[pogo]

Hello everyone. This is my first post here so my apologies if not in the correct place on the forums.

I just bought what appears to be a nice CNC driving setup on eBay from some guy in Hong Kong. ( Didn't know that when I sent the money. ) Took forever to get here so I am, of course, a little apprehensive about things. All looks to be good quality hardware, however I have yet to get the dang thing to prove to me that it is communicating with my Sony Vaio PCG-GRX550 laptop via the Parallel Port. I just proved that the LPT1 port does indeed work so it's not fried. There are no LEDs or any indicators at all on the Parallel Port breakout board in this thing. I have only tried freebie download Mach 3 so far, and just tried getting the motors to spin with no results. Signals are definitely going to the steppers because I hear and feel them sync up or whatever when the unit is powered up.

This is the eBay auction # if you care to take a look at it to see if it would help: 190116001949 ( I assume I can post the auction # in this case ? )

At this point I just want to determine if it's some problem with the Vaio laptop's Parallel Port - similar to RS232 voltage levels with regards to PCs and microcontrollers, etc. Or if the breakout board is faulty, etc.

Thanks in advance for ANY help!
Regards -
Pogo

[Cycle Start]

i have heard that using a laptop is a bad idea "something obout the bat save and charge modes" try using a desk top

[pogo]

Thanks for the reply! I got it working, though:
1) Bought a parallel port signal booster & isolator from Carol Brent on eBay
2) Had to rewire part of the parallel breakout board to stepper controller - a couple of the wire were broken off inside the screw terminals.
Now it works ! (well, motors are turning ... now I have to figure out what I'm doing ! )