Thanks Craig, I do believe the card is a duffer.
I did not realise that I should not be connected to the internet when mach4 is running.
I thought I read somewhere that it was ok if the Smoothstepper was on it's own card, maybe I misunderstood it.
Anyway, I'm at the cofig ins and outs now so the ess is installed ok.
I''l take your advice and leave it now as it is.
Thanks
George