Have finished populating all my boards and tried to spin a motor. Thats when I ran into problems; the engineer in me says to start at the front and work my way step by step. I have no electronic experience but as a chemical engineer feel I follow directions well and am some what good at problem solving? Not as good as when I was younger but not ready for the home yet.

Have learned to make a simple CAD program, converted to g code and it runs (dro move and tool path shows proper movement.) Have the following questions:

1. On the diagnostic page I have red on the Ref A, B, & C which I can not get rid of.

2. On the motor Tuning & setup I can not get a value to stay on the "step pulse."  It is 0, says it should be 1-5. I then type in a new number, save axis values, but when I go back to check it has defaulted back to 0??

3. When I check the pins on the computer Parallel Port with MACH3 screen on but nothing running I get the following values;
Pin 3 & 4 are 4.058 and 4.424 volts.
Pin 24 is 4.9 volts
Pins 1, 2, 3, 10, 11, 12, 13, & 25 are 0.043 volts
Pins 22, & 23 are 0.013 volts
All other pins are 0

Have a scope (Tek 465), not sure how to use it or if it works properly (bought off ebay) but I can't see any activity on any of the pins using it.

Running on an old computer, desk top, but processor speed is only 750. Many  posts say have to have at least 1000. Could this be the problem, I though the slower speed may make it miss steps but would still run?

aggie_67
Open for suggestions?

sounds like the port # isn't set on the ports and pins page also one of the pages has a estop pin which will have to be changed to active low if it's not hooked up.  The step pulse at zero should be fine.

mrmatt68, appreciate your reply.

Port #1 is set at 0x378, the default value. Have checked my computer and the LP1 I/O range is 0378-037F. Everything matches up to MACH3 instructions so feel comfortable there.

Estop is set at active low, had that answered in a previous post when the reset will not turn green and the g code would not run. I am getting the g code to run.

Did notice when I was verifying computer setting on LP1 that the port setting is set at "never use an interupt." Is this correct?

Mine has never use an interupt and it works fine
 Your 750MHz computer should run Mach, I ran for a while on a P3 450 with no problems.
If you dont have A. B and C axis set up then you wont be able to reference them so the LEDs will always be red, so thats not an issue.
Not sure what voltages you should see at the port but I would suspect you will only see a voltage when that pin is actually doing something, but then again maybe not, I will have to test this out.
 What exactly is your problem? is it that your motors wont turn but the DRO on screen moves? What drives and breakout are you using?

Hood

OK I know about as much as you when using a scope and I got mine off eBay as well
 Does yours have a test signal point to verify that the scope is working.
 I have just tried mine out and here are the settings I found work best
 Y Amplitude0.1v/cm TimeBase 0.1ms/cm and also make sure its on DC.
 For a direction pin you may either see a straight line on the scope or a blank screen, when you change direction it will change to the opposite of what it is.
 For the step pins you will see a straight line then when you move the axis you will see a series of "waves".
Hope this helps.
Hood

Hood, Yes problem is motor won't turn but DRO on screen move.

I have a Pminmo 4 axis Interface 4X072105 going to 3 single axis THSTEP25 microstepping driver boards.

Reading another post question was asked what the reading were when the driver test was ran. I get 24,200 Pulses per sec, 498 CPU speed, Apic Timing NO READING,Short 34 6961 and Long 47 0875. Don't know what any of that means but maybe someone does.

My interface board does not have optic isolators, could I have damaged my computer motherboard. What are the symptom when that happens??

aggie
 I think you would be best testing the port with your scope, as I said I know very little about using a scope but I managed to get a very clear reading by setting  as in above post and putting the probe to the different pins on the  disconected end of the Parallel port cable and jogging the axis via the keyboard. If you get similar readings then your port would seem to be OK.
Hood

Hood,

Appreciate you reply but as per my orginal post I can not get any readings with my scope? Tried all setting, went back and tried your settings again...zip!

Do you see anything at all on the scope?
 Another thing you could try is putting a voltmeter between ground and one of your direction pins on the parrallel port and use the keyboard to jog one way then the next, you should see about 5v one way and about 0v the other.
Hood

     Aggie,
    on the first mach screen, under "operator", make sure the control offline option doesn't
 have a check mark beside it.
                 Glenn