Getting up and running in Vista

[elegler]

Hi Art,

I have just installed Mach3 version R1.84.001 on a new desktop computer running Vista.

I have run memoryoverride.reg per your instructions in "Getting up and running in Vista".

For step 3 of your instructions, I ran drivertest.exe in the "run as administrator" mode and it completed with a "Mach1 test complete" window.  When I click OK I get a window that says "Mach1 OCX and Driver loader has stopped working".  I selected "close program".

The first couple times I did this, I got a blue screen crash.

Next, I re-started even though it did not ask me to.

After re-starting, I started Mach3 Mill in "Run as administrator" mode.

I haven't figured out a pattern yet but almost every time I shut down Mach3, I get a blue screen crash.

Vista has never asked anything about "compatability mode".

Do you have any further instructions?

Should I try a newer release of Mach3?

Thanks, Ed

[Trell]

I have tried everything to get Mach3 to run on my new Vista ,E machina CPU due to a hardware crash. Have you got any help for me or should I just THROW THE DAMN THING DOWN THE HILL?
Just like everybody else DRIVER ERRORS
What is up with this
It has been about a year now that Vista has been on the market
and it looks like you guys dont have a SureFire fix that works everytime yet
I will keep checking

[JonnyElectronny]

Yesterday I bought a new computer with Vista.  First thing I did was got rid of all the crap that comes loaded with the new computer. 
Then I loaded Mach 3  and set it up exactly as I did on XP.  Worked great!  No problems.  Just had to take the time and clean up the computer of all its crap.
Now I hope that it continues working.  All the motors ran smooth and the progam ran well.

Jonny

[JonnyElectronny]

Day 2 using Mach3 with Vista, still no problems.  Seems like I am in the clear.

[CT]

I am new to this forum and glad it is here. I will go right to my problem, I have recently retrofitted a Questech mill (Sherline) with PMDX equipment, have a new HP 6400 series (Vista) dedicated for this machine. As you might expect, I am having trouble getting my motors to jog with Mach3. I will try to consolidate what I have done so far and hope maybe I can be directed what I am doing wrong or have not been able to do due to lack of understanding all this. I also have Bobcad, which in order to open it I had to go into the program files and make compatibility changes.
This being said, I have done sort of the same changes for mach3, then I had to install a moschip parallel port in my PCI slot and download a driver for it since the computer only came with USB. I tried numerous times to get a wave form and finally got that, with a good freq. pulse, set the config. the way he describes with pin numbers I believe are correct from PMDX spec. sheet. I am to the point where I am just trying to get the motors to respond from the keyboard or anywhere but the test switch on the PMDX-150 Driver. I feel there is something simple here that I have done wrong and/or overlooked.
This is all new to me so, I thought it was best to retrofit this mill and give me the hands-on approach and learn it this way.

Can anyone help?  Thanks Colin

[scbauml]

Not sure what the fuss is about. Vista worked fine the first try... Now getting the right pins for the speed to the spindle. That i need to learn

[cholm]

Yesterday I was able to cut parts with an HP running Vista, and a PCI parallel port.  It took some doing.  The memory registry download  fix at the beginning of this thread did allow me to get the driver to load.  However, it took forever to get the parallel port working.  My PCI parallel port didn't map to typical 378 or 278 address.  Instead, it mapped to EC00.  (MosChip board for those interested).  In Mach configuration, there is a place to enter the port address, but the default uses only three characters (378)  It took me forever to figure out that I had to enter all 4 characters (EC00)  (entered as 0xecoo), and suddenly I could jog the mill axis. 

I also had to chase down the problem with text/font that was too big in the DROs and other places. It turns out that if your display is set for 120 dpi, instead of 96 dpi, that is the result.  However, making the font dpi change in Vista is not done the same as in XP.  If you google around a bit, you will find some help on changing font DPI in Vista.  I think it starts with a right click on a blank part of the display and use the Personalize selection.

Anyway, I am pleased having arrived at this point, but it was not very easy.

Chris

[HRobH70]

I am running Vista on a dell lap top the Mach seems to run but with out a parrallel port what do I do?  I bought a USB to 25 pin adaprter but dont have a clue what to use as the port number.  Maybe this just wont work.  Any help would be great.

[scottn]

I am running Vista on a dell lap top the Mach seems to run but with out a parrallel port what do I do?  I bought a USB to 25 pin adaprter but dont have a clue what to use as the port number.  Maybe this just wont work.  Any help would be great.

No, that will not work (there is no way for Mach to output to a USB port in that way).  The only solution for you is to use an external motion controller, such as the SmoothStepper (which runs over USB)... 

scott

[tjscali]

Thanks for putting this out there. I was seriously worried that I would run into issues if I tried to upgrade my PC.