PMDX-1PARPCI board not interfacing with controller

[Phrotus]

First I need to say I'm totally new to CNC but do operate a 3D printer and a hobby machine shop with manual B'port mill and 12x36 lathe.

I've been working, literally, 3 weeks trying to get my new Taig mill to talk to my Win 7 pro-32bit/Mach3 dedicated PC. I worked for a week with Mach3 support without success, who eventually ran out of things to try and advised that possibly my inboard parallel port wasn't putting out enough voltage to drive the motors.....I measured 3.3 vdc at the PC port and that made sense. So I bought a new parallel port board from PMDX as indicated in the subject line above and have had the same (no) success. Also, checked to make sure I had a 'straight-through DB25 cable but just in case, I ordered a new one, again no joy.

  My control system is from Deepgroove1.com and incorporates a Gecko G540 unit. I've confirmed it is talking to the motors since I can hear the motors ramp-up and get warm when the controller is powered on.

 ----->   However, I'm not sure about the new (PMDX-1PARPCI) Parallel port card's port address. As I read the address of the new card (LPT 2) in Device Manager, I have 2 choices; D010-D017 or D000-D007.  If one of them is correct, then how do I type in the information into Mach3 config ? Mind-you, the original address was.... 0x378 with an alternate choice of 0x278. The new addresses are so different from the standard card, that I'm not sure what to do here.

 Also, the DVD containing the drivers had no installation instructions that I could read. So I assumed the 'setup' file used the correct drivers for the parallel port that I bought.....IIRC, it was 302.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Tom

[12strings]

Was the problem with the built-in parallel port only that the motors wouldn't move?  Could you control the G540's two general purpose outputs from Mach3?  Read the four inputs in Mach3?  See the EStop signal?  Did you disable the G540's charge pump?

As far as the add-in parallel port board. those addresses are typical for PCI cards.  The 0x378/0x278 are legacy PC motherboard parallel port addresses.  Add-in cards cannot use those addresses.  Try using d010 (that is a hexadecimal value, by the way) in Mach3 and see if you can make one of the output lines toggle.  For example, configure pin 1 as "spindle on", then turn the spindle on and off and use your volt meter to see if the voltage goes high (3.3. or 5 V) and low (near 0V).  If that doesn't work, try the other address (D000).  It has been a long time since I've run Mach3, so I am not sure about this, but you may need to enter the port address as 0xD010, not just D010.

[Phrotus]

First.....thanks for the reply.

As far as I can tell, I've never been able to get the G540 to respond to any Mach3 controls neither the built-in port or the new port  . The only motor response I hear is when power is applied to the (Deepgroove1) controller with corresponding green LED and the motors warm up.

1) Read the four inputs in Mach3? ....not sure I comprehend your question.
2) Where should I see the Estop signal...at the PC Parallel port? What should I do to produce that signal?
3) No I have not disabled the G540's charge pump..... but will try it.

Good info for me. I'm assuming that you want me to take those measurements at the PC's port. Also, your comment about 'legacy' prompts me to ask about my BIOS setting, should it be Legacy or Native? I think I've currently reset it to Legacy. I'm not at that PC at the moment.

Anyway, many many thanks for the response and I'll make those changes/measurements and see how she goes.
Tom

[Phrotus]

Well, I was not correct about the Charge Pump setting at G540. It is disabled (OFF). However I did try it in the ON position and 2 things happened.
1) The red LED lamp came on on the G540
2) I received a warning on Mach3 ; "Estop button pressed". I clicked the "RESET" button in Mach3 to clear the message.

So which setting is required with the PMDX-1PARPCI board?

Item #2 above - that is the first time in 3 weeks that I have seen evidence that the PC is communicating with G540.

I also tried inputting D010 and D000 into the port #2 address box but had no joy. Also, another question- There is a box below the Address box with: [] Pins 2-9 as inputs. -----should I check that box?

Tom

[Phrotus]

Success !!

The problem turned out to be Mach3 driver related. To resolve my problem I basically did another clean reformat/install of (OEM) Win 7 Pro sp1, 32bit  into my old NexLink PC and downloaded and fresh copy of Mach3. Initially I had no success using the internal LPT#1 board but when I switched to LPT#2 (PMDX-1PARPC) the Taig Mill responded to the Mach3. 'DriverTest' gave me an Excellent report.

Thanks for the help, I've really learned a lot during this process.
Happy New Year,
Tom
Hartwell, Ga.