Need Help!- Mach3 and MPG2 madness.

[cjdavis618]

Got a P4 2.6Ghz desktop PC with 2gig ram, that has a second parallel card installed. I am using a Moschip 9805 that I bought from Aturo at CNC4PC. (Second Card actually, same model and still have both and have tried both)

I have an MPG2 that I got from him along with a c22 board for interface into the 2nd LPT port. ( I actually have 2 c22 boards as well, tried both )

My 2nd port is set to 0x1090 in Mach 3.042, same port as the resource page shows me in windows. I also have all of the settings matched as Arturo's doc shows on his site.


When I go to the diagnostics page, all of the lights that represent the port pins on lpt2 remain solid. If I disable the port in Mach3, the lights go off and obviously I have no control using the MPG. With them on, the only inputs that work are the Reset switch and oddly, I can make one light up by pushing enable and then turning the feed knob all the way right. Once I do that, the MPG stops responding.

Oddly, I have actually gotten the system to respond one time. I was able to see the individual inputs lighting up when used in the diags page. After I was able to actually move the machine with it correctly, I saved the settings as they were. Then when I opened Mach3 back up again the next day, I had the same problem again and the ports were solid.


I am a Network engineer by trade and have done many things to the PC in order to resolve this. Swapped PCI slots, updated drivers (chipset, Printer, Video, etc,etc.) Bios updates, cables, and so on. I have tried legacy port settings, disabled and enabled IRQs for the port, etc.

So far, there is no real thing that I can point to that tells me what is going on. And I can't think of anything that I have done differently than the one time it worked.

I have also deleted my profile and recreated it and the same with the brains. Still the same issue persists.

Any ideas? I'm about to just forget the MPG and use my touchscreen all the time.

[cjdavis618]

Well, I believe I have found my issues. As I mentioned before, I am a network tech by trade and like to get into the guts of problems.

I was logically narrowing down this issue again after a small break for the problem. What I found is the the Printer port and software works correctly until I plug in the C22 card from CNC4Pc. When I plug that card in, my CPU jumps to 60% and the 2nd lpt port becomes very warm. I found that that the C22 causes my Interupts to use that amount of CPU while everything else is idle. I use an app called Process Explorer from Sysinternals (Now Microsoft) to find issues like this. Here is the link. http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/s.../bb896653.aspx

Never the less, I have tried 2 different C22 cards and also used a different cable. Once I plug in the c22, the CPU goes through the roof.

I am debating on whether to order the Modbus system and just not use this on LPT, Or order the USB model MPG that was listed on another thread here. Frankly I'm a little irritated that I have bought 2 C22 cards, and also 2 Parallel ports from CNC4pc and the same result exists. I have even tried this on another PC and the same results occured.

I would like to know what the C22 card does that causes this. I thought at first it was the Pc, but afterhaving this issue on 2 totally different spec PCs, it is not a Mach3 problem nor a problem with my Hardware. It is speciffically the c22 card.


For those of you that have used Modbus, are you happy with it? Would you go to the Modbus in my position, or spend the extra $100 and get a real USB MPG, that has more control than the standard axis jog controls of the MPG2?

Thanks
Chris

[Fastest1]

Reading this post now isnt very assuring.

[cjdavis618]

Sent you a pm. I did get this working after i tried a third pc that didn't have a VIA chipset. Once i plugged it into a hp that had an intel 845 chipset it worked.

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

[Fastest1]

Chris, That was really just a little frustration expressed after seeing all of your computers. I am pretty sure you have a much better idea of how they work than I. On the other hand I do like the challenge, I just have to vent to get there. I did get some movement on each axis though only in 1 direction and I am not sure if the step multiplier was working as it should. Again probably set up and configuration issues.

[Iron-Man]

Try this free software. It may help you diagnose the problem.
http://www.freevistafiles.com/image/...rt-Viewer.html

Hope this helps.


Iron-Man

[cjdavis618]

That's neat software. Thanks for the link.

[Fastest1]

A follow up just in case there was a feeling cjdavis618 isnt a stand up guy. He called me immediately after seeing my first post in this thread. He was genuinely concerned and offered to help and even buy it back. I was relieved but after playing with cnc machines for a little while now, I was pretty sure it was my misunderstanding of the set up that was causing the problem. If you saw how many computers and electronic stuff was around his shop and if he had problems during set up, I was doomed! That did not turn out to be the case. After much stubborness on my part, and a question and or email or 2 to Arturo @ Cnc4PC and all is working well. To let others know what I did. I did use the xml from the brains folder from the cnc4pc website. I had to copy all of my xml info from my previously successful file and superimpose it into the new xml. Mostly motor tuning and pin info. A few relay settings I have for spindle and flood needed to be moved over. The most confusion was in regards to the testing via the flyout (tab key). It took me a while to realize I had to select the axis on the screen not on the pendant, it was stated in the directions but A.D.D. made me resist! Works like a top now. It was just a tedious process that each step forward was a single step.

[cjdavis618]

Originally Posted by Fastest1 A follow up just in case there was a feeling cjdavis618 isnt a stand up guy. He called me immediately after seeing my first post in this thread. He was genuinely concerned and offered to help and even buy it back. I was relieved but after playing with cnc machines for a little while now, I was pretty sure it was my misunderstanding of the set up that was causing the problem. If you saw how many computers and electronic stuff was around his shop and if he had problems during set up, I was doomed! That did not turn out to be the case. After much stubborness on my part, and a question and or email or 2 to Arturo @ Cnc4PC and all is working well. To let others know what I did. I did use the xml from the brains folder from the cnc4pc website. I had to copy all of my xml info from my previously successful file and superimpose it into the new xml. Mostly motor tuning and pin info. A few relay settings I have for spindle and flood needed to be moved over. The most confusion was in regards to the testing via the flyout (tab key). It took me a while to realize I had to select the axis on the screen not on the pendant, it was stated in the directions but A.D.D. made me resist! Works like a top now. It was just a tedious process that each step forward was a single step.

Thanks for the update and the comments. I'm glad you got it working.

After I spent so much time working on the 2 PCs that didn't work with it, I realized that they were the same motherboard and all the components were almost identical. I had several other PCs to try and the last one worked fine. I did more testing and found out that the Bios was restricting my settings and when I had a system that actually gave me options, I narrowed it down to the IRQ settings for all PNP slots.

Anyway, thanks again and I'm waiting to see some videos of your machine we were talking about.

[Fastest1]

You can check out all of my mistakes on YouTube. The user name is CncObsession. You wont learn anything except what not to do :-)