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PCI parallel port problems
« on: February 07, 2011, 06:49:20 PM »
Well I am pretty sure I am having problems with the pci card.  It is the same one mentioned in this post (the Roswell RC304)
http://www.machsupport.com/forum/index.php/topic,11300.0.html

I have downloaded the latest drivers for it.
I have got the port address set in Mach to E800.  I have set the e stop to active low and have the e stop jumpered to ground on the Gecko g540.  When I go into Mach, the reset will not clear the e stop error condition. 

When I go to the diagnostics screen in Mach, on the port 1 pins current states, Pins 5,6,7,8 are high (led is on).  If I jog, nothing changes on these pins.

I have not tried connecting the steppers, since I think it would be unproductive at this point.

Any help would be appreciated, as I am out of ideas.  Short of getting another pci parallel card.



Thanks.
Rick
Re: PCI parallel port problems
« Reply #1 on: April 03, 2011, 12:12:24 PM »
I am trying to get my system running again. It ran for a couple of years then quit a year ago after I made some changes.
I am trying to use the diagnostics screen. Assuming the  LED's representing the printer pins are numbered from left to right, top to bottom, pins 4,5,6,7,8, are high. This correlates to y step & dir,  Z step & dir and one unknown.
I when I jog the steppers, no change is seen on the LED's (steppers are not moving either, but they are energized).
Using your logic above, I removed my optical isolator box and plugged the computer straight into the Hobby CNC Driver. Now no LED"S.
Any Ideas?

Offline Tweakie.CNC

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Re: PCI parallel port problems
« Reply #2 on: April 04, 2011, 02:46:08 AM »
For some reason I have never managed to get the Port1 pins LED's on the diagnostic screen to work reliably so I use Parmon which you can download from here  http://www.geekhideout.com/parmon.shtml.
The utility allows you to software toggle the state of the output pins for testing purposes (input pins require manual connection to GND to change state).

Hope this helps.

Tweakie.
PEACE
Re: PCI parallel port problems
« Reply #3 on: April 04, 2011, 07:12:42 PM »
I found the solution to my problems.  I posted what I found in the thread that I linked to in my first post in this thread.  Hope this helps somebody in the future.
Re: PCI parallel port problems
« Reply #4 on: April 04, 2011, 07:43:17 PM »
I downloaded Tweekie's ParaMon today and it showed me that my optical isolator is not working.