Machsupport Forum
Mach Discussion => General Mach Discussion => Topic started by: bajadave on June 03, 2011, 04:09:00 PM
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I had Mach3 running great... Then i decided to switch to a faster Pc because I do alot of design work on the PC that runs my CNC machine... I took some time and transfered all the programs over to the new machine, after I did a complete revamping of the machine.... 1 thing i didnt notice was the new dell MAchine didn't have a parallel port.. Since I never hooked up a printer to this dell I never notice... I know my bad... So I went to best buy and found that you can only order them online.. Long story shortened. I installed my new Parrallel port card into my Dell Pc and everyuthing went fine. No problems finding it or intalling the drives... Problem Is Mach doesn't see it because the Resources it uses now ar CC38-CC3F instead of the older LPT1 At OZ-378...
If I change it in mach to the CC38-CC3F I get no response.. Any Suggestion? Thanks in Advance
Dave
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Davew did you only use the first part of the range CC38 . Mach does not have a problem with the odd addresses as long as it is correct. It is just looking for a port.
Now if your LPT cad is a USB based card you are out of luck.
Look on your old MB and you may find a port that you can plug a ribbon cable to to provide the LPT port.
(;-) TP
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No i was putting in the whole address of cc38-cc3F. i will hook up the Pc and try it again... Will Let you know... thanks
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I have Movement now, BUT its very jerky and sounds terrible.... is not smooth running like it was before.. Where should i look now?
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Run the driver test and see IF the graph is smooth and steady. IF not look for the source. Open the windows resource monitor and see what is hogging the system cpu time.
(;-)TP
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Ran Driver test, said sys is Excellent... Pulse rate is steady.... Nothing seems to be hogging the cpu time... Nothing is on this machine except MAch and Aspire.... No other Boards besides Video card....
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OK can 1 axis run and it be smooth, maybe 2???
Do you have quicktime to view videos??? How about acrobat pdf viewer??
(;-) TP
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i can install them... no axis will run smoothly... Havent tried to run more then one axis at a time, Machine sounds like its grinding when it moves... I can hook up old Pc and it runs fine, So I know its not the machine... Not sure how to use the Video feature, but will learn it real quick....
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I mentioned the 2 programs because they are know CPU hoogs. Don't use them unless you need them.
OK open the window resource montor and then run MACH see if the CPU is maxing out.
What kernal speed are you running? IS this a Smooth stepper setup?
(;-) TP
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OK open the window resource montor and then run MACH see if the CPU is maxing out.
What kernal speed are you running? IS this a Smooth stepper setup?
ONE thing I have learned is that IF you have a good running setup PC wise it is BEST to use it ONLY to run the machine. IF you need a faster PC to run new software then BUY a new pc for the software.
CNC machines do NOT made good multitaskers.
You may want to try a total unloading of the MACH software and driver and do a fresh reload of a stable version. Been know to help. Don't forget to do the restart after the rel;oad.
Just a thought, (;-)TP
(;-) TP
(;-) TP
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Another though is to Recheck your motor tuning to see IF the settings changed. Or just reload a known good backup of the XML.
(;-) TP
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Copied my Old XML over and used it... Motor tuning didnt change... I;ll check to see whats hogging the CPU Speed if anything... I know about running Multi programs on the machine.. Learned that the hard way... But just to use Acad when desiging projects, the older PC is to slow and has no Massive amounts of Ram or HD Space... The Newer machine is a Pen 4 running at twice the speed, just never noticed it didn't have atleast an onboard parrallel Board
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OK one last thought you may need to check the voltage on the LPT port output. The newer PC use 3 volts which is too LOW for some of the BOBs to use reliably.
ALSO there MAY be a LPT port on the MB some newer PC have the port but you need to pluin a ribbon cable and a DB25 adapter to use it.
What OS are you running W2k,XP,vista,win7 ?? 32bit 64 bit??
(;-) TP
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XP Service pack3 32 bit version, I made a video but its 12mb I'll tryh to post it.. nope to big
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What pin# do i check for the voltage... Not familair with doing this?
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I say newer Pc but it is an older one. bought it when the pen4 came out so that would make it about 8yrs old pen 4 running at 3.0gh
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post the video on You tube and then post the link here.
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Do you know if the OS was setup as a single core or multi core system?
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Video of problem.. NOt sure what your asking on the Operating System... If you asking if the proseccer is a dual core the answer would be no... its a single core processer..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvMgicLU3bM
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Looking at that video, the motor is stalling. Reduce your Velocity in motor tuning until you get it to work reliably, save the result and try again.
Tweakie.
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As a simple test Reset the kernal speed down to 25 and retest.
IF nothing has changed in the XML then the motor tuning should have worked ok.
(;-) TP
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Kernal speed has always been 25, ive tried going higher for testing and it just got worse.... I lowered the Velocity and im all the way down to 30 before it stops stalling.. I used to run it at 85.. even when it is down to 30, it sounds terrible, Still have the grinding sound.... How do i check to voltage on the 25 pin card?
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HIYA DAVE, To check the voltage you check from the pin that you have assigned to a function and one of the common pins 18-25.
The dir pin is a good one as it it steady enought to give a good readout. Look at your pin setup for say X axis and look at the dir pin. Then look at the pinout for a DB25 port. select the pin that controls the Xaxis dir and one aof the Common(grnd) pins.
Next Jog one direction in mach on the X axis and then the other. The voltage should go UP in one direction and DOWN in the other. IF it is 5v +/- then it is good IF it is 3v +/- then it may cause trouble with the BOBs ouput.
I will find a picture of the pinout of the port OR maybe it is in the manual.
(;-) TP
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getting 5.01- 5.03 on the meter on all of the dir pins....
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GEE DAVE you sure are making this HARD (;-) LOLOLOL
HAVE you tried deleteing MACH and the driver and starting with a fresh reload??
IS this a LPT ver or Smoothstepper ver?? Just thought I would ask
I will give it some more thought, (;-) TP
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LOOOL I feel bad, but I played with this for days before posting the problem hoping someone would come up with more ideas where to look... I have tried a fresh install with mach and the drivers. I'm just stumped... I sat and watched the pulse test for 10 minutes this morning looking for any kind of hickup but didn't get a one... But to listen to the motors turning sounding like the are just tearing up the bearings within them is a terrible sound... When I lowered the velosity all the way down to 30 from 85 just to get smooth movement but still having the grinding sound... Plus running at 30 is way way to slow.... I do app the help and thought you put into it for me.... Maybe someone will read this and give there 2 cents worth... I've gotten alot of help on this forum from ppl like you and hood and tweakie, hope it keeps coming...
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DAVE could you possibly BORROW another LPT card from someone or possibly a friendly local PC GURU that will work with you??
OR look on your MB to see if there is a local port onboard that needs a cable to bring out.
Thinking out loud, (;-) TP
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OR the obivious option of running the Machine off the OLD puter and the CAD off the new puter .
(;-) TP
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I was on the dell website and they have a parallel card that plugs into a mini pci slot... they said it is compatable for my machine.
i'm not sure if it will help but I am going to order it and see if that helps... I just paid 38 for this card whats another 40 bucks.... Thank god I'm divorced or I would be shot by now..lolololol... For now I'm going to hook up my old machine and go back the way it was.... Thanks Br549 ... Keep on Trucking
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Well you have to be carefull with LPT cards not ALL are what they seems to be. Many version take SHORTCUTS and are NOT true LPT parallel cards .
Art turned me on to the LAVA brand cards and they have been faultless and fast. They also have some of the fastest transfer speeds I have seen for an LPT port.
I use the Dual LAVA PCI cards exclusively . They run about $75 but have been worth every penney. I think the single version is about $48
ONE last thought have you play with setting the LPT port TYPE in the computer BIOS. I always set to a standard port.
(;-) TP
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Do you have a link to those cards, I'll try them instead... I was ready blogs about this STAR TECH card i bought and found where another person couldnt get it to work with his CNC Machine...
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Dave I normally use Cables to GO :
http://www.cablestogo.com/product.asp?cat_id=3544&sku=16645
(;-) TP
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Thanks, I just ordered it from your link... Will keep you posted once it comes in.... Hope it works.....
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Dave the nice thing about the card IS you can use the defalut address it loads with OR set it to standard lpt1 address. It is backwards compatible.
(;-)TP
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Hey BR549, I recieved the Lava card in the mail today... I did the install and set it to LPT1... Got the same problem still... It says in the Directions that I can change the resourses back to the 278 378 ect ect, But that is greyed out and when I try to do it in safe mode it still will not let me.... I'm really lost now.....
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Dave did you do a straight auto install of the driver? let it assign itself an address. Then use that address.
(;-) TP
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Dave hae you tired changing the PORT type in the BIOS. You would use EPP.
(;-) TP
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Yes I let it do its own thing the first time and it gave a resource of CC68... I can't roll it back to the 378 old school config... in the Cmos it has it as a bidirection device and I cannot change this either... If nothing is connected to the port it becomes a communication device port...
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Bi driectional is good.
OK let me run throught this again.
1 Task manager shows GOOD on the systems resources and performance, no cpu hogs, low CPU % usage.
2 Mach shows a good driver test graph is low spike and steady.
3 Lpt port IS active and setup in pins/ports
4 Getting good signal voltage at port.
5 OLDER computer still runs smooth and fast.
DID i miss anything???
(;-) TP
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Have you checked for POWER saver functions being turned on in the bios??
While you are there check to see IF you have any options for the LPT MODE. IF so give each a try.
(;-) TP
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Dont believe you missed anything, its a Dell 9100 inspiration, I did flash the bios and that did nothing.. Power saver function is shut off.... no option for changing the LPT mode... I have it in Mach set up on lpt1 and cc68 is the port... on the card defaults it is set to LPT1 also.. I do get that same jerky movement as i did with the old card.... Ive tried another PCI slot that I have open.... If you like I can email you the dell service tag number and you can go to there site and get the specs for my machine... Also under there specs there is no place on the Mother Board to plug in a PCI controller port... I can't believe that Dell is not compatitable with Mach3.... I just broke this machine down and built it back up, So i know there is no Junk on this machine.... Its strickly for MAch and Aspire... It does have Auto Cad and a few other programs for design work, but nothing that should interfer with PCI ports... I can let that MAch test run for hours with no spikes, the impulse rate is rock solid and cpu ussage is very little....
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i had a dell that would not work properly no matter what i tried. finally took it out of the system with a bf hammer. bought a foxconn atom board with printer port , on board video , added a pci lava card all from newegg. atom board was 59.00.
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HAve you tried the SPECIAL mach driver for weird computers ?? No kidding there is one.
Out of curiosity what CPU chip is being used any idea ? intel , amd, etc
(;-) TP
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LOL Its a Intel pen4... I did notice today that with my old machine under the diag page that pin 5 led was always lighted.. now with this new machine and the same XML file that pin 2 and 3 are also lighted... Im searching the yahoo group now for a diagnostic file that i seen on the video tutior files on basic setup... I did try that special driver and when I did, I got no pulse no nothing, so i reverted back to the Original Driver... I'm about to get out a hammer and solve this problem myself... lol
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OUT of more curiousity, (;-) HAVE you tried to create a NEW profile and then reconfig everything "manually".
Make sure you save the old XML away somewhere safe
(;-) TP
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DOES this PC have an ONBOARD LPT port as well ??
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LOL Thats what im doing now, Ive created a new profile and it seems to be better, My speed is up to 60 without any jerky stops BUT the motors don't sound good at all... Any Idea why under the diagnostic page and port 1 pin current state I now have a lighted LED under pin 2 and 3 and on the old machine i never had t hose light up.. only pin 5 was lighted and it is under this profile to... Ok what is an onboard LPT port? All i have is rj45 ethernet... couple usb ports... Video card.. Onboard Video is disabled.... there is also a onboard sound card which is disabled...
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You mentioned that you saw lPT info in the BIOS. This would indictate that there is an onboard port ??? Have you tried turning the port OFF in the bios . I am thinking that somewhere the PCI port is being interfered with. Possibly from a phantom port?
OR setup the port as LPT2 or 3
Just a thought, (;-) TP
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Changed the card to LPT2... changed all MAch settings in a new profile to use Port2... Same results.. I have no onboard lpt port.. only video and sound ports that are onboard, oh and ethernet is onboard... But i can't shut that off or We wouldnt behaving this convo.. lol....
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Dave look in the BOIS and see IF you have an option to turn off a LPT port. The bios may have been written to include a port BUT the manf did not use one onboard. IF the Bois option is there AND it is on then it may be a PHANTOM port that physically is not there BUT the PC thinks it is.
IF you Ditch this PC I would LOVE to get the motherboard to investigate this as it seems to show up a lot latey and we rally need to find the answer as to WHY it occurs.
(;-) TP
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One other thing,Try turning OFF the networking option and see IF the machine runs better.
(;-) TP
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have you tried to reset your mother board by pulling the battery out and waiting 10 min.
go into cmos at boot select use default setting and nothing else then reboot.use safe mode when windows comes up it should reconfig a few things.this will assign a new loading order to the drivers.don't use the select high perf setting in cmos until later.good luck!
bill
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Disabled the onboard Network.. no good... Did the cmos battery.. no good... Joined the mach5 masters site and d/l the file to optimize XP.. Took the day and did everything on the list.. Seems to made things worse.. I know everyone has helped and must be frustrated like I am... At this point with so many changes to the system I decided to Blow it all off AGAIN and do a fresh install AGAIN... Perhaps something screwed up with the last install... Thanks Guys for all the help..... Forum here rocks and so do the people...
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AH MAN, Just when we were getting close, ONE tiny little fix away (;-) LOLOLOLOL
(;-) TP
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Glad MY work space has room for 2 computers... Did not work!!!!! Decided to bring the other PC to the shop and use it to design and the older one to run Mach... Thanks a Ton Guys but I don't think we were just ONE tiny little fix away.... LOLLOLOLOL Would of been nice, But wasn't happening.... Thanks Again....
Dave
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If you have been running in demo can you load the driver later?
I am unable to get a connection thru the LPT port
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Rupert,
Run 'Driver Test.exe' from the Mach folder - this should ensure the drivers are loaded.
Tweakie.