Hello Guest it is March 29, 2024, 07:33:32 AM

Author Topic: Computer died, starting over, what to buy?  (Read 3385 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Computer died, starting over, what to buy?
« on: March 07, 2016, 10:17:53 AM »
I have a mill that ran Mach 3. Had been up and running fine for several years, but the computer guy says my motherboard is dead with no hope of resurrection. I have Mach 3 saved to a thumb drive and pictures of all the parameter pages. I am dealing with some other software on a plasma table that requires the 0x378 legacy address for the lpt. I figure I'm going to go through the same mess with this software and the legacy address. Does anyone sell a computer that still has this address? Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks
i_r_

Offline Davek0974

*
  •  2,606 2,606
    • View Profile
Re: Computer died, starting over, what to buy?
« Reply #1 on: March 07, 2016, 01:45:29 PM »
Any older PC should work, the address can be set to what ever one is needed, this can be found in control panel, system properties IIRC.

Offline beefy

*
  •  138 138
    • View Profile
Re: Computer died, starting over, what to buy?
« Reply #2 on: March 07, 2016, 04:28:35 PM »
Like Dave said, nearly all the older PCs with a built in parallel port have address 0378 as default.

Most of my PCs are Pentium 4, 2.8 to 3.2 Ghz. I spent a whole week a few months ago getting about 8 PCs installed with Mach3, plasma profiles loaded, etc. When it comes to older PCs I can never have enough spare, too many have just randomly died on me in the past. Saying that I think a lot of the "deaths" were due to failing memory sticks.

On a side note, I seem to have got the best Mach3 drier tests with Intel motherboards. Can't remember if it was VIA or SIS chipsets that someone said are known to be problematic with Mach3.

Keith.
« Last Edit: March 07, 2016, 04:31:55 PM by beefy »
Re: Computer died, starting over, what to buy?
« Reply #3 on: March 08, 2016, 08:34:24 AM »
I found a refurbished dell on ebay with xp pro for $125 including shipping. I paid $600 for a kid to build me a computer that will not connect to anything I have. Plasmacam needs the 0378 address also.
Thanks for the info
i_r_

Offline Davek0974

*
  •  2,606 2,606
    • View Profile
Re: Computer died, starting over, what to buy?
« Reply #4 on: March 08, 2016, 08:55:40 AM »
The o378 address is not fixed though, it can be one of many addresses, whats crucial is that Mach knows the correct address for the port that is installed.

It just defaults to that because once upon a time that was always the first port.

I managed to score two Dell optiplexes on the 'Bay for £35 delivered both with working XP setups! These bargains are getting slim now though which is why i am going USB with a UNC100 adapter on my new build.
Re: Computer died, starting over, what to buy?
« Reply #5 on: March 09, 2016, 04:12:58 AM »
Hi,
when my old XP computer started to go really cranky I bought a MiniITX ATOM board, it had a PP built in and a PCI slot for another. Pretty modest
computing power but easily enuf for Mach3.
They can be had for under $100 plus RAM and hard drive etc but they are 'crispy' new..

Craig
'I enjoy sex at 73.....I live at 71 so its not too far to walk.'
Re: Computer died, starting over, what to buy?
« Reply #6 on: March 09, 2016, 06:37:10 AM »
Hey,
I have been using an Intel NUC with an Ethernet Smooth Stepper and it working great I3 120GIG SSD 6gig Memory for under $220.00 AU.

Cheers
Peter
Re: Computer died, starting over, what to buy?
« Reply #7 on: March 15, 2016, 10:09:02 AM »
Got the refurbed computer in this weekend. Hooked it up and reloaded configs. My backup was contaminated, something about a .dll file. Contacted Artsoft yesterday afternoon because I couldn't log into the site to download a freash copy. By the time I got home I had an email with my liscense and a very helpful pdf. Transfered the files and loaded configurations and was running inside an hour. Very happy with the great customer support!
thanks to all
i_r_