Need Help!- rs232 issues

[cncclimber]

I get "alarm 086- DR signal off"

sometimes it will send 3 programs sometimes up to 13.5 before it alarms. looking it up online I get anywhere from bad plugs/cables to bad ports/boards and wrong settings. It seems to me that if it sends some it should do all of it. It took me all day and several downloads of DNC software to get this far, would be nice to have a usable system. I built the cable myself using some ethernet wire we had, I was told it is actually better wire anyway(more shielded) and used a 1-million watt soldering iron to assemble. the plug on the cnc end got a little hot and melted a little, but no wires were crossed/touching and the joints seemed solid. it seems like if it sends some but not all something beside the cable should be at fault. Any ideas?

[cncclimber]

I am pretty lucky to have a self healing machine I thought I would try sending it without the plug hooked up and as I was getting ready to unplug, I thought "lets try it without the software running first" it ran through many programs without alarming so I tried it several times with no problem. I decided to try with the software capturing it and it worked! no idea what the problem was and I am sure it will bite me in the butt in the near future, but I will take what I can get. I am still open for suggestions....

[dcoupar]

How is your cable wired? On the Fanuc end, you should have 6, 8, and 20 jumpered together. This usually eliminates 086 alarms.

A 9-25 cable should look like this if you are using XON/XOFF (software) handshaking:

Fanuc <------------> PC
1<-----------shield------- no connection
2<------------------------>2
3<------------------------>3
4&5 jumpered
7<------------------------>5
6,8 & 20 jumpered

[cncclimber]

yep, set up just like that. I am not sure, what happened. I probably should mention(sorry) that I turned off the machine in between. after having troubles at first, I turned the machine off and back on, and it ran through almost 14 programs before alarming. then it quickly went down from there, so I turned it off to go home. as I was leaving, I thought I would try the last ideas and it worked after that. Thanks again.