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Author Topic: Mach4 Printer Port Discussions  (Read 1243631 times)

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Offline ART

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Re: Mach4 Printer Port Discussions
« Reply #400 on: August 19, 2014, 12:43:05 PM »
:).. of course. I think I see. By starting with a mask of zero's , Im forcing a toggle on you, what it proves is that the port resets iwth an active 1 coming out. The program then starts and pulls it low. Ill fix that up...

Art

Offline Sage

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Re: Mach4 Printer Port Discussions
« Reply #401 on: August 19, 2014, 12:54:49 PM »
Ok. I'll pretend I understand what you've discovered and wait for the new version. :-) but according to the schematic for the PMDX 132 it's a high that turns on the LED and relay. The light DOES NOT come on when you first start the PC or M4. You have to toggle the disable once M4 is up and running to turn it on.  It then does not go off until you EXIT config and only comes on again when you toggle the disable again.


BTW over the last few versions I'm noticing crashing when I exit Darwin configuration "causing a program not responding' pop-up and requiring a reboot to get rid of the Darwin config window. Not sure the status of M4 because I can't get rid of Darwin window.
I may be rushing it a bit. I open config (about as long as it takes for the waterfall to go about 1/2 way down) then close it again in order to test if the relay drops out. That's when config hangs.

Sage



Sage
« Last Edit: August 19, 2014, 01:01:45 PM by Sage »

Offline ART

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Re: Mach4 Printer Port Discussions
« Reply #402 on: August 19, 2014, 01:33:15 PM »
Sage:

 Havent seen any lockup yet, but I did discover a typo that could cause a problem on pin 14, try this version...

Art
Re: Mach4 Printer Port Discussions
« Reply #403 on: August 19, 2014, 02:11:19 PM »
Just to throw more 'clues' into the soup.

I configured my K2 control in Darwin and set it to negate.  I can toggle the function (it's a second spindle motor) on and off successfully within Darwin.  However, I can't turn it on from M4 by running code.  M4 diagnostic screen says it's on but it lies.  I tried remapping M4 so this output is mapped to the flood (I don't use this at present) so I could toggle M4 from the screen.  Again, the M4 diagnostic screen says it's toggling, but it's not.

I suspect M4 is playing a role in the K2 control problem, perhaps it's now the only culprit here.

No lockups here.

Can't wait to start debugging M4.  Lots of issues there, system lock ups in several places, tool path not clearing, etc.  Time to spread the work load.   :)

Thanks for your work.

Pete

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Re: Mach4 Printer Port Discussions
« Reply #404 on: August 19, 2014, 03:17:17 PM »
Pete:

 I think its because there is no scipt in those macros to activate them...

Art

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Re: Mach4 Printer Port Discussions
« Reply #405 on: August 19, 2014, 03:44:22 PM »
Pete:

 Wit recent versions you can always tell if its m4 config or Darwin ignoring you. The history button will tell you if
Darwin was instructed to turn on or off any signal.

   The problem with pin 14 was I was inverting it when reading it, and not when writing it, that was a typo that
caused that very strange pin 14 toggling error I think. We noticed a pin14 flash at startup here, which is gone in
last version. As to whats causing the pin mirroring.. Im still confused. :)

Art

Offline Sage

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Re: Mach4 Printer Port Discussions
« Reply #406 on: August 19, 2014, 04:02:04 PM »
Hi Art:

I don't see any difference with 16-4.
Same symptoms.
 You got my comment about the relay requiring a high to activate - right (post 401)?
Config screen still shows 1.11 / 1.08 is that correct? I copied dll and m4w..
I still get a freeze as follows:

Open config plugins but don't wait for waterfall to get any more than about 1/2 way down the page. Then X-off the config page and select Ok. For me it freezes there.

Sage

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Re: Mach4 Printer Port Discussions
« Reply #407 on: August 19, 2014, 04:45:46 PM »
Sage:

  No sorry, I wasnt clear. The driver needs replacing on this version. Versions should read..

1.11 and 1.16 on the Drawin waterfall screen... You need to replace the driver , dll looks good.

Art

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Re: Mach4 Printer Port Discussions
« Reply #408 on: August 19, 2014, 05:08:12 PM »
Hi Art:

This is so weird. Is there any way Windows can be screwing around with the files. A cache or something. So many times I have unzipped the files into a new directory. Even deleted the dll and the m4pw from the C:\mach4hobby... directories, made sure they were gone and copied the new ones to the proper sub directories. I've even checked the dates on the files copied into M4 and they show a current date.
 Yet when I run M4 (which wouldn't run without the files), and go look at versions in config I see the old versions. This has happened over and over. I have tried again once when I was suspicious and the new versions showed up. It's not like I don't know how to copy files  ???
So I'm wondering if because they are the same file name windows is somehow screwing things up.  ???

I'm afraid I've been stringing you along with this troubleshooting because I haven't seen a new version reported in config for quite a while (as you can tell). But I've been ignoring it because I thought perhaps you were making minor changes without changing the version number. Sorry.


It's all very strange. I'm going to reboot and try again until I see the versions 1.16

Sage

« Last Edit: August 19, 2014, 05:18:12 PM by Sage »

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Re: Mach4 Printer Port Discussions
« Reply #409 on: August 19, 2014, 05:34:55 PM »
Sage:

  The 1.16 is the version of the system driver, to change it..you need to use the control panels hardware manager to remove the old Darwin driver. Then run DriverTest from the unzipped 1-16-4 folder you downloaded. It "should" install the new driver which will then read 1.16 on the waterfall screen.

 If it doesnt, your installing a cache version of the driver, so remove the driver, find all copies of darwin.sys and delete them, except for the one in the
1-16-4 folder.. Then it should install. I try very hard to try to make it so its a rare event because so many have trouble switching drivers. In the end Brian will probably put an installer for it in its package.

  Anyway, when you get it to read 1.16 as the driver version you should be OK..

Art