Hi,
I have recently set up a 2 axis CNC plasma cutter with servo driven ball screws receiving signals via a laptop communicating through ethernet to a smooth stepper and breakout board. Communication settings and wiring appear to be correct as I can jog both axes and trigger the limit switch located on the most negative position of the table (LED (M2HOME) on screen lights up yellow when switch triggered). Unfortunately however the homing sequence ignores the limit switch during the ref Y command. If I press this button the y axis moves slowly backwards looking for the switch however does not react when it hits it or is manually triggered. I even tried emulating the button however there is no change. I have checked that the input is enabled for Y axis home and check the direction is correct in the config homing/limits option screen. The peculiar thing is that if I press up twice during the homing sequence it zeros the machine coordinates as if it had just hit the limit switch.
Any help would be much appreciated.
cheers
Coogan

Please attach your xml.
Hood

Please find attached file renamed CooganPlasma

I see you are using the ESS, I also see you have MaxNC mode enabled. I am not sure how this could affect things, it shouldnt but  maybe disable it and see if it helps. Its on right hand side of Ports and Pins page.

Also on General Config page you have enhanced pulsing disabled, again this should really have no effect as you are using the ESS but might be worth enabling it just in case.

If you still have issues it might be worth trying an older plugin.
Lastly what version of Mach are you using? There are known issues with homing and ver 066 although what you describe is not one of the issues known about but.....
Hood

After much troubleshooting I believe I have isolated part of the problem. Here is the testing I have done:
Installed mach3 software without plugin on another laptop with windows 8 and very similar software. Used original unaltered xml file. Jogged axis with arrow keys and ran ref all triggering homing switches by emulated buttons. Result was the same: homing sequence was unaffected by triggering of switch even though screen LED lights still indicated switch trigger signal was being received by mach3.
Installed older version of mach3 software and then newer version (Mach3Version3.043.067). Same result.
Installed and ran exact same software on desktop PC with altered xml code which worked fine.
Installed mach3 on older (windows NT) laptop which initially worked fine. After installing ESS plugin it started playing up in the exact same manner as described above.
My summary of results at this point was that it didnt seem to be the xml file in isolation, windows 8 or the ESS plugin.
More testing continued until I was able to get the mach3 software (Mach3Version3.043.066) with ESS plugin (ESS_v10hd2.zip) to accept the real trigger signal during homing by placing a 2.0 value in the plugin config noise filtering of inputs variable for homing and limits. I am really happy that it is working however I still don't understand the problem as it still doesn't accept the emulated signal. ??
I do appreciated the help received already and hope that my struggles will assist to relieve someone else from experiencing the same pain.
I will keep my eye on the thread if anyone else is interested in getting to the bottom of this and will be happy to try and suggested fixes.
Cheers
Coogan

FYI disabling of MaxNC and enabling enhanced pulsing had no effect on the problem as you suggested it shouldn't.
Cheers
Coogan

Emulated inputs were originally used for the parallel port and a lot of external controllers do not support them.
I know older plugins did not accept emulated signals but whether newer ones do or not I have no idea.

Hood

Okay it's starting to make sense now. If I understand you correctly that would explain why when I install the software on a laptop it will not respond to emulated signals even without the plugin installed as it has no printer port. The desktop pc on the other hand will be able to emulate signals via the printer port. This would appear then to be a completely separate issue to the one I was facing with the actual limit switch signal that appears to be resolved with the noise allowance.
Thanks heaps for your help.
Coogan