Unfortunately the solution is not ‘cheap’.
Because of the lack of manufacturer’s support, compatibility and reliability issues the Chinese motion controllers should be avoided in favour of those of EU or USA manufacture.
The Gecko G540 is an excellent machine controller and the Warp9 ESS an excellent external motion controller. They both have manufacturer’s support and can be used with Mach4 should you choose to upgrade at some future date.
I now use the CNC Drive, AXBB-E and UC400ETH motion controllers on my machines (Ethernet connection performs better than USB) but everybody will have their own preferences.
Perhaps, before spending money, you could post your original question on the CNC Zone forum – there may be someone there who could help resolve your error message issue.
Hope this helps,
Tweakie.