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Parallel port config? - probably

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8 years 6 months ago #108362 by Gr8funTargets
Morning all
I've copied the file Marvin.stepconf and the folder "Marvin" to the configs folder on the new machine.
Then edited the file Marvin.hal.
I added a # at the start of the line with "loadrt probe_parport"
Saved and tried it.

Still no change.
No movement of the axis, despite them moving on the screen.
I've powered off ALL devices including the BOB, power supply, drivers and PC and restarted them all.
Stil no change.
I was planning on changing the location of the PC so have a longer and new parallel cable, so I've swapped this out too just in case.
No change.

In case it is helpful, here is the Marvin.hal file
Code:
# Generated by stepconf at Sun Jul 13 21:22:44 2014 # If you make changes to this file, they will be # overwritten when you run stepconf again loadrt trivkins loadrt [EMCMOT]EMCMOT base_period_nsec=[EMCMOT]BASE_PERIOD servo_period_nsec=[EMCMOT]SERVO_PERIOD num_joints=[TRAJ]AXES #loadrt probe_parport loadrt hal_parport cfg="0x378 out " setp parport.0.reset-time 5000 loadrt stepgen step_type=0,0,0 addf parport.0.read base-thread addf stepgen.make-pulses base-thread addf parport.0.write base-thread addf parport.0.reset base-thread addf stepgen.capture-position servo-thread addf motion-command-handler servo-thread addf motion-controller servo-thread addf stepgen.update-freq servo-thread net spindle-cmd <= motion.spindle-speed-out net spindle-on <= motion.spindle-on net estop-out => parport.0.pin-01-out net xstep => parport.0.pin-02-out setp parport.0.pin-02-out-reset 1 net ydir => parport.0.pin-03-out net zstep => parport.0.pin-07-out setp parport.0.pin-07-out-reset 1 setp parport.0.pin-08-out-invert 1 net zdir => parport.0.pin-08-out net spindle-on => parport.0.pin-09-out net xdir => parport.0.pin-14-out net ystep => parport.0.pin-16-out setp parport.0.pin-16-out-reset 1 setp stepgen.0.position-scale [AXIS_0]SCALE setp stepgen.0.steplen 1 setp stepgen.0.stepspace 0 setp stepgen.0.dirhold 50000 setp stepgen.0.dirsetup 50000 setp stepgen.0.maxaccel [AXIS_0]STEPGEN_MAXACCEL net xpos-cmd axis.0.motor-pos-cmd => stepgen.0.position-cmd net xpos-fb stepgen.0.position-fb => axis.0.motor-pos-fb net xstep <= stepgen.0.step net xdir <= stepgen.0.dir net xenable axis.0.amp-enable-out => stepgen.0.enable setp stepgen.1.position-scale [AXIS_1]SCALE setp stepgen.1.steplen 1 setp stepgen.1.stepspace 0 setp stepgen.1.dirhold 50000 setp stepgen.1.dirsetup 50000 setp stepgen.1.maxaccel [AXIS_1]STEPGEN_MAXACCEL net ypos-cmd axis.1.motor-pos-cmd => stepgen.1.position-cmd net ypos-fb stepgen.1.position-fb => axis.1.motor-pos-fb net ystep <= stepgen.1.step net ydir <= stepgen.1.dir net yenable axis.1.amp-enable-out => stepgen.1.enable setp stepgen.2.position-scale [AXIS_2]SCALE setp stepgen.2.steplen 1 setp stepgen.2.stepspace 0 setp stepgen.2.dirhold 50000 setp stepgen.2.dirsetup 50000 setp stepgen.2.maxaccel [AXIS_2]STEPGEN_MAXACCEL net zpos-cmd axis.2.motor-pos-cmd => stepgen.2.position-cmd net zpos-fb stepgen.2.position-fb => axis.2.motor-pos-fb net zstep <= stepgen.2.step net zdir <= stepgen.2.dir net zenable axis.2.amp-enable-out => stepgen.2.enable net estop-out <= iocontrol.0.user-enable-out net estop-out => iocontrol.0.emc-enable-in loadusr -W hal_manualtoolchange net tool-change iocontrol.0.tool-change => hal_manualtoolchange.change net tool-changed iocontrol.0.tool-changed <= hal_manualtoolchange.changed net tool-number iocontrol.0.tool-prep-number => hal_manualtoolchange.number net tool-prepare-loopback iocontrol.0.tool-prepare => iocontrol.0.tool-prepared

My logic is now pointing at the BOB, but I'm no expert here - hence me asking for help ;-)
Are there any tests I can perform?

Many thanks for your persistence with this.
ATB
Danny

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8 years 6 months ago #108374 by Todd Zuercher
Well, the first thing I would check on your BOB; many of them require an external power source(s) such as by a USB cable to the computer. Do you have those connected?

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8 years 6 months ago #108389 by Gr8funTargets
Hi Todd
Yup, I have power from the driver power supply into the micro USB. This has not changed since it was last working a couple of weeks ago (when the PC died).
It is a ZP5A-INT Breakout board
image missing http://www.windwhistle.co.uk/cnc/driver-BOB.jpg
(This shows what I have, the pic was taken when I was first setting up, hence the lack of wires to the drivers etc )
The is one red LED lit to show it has power.
Interestingly, there are no LEDs lighting when the motors *should* be running, that suggests it is either not getting a signal or not processing it.

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8 years 6 months ago #108494 by andypugh
Start LinuxCNC from the command line (with the command "linuxcnc") and see what output you get.

But if the UI loads and LinuxCNC starts it sounds like the software side of things is correct. So i would start to suspect hardware (including the parallel port hardware).

There are some suggestions here: www.cnczone.com/forums/stepper-motors-dr...driver-problems.html that the enable signals might be problematic. Perhaps the new MB can't quite source enough current to drive the enables?
Does anything else seem to work? Inputs (limit switches) would tell us a lot.
The following user(s) said Thank You: Gr8funTargets

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8 years 6 months ago #108509 by Gr8funTargets
Thanks Todd and andypugh for all your help - it is very much appreciated.

For completeness of the thread I have now had a multimeter on the pins of the parallel port and with the use of the port tester here..
wiki.linuxcnc.org/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?Parallel_Port_Tester
I could prove the parallel port is working fine.

Having achieved this, I have now ordered a new BOB as that is the next link in the chain.

ATB
Danny

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8 years 4 weeks ago #118439 by luka_339
So does this mean that GA-E3800N motherboard works well with linux cnc? The latency is good ?

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