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Author Topic: Mach3 second parallel port under Win7 32bit  (Read 3872 times)

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Mach3 second parallel port under Win7 32bit
« on: December 10, 2015, 10:39:41 AM »
I replaced my pentium XP machine (it was being a flakey pain in the butt) and  I bought a refurb ThinkCentre and installed Win7 32bit.

On my old machine I had a VistaCNC second parallel port based on the MosChipMCS9805CV.  This was used for the Vista CNC iMach III Pro pendant.  It was working just fine on the old XP machine without any issues.

One the new machine, the port addresses for the 2nd card start with 2030 and 2028.

On the new machine, each time I boot up Mach3 diagnostics shows the second port as all LEDs on.  If I set the address to 2028, save it, then set the address back to the proper 2030, it will sometimes make it work.  Or it might just be the first 4 LEDs stuck on.  Once it decides to work, then it will be fine until power off.

So here is what I have done:

- latest version of Mach3
- Mach Vista registry update
- checked BIOS - no switch for a second parallel port, only for the primary built in one
- device manager - legacy is checked off
- installed the latest 32 bit MosChip drivers
- reseated the card and the pendant plug
- the second port addresses do *not* change each time  on boot up

I have read though a number of parallel port threads and found similar problems to mine, but no solution.  Any suggestions

I know I can get a USB pendant, but I have spent way too much on this new CNC, so really want to re-use what I have and not buy a new pendant.

Suggestions?
Re: Mach3 second parallel port under Win7 32bit
« Reply #1 on: December 10, 2015, 02:14:32 PM »
I forgot to mention a couple of thing:

(1) the built in parallel port, which is connected to the CNC, works just fine with Mach3 on the new computer.  Its just the vistacnc secondary port that is being a problem.

(2)  I sent en email and a web contact request to vistacnc a couple of days ago, but no reply.  Unfortunately no phone number.
Re: Mach3 second parallel port under Win7 32bit
« Reply #2 on: December 11, 2015, 10:09:29 AM »
After many, many attempts, I got it fixed.  Here is what I did.

I removed the Win7 32 bit driver.  Used Uninstall from driver manager, then pnputil to actually remove the driver itself from the Win7 driver store (otherwise windows would just install it again at next reboot).

I reinstalled the Win NT 2000 driver from the original CD.

Lastly, in the BIOS, I found a setting: disable PCI parity checking.  I turned this off.

Since then I have powered off a few times and each time it has come up working.  Cross fingers and toes.