Machsupport Forum
Mach Discussion => General Mach Discussion => Topic started by: widpyro on September 18, 2008, 08:01:02 AM
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Dear group,
I have Mach3 running on my desktop. Everything works OK. Then, I move the DB25 connector to my laptop output, and it doesn't move the motors. The Pins and Ports are OK. And this WAS working on my laptop up until recently. What can I check to see that the signals are getting to the DB connector?
Thanks,
-jim
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First check the port address is correct.
Have you tried moving via MDI or code? If it works with the code then its likely you dont have the Jog controls enabled.
To check to see if your port is outputting just put a volmeter between the Dir pin of X Axis and a ground pin then Jog the X one way then the next, the meter should show 5v one way and 0v the other.
Hood
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Dear Hood,
I'm still unable to get my laptop to run motors. I checked the port and it matches my port driver Resource type= 1/0 range, setting = 0378. The enabled port adress is: 0x378. I put a meter on the output and got no voltage running the x axis in either direction. MIDI didn;t work either. The numbers run, but no movement.
Is it possible I have damaged my parrallel port card? What else should I check? Remember, everything works when I move the connector to my other computer.
Thanks a million,
-jim
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please attach your xml from the laptop, also when you say Parallel Port Card what are you actually meaning? Is it a USB to Parallel port card or is it an native port on the laptops motherboard?
Hood
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You appear to say that you did have it running on the laptop, once.
If you have a printer - one with a 25 pin port - then (apart from saving it for posterity) check to see if the printer port still works. The trouble is with laptops is they do tend to share the memory about the various functions of the machine.
I run my system on a laptop, a full function Toshiba, but this appears to have no sharing whatsoever, and it works very well.
I would try to check the port - as Hood says, you can try it with a voltmeter - and you should detect the voltage changes, particularly on the step pins,(check the voltage between the step pins and the GND pins (18 - 25)) or try a printer on it. Another problem with laptops is that sometimes the output voltage is only 3.5 volts, not the full 5 volts, and this is not enough to drive some drivers.
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Dear Hood,
Here is the filelist.xml file from my laptop. Is that what you need?
What I meant by port card was (I guess) the motherboard on the laptop computer. (On my desktop, this is a seperate removable card). I do have a usb to db25 conversion kit with disc. Perhaps I can employ this if my db25 output is shot for some reason?
thanks,
-jim
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You dont have any motors enabled in Ports and Pins, what to do is copy the xml from the computer that works and paste it into the laptops Mach3 folder. You will then have to changethe port address when you start Mach if it is different from the desktops address.
USB port adapters dont work I am afraid, or at least I dont know of any that do.
Hood
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Dear Hood,
I transfered the Mach3Mill.xml file from my desktop (which will run motors) to the desktop. I deleted the Mach3Mill.xml file on the laptop first. Still was unable to get the motors to turn.
You say that I do not have the motors enabled. But they are checked "enabled" and the ports and pins are correct.
I'm sorry to be a problem here. Is there anything else I can check?
-jim
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The xml you sent before didnt have any of the Inputs or outputs enabled so it must have been the wrong xml you attached. Please attach the xml you are using on the laptop now and I will have a look.
You can check at the port with a voltmeter to see if it is outputting anything, just hook the voltmeter to your X axis direction pin and a ground pin and jog the X axis one way then the other, you should see the meter go 5v one way and 0v the other. You can do the same for all the other Dir pins. The Step pins can be checked in a similar manner but you will just see a small voltage dependant on the speed you are jogging so probably best to have the meter on mV range for the Step pin tests.
Hood
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Dear Hood,
Here is the Mach3Mill.xml file from the non-working laptop. I renamed it so that it would be accepted by your forum server.
There still wasn't any voltage between the direction pins and ground.
Thanks,
-jim
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you have a800 for the port address, think you said the laptop was 0378?
Hood
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Hi Hood,
Yes, sorry about that. I did change the port adress to x0378 when I ran these parameters on the laptop.
-jim
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Just wondering if the driver is installed, can you run the drivertest to confirm. Just shut Mach down and then look in the Mach3 folder and double click on the drivertest.exe, let the test run and see what the graph looks like.
Hood
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Dear Hood,
That was it! Thank you, Thank you, Thank you. What a great pleasure to get that figured out. Sorry for the trouble,
regards,
-jim widmann
CT Pyro Mfg LLC
www.ctpyro.com