconnected and uninstalled it but the problem remains.

Within Mach I can regenerate the problem by simply clicking on the toolpath window and changing the angle of view. As I move the mouse in that window the motor stutter. Outside Mach I simply launch an application such as Internet Explorer and the motor stutter as well.

The computer works very well and smooth and is quite clean from other applications, not even an antivirus. Trying to identify the source of instability I've reinstalled Mach and killed each and every service and process other than those you can't stop while Windows is running. I even rolled back Windows to a version I know was before installing ShuttlePro and disconnected all USB's but nothing helps and the Time in interrupt constantly runs between 3 and 6 mS.

Unfortunately I couldn’t find information on what may cause instability and how to identify it as all popular applications are not real time and couldn’t care less of what is so important for Mach.

Truly appreciate your help.

YK

[Hood]

Rotating the toolpath window is not recommended even when things are running fine as it can cause problems like you have seen. The next revision of Mach will be fine in that respect but it may be a while before its released.

Now your main problem, have a look at the CPU load whilst running some code and see what its like. What message do you get in the ticker window when the reset happens?
Hood

[Yotam Kasam]

The CPU reads 0% most of the time.
The message is "External EStop Requested".

[Hood]

Try increasing the Debounce Interval, start off at 2000 and work your way down if it helps.
You will find it  from Config menu then General Config.

Hood

[Yotam Kasam]

I went from 2000 to 0 in 200 steps. Still the same.
BTW, the [OK] button on that screen is not the Default so Enter exists but not saving changes.

[Hood]

can you attach your xml please and I will see if I can find a problem in your config.
Hood

[Yotam Kasam]

Profile attached.
Please don't get confused with the file name, this is a parallel setup, not USB.

[Hood]

The xml you have attached is for a SmoothStepper and not a parallel port, however it looks fine from first glance.
So to make sure, is your machine running a smoothstepper or is this the wrong xml?

Hood

[Yotam Kasam]

As mentioned above, this is the right file. I switched from SS to parallel and kept the XML.
So if the setup is OK, what else may cause the problem?
How can I trace the source that causes Time in Int to bounce? Do you know a debuger that can trace what the CPU is busy with during while handling your interupt?

[Hood]

The xml you attached was set to load the SS as default, if you have made another xml for the parallel port then please attach that.

Time in Int will bounce about, what are you getting the numbers going between High and Low?

What does the frequency say on Diagnostics page?

What reason was it that you changed from  SS to PP?
Hood