I have been having issues with a second PCI parallel port card.  I purchased the card from CNC4PC along with a MPGand the C22 card.
I installed the card on a Gateway PC runnning windows XP.  The device manager shows the card installed and working.  Device manager shows 2 I/O address, CD00 and D480.  I have tried both with odd results.
When I entered the first address clicked apply Mach3 did not communicate with the card.  I then tried the second I/O address and clicked apply and this did not work either.  I then went back and input the first I/O address click apply and magically it worked.  At least until I restarted my PC and then it did not work.  I used the CNC4PC support forum but Arturo was not able to help.  
I have read many of the previous posts and never saw this issue.  Does anyone have experience with this or a similar issue.  Any help would be appreciated.  

When I entered the first address clicked apply Mach3 did not communicate with the card.  I then tried the second I/O address and clicked apply and this did not work either.  I then went back and input the first I/O address click apply and magically it worked.  At least until I restarted my PC and then it did not work.

Jude,

This has come up before but I cannot remember if a solution was ever found - I will do a bit of searching and see if I can find the post.

Tweakie.

Addition;
Found the post I was remembering but it's not much help - http://www.machsupport.com/forum/index.php/topic,25612.0.html

jude:

Are both parallel ports on PCI cards, or is only the second port on a PCI card?

John

jude:

I will go ahead and give my answer, as upon a re-read you have only 1 PCI card in place.
My PCI card was purchased from Newegg. Syba also makes a PCI card with 2 parallel ports.

My XP computer has the Syba PCI PP card, #SP-LP-MCS1P. Everything works fine. When doing a total format and fresh install of XP recently, it could not install, "No Drivers found" "Your device may not work properly" I opened the Hardware, and under ports, the port showed the yellow question marks.

I download the drivers from the Syba website. I may have had a disc with the original install, but could not find it. After downloading the drivers, and directing the wizard
to the driver location, everything installed OK. "Found new hardware", and all of that.

The second PP installed as LPT3, and the original built-in PP is LPT1 No more yellow question marks.

Opening the new LPT3 port, and opening the tab - Resources, the following showed:
I/O Range  EC00 - EC07
I/0 Range   E880 - E887

I closed the tab, and opened up the Mach3 config, Ports and pins, and checked the Port#2 box, Port enabled. in the Port Address box I entered 0xec00.
Also checked box "Pins 2-9 as inputs. The address is proceeded by 0x, indicating Hex. I see you do not have the Ox in your Port Address. That might be
a problem.

Port #1 has never been changed, and that Port Address is: 0x378.

Both boards work A-OK.
My system is an Intel Atom, CPU D525 @1.80GHz, Foxconn Barebones computer, from Newegg.

John

John
Thank you for the information.
In my case there is a parallel port (LPT1) on the motherboard I am using for the steppers.  The second is the PCI parallel port.  
I entered the address as CD00 and let Mach3 change it to the hexadecimal equivalent.  I will try to enter the hexadecimal address directly to see if it matters (0xcd00).
Also XP did recognize the card and lists the I/O address.  I just cant figure out why Mach3 doesnt want to keep the address.  Is the address listed in the XML file.  Can I go there and change it directly?  

jude:

I am sure the address ends up in the XML, but I never bothered to look, or found it necessary as everything works OK.
However, going into the XML, and playing around is not advisable, and is not necessary.
I don't know a lot of details regarding many "undocumented" things in Mach3, but there are a few here in the forum who know loads of odd little things. Mach3 is a really complex, huge program that has evolved over the years, as you probaly know.

Did the Windows installer recognize the second port, and install the drivers, as I described my port install.

One option may be to un-install the PCI parallel port, and download the drivers from the board manufacturer. Then re-start the computer, and point the Windows installer to the location of the driver, and do a new PCI install per Windows.

Then you can look in the Resources tab, and get the correct address.

Your program apparently just can't find the PCI board. Sort of like driving around in a new city, looking for a place without knowing the address. If the address's are both correct, Mach3 will find the boards. Likewise, if the address's are incorrect in the Resources tab, for some unknown reason, Mach3 will never find the board.

Also you said the first PP was not recognized, and then after trying the second port, and then going back to PP #1, it worked, and then on a restart it did not work again. I don't know the details about computer address's, but perhaps if the #2 PP is incorrect, it affects getting the correct address of PP#1 in the Mach3 program.


Another option is to get the same board I have, as it does work perfectly with XP, the company has all the drivers on their site for every version of Windows PC made, and has the best chip for the Parallel port. If you go to Newegg, or the Syba website you can read about that chip. I have read some PP boards use a different chip. However, I would think CNC4PC would know all of this anyhow.

John

...get the same board I have, as it does work perfectly with XP, the company has all the drivers on their site for every version of Windows PC made, and has the best chip for the Parallel port.

Thank you John!  I have plans to add a 2nd PP to my lathe control PC but have been putting it off due to worries about getting the right card.  Your clear & simple responses to Jude's problem has helped me tremendously.  Your screen name fits you well.

Thank you, Dickeybird.   

Well like I am experiencing nothing is simple with CNC.  I have removed and reinstalled the card 6 times.  The outcome was the same each time. Windows recognizes the card assigns it the same addresses.  I used drivers from the manufacturer.  I typed in the hex address and also let MACH3 assign the address.
No change.  MACH3 will not communicate.  I did note that if I just uncheck the use pins 2-9 as inputs and recheck it MACH3 communicates until I restart the PC.
I am just thinking there is something odd with this card from CNC4PC that is not compatible. 
I'll buy the card Syba PCI PP card, #SP-LP-MCS1P which you recommended.

I have the same problem did you ever find a solution?

Ray