Besides the propper license, you will have to reinstall Mach3 which you can download from official site. Throw away the version that you got from seller. Before copy your .ini and other files that you maybe have modified and copy them back to the appropriate folders after the reinstalation.

Hello,
Thanks for getting back to me. I couldn't make the Mach3 that was supplied to work and I downloaded Mach3 from your site and installed there setting for the set up of my machine. Do you think that the bad license could have corupted your version of Mach 3? I am not sure exactly what file that would have been changed. would you know exactly which one would have been changed?
Cheers
Peter

Mach that was supplied with your machine is a hacked version to be able to work with the supplied license.

Hello,
I have been busy building my house and haven't had any time to get my CNC Machine working properly. I finally had some time today. This is where I am at. Unfortunately, I am getting the same result a buffer error and the machine stops. I downloaded a new version of Mach3. I have my own license that I purchased. I put all the settings in for my machine manually. I had to copy over the driver file for the Ethernet card (NcEther-8ts) from plug ins that was supplied with the machine I was asked with the install to set up the parallel port and when i said yes the driver couldn't be found (I don't think this is a problm?). I copied over the whole Macro file that was supplied with the machine. With these files the machine homes and moves properly from what I can see. I ran a simple circle program, and it worked until it started to cut the fake material (until I can get thinks to work properly I am cutting air as i don't want to wreck the machine or bits). I uninstalled the macro file an installed the one from Mach3 when i download a fresh copy. I now get error messages and the I can’t get the machine to move. I looked at the two different Macro files and there are 10 more files from where i received the machine from. I haven’t figured out which files they are. My thoughts are that one of these files is bad or there is a problem with the machine. Do you have any ideas?
Cheers
Peter

Hello,
I spent some time looking at the macro files and I was able to firgure out which files are different or new. Is there someone that couls look at these files and let me know if they are good?
Cheers
Peter

Hello,
It's me again. I have been spending some more time with the machine. I am able to get the machine to work with just the dowloaded software from Mach 3. I couldn't get it to change tools but I was able to load a simple program to cut a circle. It starts to work but it stops and the same Buffer error message comes up. I am now thinking that it could be the controller that the machine came with from China. It is a MACH3 Ethernet Motion Control Card | MKX-ET. What are some of your thoughts?
Cheers
Peter

Hi Peter,

For what it is worth, my thoughts...

The MKX-ET is a reasonably well made controller but it suffers the problem that WiXhc no longer provide support for this product. There may be issues with the supplied Mach3 plugin (which was developed using a very old version of Mach3 running under WindowsXP) and it will never be fixed so, as far as the developers are concerned, you are on your own.

The EU or USA made controllers (such as those from CNC Drive or Warp9, etc.) do have manufacturers support so developer's assistance may available for sorting out any problems you may encounter. That said, Mach3 is an obsolescent product and all the current motion controller developers are, I think, concentrating on Mach4 so their latest Mach3 plugins will work well with the last version of Mach3 but any future bug-fixes are extremely unlikely.

Food for thought ?.

Tweakie.

Thanks for your thoughts. I'm not sure what to do. I have been trying to figure this out for months on and off. I have purchased a Mach3 license that I really don't want to waste. If i was to goto Mach4 what controller would I need? How difficult do you think it would be to install? To get to the current problem that I have, with all of the proper Mach3 installation and proper license, do you think the controller is the problem?
Cheers
Peter

Hi Peter,

It is perhaps impossible to say what is best for you as we all seem to use our CNC machines differently but I suggest that you seriously consider replacing the XiXhc motion controller with one that supports both Mach3 and Mach4 as this will solve your current buffer problem with Mach3 and provide you with more scope for the future. If it was not for the demise of the Parallel Port I would still be using Mach3 but I need Raster Scan capability for laser use.
Although I have 5 different (EU / USA manufactured) motion controllers, each of which I have trialled over the years, for my particular applications the CNC Drive AXBB-E and UC400ETH motion controllers have turned out to be the best. That said, they may not be the best for everyone so you need to do your research but avoid any that are made in China.

Hope this helps,

Tweakie.

Thank-you. This helps. Since I didn't really use the Mach3 license, do you think that there would be any way to put that cost towards a Mach4 license?
Cheers
Peter