Torq Cut 22 with DX-32 control: HELP me backup, format, install/reinstall, etc.

[vettespeed]

I have a 1995 Bridgeport Torqcut 22 with the DX32 control that I fired up the other day after it sat for a month or so and the control would not completely load. It started loading looking pretty normal but never got to the point of the colors, etc. I believe it said something like “load system disk”, I can’t really remember. Anyway I noticed it said there was no hard drive installed. I stupidly started messing around in “Setup” I believe it was and found something called “Hard Drive Auto Detect”. I ran that and suddenly the machine fired up. It is back and running parts and all my programs and even offsets were there but I must say the control seems very clunky and slow navigating around through menus and pages now. Everytime I hit a key to navigate to another menu or perform another function there is a slight delay and then the next page does a slow scroll starting from the top and then the lettere/numbers slowly appear after about a second or two. Everything simply seems slower. I am running some very simple 2D code with straight lines and arcs and I even see it doing little pauses between lines while machining, and this code has no point to point moves. I do have some code that does some really fancy text that I’ve run in the past with no problems, it was created from a font and is rather large and all point to point. I am concerned I am going to now have a problem running this code because I ran it in the graphice “preview” mode and it seemed to really struggle with the code and run very slowly where as before this code ran very smoothly in the “preview” mode. I have meant to backup and learn how to reinstall knowing that someday this problem would probably come but I have yet to do so. I got my hands on a new/unopened Dos 6.22 than learned that maybe I need Dos 6.2 because some are saying 6.22 won’t work. I also see some say I need to also load the machine software after a clean install of Dos, where do I get the machine software?

1: If my machine seems to be working fine, why do you think it is sluggish and clunky now? And is there something I could do to resolve this without formatting/reinstalling/starting over?

2: I need someone/everyone to advise me on what I should do and go throught steps needed to backup anything I need to backup and start fresh. I’m assuming I need to backup paramaters, .txt part programs WHAT ELSE? I saw someone say backup “leadcomp data file”, I don’t know what this is? If someone could go throught the steps from start to finish on backing up, formatting, installing Dos, installing “machine software”, etc, etc, or point me in a direction where this info is it would be much appreciated. Please talk as if I am a complete IDIOT as far as computers go, because I’m pretty close to that. I have done reinstalls on newer computers but know nothing about DOS.

Thanks to all in advance, Mike.

[machintek]

You need a course or book on the machine that does not exist.
Bridgeport shipped this machine with DOS 6.20. If you do a backup with DOS 6.20 and try a restore with DOS 6.22 it will not work. EMI is shipping software with DOS 6.22.
See if you have a file called MAKEDISK. It should make a backup of your machine software. There have been many different versions of software for this machine. Variations include changes for the PARVEX Z axis motor instead of the SEM.
Most TC22 had a hard drive. The TC30 came with a flash card. A machine this old may now have a updated mother board and may have a DOM (disk on a module). This complicates telling you what to do and how to do it. Investing in DOS FOR DUMMIES may be a good thought.
Your PC Control issues may be related to changes made in the CMOS.
One of the most important files is BMDCPRMS.SYS as this is all the machine parameters, including tool change height, orient, encoder resolution, drive tuning, etc. A leadcomp.dat file was only used if Bridgeport thought that particular machine needed it.
This gives you a bit to play with.

George

[vettespeed]

Well I found a new Dos 6.20 on eBay, so I have it coming in a few days. I also ordered a few dos books. Anyway you mention my sluggish control issues might be related to CMOS??? You might be on to something because while I was poking around when the machine couldn't find it's harddrive I recall coming across some options that mentioned CMOS and I'm thinking I might have stupidly chose some of those options. What is CMOS and what do you think I could do to get them back to how it was. Since I seem to have kept all my parameters, programs, offsets, etc, I'm thinking everything is in pretty good shape. I just need to get rid of the sluggishness problems I'm having with the control. Any ideas? Thanks, Mike.

P.S. Keep any other ideas and advice coming guys. Thanks to all, Mike.

[machintek]

You could try going to CMOS and loading the defaults.
Then make sure your hard drive or mass storage parameters are correct. (flash memory is set to none, hard drive to no more than 528MB). Set floppy correctly too.

George

[NC Cams]

If you have an OEM motherboard, you may be running into a M/B that is starting to crap out. THe OEM M/B's often had a separate HDD/FDD controller card as opposed to a M/B integrated HDD/FDD driver card/chips.

Our Extrak started to do basically the same crap out. WIth luck, you can pull the HDD/FDD card, polish the terminals and reset the card. THis might make things work just fine. IT worked for us.

I'd start trying to line up a new M/B as a mid 90's machine is approaching 10 years old. The "desktop" hdware that BPT put in the machinse was not qualified to run that long, especially in a machinging center environment. Destop yes, shop no.

If you don't have the OEM install disks, MACHINETEK"s deal for creating O/S back-up disks is as good as any. Don't just burn them to floppy's, burn them to CDROMS. Quite a bit safer.

YOU may have gotten a virus. YOU may also need/want to run DEFRAG as a scattered/fragmented HDD will cause problems. The DOM is pretty much just like a HDD only a bit more robust and much less prone to vibration problems than a HDD.

It may not hurt to wipe the HDD/DOM and reformat it and reinstall the O/S and software. Again, a 10 year old system can easily get corrupted over time.

If you are having hardware problems, there are various ways to deal with them. Good luck in finding new ISA boards of that vintage. We resorted to dumpster diving to keep ours going. WE refuse to pay EMI the exhorbitant prices they want for their generic ISA hardware although it is plug and play. Too bad someone hasn't reverse engineer'd the system and offers a generic replacement for any/all of it. Clearly Hardinge/BPT and EMI are interested in milking every last dime of profit from a 10 plus year old obsolete system who's time has come and gone.

Finally, make sure you have "LBA set to OFF". If it isn't OFF, you'd probably better wipe the HDD and reinstall. The BMDC was created BEFORE LBA was brought on board. If you do have LBA on, you'll scatter data all over the HDD and the machine eventually can't/won't find it. Initially it will slow down, eventually it won't run. That's what our BMDC'd Eztrak did.