Motors not responding

[John05]

Hello, I am having a problem with my 3 axis cnc machine. The hard drive died in my PC that was controlling the CNC machine.I installed the Mach3 demo in my new PC and after many tries at adjusting the settings,  I cannot get the motors to move. I can hear them activate when I turn on the controller but that's all. I would appreciate any assistance on solving this problem.

Thank You
John

[RICH]

John,
Post the xml file that you are using.
Also provide some info on your system:
Type of drives,type of motors, break out board if using one.
Make sure you run the driver test and that the port is correctly assigned.

RICH

[John05]

Hello Rich,I have the  Xylotex 4 Axis Drive Box with 269 oz.in. Stepper Motors.I am only using 3 axis. Also, what is the driver test?

John

[RICH]

Go to the directory where you installed Mach3, probably c:>Mach3, and you will find a file called
Driver Test.exe. Click on the file to execute it. let it run,  as that installs the Mach3 driver.

In the same folder you will find a file called Mach3Mill.xml. Copy the file and rename it to something like
John05.xml and post it.

RICH

[RICH]

Something else to do is do a search for "Xylotex" on this site as you are not alone in having trouble with that drive.
RICH

[John05]

Hello Rich, Ok, I'll try that.What is the diagnostic test actually telling me?

John

[John05]

Hello Rich, I have attached the XML file.The diagnotic test will not run.It keeps telling me : " No driver sensed installed, Run driver test". It makes no sense because how can I run a driver test if it keeps telling me no driver installed. What driver is it talking about?

[Tweakie.CNC]

Hi John,

As Rich says the driver test installs the Mach drivers but if the driver test does not run then the drivers for Mach are not installed. It's a Catch22 situation.

The reason that the driver test does not run is almost certainly due to your PC. I think you should perhaps try another PC.
(Others, in the past, have reported taking the driver test.exe program to their computer shop and said " I want to buy a cheap PC that will run this")

Tweakie.

[John05]

Hello Tweakie, I have other PC'S that I can try. I suppose I need the oldest one I can find. Most have windows XP but I might have a few with windows 2000.
Is there something different in Mach3 that the newer pc's cannot run it?

John

[Tweakie.CNC]

Hi John,

I really have no idea, I just know that some work and some don't (onboard graphics controllers can cause trouble and a seperate PCI video card usually works best) - perhaps it's pot luck.

Try another PC and see what happens.

Tweakie.