Thank you Gerry, but because I have noticed that you give that recommendation often, it is one of the first things I checked. Unfortunately I cannot find either of those settings in my bios. I have attached(hopefully) a pdf of the user manual for my latest motherboard. If not, here is the model: Asus F1A55-M LX PLUS. Have a look if you will, perhaps those settings fall under a different name. FWIW, both of the previous mobos I tried did indeed have those settings and they did not solve the problem. Those two used Intel P4 processors and this one uses AMD, if that makes a difference.
On the other hand, I temporarily swiped my son's old Dell running XP and a core2duo processor just for kicks, and it seemed to work the router without the aforementioned hiccups. Coincidentally, it also demonstrated the "flattest" line on the drivertest utility graph. This also seems to justify that all of my hardware downstream of the PC is working correctly.
So why dont I just use the Dell and be done with it? Well... please refer to my op. I am not opposed to using XP as a last resort, but because Mach3 is advertised to work with 7, and one of the reasons I purchased it, I would indeed like to use Mach with that os. And because it is so unsettling watching your router run on a workpiece for several hours , then glitch a time or two and ruin the piece, I want to use all new hardware for this purpose to reduce the chance of end of service life hardware failures. Not to mention the amount of money and time I have invested directly toward this target.
From the Artsoft webpage:
"Software Requirements
Keeping with our home hobbyist roots, the minimum software requirements to run Mach are very reasonable. Below are the specifications for running Mach3 stably.
Mach3 Minimum Requirements:
32-bit Desktop (using the parallel port)
32-bit version of Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista, or Windows 7 Operating System (64-bit will not work)
1Ghz CPU
512MB RAM
Non-integrated Video Card with 32MB RAM
Basic Computer Skills (ability to copy/rename files, browse directories, etc)"
I am confident I have satisfied these requirements.
Thanks for the quick reply....do you have any more suggestions? Are you running Mach3 with Win7 through an onboard PP? Do you know of anyone that is?