Hi guys,
I have been using mach3 for some time now and have been very happy, so happy in fact, that it has been a long time since I looked at the forum.  But today, I needed some info on using my touch probe to digitise a project, and to my suprise found all this new stuff about MachStdMill.

I quickly installed the latest version of Mach3 as instructed, and with great anticipation, tried to install MSM...  I guess I was so excited that I didn't read the instructions well enough or have become to slow to figure this stuff out.  In any case, I can't seem to get the screen set installed.

I have gone through the installation process several times and all seems to be going well until I get to page 13 of 18 sec. 5.2.9.  At this point I go brain dead.

I have tried to create a profile from my currently function profile as well as making a new one from MSM that is newly displayed in the profile list.  In either case when I try to load "MachStdMill.set" Mach3 shuts down and will not reopen until I shut down the computer and restart it.

Does anyone have any ideas .

Thanks,
Clyde            

Hi Clyde,
We'll figure out  what's happening for you -
FYI - In the following, I'm going to assume your install is to the default c:\mach3\ directory.

I think from what you've said that you can start mach itself - i.e. the mach window opens but the screen area is a blank light grey.
Is this correct?

If so , we know mach is starting, but did not find the screen set called for by the profile you started mach with (so mach shows the blank background).

Let's check the version of mach that is running: menus / help/about - mach should be 3.43.16 - is it?
If mach is not 3.43.16 (I believe that is the version you said you downloaded and installed), the needed mach version did not get installed correctly.

If the mach version is ok, Let's try to load the 1024 screen set -
use view, load screens to go to c:\mach3 and pick 1024.set - does that load and show you the 1024 screen set?

If 1024 loads, we know mach is loading screen sets in general and we need to figure out why it's not loading MachStdMill.set.
Shut down mach - this will update your profile XML so that the next time it is used, 1024 will be loaded.

Look in C:\Mach3\  and see if MachStdMill.set is in the directory. Is it present?

If it is missing, I'm guessing that something happened to the install process and the file is not where it needs to be.  
If MachStdMill.set is present, if could still be the MSM install got clobbered some how (when starting MSM, a bunch of stuff is done in the background to initialize stuff MSM will be doing, if one of those scripts is bad, it could cause a problem).

The easiest thing to do is to uninstall and then reinstall MSM.
Use the start menu: start / all programs / mach3 / MachStdMill / uninstall to uninstall MSM. say yes to questions about uninstalling shared files. This will remove MSM.
Run the MSM installer again - click thru the menus. no need to create yet another profile, just start mach with the one from the last time thru the installer.
Check that c:\mach3\MachStdMill.set now exists.

Start mach with the profile - 1024 will load (as that was what the profile had loaded when mach was shut down).
Use view load screen to load MachStdMill.set - after a pause (MSM takes longer to load than 1024 due to the additional graphics) you should see the MSM load screen.

If MSM does not load, I'll need to scratch my head some more - in that case maybe you could post the contents of c:\mach3\lasterrors.txt for me to look at - that is mach's history file and it might have some clues in it.

Dave

Dave,

1. All Mach3 Files are located in Local Disk (c:) within a folder titled Mach3.
2. I can open Mach3, however, I cannot load the new screen set which is also located in the mach3 folder, screen set macros. When I try to open ScreenSetLoad.m1s the screen goes gray and then closes.  I cannot reopen mach3 until I reboot windows.
3. Mach3 Version R3.043.016.
4. 1024 screen set loads when selected.
5. Mach3 cycled off and back on, original screen displayed.  Not sure how to tell if 1024 Screen Set actually loaded.
6. There is a folder within mach3 folder, see #1, that is titled MachStdMill that contain the following files; Config., Logs, MSM Default Profile, MSM Support Libs, Profile Masters and Set Files.
7. I have uninstalled both new ver of Mach3 and MachStdMill and reloaded both again.
8. There is no 1024 in the Mach3 Loader so I guess it didn't load.
9. When you say that it takes longer to load MSM.set, does mach3 shut down during that process?

Thanks,
Clyde

Forgot the Last Error Text

Thu - 20:12:11 ---Program Startup
Thu - 20:12:18 ---Driver Successfully initialised

Clyde

Clyde -
From what you say below, I believe the there is some significant confusion about how to load a screen set -

1. All Mach3 Files are located in Local Disk (c:) within a folder titled Mach3.

so far so good -

2. I can open Mach3, however, I cannot load the new screen set which is also located in the mach3 folder, screen set macros. When I try to open ScreenSetLoad.m1s the screen goes gray and then closes.  I cannot reopen mach3 until I reboot windows.

What you are trying to load is NOT a screen set file - which explains why it doesn't work. 
I suspect that you have gone looking around to "find files" - there is no need to be looking "under the hood"  at places where parts of the MSM implementation are installed.

The ONLY place I want you to look for the set file is here:
C:\mach3\

For this exercise, please forget that you even noticed that other directories even exist.

The MachStdMill screen set file is located in the c:\mach3 directory.
The full path and name of the file you want is         c:\mach3\MachStdMill.set

Use the mach menu to do "view" then "load screens".
This will create a dialog box - if the dialog is not showing the contents of c:\Mach3, navigate to that directory. Do NOT look in any other location for the screen set file.

Select "MachStdMill" and then click the "Open" dialog button.
A screen shot of what the dialog box should look like is below.

Hopefully you will now see the MSM screen graphics.

3. Mach3 Version R3.043.016.

Good

4. 1024 screen set loads when selected.

Good

5. Mach3 cycled off and back on, original screen displayed.  Not sure how to tell if 1024
Screen Set actually loaded.

This is fine
 

6. There is a folder within mach3 folder, see #1, that is titled MachStdMill that contain the following files; Config., Logs, MSM Default Profile, MSM Support Libs, Profile Masters and Set Files.

See above - To install MSM you do not need to know this folder exists. Please stop looking in this folder.
 

7. I have uninstalled both new ver of Mach3 and MachStdMill and reloaded both again.

OK

8. There is no 1024 in the Mach3 Loader so I guess it didn't load.

There are two different concepts: Profile and Screen Set - they are not the same.
1) The concept of a profile:
A profile is what mach uses at start up to determine the configuration of Mach.
The mach loader lets you select a profile to start with.
2) The concept of a screen set:
The loaded profile determines what screen set is shown when mach starts. The screen set to be used is one of the options that is kept inside a profile.

Since 1024 is a screen set, it will not be displayed by the mach loader, as the loader selects a profile, not a screen set.

9. When you say that it takes longer to load MSM.set, does mach3 shut down during that process?

Assuming that by "shut down", you mean "does mach exit and restart"?, the answer is no.

Dave

An update:

I have been working with Clyde to find this problem.

We narrowed it down enough to learn that when MSM checks the OS version at initialization, it is being told that the win version is < Win2000.  As Mach is not supported on < W2k, MSM refuses to continue.
When this test fails, MSM is supposed to show a dilaog box letting the user know what happened - that is the 2nd part of the bug - no messages are appearing.

The problem is specific to one of his PCs, he can install the same versions of Mach & MSM and it is fine other PCs.
As the problem seems specific to a single Windows installation, we have decided to let this one slide for now.

If anyone else sees a symptom where they install mach, then MSM, and when loading MSM, MSM shuts down without any message as to why, please let me know.

Dave