I remember reading somewhere that there was a list of suitable PP's that work well with Mach.  I've been searching but can't come up with it.  Does anyone have a link saved?  I'm looking for a bi-directional port so I can use pins 2-9 as input.  I have two cards here and both work fine other than neither one supports 2-9 as input...unless there is a trick to making that happen.  I did enable that in ports and pins and I didn't see any jumpers on the cards.

Thanks

On further investigation, it appears that one of my cards is supposed to support bi-directional mode.  It is a Startech PCI1PECP.  Again, pins 10-13 and 15 work as advertised but I get no input on 2-9 with that feature enabled in ports and pins.  What exactly happens when you check the "use pins 2-9 as input" box?  Does Mach communicate with the card telling it to use those pins as input?  There is nothing in the documentation about putting the card in bi-directional mode.  It just says that it supports it.  The on-board PP can be set via the BIOS.  Doesn't seem to be a software interface for the PCI card.

TIA for any advice.

hi, i have tried the startech card also with no success. you need a card that uses a moschip 9805,9815.also called netmos. i buy them at tigerdirect. about 20.00

The other card I have has a Moschip 9805.  No luck there either.  Is there something you have to do to enable bi-directional mode?

This is the only one I see for $20.  Is this the one that is working for you?  They don't say which chip it uses.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1003991&CatId=512

try reinstalling a different driver. perhaps the 9815 driver. in mach3 do you have inputs enabled?

try reinstalling a different driver. perhaps the 9815 driver. in mach3 do you have inputs enabled?

I'll try the 9515 driver.  Inputs are enabled.

Actually, the 9815 is just a dual port version of the 9805.

OK...So what I have so far is that the Startech and probably most cards that do not seem to work, automatically set the mode of the card.  That is done by setting bit 5 of the control port, which is base address + 2, to high, or 1.  Does anyone know how to get to base address + 2?  Is this what setting pins 2-9 as input is supposed to do?  Seems like setting bit 5 to high wouldn't be hard if the control register could somehow be accessed.

I'll keep digging, but feel free to share and insight. 

have you tried the output pins on it at all? set an output pin to port2 pin14 and test with a voltmeter  if it is switching on.is the port address correct?

have you tried the output pins on it at all? set an output pin to port2 pin14 and test with a voltmeter  if it is switching on.is the port address correct?

I see 5V on pin 14 all the time.  Interesting thing though.  My torch "on" button is mapped to port 2 pin 1 (output 1).  When I toggle the torch on and off I see 5V and 0V on port 2 pin 1.  If I map that button to pin 2, I see 0V all the time.  Everything else works fine.  The port address is correct because the THC functions are working fine, which means pins 1, 10, 11, 12, 15 and 17 are working properly.  Pins 1 and 17 are outputs.

with the moschip pci try the 9735 driver. i think that was the one that worked for me.