Sherline steppers won't turn using PCI serial card

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07 May 2016 20:36 - 08 May 2016 12:30 #74347 by jeff.hemphill@schaeffler.com
I just purchased a Sherline mill and set up Linux CNC on an Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Linux PC. I installed a PCIe serial card which shows up in the port list below. I have blacklisted parport_pc. Linux CNC starts and the motor drivers lock the motors but I can't find any combination of addresses or configurations that will cause the motors to jog. I have tried: "loadrt hal_parport cfg="0x0378" and "0x0378 d800)". d400 causes a resource busy error message and Linux CNC won't start. I also tried changing the IO pins to "net Xstep parport.1.pin-03-out but got various "does not exist" error messages.

Below is the relevant portion of my config and IO ports. What can I try next?

Standard Pinot HAL Config:
# first load the parport driver
loadrt probe_parport
loadrt hal_parport cfg="d800"
# default loadrt hal_parport cfg="0x0378"
#
# next connect the parport functions to threads
# read inputs first
addf parport.0.read base-thread 1
# write outputs last
addf parport.0.write base-thread -1
#
# finally connect physical pins to the signals
#net estop-out => parport.0.pin-01-out
net Xstep parport.0.pin-03-out
net Xdir parport.0.pin-02-out
net Ystep parport.0.pin-05-out
net Ydir parport.0.pin-04-out
net Zstep parport.0.pin-07-out
net Zdir parport.0.pin-06-out
net Astep parport.0.pin-09-out
net Adir parport.0.pin-08-out


# create a signal for the estop loopback

net estop-ext <= parport.0.pin-10-in
net estop-out <= iocontrol.0.user-enable-out
net estop-out => iocontrol.0.emc-enable-in
[b]
Output from /proc/ioports:[/b]

0000-001f : dma1
0020-0021 : pic1
0040-0043 : timer0
0050-0053 : timer1
0060-0060 : keyboard
0064-0064 : keyboard
0070-0071 : rtc0
0080-008f : dma page reg
00a0-00a1 : pic2
00c0-00df : dma2
00f0-00ff : fpu
0170-0177 : 0000:00:14.1
  0170-0177 : pata_atiixp
01f0-01f7 : 0000:00:14.1
  01f0-01f7 : pata_atiixp
0376-0376 : 0000:00:14.1
  0376-0376 : pata_atiixp
03c0-03df : vga+
03f6-03f6 : 0000:00:14.1
  03f6-03f6 : pata_atiixp
03f8-03ff : serial
040b-040b : pnp 00:0a
04d0-04d1 : pnp 00:0a
04d6-04d6 : pnp 00:0a
0800-089f : pnp 00:0a
  0800-0803 : ACPI PM1a_EVT_BLK
  0804-0805 : ACPI PM1a_CNT_BLK
  0808-080b : ACPI PM_TMR
  0820-0827 : ACPI GPE0_BLK
0900-090f : pnp 00:0a
0910-091f : pnp 00:0a
0ae0-0aef : pnp 00:0b
0b00-0b0f : pnp 00:0a
0b20-0b3f : pnp 00:0a
0c00-0c01 : pnp 00:0a
0c14-0c14 : pnp 00:0a
0c50-0c51 : pnp 00:0a
0c52-0c52 : pnp 00:0a
0c6c-0c6c : pnp 00:0a
0c6f-0c6f : pnp 00:0a
0cd0-0cd1 : pnp 00:0a
0cd2-0cd3 : pnp 00:0a
0cd4-0cd5 : pnp 00:0a
0cd6-0cd7 : pnp 00:0a
0cd8-0cdf : pnp 00:0a
0cf8-0cff : PCI conf1
0e80-0f5f : pnp 00:0b
7000-700f : 0000:00:11.0
  7000-700f : ahci
8000-8003 : 0000:00:11.0
  8000-8003 : ahci
9000-9007 : 0000:00:11.0
  9000-9007 : ahci
a000-a003 : 0000:00:11.0
  a000-a003 : ahci
b000-b007 : 0000:00:11.0
  b000-b007 : ahci
c000-cfff : PCI Bus 0000:01
  c000-c0ff : 0000:01:05.0
d000-dfff : PCI Bus 0000:02
  d400-d403 : 0000:02:00.0
  d800-d8ff : 0000:02:00.0
    d800-d807 : hal_parport
    d8c0-d8c7 : wch_ser
    d8c8-d8cf : wch_ser
e000-efff : PCI Bus 0000:03
  e800-e8ff : 0000:03:00.0
    e800-e8ff : r8169
fe00-fefe : pnp 00:0a
ff00-ff0f : 0000:00:14.1
  ff00-ff0f : pata_atiixp
Last edit: 08 May 2016 12:30 by BigJohnT. Reason: add code tags

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07 May 2016 20:46 #74348 by andypugh
For a PCI port there might be clues from "lspci"

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07 May 2016 21:20 #74349 by jeff.hemphill@schaeffler.com
Sorry, I meant to include that. It's:

02:00.0 Serial controller: Device lc00:3250 (rev 10) (prog-if 05)
Subsystem: Device lc00:3250
Flags: fast devsel, IRQ 16
I/O ports at d800
Memory at fdef8000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=32k]
I/O ports at d400
Expansion ROM at fe9f0000 [disabled] [size=32k]
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel modules: wch

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07 May 2016 21:54 #74350 by andypugh
d800 does look like the likely candidate. Do you have any inputs that you can test? There are many possible causes of not-stepping.

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09 May 2016 09:05 #74398 by cncbasher
a few poiinters , if you can start Linuxcnc and the motors lock and then come out of linuxcnc , and the motors clearly follow , then the chances are the parport is working , are you using any enable for the steppers , it may simply be reversed .
you shouldn't need to blacklist the parport_pc . and in fact you may need to re-install it .

the first point is to see if linuxcnc is controlling the parallelport , perhaps try testing one of the io , or estop and see if that works, this will say if it's a card communication problem or just a config change needed .
i may also say some pcie cards dont work with linuxcnc unfortunately ( i have a box full of ones that dont )

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17 May 2016 00:50 #74785 by jeff.hemphill@schaeffler.com
I fixed it by using a simple cable that has db25 LPT1 on one end and an IDC connector that plugs directly into the motherboard. It seems that when printer ports went out of style, many motherboard manufacturers left the pins on the motherboard. That port is 0378 and works fine. Thanks for the suggestions!

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17 May 2016 15:05 #74798 by andypugh

I fixed it by using a simple cable that has db25 LPT1 on one end and an IDC connector that plugs directly into the motherboard.


You can get these cheaply incorporating a PC case back-panel insert:
www.amazon.co.uk/Sourcingmap-Parallel-Fe...arallel+port+adaptor

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22 May 2016 04:44 #74932 by verticalperformance
Just an idle observation... In the first post you mention PCI Serial card. Typo? Did you mean parallel card? If it really was a serial card, that might be the issue :(

Most of the off the shelf sherline drivers use a parallel port, and as you seem to have got it working by using the motherboard native parallel port, it definitely is not a serial based stepper driver.

Enjoy the Sherline, I've been running a lathe and mill for 5 years or so now and have been very happy with them. If you ever want spindle control for the sherline, check out

Homman Designs DC-04 DigiSpeed SL

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