Greetings,
I've been running a Fireball V90 using Probotix motors and controllers for about 6 months now. The computer was a fossil (Athlon XP2200+) that I literally couldn't GIVE away about a year ago. Nevertheless, it ran fine, and would jog at 220 ipm for X and Y, though I generally kept it set at 100 ipm max. I recently needed to replace the machine, because it wouldn't run some other software that I needed to run.
The new machine was a pretty cheap build, consisting of a Gigabyte GA-G31M-ES2L mother board (on-board parallel port, and video), 4GB RAM, 2.8 GHz Core2-duo, and a single SATA HDD. Much to my dismay, the new computer won't run the X and Y motors faster than about 50 ipm. It runs fine at that speed, and I could certainly use it, but I just can't accept that my old POS computer was running at 220 ipm, and the new one can only manage 50 ipm. I certainly can't deny it though, because I still have the old computer running, and can move the cable back and forth between the two.
Both systems are XP-Pro, and neither has much else loaded on it. The configuration files were copied straight over from old to new, so I know the settings are all the same. It would be easier to list the things I haven't done, than everything I have done. I'll take a shot at it though:
-Everything on the Mach3 optimization recommendations has been tried, except for loading XP without ACPI, since it's too late for that. I did change it to "standard PC" (loses one CPU core), and "multiprocessor PC".
-I've tried every combination of parallel port type, and two different addresses.
-I tried every pulse frequency for the port.
-I upgraded to the latest version of Mach3
-I changed everything in Windows that I could find to help, though of course none of this was don't on the old computer.
-I changed every setting in BIOS that could have any effect.
-I scoped the step and direction pulses using both computers, and while they're hard to see, they seem very close to the same voltage.
-probably some other stuff I can't think of at the moment, but a total of 14 hours worth of work with nothing to show.
I ran the driver test, and it says it's "excellent", though there is a small, fairly regular pulse. About every other screen, there's a very large pulse. I compared this to the old computer, and it also has the large pulses, though not as many of the smaller pulses. I had nice screen captures of these, but they got written over when I restored the backup image for about the 5th time today.
What I have not done is try a PCI-e video card, rather than using the on-board video. I do have one, but the on-board video was one of the reasons I got this mobo. I could also order a PCI parallel port adapter, but see previous comment about the reason I got his mobo. Of course if they work, I'd do either or both in a heartbeat.
If anyone can think of something I've missed, I'd love to hear it.
Thanks,
Rusty (tired and depressed)