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Author Topic: Mach3 looks weird and torch won't fire  (Read 4035 times)

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Offline Tweakie.CNC

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Re: Mach3 looks weird and torch won't fire
« Reply #10 on: June 21, 2018, 01:34:01 PM »
Not all PC's are up to the task - if you are using the parallel port driver and DriverTest.exe does not run then you could consider using another PC or an external motion controller.

Tweakie.
PEACE
Re: Mach3 looks weird and torch won't fire
« Reply #11 on: June 21, 2018, 02:03:52 PM »
Ivan,

Have you had any Windows 7 updates recently? A recent Windows 7 security update has affected those who use Mach3 and Mach4 with a parallel port connection. Basically, when the parallel port is used to control your machine it "takes over" the operating system and the new update does not like it, so it crashes the whole system. There are two fixes that we've found. First, uninstall the recent security updates. I've included a link below that gives instructions on how to do so as well as the update number we believe is causing the problem. The second option is to upgrade to an external motion controller which behaves differently from the parallel port and does not have the reboot issue. I have included links to several good options for motion controllers if that is something you're interested in. What you would need to do is install the plugin for your motion controller and open Mach3 in safe mode to change the selected motion device from parallel port to your new motion controller. Once that's done, you should be able to open Mach3 normally and not worry about crashes.

Removing update:
https://itstillworks.com/remove-windows-7-updates-8169897.html
April: KB4093118
May: KB4103718


Motion controllers:
http://cncdrive.com/UC100.html
https://warp9td.com/
https://www.poscope.com/product/pokeys57cncd25/

Edit: The June update for Win7 causes the same issue and uninstalling it does allow you to continue using Mach3. It is KB284826.
« Last Edit: June 21, 2018, 02:34:51 PM by bryannab »
Newfangled Solutions Helpdesk: http://support.machsupport.com
YouTube Support Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/MachSupportOfficial

Offline ivanR

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Re: Mach3 looks weird and torch won't fire
« Reply #12 on: June 21, 2018, 05:49:37 PM »
Problem Solved.
I restore windows to when I first downloaded it las week, yes it had done a bunch of updates that were messing with mach and giving me a hard time so I went back to it's original state.
After some more digging I came across a guy on you tube (spanis speaker)  who helped a lot (Israel JF)  it turns out that even though I have windows 7 i have to run mach3 on compatitbilty mode for windows xp (2 pack) on everything and run it as administrator not sure this will work for everybody else but i woked for me :) It took the entire day going through blogs, tutorials and  youtube but everything is finally working properly I also have to point out that the version that ended up working better was R3.043.06. No more crashes, the screens look amazing and my torch fires automatically when it has too.
Thank you all for the help and suggestions, I will make sure to stayed tuned and try to pitch in to help solve issues for other members . ;D

PS. I'm really stoked our plasma table has been out of commission for about 2 moths now, and we can finally resume pending projects.
Re: Mach3 looks weird and torch won't fire
« Reply #13 on: June 22, 2018, 06:02:51 AM »
Hi,
recent Microsoft updates have caused issues with Mach3. To date there has been a patch in Mach3 to accommodate one problem and you have to wind back the updates to address a second
problem with the parallel port.

It may well be that Mach3 is now 'out of the woods' and work to spec for some time to come but its also possible that Mach3 may face more issues of similar description the months to come.
All development of Mach3 ceased five years ago and NFS has declared no interest in resuming development nor even maintainence. I think it wise to consider at the least an external controller
as Bryanna has suggested to give yourself options should a similar outage occur in the future.

Craig
'I enjoy sex at 73.....I live at 71 so its not too far to walk.'

Offline ivanR

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Re: Mach3 looks weird and torch won't fire
« Reply #14 on: June 22, 2018, 12:57:23 PM »
Definitely will look into it, before the issues start again, funny that everytime I get a good run on the machine something comes up out of the blue , i'm gonna be prapered before something else comes up. and will try your suiggestions.
Best regards.