ok heres where i am at... i did load the old software and it didn't work either. so i reinstalled windows xp with the standard configuration. it didn't work with either as well. i finally read a post on here and went into the bios and change the PP to EPP and now its working with the new 3.042 software. however, as before, mach 3 will lock up the computer after a certain amount of time of just being on. even without a running a program if i leave it just on with or without the servos engaged it locks up. then i have to reboot the computer. i did try the optimization stuff and it doesn't seem to help this problem. any ideas? i am tempted to reinstall with the F5 load of xp and see if it works now that pp is set to EPP. i am trying to get to the point of having a reliable system but i can't keep rebooting up every time it locks up.