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Troubles with Mach3 install
« on: January 18, 2010, 08:29:36 PM »
Hi,

I've been trying to get Mach3 installed and running correctly on a new pc I bought (Windows 7 64bit). 

The Mach3 itself works fine,  but the pc didnt have a parallel port, so I had to add one- a PCI card parallel port.  I struggled to get the drivers installed, finally got it by turning off the "forced signed digital driver" thing in the boot menu, but now I cannot get the Mach3 Drivertest .exe  to run.    It tells me  " No driver sensed installed, Run Drivertest." 

I tried to install the drivers manually as it says in the PDF on Artsoft website,  but it doesnt make sense.  There is no "Add new hardware" wizard to be found in the system tab. 

I installed Mach3 on my older comp running XP, and the drivertest.exe ran just fine. 

I really want to use the new comp with Win7 to run my mill, but I dont want anymore frustations either.

Does anyone have any ideas as to why Im having so many problems on the new pc? 

Thanks,

Ben W

Offline Hood

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Re: Troubles with Mach3 install
« Reply #1 on: January 18, 2010, 08:47:02 PM »
I am not sure about Windows 7 as I have never used it but maybe you will need to use compatibility mode when running the driver test. That is if there is such a thing in windows 7?
Hood

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Re: Troubles with Mach3 install
« Reply #2 on: January 18, 2010, 08:52:50 PM »
I think you may have to run as per Vista, have a look on the downloads page an see the readme for Vista, try the admin mode bit in the readme first before you try the patch and only try the patch if you can recover if something goes wrong as I am only guessing here.
 If that doesnt help maybe Art will chime in when he gets a chance.
Hood

Offline ger21

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Re: Troubles with Mach3 install
« Reply #3 on: January 18, 2010, 09:00:31 PM »
I'm pretty sure you can't use a parallel port with 64bit versions of Windows, because the driver won't run.
Gerry

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Offline Hood

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Re: Troubles with Mach3 install
« Reply #4 on: January 18, 2010, 09:03:30 PM »
Yes Ger is correct, never noticed you had said 64, if you look on the downloads page you will see you can only use 32bit versions.
Hood
Re: Troubles with Mach3 install
« Reply #5 on: January 18, 2010, 09:10:51 PM »
Well its definetely causing issues heh.  The parallel port adapter card states it works with 64bit, but who knows.  I contacted them but no reply yet.

The parallel port seems to be working, atleast its listed that way in the device manager.  I thought my troubles were past me when i figured out how to get the parallel port drivers installed, but then I went to run the Mach3 drivertest and ran into more issues.  

The bad thing is I cant really use the new pc for anything else.  If I use my old pc to run the mill I will have to build another pc to replace it- and then Im still stuck with this small pc I cant really use, ugh.


Another Q,  how does the liscense work?  Will I have problems if I do just use my old comp now- as I already used the liscense on the new pc.  Do I need to contact artsoft or something to prevent some kind of conflict?
Re: Troubles with Mach3 install
« Reply #6 on: January 18, 2010, 09:12:47 PM »
Here is the card I have

http://www.startech.com/item-specs/PEX2S1P552B-2-Serial-1-Parallel-PCI-Express-Serial-Parallel-Combo-Card-with-Breakout-Cable.aspx


Do u mean Mach3 wont operate with 64bit?

If thats the case then there is no way I can use this new pc to run Mach3, correct?

Offline Hood

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Re: Troubles with Mach3 install
« Reply #7 on: January 18, 2010, 09:18:41 PM »
Mach should run on a 64 bit operating system with an external device such as the smoothstepper but I said should as I dont know for certain. There is talk of Art possibly writing a driver for 64bit windows but when that will be I dont know.
Hood

Offline ger21

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Re: Troubles with Mach3 install
« Reply #8 on: January 18, 2010, 09:31:09 PM »
The parallel port driver will not run in 64bit Windows, but Mach3 will. Like Hood says, I think you can use a Smoothstepper. But I'm not sure either. I thought someone posted a week or two ago and said it would.
Gerry

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Re: Troubles with Mach3 install
« Reply #9 on: January 19, 2010, 05:20:56 PM »
Might  want to have a look at what this guy has just posted, may be worth a try.  http://www.machsupport.com/forum/index.php/topic,13849.0.html


Hood