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another issue with possibly with Win7
« on: September 27, 2017, 03:47:26 PM »
right guys amd girls i have spent most of this evening reading threads about problems runing under windows7 so i am aware people do have issues but my problem may go deeper..

so the old pc running my machine crashed, really struggled to get it going and just before i went to run a program it hung and so dont trust it and so its done.

sourced a new pc today fresh install of 32bit win 7 but it didnt have a paralell port on, wich for my aplication is required (Geko G540), so purchased a PCIe adon card spent all day fighting with it to get windows to see it aa a paralell port and buggered around to no avail. mach3 will not see the machine i am still unsure weather mach3 is using/seeing the port let alone the machine i have a feeling the card still isnt functionaing properly and so may source a new MoBo with onboard port. i have a part urgently waiting for machineing and so if not sorted by tomorow i will be replacing the mobo or complete computer as no more time can be wasted

my question is how do i know mach3 is seeing the card (using correct port adress)? i know there isnt much there but any pointers to look out for would be great.

regards
chris
Re: another issue with possibly with Win7
« Reply #1 on: September 27, 2017, 05:11:08 PM »
Hi,
DriverTest.exe tests the parallel port, in fact the parallel port is a poor choice of name...the DB25 plug
is a parallel port whereas the 'parallel port' referred to by Mach users most importantly includes the code for
the PCs CPU to produce pulse streams for the  motors.

Two possibilities here
1) Machs pulse engine, also known as parallel port driver, is not working
2) The PCI card you are using is not working.

There are quite a few PCI cards which might be fine with a printer but don't work with Mach, the requirements
of the port for Mach to work are quite specific and date back to the earliest specification. A lot of more modern
cards do not follow the original spec.

Can you idenitfy the IC on the card?. The most respected and 'known to work' IC comes from Moschip.

Craig
'I enjoy sex at 73.....I live at 71 so its not too far to walk.'
Re: another issue with possibly with Win7
« Reply #2 on: September 27, 2017, 05:29:58 PM »
Hi,
of course have you considered an external motion controller, a UC100 is probably about cheapest at $120 but
there are others like a Smoothstepper for $190. Then you can use just about any PC (32 or 64 bit) you like with much reduced
risk that other software and screen redraws mess things up, the motion is smoother and max pulse rates much
increased for servos and high resolution encoders.

Craig
'I enjoy sex at 73.....I live at 71 so its not too far to walk.'
Re: another issue with possibly with Win7
« Reply #3 on: September 28, 2017, 04:57:53 AM »
Thanks for the reply, type info this on my phone so sorry if it doesn’t quite make sense.

So he PCIe card I installed is a 1paralell/2aerial card capeable of running in SSP/EPP and ECP mode I required ECP mode as stated in the gecko manual. The card is listed in device manager as PCIe ECP parallel port (LPT1) and the chipset for the card is MosChip Semiconductor Technology LTD.

Ran driver test runs fine system is excellent apparently at all KHz with good straight lines.

When I run GetPortAdress.exe it comes up with nothing assuming mach3 can’t see the port?? Port setting in Mach 3 is port#1 0x378 but that means nothing to me I did try find the port for the parallel card but don’t really know what I’m doing it’s a bit beyond my skills could fumble my way around but may do more damage.

I have sourced a second hand pc with built in parallel port ready to collect later today but want to get this machine running now I’m here!

Regards

Chris

Offline Tweakie.CNC

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Re: another issue with possibly with Win7
« Reply #4 on: September 28, 2017, 06:12:24 AM »
Hi Chris,

Control Panel / System / Device Manager / Ports / …

On the properties pages for the LPT port you should find the PCI card Port Address

Tweakie.
PEACE
Re: another issue with possibly with Win7
« Reply #5 on: September 28, 2017, 06:19:51 AM »
Hi,
think the port address setting is the culprit. 0x378 is the address of  port #1, this is almost universally the address of the first port, if you ever find
another PC with a built in port it will 99.9% probable that 0x378 is its port address.

Open Device Manager and inspect the parallel ports available. There should be at least 1 listed if your PCIe card and driver have installed correctly.
Open the info screen about the port. Note the address. This address should be put in place of 0x378.

I use a Smoothstepper and its been a very long while since I've setup a parallel port. If memory serves there is probably two addresses mentioned in
the port info screen, two adjacent addresses, one address for the first byte, usually the output byte and a second address for the input byte. You may have
to try both until you find the right combination.

Craig
'I enjoy sex at 73.....I live at 71 so its not too far to walk.'
Re: another issue with possibly with Win7
« Reply #6 on: September 28, 2017, 02:33:46 PM »
Thank you so much for your help guys i persisted and found the correct adress and everything is talking now. this was after i picked up a £65 second computer with paralell port build in so i have a back up. as we work with carbonfiber it has a tendency of killing PC'c all our computers are wrapped up in felt  :D.

unfortunatly the machine is stil not running as the bearings colapsed in the collet holder we use so spent the day replacing that but will back up and running tomorow thanks gain for your help!

Thanks again tho.
Re: another issue with possibly with Win7
« Reply #7 on: November 03, 2017, 10:51:26 AM »
Hi,
if your environment is hard on your PCs get yourself an ESS (Ethernet SmoothStepper) and  a little single board computer, they don't have a fan to blow
carbon fibre dust every where.

https://www.udoo.org/udoo-x86/

Craig
'I enjoy sex at 73.....I live at 71 so its not too far to walk.'
Re: another issue with possibly with Win7
« Reply #8 on: November 29, 2017, 05:17:08 PM »
I am in the same boat now.  I am also new and have a windows 7, 32bit machine with built in parallel port.  I cannot get anything to communicate with the cnc lathe.  I am going to attempt to reinstall Mach3 as I fear I may have not installed the port driver.  I am running a Leadshine mx3660  which all lights are on and I am receiving no signals to the controller
Re: another issue with possibly with Win7
« Reply #9 on: November 29, 2017, 06:41:34 PM »
Hi,
have you tried running DriverTest.exe, it should cause the parallel port driver to load.

You may have to use Control Panel to dig out previous installation attempts as they will be corrupt.

The other alternative is to get an external controller, the choice of suitable PCs with which to run Mach go way way WAY
up.

Craig
'I enjoy sex at 73.....I live at 71 so its not too far to walk.'