I have just built myself a new machine fro my CNC. It is running Win7 x86 and the latest Mach 3 fully licensed. The machine has a single physical Parallel port on the motherboard. I have check with an oscilloscope and am getting no outputs on the Parallel port pins.

I have reformatted the PC and reinstalled Mach with no luck. The Drivertest.exe seems to be running fine.

In BIOS
Port mode set to Normal, other options are Bi-Directional, EPP, ECP.
Port IRQ set to IRQ7, other option IRQ5

What should the port be set as? (I cant find any documentation anywhere)

In Windows device manager
Filter resource method set to never use an interrupt, other options try not to use and interrupt, use any interrupt.
I/O range 0378-037f

If I use the Mach3 getportaddress.exe to identify port address. LPT3 comes back correct as &H378 while LPT1 is &H3F8 and LPT2 IRQ 4 Co.

Shouldnt it find LPT1 as &H387? Why is it finding multiple ports when there is only one

In Mach3 config I have used 0x378 as the port address with no luck. I have actually tried just about every combonation of the above settings with no luck.

Any help would be greatly appreciated as I dont know were to go from here. Is there something simple I have missed because I dont remember having any problems on my old machine with Win XP

Have you tried just entering 0378?

And try bi-directional, or EPP.

Have you tried just entering 0378?

And try bi-directional, or EPP.

I have tried both EPP and Bi and I get no motor function. Which is recommended or is either setting fine?

Have since discovered that if I set an output pin ie flood on pin 1 and Mist on pin 14 they both work under Mach3's command. The outputs also work on the pins i am using to try and control the motors.

In ports and pins, for your motors, are the pins set to port 1?

Jog back and forth, and measure the voltage on the direction pin. It should change from 0V (one direction) to 5V (other direction).
If it's working, then you may have a problem with your drives.

In ports and pins, for your motors, are the pins set to port 1?

Jog back and forth, and measure the voltage on the direction pin. It should change from 0V (one direction) to 5V (other direction).
If it's working, then you may have a problem with your drives.

I have the machine setup so pin2 is X step and pin3 is X direction. (I have tried this on other pins too)

If I try and jog the machine I get no resonce on either pin using a scope directly on cable or on my C10 breackout boards output. Then I disable the X motor output and assign those pins to Flood and Mist (I do not adjust any other settings). Then with the scope I get 3.3v directly on the cable and 5V on the breackout Boards output when toggling those outputs on the Mach3 diagnostics page.

I have the machine setup so pin2 is X step and pin3 is X direction. (I have tried this on other pins too)

Yes, but make sure they are not set to Port 0. They should be set to Port 1.

Quote

I have the machine setup so pin2 is X step and pin3 is X direction. (I have tried this on other pins too)

Yes, but make sure they are not set to Port 0. They should be set to Port 1.

Problem solved. I officially feel like an idiot although those ports settings are kind of illusive and in my opinion really should be set as port 1 by default although Im sure there is a reason they are set port 0.

Thanks for the help Ger21!

I am having a similar problem.
I completed my machine build, and I have a computer with windows 7.
When I switch on machine I can hear the motors "set" .. or "click".
When trying to test the system, by sending a manual command like "G00 x1" then I hear a beep and nothing else. No movement or anything. All subsequent commands result in nothing happening.
If I change settings regarding the port or disable/enable the port in device manager, then the first command will give me a beep and after that nothing more happens.

The above solution sounds like the user had a similar problem to me. I cannot understand the solution when it is suggested "In ports and pins, for your motors, are the pins set to port 1?"

Is it possible for someone to post a screenshot of the settings page in question, please?

How do I get the 1 thru 6 on the feed control to work? It is frozen on low slow and I cannot get to change. Thanks Dick