Windows XP Pro and Mach 3 weird stuff

[rwaudio]

Hello, this is my first post here.
I've been reading this site for awhile now, and it seems loaded with info and great people.
I'm basically done the "collecting" parts for my 3 axis cnc router.
So over the past couple days I've been setting up the computer, drives, motors etc.
What I have:
Windows XP Pro (fresh install, no updates or other programs installed)
Mach 3 v2.48 Trial
athlon xp something.. (clocks at 1533) 768MB ram
xylotex 3 axis board
xylotex 425 oz/in motors

Now, here's the weird part... in the driver test, most of the time it will crash UNLESS I keep moving the mouse (not clicking, just moving it around the screen) and when I move the mouse the pulse per second readout is roughly 5 times higher. .IE no mouse movement it either crashes or drops to 10,000 and lower down into the hundreds sometimes. if I move the mouse it averages 25,000 - 50,000.

Odd thing number 2.. in Mach 3 after setting up the motors, they are jerky and appear to miss steps or not turn at all, unelss I move the mouse, in which case they turn smooth and quiet and I can top them out at very high speed. same goes for inputing g-codes directly IE G0 X50 Y50 Z50 etc... no mouse movement the motors rock, shake, make loud noises... till I move the mouse and then they are smooth, quiet and fast.

Sofar I've tried changing the parallel port address in bios, then adjusting in Mach 3, tried different kernel speeds, it even works REALLY good at 100,000 IF I move the mouse.

If I unplug the mouse (USB) it's like not moving it and things are slow or crash.

It will be a little while before I'm ready to get things to the testing point on the machine so I have some time to get this fixed, but I'd really like to start building the computer and other electronics into the enclosure I'm going to use.

What am I doing wrong?

[ger21]

If the drivertest crashes, Mach won't run properly (if at all). Read the manual about the special driver you might need to try.
http://www.artsoftcontrols.com/docum...M3M1_84-A2.pdf

It's in the first section about installation.

If that doesn't help, you might want to turn off ACPI in the bios. This sometimes requires reinstalling XP.

I'd also try running windows update and getting all the XP updates before installing Mach3.

There's an optimization list that you can try, but usually should be the last resort.
http://www.artsoftcontrols.com/optimisation%20XP.txt

You did reboot XP immediately after installation, right?

[rwaudio]

I did the reboot as required after the install.
But I'll try the things you recommended, thankyou for the very promp help.
A few times in Mach 3 I would get a "watchdog driver" error that would stop Mach 3 just like an E-Stop.
The computer is built from old stuff I had laying around, but it ran ok though a little slow by todays standards.
anyways, I'll post what happens tonight when I give those things a try.
thanks again.

[rwaudio]

Hello all,
the problem was windows driver/update related.
I formated the computer and reinstalled windows (using the F5 install method noted in the mach 3 manual as "standard pc") installed all the updates, service pack 2 etc. and it works like a charm. Now in the driver test program I get a rock solid 25,659 which only varies +1 every few seconds, and the "chart" is flat, there are no visible spikes.
The motors turn smooth and perfect, I even greated a text engraving g-code to make sure it will run a full program and it's smooth and fast.
Thanks for your links ger21, I had browsed the manual but didn't look that close before.

I'll get some pictures of my machine up soon.