controlfreq wrote:
1. Is it necessary to install Mach2, then uninstall it? What does that do?
2. Can I just re-name the Mach3.noapic file to Mach3.orig as you mentioned. Seems a lot quicker???
and
Well, that worked on the machine where I have the APIC disabled, but on my faster machine where I've been unable to disable the APIC due to a driver chipset failure, the change causes the driver test program to fault/freeze. Is there a way to get the test to run without the APIC disabled.
Also, is this file swap procedure only changing the way in which the speeds are reported/calculated, or is it changing some feature which allows the test to run at a higher rate?
I don't know if the new driver (for clarity, the port driver is the file named Mach3.sys in the Mach3 folder) actually runs the port (on some computers) at half frequency, or just reports the pulse rate at double, or frequency at half the actual. If I use the new Mach 3 driver, it reports the frequence at 12000 in drivertest, however if I run Mach3, the diagnostics reports the frequency as 24000. I don't have motors hooked up, so I can't do a 'real world' test.
The driver swap procedure is in the manual, asking you to run the DOS batch file OriginalDriver.bat This batch file says
del mach3.sys
copy mach3.orig mach3.sys
REM.exe *Mach3
IN.exe .\Mach3.inf *Mach3
or
Delete Mach3.sys #the new driver
Copy Mach3.orig mach3.sys #copy the original driver to Mach3.sys
REM.exe *Mach3 #REM is a utility that removes drivers from the operating system - this removes the new driver at the system level
IN.exe .\Mach3.inf *Mach3 #IN is a utility that installs the driver specified in Mach3.inf (i.e.what was Mach3.orig above) at the system level
The distribution I used (3.042.032) has the original driver (or its equivalent) named Mach3.noapic and so the batch file above will not run correctly unless you change Mach3.noapic to Mach3.orig.
I note that the new distro has a few changes. It may be that this driver test will fix the bug
--changelist report -- (excerpt)
Dec 23/2009
Release 3.042.033
-- Fix for - scale and IJK arc commands
-- Spindle speed register expanded for computers over 3GHz (they where reading - speed)
-- Rotational feed correction fixed for moves with Z axis !=0
-- Rotational Dia feed changed to Radius rather then Dia
Jan 05/2010
Release 3.042.034
-- Driver Frequency locking in at proper Hz
-- Spindle not turning on bug fixed
-- new Driver test added to show Rev of Driver
Jan 07/2010
Release 3.042.035
-- Driver update to stabilize Pulse rate more