[tbaker2500]

Is the Mach engine loading and running in Device Manager?

[TiagoSantos]

I'm surprised at their response, especially given the loose screws inside the box. Anyway.. Did you change the parallel port settings to EPP in the bios?

[Chris Duncan]

Is the Mach engine loading and running in Device Manager?

Yes

[Chris Duncan]

I'm surprised at their response, especially given the loose screws inside the box. Anyway.. Did you change the parallel port settings to EPP in the bios?

No, it was on ECP, will that make a difference?

[tbaker2500]

Worth a shot. Of course it needs to bi-directional.
You will have better luck with a port that outputs 5v, but my 3.3v port works fine.

What file did they have you install, by the way?

[Chris Duncan]

Worth a shot. Of course it needs to bi-directional.
You will have better luck with a port that outputs 5v, but my 3.3v port works fine.

What file did they have you install, by the way?

PCNC770M3.xml was the config file



comdlg32.ocx was the file to get the configurator to run

[TiagoSantos]

No idea what the EPP vs ECP thing does, never looked into it, but I remember it was one of the Mach3 recommended settings.

Do you have a printer with a parallel port handy? Could be worth a shot to rule out the PC side of things.

[TiagoSantos]

Or you could jumper some of the pins on the end of your parallel cable to make a loop back test, like this:
PassMark Loopback Parallel & Serial port pinouts

The port is most likely fine, but worth a shot.

[Chris Duncan]

Or you could jumper some of the pins on the end of your parallel cable to make a loop back test, like this:
PassMark Loopback Parallel & Serial port pinouts

The port is most likely fine, but worth a shot.

No parallel printer handy. I'll try the loopback test but betting it's okay. Everything looks good on the PC side.

This is a known good PC, ran it for years. Now it has a new hard drive and the new XP install went flawless. All the drivers loaded no problem. Immediate internet connection. Updated the video drivers and then disabled the internet connection.

All the config for Mach went smoothly.
Got a near perfect on the drivertest.exe.

Starting to think this is a Tormach electronics issue.

[TiagoSantos]

I agree, but nonetheless the more tests you do to rule things out, the more likely you'll get Tormach to agree its their problem and start giving you some suggestions on how to check their end. I know nothing about the tormach controller, but does your troubleshooting guide give you any suggestions for checking the electronics? There should be a breakout board that the parallel port connects to - is there power to the board? Start poking things with a multimeter

[Chris Duncan]

I agree, but nonetheless the more tests you do to rule things out, the more likely you'll get Tormach to agree its their problem and start giving you some suggestions on how to check their end. I know nothing about the tormach controller, but does your troubleshooting guide give you any suggestions for checking the electronics? There should be a breakout board that the parallel port connects to - is there power to the board? Start poking things with a multimeter

The service manual is pretty extensive. Lots of electronic tests. Agree have to take all the steps

[yarnairb]

New guy here. I've been eyeing a 770 and have followed this thread with antici....pation. Please provide an update on your problem and (hopefully) solution. I was planning to build my own controller as well and now I'm getting jittery.

[DiverBob]

I have a 770 and have been controlling it with an old XP computer that has a parallel port. I used the suggestions from the Mach 3 manual for configuring it and it has worked well with no issues. I do not have it connected to the Internet so no virus protection and I removed almost every application on it. These steps go a long way towards giving you a clean, well behaved computer.
When this computer dies I will just do the same with whatever old computer I have on hand.

[Chris Duncan]

Okay, back from out of town.

Reloaded Win XP in order to have nothing in the start menu. The software for the vid card leaves items in the start menu. If you don't load it then the start menu stays empty. So did a fresh install so there's nothing in the start menu. Loaded Tormach Mach and configured. Ran drivertest.exe, again perfect, under 4uS, "system excellent".

Went down to the local used PC store and picked up a printer with a parallel connection. Windows picks it up immediately and loaded just the printer driver and printed a test page, all normal. So the parallel port is working.

Hooked everything up to the 770. Still no connection, still no computer light on the control panel. Double checked all the parallel connection pins, all normal.

This is going back into Tormach's court on Monday. I'm starting to think these machines are never even turned on and test run after they are built. Because this Windows box is about as simple as it's possible to get. It's either working or it's not, and it prints from the parallel port.

[dbrija]

Okay, back from out of town.

Reloaded Win XP in order to have nothing in the start menu. The software for the vid card leaves items in the start menu. If you don't load it then the start menu stays empty. So did a fresh install so there's nothing in the start menu. Loaded Tormach Mach and configured. Ran drivertest.exe, again perfect, under 4uS, "system excellent".

Went down to the local used PC store and picked up a printer with a parallel connection. Windows picks it up immediately and loaded just the printer driver and printed a test page, all normal. So the parallel port is working.

Hooked everything up to the 770. Still no connection, still no computer light on the control panel. Double checked all the parallel connection pins, all normal.

This is going back into Tormach's court on Monday. I'm starting to think these machines are never even turned on and test run after they are built. Because this Windows box is about as simple as it's possible to get. It's either working or it's not, and it prints from the parallel port.

Did you verify the parallel port address? Mach3 expects 0x378 by default...

[Chris Duncan]

Did you verify the parallel port address? Mach3 expects 0x378 by default...

Yes that was part of the config

[Chris Duncan]

Did you verify the parallel port address? Mach3 expects 0x378 by default...

[Scott_M]

Hi Chris
The pcnc config utility shows what it expects.
Go to device manager/ports ( Com&LPT)
Check your par port resource tab and see what it is reporting for the actual setting.
It should be 378 but it could be different. If it is enter the number that is reported into the config utility.

Just one more thing to check.

Scott

[Chris Duncan]

Hi Chris
The pcnc config utility shows what it expects.
Go to device manager/ports ( Com&LPT)
Check your par port resource tab and see what it is reporting for the actual setting.
It should be 378 but it could be different. If it is enter the number that is reported into the config utility.

Just one more thing to check.

Scott

checked it, reads 0378

[Scott_M]

Hi Chris

Sorry if this sounds really basic but did you click the reset button? When you first start mach you have to click the reset button to initalize the connection. In your screenshot above, the long red LED above the reset button should be green.

But then again it would stay red if it can't connect.

I am not trying to insult...just checking the basics.

Scott