Set up using AMC AB15A100 drives, brushed DC motor Prototrak Plus with Encoders

You should be thinking about running your machine. Have you tried it out? How is it working? How does it compare with how the mill worked before you started converting to Linuxcnc? (If you can even remember that far back, it's been a while.)

You should maybe be thinking about how you can put a motor on that Z-axis, so that you can then do full 3d milling. (A helical ramp in is a very very useful tool for pocketing or even boring holes.)

Save backups of your config files in case your HD dies or the files somehow get messed up.

I am very grateful for the help & support that the forum, forum members, Todd Zuercher, PCW, tommylight, andypugh, Roguish, arvidb, moderator-piasdom & forum sponsors, for without the guidance and knowledge, this forum provides, I could not of been successful!!
I will evaluate the performance of the mill soon and compare it to the "back efm" system. If a 3 axes machine is in my future, it will be 3 axes from the factory.
I have copied the .ini & .hal files on to a thumb drive, it may be a few weeks before I cut very much, I have another project that takes me away from the shop for just a little while.

Many, many thanks!!!

Thanks for all the help. I am wondering if I should try to test the old "7i77 & "5i25" cards. One card at a time, change absolutely nothing else, to see it they will work or what happens. Somehow, I need to know if the old cards are good or see if I can send them in for evaluation to repair, after close inspection I can see nothing that looks suspect. My other project will wind up soon, so thinking about getting back to cutting chips.

Many thanks

What led you to believe that they might be bad? Did you hook something up wrong, and then it didn't work after that?

If the field power and or low voltage power was hooked up wrong could hurt the 7i77 or the 5i25 or both.

Another thing that could hurt the 7i77 would be hooking up the polarity wrong to the servo enable, will ruing the enable circuit that was done wrong, but the card will function otherwise (A different circuit could be used for the enable.)

If testing doesn't pan out, you can contact Mesa and get an RMA to return for evaluation/repair.

Todd, many thanks to you and the other members & moderators for all the help! I have not tested the 7i77 or 5i25 cards yet, I applied 220v to the 110v power supply, this was the reason for any damage to the cards.
I have programmed small hole patterns, w/o issue prior to this pocketing program (18000 lines~~) that I am trying to cut. The program was running like you would expect, at line 5102 the mill stopped feed completely, no mouse or a way to get around on the screen, so I did hard reboot, to get mouse back, reset zero (indicated 0,0), started a new cut from line 17 (as to start at last m code, on screen) & stops again at line 2323, no mouse, so I have left it alone. Is there a place to see what errors caused the stop? Nothing, no error on screen. Where do I start to look to understand how to approach to fix this?

Many thanks! All suggestions are warmly welcomed.

My first suspect would probably be failing hardware in the PC. I wouldn't expect that it is a problem with Linuxcnc. Depending on exactly what is failing there may or may not be error data saved in the log directory var/log/.

Here is a breif tutorial on using it.
www.cyberciti.biz/faq/linux-log-files-lo...o-i-view-logs-files/

There will likely be a lot of data there. Start by trying to look up things saved about the time when the lockup occurred. It will probably be hard to find, because it will be buried under the plethora of information normally logged when you rebooted. If you're lucky there will be some clue or tidbit of info to point you in the right direction.

Todd, many thanks! The keyboard has 2 flashing light, 1 is the cap lock light, don't recall the other light name that is just beside it. The keyboard and mouse do not work. I am going to try a different keyboard, current 1 is round plug, going to a USB style. I have reviewed the link you have sent & reread your message, as you suggest this may not be easy to find.
When I re-zero this time, I will set the hand wheel to 0.0, so no need to dial in again.

Many thanks!

Blinking keyboard leds indicate a kernel panic . A likely cause is failing RAM. Run memtest86 on the computer for a few hours and see if it finds any errors.

arvidb, thanks for the help! I have read your link & I will be looking for a RAM issue. In the past, I have had some success with cleaning with electronic contact cleaner & reseat memory in other computers.

Many thanks!

Edit: I cleaned & reseated memory, but program stopped (I have not gotten through this program, 1 time completely, yet) again, different place every time, the computer has 2 slots, I found 2 (1 GB each) used RAM on eBay, will be here end of the week. This replaces 1 each of 512.
Many Thanks!

arvidb, many thanks. I ordered 2 pc. of 1 GB used RAM from ebay, only 1 tested good, so now only 2 slots in computer, so 1 GB in slot 1 & 512 in slot 2. Ran last program that had issue, all worked well and as expected!!

Many thanks!!