Firstly, I would like to apologize in advanced, as I am brand new to CNC's and don't have very much (if any) experience/expertise in the field.

My problem is that the machine where I work is not communicating through the serial RS232 port. I am a first year engineering student at the University of Waterloo, and I have been assigned to write a report that describes how to get this machine to communicate with the computer. Apparently, it was previously programmed with tape, and my employer tells me that the machine was working properly at its previous location (before he bought it).

What I need is to learn the in's and out's of this problem. I need to be able to write a technical report on this situation for credit. What I am lacking is the background knowledge in this problem. I am furiously trying to learn, but I am feeling a bit overwhelmed at the moment...

I apologize for my lack of information on the problem, but any help/input you can give me will be greatly appreciated. Also, I am not 100% sure that the model of the machine is 11M (sorry). The manual I have is for the Fanuc 10M, 11M, and 12M, but I google-imaged the models, and the 11M results looked the closest. {Take a look}

If anyone can give me a push in the right direction it will help me out immensely.

Thanks,
Wes.