My X-Axis is losing steps!

[cncnovice2]

Hi, I just upgraded from Version 2.63 to the latest version and I STILL have the problem...  I just reset my Geckos to 10 u/s per Step instead of 5 and the loss of steps on My test program is nown 1/2 what it was.  Looks like it isn't the Geckos.  Hopefully, when the new Buffer IC for the breakout board shows up I'll have better luck.  I doubt the software is at fault unless there is a setting somewhere that got toggled without my knowledge ( Very unlikely).  If it was a problem with Mach, I would expect to see a lot more people reporting it.  I'm hoping it's the BOB or possibly the PC.  The pc is a PC Chips Mobo with an AMD Athlon 2500+ proccessor.  Sooner or later I'll find the problem.  Good luck to you, Don

[cncnovice2]

Hi, Guys.  I think I finally got the problem of the losing steps solved.  I remembered that the Mach manual says not to use on-board graphics,and realized that while I have been using an AGP video card since I first built the machine, I hadn't checked the BIOS to make sure the on-board graphics adaptor was disabled...  Duh!  I went to the BIOS and set the primary graphics to AGP ( it had been set to PCI), and the next line states " Assign IRQ to PCI graphics"  Yes/No.  Of course it was set Yes.  I changed it to No and saved the settings and booted.  The computer went through some "Found New Hardware" conniptions before telling me to reboot so some of my new hardware would work...  I did.  When it was booted up, I checked the device manager to verify that the 2 LPT IRQ's had not changed.  They had not, so I didn't have to fix anything there.  I started Mach 3 mill, ande everything has worked perfectly for 2 days, now.  I don't know why I didn't experience problems sooner... or maybe I just never noticed the lost steps with my one-off projects before,  but I know it seems to be working correctly now.   Moral to the story:  If you are experiencing lost steps in repeat operations, check that you don't have an onboard graphics adapter hogging an IRQ and inadvertantly sending step pulses to your parallel port.  Thanks for your help, Don

[calico]

Hi, can you point on the manual that says not to recommend using Onboard Display card ?
I have PCI express slot but now I'm using onboard graphic card.
I can not find on the manual that saying not to use onboard graphic card.

Hi, Guys.  I think I finally got the problem of the losing steps solved.  I remembered that the Mach manual says not to use on-board graphics,and realized that while I have been using an AGP video card since I first built the machine, I hadn't checked the BIOS to make sure the on-board graphics adaptor was disabled...  Duh!  I went to the BIOS and set the primary graphics to AGP ( it had been set to PCI), and the next line states " Assign IRQ to PCI graphics"  Yes/No.  Of course it was set Yes.  I changed it to No and saved the settings and booted.  The computer went through some "Found New Hardware" conniptions before telling me to reboot so some of my new hardware would work...  I did.  When it was booted up, I checked the device manager to verify that the 2 LPT IRQ's had not changed.  They had not, so I didn't have to fix anything there.  I started Mach 3 mill, ande everything has worked perfectly for 2 days, now.  I don't know why I didn't experience problems sooner... or maybe I just never noticed the lost steps with my one-off projects before,  but I know it seems to be working correctly now.   Moral to the story:  If you are experiencing lost steps in repeat operations, check that you don't have an onboard graphics adapter hogging an IRQ and inadvertantly sending step pulses to your parallel port.  Thanks for your help, Don

[Hood]

Dont know about the manual but here is a screenshot of the Mach3 Home page, computer requirements.
If you have an onboard graphics card and its working fine then no problem, some work fine and others dont.

Hood

[calico]

thank you again

I will post this after I borrow a graphic board for test.

[RICH]

Don't know if there is anything specific that says don't use your on-board graphics in any of the manuals, but , because of so manny reports over time, it  has become an accepted reply as a problem creator.
RICH

[cncnovice2]

For an update on the whole problem, please see "losing steps or something..." in the FAQ section of this forum.   I finally traced the problem to faulty signals coming out of the parallel port and while I don't know why they were so wrong, I purchased a Smoothstepper from Warp9TD, and have had NO problems since.  Don