I have a Chinese router running Cnc planet. It's worked flawlessly for 2-3 years, then coming back after lunch, nothing. No jog. The program runs but the machine is down. Xmas means big trouble - no deliveries = no spares. Don't know if it was / is the cable or the breakout board. Assuming it's the breakout board (integrated with the drivers), it is dead.

I have another smaller machine, with a separate (working) control box but
I believe it is a USB pc out to parallel input. With no instructions on the DIP settings, it was quicker for me to transfer motors. Now the homing menu etc is all greyed out. At least I now hear a motor hiss but the software won't initialise and so again it won't run the steppers.
I've tried both a parallel cable and the USB/ parallel.
It has to be REALLY simple but I can't work it out.
Suggestions?