No/Losing Comm & Spindle controller issues

[dubliner]

Ive had a hell of a time with either No Comm or losing comm after appearing to have it. I moved shop, used a Vista laptop instead of old XP machine I had and DL'd latest SB version. Spoke with Frank yesterday after a repeat of last weeks issues with Chris, and Frank told me to "force" the machine on to com port 4 instead of 10 as it was showing up in device manager. It worked, so in case any one else is having issues there try that, the other niggly thing is when I plug the Spindle USB in directly to the computer, I lose Comm again, and have to start over, so I'll leave the SP. USB out for now. Anybody else come across that one? PS I had it plugged into the hub with the Bot for 4 years without a glitch, but everyone says leave the Bot & Hub clean?????

[adrianm]

I have the 'Bot and the spindle plugged into the SB supplied hub and it's always worked fine for me.

[dubliner]

Looks like my SC board may be bad, got a new version in the mail yesterday. Probably a dumb question but do you plug the new type directly into the Hub?

[Gary Campbell]

Neville...
I had the best luck (with the old style) plugging the SC cord into a separate port on the control computer. The SB controller card goes into the hub (only the SB controller card) and the hub is plugged directly into the control computer.

[rhfurniture]

Hi, Laptops can be problematic due to power management, have you tried it on a box?
R

[Gary Campbell]

On ALL computers, laptop or PC, the power managment service should be turned off. When turned off there is not a problem. There is a large number of other services that can/should be turned off for use as a SB control computer. For more info see: www.blackviper.com (http://www.blackviper.com)

[cowboy1296]

I am using a dell mini 10, plugged into a ac plug. I still get periodic bumping. Not loosing comm any more and i don't loose my zero, just a clunk and and the shop bot continues cutting. this is an x axis issue. i am running windows xp and have everything that i can see disabled. now how do i turn off the power management?

thanks

[penman]

Rick,
to alter power management go to, control Panel, in there you will find a power option, double click and it should bring up all the power control options.

Regards,

Roger.

[Gary Campbell]

Rick...
For my control computer I go to [Start Menu]>Administative Tools > Services. Then, using the guidelines on balck viper's site, I set as per "tweaked" and then take a few more selected from "bare bones". Since I disable the network (lan) port, most of the network services are not on.

Clean XP will boot in 8 seconds and run using only 45 megs of ram with these services disabled.

[scottbot]

Rick,
I have a Dell laptop that I've been running my 'Bot with for about 3 years now.
If I leave the wireless on the laptop switched on I get the bump (crash) that sounds similar to what you are getting on your x axis. My bump only occured on the x axis too.
If I turn the wireless off I never get that problem.
Hope that helps.

Scott

[srwtlc]

It's also quite likely that there are some CPU power options in the BIOS. If you're comfortable mucking around in there, you usually have to hit "delete" or some other key shown during boot up. In there, you can look for something that would have to do with CPU throttling.

I understand the lure of using a laptop, but it's just not the most optimal thing to use for running a CNC and a dusty environment is no place for one.

[cowboy1296]

I just recently turned mine off also. And it did help but I did have another bump with it off.

@gary. I searched the website (which might be under re construction) and although i found and clicked on topics that i wanted to read, and apparently they were not findable. but i will look again.

when you say 30 inches it does not sound that big but i bought a 30 inch commercial wall mounted fan for my garage. man i hope the wall does not fall down, its big and i am hoping that it will keep the dust under control. while on the lap top issue does it make sence to remove the battery even if i am on ac power?

thanks.

[Gary Campbell]

Rick...
I dont have a lot of info aimed towards use of laptops. I am sure that a good number are using them, but many of the things, both hardware and software, that make a laptop good as a pertable computer, make them bad for a dedicated control computer. For that reason I would not use, or recommend using a laptop.

One more thing, and of course it applies to boxes too, is buying a branded machine. Branded machines are loaded with dozens of stupid little conveniences that run in the backround and want to access the internet, or check your ink level or a number of things not needed on a control computer. Thats why I always format and install XP clean. Then turn off EVERYTHING that doesnt hamper the operation of SB3 or the SB Link. No internet, no wireless, no network, printer drivers-not software. No other software whatsoever on the machine, except for VCPro or PWKS.

I have to make my living with the machine, so my scenario may be different than others have experienced.

[cowboy1296]

I got another bump today. Luckily I am not loosing my zero. A few months back my high speed hub cratered. I believe and still believe that my usb ports are 2.0 in speed and have been running the sb right off of the usb and other then the occasional bump no problems. just to be on the safe side i just ordered a high speed hub and will hook it up when it comes in.

when i first started this i thought i knew computers but the truth is i don't know anything. it has definitely been an experience. until today i never heard of xp clean. i will try and configure the laptop to see if that helps.

question: do you run the sb while the computer is started in xp clean?

[Gary Campbell]

Rick...
I may not have explained that part clearly. What I meant is that I wipe the computer completly clean, and do a new install of Windows.

[ssflyer]

An easy way to get a clean boot is with the msconfig utility. With it, you can selectively disable almost anything that your computer boots with - startup programs, services, ini files, etc. Great troubleshooting tool...

Just go to "Start" - "Run" and type "msconfig"

Ron

[cowboy1296]

I am learning as much about computers on this forum as the shop bot. I utilized the msconfig/services command yesterday. with my new jet stream fan i would not have been able to hear anything anyhow but i don't think i had any issues.

the lap top is utilized as a control computer until i go on road trips and need email and gps help. until then the essential services and a couple of others will be allowed to run. the next file i cut i will let y'all know if i hit that bump. this time i will leave the fan off so i can hear it.

[jerry_stanek]

Sunday I had a problem that has been showing up every now and then where my limit switches wouldn't work. I traced it down to a bad trace on the controller board. I ended up moving the ground to a different terminal and all is good.

[cowboy1296]

I am going to tell you computer gurus what you already know. By turning off the services that i do not need and then open up the control software, no more bumping. it took me a short while to realize that i needed plug in play active since i transfer my file to the laptop via a flash disk. thanks for yalls input.

i know that this did not help the bumping issue but my new 2.0 hub was added to the laptop.

[Gary Campbell]

Guys...
A short note here. It is not recommended to turn off services using msconfig from the command line. Recommended way is: START MENU > Administrative Tools > Services. More info on this at www.blackviper.com (http://www.blackviper.com) BV shows how to set up for a maxed out gaming computer on a network. There are a few things different to make a SB control computer work well.

[cowboy1296]

I saw your earlier post before about services and will certainly check into it more. thanks for the feed back

[COBOB]

Unless you are using that control computer for something else, you cannot beat the Black Viper Bare Bones configuration. Dead reliable. Not a thing left to interfere with the operation.