5i25/7i77 pncconf erorrs

I recently bought a 14x40 lathe which had been previously retrofitted with balls screws, servers and etc running under Mach3 control. It came to me with a 5i25 and 7i77 combo purchased by the previous owner to make the transition to LinuxCNC from Mach3.

I anticipated this conversion would be pretty straight forward because I had successfully converted a Bridgeport Interact with a Heidenhain 151 control over to LinuxCNC a few years so I gained a hard won familiarity with the 5i25/7i77 combo, pncconf and HAL. I figured the change to be trivial since this lathe had the field wiring all proven and well documented under the Mach3 control. I was removing the original control (C11 Breakout, SmoothStepper and Whale3 step and direction drives) but would retain the limits, estop, servos and shielded motor wiring. I am using AMC BE15A8 servo drives and retaining the 3ph spindle motor under VFD control

I created a hal and ini file with pncconf successfully but there are some funnies that may be me or because the card is toast. I could use some expert advise.

Symptoms/Observations.
1. the VIN measures 0V with jumpers set for field to be used. W1 in the left hand position. (mill, configured the same way, there is field voltage measured on VIN (TB2-5))
2. pncconf was used to configure 3 encoders (2 axis 1 spindle) with 3 PWM (-10 to +10 servo drives and 0-+10 spindle controlled by vfd)
3. ini file shows STEPSTEPGEN_MAXVEL = 2.5 and STEPGEN_MAXACCEL = 2.5. I thought this was peculiar since i had not selected stepers of any sort
4. the ini file doesn't show the expected analog control variables for the 2 servo axis. It does for the spindle axis. OUTPUT_SCALE = 0.5, OUTPUT_MIN_LIMIT = -10.0,OUTPUT_MAX_LIMIT = 10.0
5. when I attempt to run this configuration, I get the dreaded error log. It complains "1440-Lathe.hal:63: parameter or pin 'hm2_5i25.0.7i77.0.1.analogout0-scalemax' not found"
6. when i attempt to run the config, I observe CR16 is RED then if flickers off while CR15 flickers to Green then back off. After I get the error log, CR16 goes back to RED.

I built this from the current Debian 7 LinuxCNC 2.6 distribution and installed/upgraded all recommended elements.

I think I may have toasted my 7i77 by inadvertently applying 24V field supply with polarity reversed. But I have read where there is some reverse polarity protections built into the board so I was hopeful no damage resulted. I proceeded with the conversion assuming I had not permanently damaged the board.

Any help appreciated. Error log, ini and hal files zipped and attached.

Mark

Looks like i can't even attach a file correctly. i'll try again.

Looking at the kernel log (dmesg) it looks like the the field I/O is found (sserial channel 0 = TX0 and RX0 )
but the local analog out part is not (sserial channel 1 = TX1 and RX1)

The analog out needs:

Good 7I77 5V (measure at TB1)
7I77 W4 LEFT (Operate mode)
Proper hm2_pci config sserial port token

You can test this independently of hal/ini files this way:

halrun
halcmd: loadrt hostmot2
halcmd: loadrt hm2_pci config="sserial_port_0=000xxx"

show pin
show param

and see if your analog pins/params show up

Looks like no analog pins or parameters show.

Good 7I77 5V (measure at TB1) - measured 5.04VDC (i'm using ext 5V so W5 is Right Hand, I have forgotten which postion the 5i25 W2 jumper is set. If necessary I can pop open the pc and check. )
7I77 W4 LEFT (Operate mode) - verfied W4 and W12 are both Left Hand operate select
Proper hm2_pci config sserial port token - not sure what action to take here

Thanks for the quick response.

Mark

Sounds like the 7I77 or possibly 5I25 are bad
Are CR6 and CR7 illuminated?

Both cr6 and 7 are lit.

Is the fact that there is no voltage on VIN any indication that the 7i77 is no-op? Other troubleshooting procedures to be done or replacement time?
Is it possible that only one board is bad? Or likely both. Any other possiblities other than hardware?

In either case this isn't good news.

Thanks much for the assist.

Mark

VIN must be there or you would have no field I/O
I suspect the best bet is to return the card pair to mesa for evaluation and repair if required

Thaks Pete.

I found the root cause and thought I would document it for others. I'm a little embarrassed to report that my problem was an intermittent cable between the 5i25 and 7i77 cards. It took a while to find but I'm back on track now. Thanks for the assist.