No mill response to EMC2

I finished a CNC conversion (kit from Syil America) of my Sieg Super X3 mill and installed EMC2 from the live disk (Ubuntu8.04). I ran the latency test on my computer and input the value + 10%. I then ran the Step Configure Wizard and entered the parallel interface pin connections I was given by Syil America. All three axes were set for Both Limits + Home on the appropriate pins. (I only have limit switches.)

I then setup the X-axis. But the mill did not move when I ran test this axis. I had the same response for all 3 axes. I saved the configuration.

I then ran EMC2 using the AXIS interface. I received three messages each starting with Joint 0..., Joint 1...., and Joint 2.... After clearing the messages, I tried to jog the axes positions but the mill did not move and the driver LEDs showed no indication they had received a signal. I know that my X-axis optical limit switch is probably not working correctly since the plastic case is broken. So I edited the configuration by selecting the invert button next to the X-axis, both-limits-+-Home pin number and saved the configuration. The next time I ran EMC2 I only received two messages, Joint 1.... and Joint 2.... I still had no motion of the mill on any of the axes. Thinking that the other two axes also needed to be inverted, I modified the configuration to invert the limit signals on those two pins as well.

Now when I ran EMC2, the Axis interface power button was grayed-out and would not respond when I clicked on it. I therefore, un-inverted the Y and Z axis limit pins in the configuration wizard and re-ran EMC2. The power button was still grayed out and unresponsive. I then marked the limit input pins as unused in the configuration, but still the Axis interface power button was grayed out. I have been unable to fix this problem.

What could cause the power button to be grayed out? How should I trouble shoot this problem?

Thanks for your help.

Thanks for the help.

I now think that I am not getting any output on the parallel port. I'm trying to troubleshoot this problem by looking at the log files. There is one message that says that the driver is loaded but no hardware is detected. I should be able to figure this out.