Mach 3 crashes my PC

[Richster]

Am just starting out with Mach3 on my desktop PC - for now I have the demo version only and haven't even completed my CNC machine yet... ]

My system is a little under spec, but fairly zippy in general and certainly not in bad shape for an elderly PC. The driver test works OK. It's an AMD Athlon 801MHz 384MB RAM. The crash manifests itself as a complete reset of the computer, i.e. like pressing the reset button on the front. On startup the message is 'Windows has recovered from a serious error. The crash can happen at any time, but generally it's when flicking around the screens or selecting a command, say. Left running as it would be when controlling the CNC machine, it seems fairly happy.

Also on the subject.... I had a quick play with LazyCam. I made myself a DXF in AutoCad, saved in the R112/LT2 format. Whatever I try, even something as simple as a line or a rectangle, I get the message 'No entities found' when importing into LazyCam. Any ideas?

Cheers - Rich

[dertsap]

go into the mach folder , click on and install the special driver

[Richster]

OK thanks - what's the folder/filename I'm looking for within c:\mach3?

Cheers - Rich

[dertsap]

that would be the one

[ger21]

specialdriver.bat I think

[Richster]

OK I have tried the new driver (and a restart). It seems a little more stable, however still can crash at any time for no obvious reason. I also have a laptop which I might be able to use - that doesn't have a parallel port, but would I be OK using a USB -> Parallel converter cable? A colleague was telling me the drivers to make these work are built into Windows anyway. I've never had the software crash on the laptop. It's odd - the laptop seems much slower actually since it is bogged down with all sorts of stuff, but the spec of the machine is higher.

When people talk about Mach3 crashes, is this generally the system taking a complete dump like is happening to me, or just the application crashing within Windows without taking the system out completely

Thanks

[ger21]

First, a USB > Parallel adapter won't work.

And Mach3 actually takes over control of windows, so when it crashes, it crashes hard.

On a very few, usually older PC's, Mach may not run at all. But for most PC's, steps can be taken that will get it to work OK. But it's not a simple process. Follow the instructions in this list, one at a time, checking after each step. If that doesn't work, you could try reinstalling windows and see if that works.

Another option is to use an external pulse generator via USB, like the NcPod or Smoothstepper, which was released this week.

www.oemtech.com
www.warp9td.com

[Patrick_v_M]

Hi,

Interesting subject; Mach3 having trouble with Windows or your hardware. Sounds familiar to me.

What kind of O.S. do you use? guessing WinXp, I think its best if you Use a Clean WinXp because the system properties you have are a bit low for Xp, but it can work "fine" (I use the same stuff for my machine) So just format your whole PC and reinstall Xp on it. (do also h.w. drivers)

As I said, I also have an older PC, with AMD Duron @800 MHz and 384 MbRAM. I installed Mach3 on it and a program called 'parmon' for being able to see the status of the parallel port of the PC. Now, when I ran both Mach3 and parmon. (new installed WinXp pro Sp2),, everything looks okay. But as soon I give a Jog command, the pin assigned for the 'step' pulses stays deadly still

Earlier I installed everything on my laptop (with parport) just for finding out what Mach3 does. on the laptop Everything works fine! including the step & direction signal. I can see the pin('s) assigned for the 'step' flashing in the 'parmon' program.

I attached the Parmon programm if you are interested

Does anyone have input on this?

Tanks, Patrick

[Richster]

Thanks Patrick.

Yes it's Windows XP - I'm actually thinking another option might be to do a separate installation on the same PC, and see how that goes. In this way I'd get rid of all the additional drivers, software and so on which might be causing the problem. I'd prefer not to re-format the complete HD however.

Another option would be to buy an old (but adequate) PC from eBay - these seem the be available for not too much.

I'm actually familiar with parmon from a previous project I did, but thanks anyway!

Cheers - Rich

[Patrick_v_M]

hi, Richster

that's fast!
yes that could be a smart option, if you have enough space left on the D-disk. remeber to install al the MoBo. drivers.

question for you: if you run parmon while performing a Mach3 job, can you actualy see the 'step' pins flashing? (pin 2 and 4)

[Richster]

I don't know TBH. Will try and check it out at the weekend. Although isn't there a diagnostic screen built into Mach3 which does much the same? I have never connected up my interface board (since I haven't finished the machine!) but imagine it would work with ot without it.

[Patrick_v_M]

THB?
No, i didn't find a actual pin status view in the 'diagnostics screen' or the rest of Mach3, that shows the real state of every pin of the ltp port.

I almost have my machine ready for use, using servo controllers. but they don't work, as soon as give a Jog commando the servo controller goes into error! that's my reason for using parmon and chekking out the signals.