Need Help!- Anybody have a working PCI parallel card for G540 w/ charge pump enabled?

[Jr's Farm]

Trying to find an add-on card that works with the G540 charge pump circuit. When the pump is disabled everything else seems to be fine, I can jog the motors and there appears to be no other issues, but no matter what I can't get the Charge Pump to enable without faulting. At this point I can only assume it's the PCI parallel card.

Pertinent info:

- G540 in pre-wired Keling box
- Mach3
- DB25 straight thru cable
- EPP compatible PCI card with latest mfg driver file (Rosewill RC-304)(Most likely not 100% EPP according to the FAQ's on the Rosewill site)
- Port address is correct in Mach3
- 540B xml file from Gecko (Charge Pump on port #1, pin 16)
- "Use Watchdogs" and "Charge Pump on in e-stop" are both checked in the General Configuration table.
- I don't have an option for EPP in the Device Manager anywhere.
- Win XP

So, does anyone out there have a PCI add-on parallel card that can get the charge pump to work with a G540 and Mach3? If so, what card and was EPP an option in Device Manager or maybe a seperate utility?

Any help or advise appreciated.

Regards,
Frank

[jalessi]

Frank,

Siig works when all others fail.

http://www.siig.com/ViewProduct.aspx?pn=JJ-P00112-S6


Jeff...

[Jr's Farm]

Jeff,

Did it work right out of the box or did you have to select EPP mode somewhere?

[jalessi]

Frank,

We have used Siig on several customers machines, I don't recall the device manager configuration.

The Moschip NM9715 "Rosewill RC-304" has been discontinued for almost three years due to compatibility issues.

Moschip replaced the NM9715 with the NM9815 "9800 series" .

Sorry I could not give more detailed info on the Siig.

Jeff...

[dmauch]

You don't set EPP in device manager you set it in bios.

Dan Mauch

Originally Posted by Jr's Farm Trying to find an add-on card that works with the G540 charge pump circuit. When the pump is disabled everything else seems to be fine, I can jog the motors and there appears to be no other issues, but no matter what I can't get the Charge Pump to enable without faulting. At this point I can only assume it's the PCI parallel card. Pertinent info: - G540 in pre-wired Keling box - Mach3 - DB25 straight thru cable - EPP compatible PCI card with latest mfg driver file (Rosewill RC-304)(Most likely not 100% EPP according to the FAQ's on the Rosewill site) - Port address is correct in Mach3 - 540B xml file from Gecko (pump on port #1, pin 16. Watchdogs yes and pump on e-stop) - I don't have an option for EPP in the Device Manager anywhere. - Win XP So, does anyone out there have a PCI add-on parallel card that can get the charge pump to work with a G540 and Mach3? If so, what card and was EPP an option in Device Manager or maybe a seperate utility? Any help or advise appreciated. Regards, Frank

[Jr's Farm]

Originally Posted by dmauch You don't set EPP in device manager you set it in bios. Dan Mauch

I think you might have missed the fact about the PCI parallel add on card. The BIOS only works for the motherboard integrated parallel circuit, which I unfortunately don't have.

So I'm looking for a way to utilize EPP on a PCI add on card. As I undertand it, on compatible cards it may be an option in Device Manager.

Frank

[phomann]

Ditto

http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=75142

Cheers,

Peter

[Jr's Farm]

Originally Posted by phomann Ditto http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=75142 Cheers, Peter

Thanks for that, but I've already tried that. I tried to mention that in my original post but I guess I may have been vague. My apologies.

I edited and reworded the original post to help eliminate confusion.

- "Use Watchdogs" and "Charge Pump on in e-stop" are both checked in the General Configuration table.

Regards,
Frank

[ronncat]

Frank,
You and I definitely are having the same problem. See my post on green light... as I have added more info. I just ordered a Lava PCI card. We'll see if that one works. It uses a different chip, so maybe I'll get lucky this time. I'll keep you informed.

Ron

[Jr's Farm]

ronncat,

Quoting you from your "Need Help! G540 Green Light..Go or no go? " thread here, as the info form Mariss might help others understand the shortcomings of the PCI parallel card issue. Great info!

Originally Posted by ronncat Looks like Jr and I have a similar problem. I currently have a Startech PCI parallel card installed in my XP computer. The driver test gives excellent results... However, the charge pump does not work. THIS IS WHERE I GIVE MY SINCEREST THANKS TO MARRIS AT GECKO!!! I called tech support at Gecko with several questions and concerns about my G540. Eventually I was treated to an extended conversation with Marris. He broke down all of my questions and answered them in a way that a non-electronics whiz could understand. Marris also gave me an incredible amount of other info that I will definitely be able to use during my install. In short, this is what I learned...If the parallel port is not set to EPP or ECP, the drive motors will still work, but the other features of the G540 will not work with any consistency. VFD, and outputs 1 and 2 will not be functional, nor will the charge pump. These "extras" of the G540 may work from time to time, but without the extra boost in output that EPP affords to the parallel port the voltage may be too close to the cutoff for active high or low. Marris also instructed me to wire a 1 amp diode (1N4004) with the cathode side connected to the + DC side of the power supply in parallel to the solenoids I was using to control spindle and coolant for outputs 1 & 2. This was so when the coil deenergizes, you won't blow up the power supply. I contacted Startech re: setting the PCI parallel port to EPP. They were unable to help and suggested I contact the chipmaker MosChip to see if there was anyway to modify the drivers. So......Anyone know how to switch a MosChip NM9805 to EPP. This is a PCI port and does not show in the Bios. Also no options in device manager to do so. (At least that I could surmise) Guess my next step is to call MosCip...

And of course your followup with the Moschip info pretty much states the same that I found at Rosewill (use's Moschip 9815), in that you can only change the port mode in DOS or Windows NT. I'm not sure how they can say that the card is compatible with all the software they say, when clearly it's not.



Oh well. Still looking.

Frank

[kdaniel32]

Hi-

I'm having the same problem. My onboard parallel port doesn't support EPP in bios and I've tried MosChip and SIIG cards. Did anyone find a card that works? Has anyone tried to solve this with the CNC4PC C26 - Output Buffer Board?

Thanks,

Kevin

[morestuff]

The problem with MOSCHIP (and possibly other) interfaces driving the G540 signals other than step and direction results from the outputs being "open drain" unless the interface is set to EPP mode which cause the chip to use regular totem-pole TTL style output drive.

The G540 inputs are just a current limiting resistor feeding the positive side of an LED inside of an optocoupler. The negative side of the LED is returned to ground. This means that the parallel port signal must be able to source enough current to turn on the LED. The open drain style outputs cannot source current and rely on whatever pull-up resistor the board manufacturer provides as the source of current when the signal is supposed to be high. This resistor is often a large enough resistance value to limit the current to a value below the response current threshold of the optocoupler.

When the port is set to EPP mode, the chip actively drives the signal high and the problem goes away.

I do not know if any parallel port chips will behave differently, so the solution is to find a board that provides you with a way to set EPP mode without assistance from the BIOS. This will probably take the form of a utility or driver supplied with the board.

Some breakout boards, including PMDX products, will buffer the signal with a CMOS gate instead of directly driving an optocoupler. This reduces the probability of the problem but may not always eliminate it. Some PMDX boards have a 10K ohm pull DOWN resistor to assure that an input that is not connected assumes the LOW state. If the pull up resistor on the open drain outputs of the parallel port are greater than 5K ohms, operation may not be reliable. The original IBM parallel ports used 1K ohms and most but not all vendors followed this tradition.

Regards,
Steve Stallings
www.PMDX.com