Machsupport Forum
Mach Discussion => General Mach Discussion => Topic started by: RMD on July 24, 2007, 11:29:05 AM
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HI
JUST PURCHACED A DELL OPTIPLEX 740 DESKTOP TO BE A DEDICATED COMPUTER FOR A SYIL X-3 MILL. THE SYSTEM WAS PURCHASED WITH WINDOWS XP HOME, AMD 64X2 3200 DUAL CORE PROCESSOR, 2 GIG MEMORY AND NVIDA 256 VIDEO CARD. ALL PROGRAMS EXCEPT WINDOWS XP WERE DELETED AT THE FACTORY.
HERE IS THE PROBLEM, ALL THREE AXIS HAVE A GLITCH OR THUMP AT RANDOM CO-ORDINATES. I HAVE OPTIMIZED WINDOWS , NO HELP, FACTORY HAS PUT IN 3 MOTHERBOARDS, REPLACED TWO PROCESSORS, AND NOW THEY HAVE SENT ME A NEW SYSTEM WHICH RUNS THE SAME.
I HAVE A HP WITH A PENTIUM 4 3.06GHz, 1 MB L2 CASH, 533 MHz FRONT SIDE BUS, AND 512 DDR SDRAM MEMORY WHICH IS LOADED WITH PROGRAMS, 85 PERCENT, WHICH RUNS THE MILL PERFECTLY, NO GLITCHES OR THUMPS.
DOES ANYONE HAVE ANY SUGESTIONS ON HOW TO CURE THE PROBLEM, OR DO I CHAULK IT UP TO EXPERIENCE AND BUY A NEW COMPUTOR WITH AN INTEL PENTIUM 4 PROCESSOR. THE SYSTEM IS ONLY 45 DAYS OLD AND SINCE IT IS PAST 21 DAYS SINCE I PURCHASED IT DELL WILL NOT TAKE IT BACK OR SWAP IT FOR ONE WITH A PENTIUM PROCESSOR.
RMD
TREASURE ISLAND, FLORIDA
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You don't need to shout.
Also Nvidia 256 sounds like onboard graphics. Try using a separate gfx card. Even the simplest one will do for testing.
make sure you disable the onboard after you load the real one in.
Your processor should not be the problem unless you have crappy drivers and even then it should be no problem.
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David
I didn't mean to shout but my eyes are kind of bad. The Nivida is not an onboard gfx card and the grafix on the motherboard has been disabled. Dell has sent me a whole bunch of different drivers for the processor. I am going to amd to see if they have any different drivers.
RMD
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have you tried to run msconfig and remove everything from the list? you will find very few times where something has to be in msconfig to run on your pc. In most cases it is put there to make it respond faster. even most antivirus that is loaded not has something in the startup but if you look it is also installed as a service, I was told from Symantec this is so the console will load faster PERIOD. so go remove everything from the startup and add back things that you need one at a time. re-enable one then try to run the machine and see if it still has hickups. also do you have a automatic defragmenter running? also you can turn off realtime protection, unless you will be surfing with this pc.
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No problem.
I use spybot sd to remove startup things. Easier I think.
Never heard of NVIDA 256. Have you got the latest drivers from Nvidia?
I remember that someone had problems with their AMD cpu and the only thing that helped was getting the proper drivers from AMD and not what was supplied.
How does the driver test graph of mach look?
What motherboard do you have?
Latest drivers and BIOS for that?
Latest chipset drivers? (what chipset do you have?)
Latest soundcard drivers?
Have you tried the alternative driver for mach?
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I don't think it could possibly be an inherent problem with AMD, the problem could still exist with Intel. I'd chalk it up to Dell's cheapo motherboards if anything. (I am not much of a Dell fan especially with all the junk they install with windows).
I am curious if a USB to Parallel adapter or a PCI Super I/O card might work? The parallel port on the motherboard itself might have a bit of a design flaw but to bipass it all together using a different parallel port *might* get you going again.
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I would advice against USB to 'anything'
The guys that program and test industrial ABB robots went through with testing USB to COM to use with laptops etc. They found out that they where just not reliable enough. And when you work with robots that can pick up a car you have very low tolerance of error.
A proper PCI card might be desired anyway. Concidering that it's a lot cheaper to blow one of those than a motherboard.
Besides I would expect a PCI card to have a lot better amplifiers for the putputs creating a much nicer waveform. Onboard is probebly of lower quality as the printer has error handling to compensate for bad signal.
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Hello, I have had a few similar issues and the main cure was to get off of the boards parallel port using the "SIIG cyberParallel pci i/o card" part no: jj-p00112-s5 . I also disabled the board p-port and installed two of these as prt 1 & 2. they appear to have a better signal voltage which helps for stability. also i'd look into a higher wattage power supply as this is the one item that gets scrimpted on that we so dearly need ! As for the rest of it your probably allright, and at least do some of the XP optomizing, as its a bonus to get rid of any TSR's that are not needed to drive your system. I think that your proc is the same one on my IH mill sytem puter, its is great !
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Ya, the power supply is always a good one to upgrade. Dell of course advertises the strengths not weaknesses of their systems and 95% of their customers do not even know what a power supply or motherboard is so they use the cheapest one they can get there.
It used to really bug me a couple years ago how the major companies were selling like 3ghz processors but only 256mb of ram. Back then people just thought they needed a fast processor but now that consumers have started to wisen up the RAM is up a little closer where it needs to be, at least as far as amount of ram. They're probably still using the slowest stuff they can find. Well there's my rant for the day ;) (I build my own machines, so I know exactly what goes in them.)
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Hi Guys
Lets go down the list:
Dell can not give me anymore support, they don't know what the problems are.
I made a mistake on the video card, it is a dedicated ( mother board disabled ) 256mb ATI Radeon x3100 pro
AMD support told me to down load Athalon 64x2 Windows Optimizer that didn't work. It is a program that gamers use that lets them use programs that are a little older or have lockups on new programs. Support thought the Mach 3 program might fall in this category. AMD says I have the newest drivers, we did a test of the drivers. We also disabled the cool and quiet mode.
There is a program AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 Dual Core Processor Driver for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 Version (x86 and x64 exe) 1.3.2.16 - Allows the system to automatically adjust the CPU speed, voltage and power combination that match the instantaneous user performance need. Download this Setup Installation program (EXE) to automatically update all the files necessary for installation. This package is recommended for users whom desire a graphical user interface for installation. This .EXE driver is a user friendly localized software installation of the driver designed for end-users. This driver supports AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 Dual Core processors on Windows XP SP2, Windows 2003 SP1 x84 and x64 Editions.
I do not know if the above upgrade will help but at the end of the rope I might try it.
I do have a PCI parallel board that is new since I went that direction on the original CPU. I will try it and disable the motherboard parallel port.
I have disabled everything in the start menu except the basics.
I am going out and get a new parallel cable, I am a boat mechanic and setup electronics, since I have seen cables with to high of resistance cause problems in Marine Electronics which are as tempermental.
If all else fails I am going to atempt to swap hard drives, since I know the HP with the Pentium 4 works the machine, the Dell hard drive into the HP and visa versa. I can't just reload the data and programs from one to the other since my main problem is AutoCad 2000, 2004 and 2007 can't be copied since they just appearded miraculously on my desk top one day, get the drift. I have Ghosted both hard drives in case of a disaster.
I just shot an Email to Dell, cc: to every suport person that has worked on this problem, suggesting a simple fix, exchange the system with a Pentium system and I will pay the upgrade and even a restocking fee.
If they agree I would like to pick everbodies brain on which Pentium processor will work, no dual core, how much memory and what video board.
If all else fails I am going to File 13 the cpu and have one built.
RMD
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RMD,
What do you have your debounce set at in general config?
Brett
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Brett
The debounce is 100.
RMD
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Try setting it to 2000 and see if it helps. Do you have the PC hooked into a network in any way?
Brett
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Brett
Tried 2000 debounce did not work, no the CPU is stand alone or dedicated, not even seen the first day on the Internet also.
RMD
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How does the drivertest look? Does the Graph spike in any way? Is the cpu speed constant? Any fluctuation in puls speed?
What is your enery profile set to?
I just ran the driver thert on this laptop that I am writing this on and I can assure you that after I saw the graph it made I will never connect it to anything that moves. Unless large black squares can be seen as a good thing.
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Doesn't really sound like a computer hardware problem, sounds like an interupt problem caused by a process that comes and goes. Let the driver test run for a while and watch for something that interupts the stream. Possible something trying to update itself or a house cleaning process
The fact that the other putor works ok rules out something downstream of the putor
(;-) TP
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David
The drivertest is as follows: Time between pulses about 38 with a clean line
Pulses per sec: 23881-23760 90% of the time at 23881
Cpu speed: 2004
RMD
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Does the problem just randomly occur or have you kept track of time and it occures in about the same length of time each time?
Please describe the problem again in detail.
(;-) TP
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Just got the fix, a Dell senior case manager just called and after an hour on the phone Dell is going to send me
a new computer with an Intel processor.
Thanks to everybody for there input. I know the fix does not fix the problem but it does for me.
RMD
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RMD let us know how it turns out. If it is a program running in the background it may show up with the new putor also. I had to chase several of those demons when I first got started. (;-) TP
Is that the treasure island over by Eustis? (;-)
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vmax 549
I will let everyone know how the new cpu works, should have it by Monday, will try it out Monday after noon.
Treasure Island is west of Saint Petersburg on the Gulf of Mexico, zip code 33706.
RMD
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Just as A point of reference I thnk A fellow on the Yahoo forum has the answer to the duo core problem. There are two processes to turn off in the MoBo setup configuration. It solved the problem for him.
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I am back
Traded the Dell AMD 64x2 3800 in for a Dell Intel Pentium d 3.6 and everything is working now.
Thanks to everyone with there input.
I can now make some money with this machine, only 4 weeks behind in orders.
RMD
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For anyone else who runs into this problem. Check out your registry hive. To do this hit control , alt , delete and go into the task manager. From there click on the processe tab and turn off spool.exe, anti-virus, firewalls and anything else that isn't required. You do this by right clicking on a service and a popup willl appear asking you what you want to do.
MAKE SURE you only do this on systems that are only being used to run Mach3.
Each of these services take up a portion of the memory that you have installed. By not allowing these services to run your free up memory for Mach3 to run.