Window's Me

[anderboat@aol.com]

I just received my new ShopBot and have hooked up with my new Dell computer that was purchased with the new Window's Me program. I cannot get any serial port connection. Have tried to trouble shoot with now success. I borrowed my neighbors laptop that is a Toshiba with Window's 98, ShopBot ran perfectly. So my question is it the Dell or the new Window's Me?

[northernecho]

I would try a few things such as...
Look in the BIOS to make sure the ports are turned on (May be called Serial Ports or Com Ports and should have something like 2F8 or 3F8 beside them.

Borrow a Serial Mouse (same type of plug in as the shop bot) and see if that works.
If it does, the ports OK, and the Windows ME may be the problem.

You may have an Infra Red device enabled that takes over a Com Port, and the other may be a Modem, Non the less, you should be able to run the two.

Having said all that, I would still think about getting an old 486 to run the system, or a small Pentium. You may mess up your Com Ports or throw Windows ME for a loop its much better to Network the two computers, and just use your Dell for the Designing.

Hope this helps.

[giggalo@aol.com]

Tom if you installed the SB software from the cd? you might want to download the software from shopbot website, This might fix the problem, there were a few other's that had the same thing happen to them, and after installing the software from the website fixed it.

Ron

[Ted Hall, ShopBot]

Hi Tom,

Yes, as per Ron above ... if the Version of ShopBot software that is on the ME computer is not 2.21, you will want to download from the web and put that on it. [For those listening ... PR version are even numbers, PRT versions are odd. So the latest PR version number is 2.20, the latest PRT(for microstepping control box) is 2.21.]

Also, if you happened to install the 2.03 version from the CD first, then delete the SHOPBOT.INI file that it created and try again.

HOWEVER, we have not had a chance to try WinME. We will try to check it out on one of our computers this week. Our expectation from what we know about the relatively modest changes in ME is that it should run ok ... but there may be some unexpected mods in how the operating system relates to the ports. Our Dell/Win98 machines hook up fine ... so I doubt it is the computer.

[anderboat@aol.com]

Ted; Trashed the floppy version received with my machine and downloaded 2.21 from this site, still no communication with the servos. Ran all the test and the ports check out all OK. Again I know my ShopBot works since my neighbors old laptop with only 98 on it ran the XY&Z perfectly. So it has got to be the new ME program, which is the program that all the Dell's are being sent out with. Any ShopBoter's close to Benicia, CA.?

[giggalo@aol.com]

You might be right about windows ME? I had an old 300mhz and I installed windows ME on it and tried it with shopbot, would not connect, in fact half of some of the programs I use don't work on windows ME.

If you have Windows 98 cd? you could format your hard drive and install that?.

Ron

[northernecho]

From what I have seen of Windows Me, there is VERY limited DOS Support, (Even things like Format and Fdisk have little or no options to them anymore).
From where I stand, Win9X and Windows Me are very different. I run Every Version of windows, and DOS and Linux, So far, the Shopbot software fine on Win 95(A,B and C) /98 (1st and 2nd Ed), WinNT 4 with Service Pack 4 through 6, Win2000 Advanced Server, and Windows 2000 Pro. I like the Win2K Pro the best, and seems to be the most stable.

Hope this helps.

[anderboat@aol.com]

Dumped Window's ME and my ShopBot is happy. Talked to the Dell people yesterday and they admitted that they are getting an abnormal amount of calls about this new edition of Window's interfearing with once smooth running programs. Thank you all for your input.

[Curt]

I just ordered a computer to run the Shopbot. It is a dell with windows ME. I could not order a computer from Dell with windows 98. I recently saw that some people were having trouble running the shopbot with windows ME and wanted to know if anyone has been able to get the shopbot to run with windows Me and how they were able to do it.
I should be receiving my shopbot in about a week and want to make sure i can run the software with the Windows Me before I waste my time trying.

[anderboat@aol.com]

Curt; I have a Dell desktop and laptop plus I purchased another Dell laptop (4000) to run my new Shopbot. The new laptop had ME on it and it would not work with my ShopBot. I should also mention that if you install a high end mouse it will probably take over your port, so no signal to the Shopbot. I ended up buying a close out model of a Sony laptop with Windows 98, and it works fine. I should also mention that a friend of mine purchased a new Dell (with ME) laptop to run a GPS program for his yacht. Program would not work, mfg tested and said it was not compatible with ME.

[support@shopbottools.com]

To the ME Users ...

We've now had a chance to work with ShopBot on a DELL ME Inspiron 3800 and a low end Toshiba Notebook in which we had to install a PCMCIA serial card because there was no serial port. In both cases, once the ShopBot software was installed, these computers -- and WindowsME -- seemed to work fine ... though our experience is limited so far.

I'm guessing that we have some simple configuration issues that are precluding an appropriate interaction with the COM port on the computers in the above thread. So would those of you who are having problems with ME, let us know what the problem is and send us your PROBLEM.LOG files so we can explore this configuration issue.

Send to: support@shopbottools.com (mailto:support@shopbottools.com)

[As far as I'm aware, the only significant known problem that we are experiencing with Win95/98/ME is that a USB-port-connected keyboard does not allow the keyboard arrow key control of tool movement.]

[jerry]

To all ME Users,

When running the ShopBot program it is best to have the "Prevent MS_DOS-based program from detecting windows" checkbox CHECKED. This checkbox can be found on the properties popup from the command prompt. You can get there by right mouse button on the command prompt icon in the upper left hand corner of the window and selecting properties. If you are running in full screen mode you will need to use the alt-enter keystroke to get access to the icon. By checking this box you will greatly (and I mean greatly) speed up the running of the ShopBot program. This is especially
noticeable when doing 3D probing. You will have to exit the command prompt and restart the ShopBot program again to have this take effect.