Milling machine w/ 5i25 and 7i76. Need help working through startup gremlins...

I am attempting to get a mill operational with a 5i25/7i76 setup and need some pointers/guidance for the current and future problems. Not sure if it's better (or standard operating procedure) to create one large thread to cover multiple startup issues as they come up or create a new specific thread for each individual problem as they come up?

Regardless, I have walked through the PNCconf to the best of my ability and generated config files. When I attempt to load LinuxCNC,
I get an error. The debug information is "'hm2_5i25.0.7i76.0.0.input-00-not' does not exist". Pin 00 on should be my e-stop. There is 24v across pin 00 to ground when the e-stop is not depressed. Any suggestions on what to look for?

Also, I was not able to get my steppers to turn during the "test motors" section of the PNCconf utility. Not sure if that is related.

Thanks!

"'hm2_5i25.0.7i76.0.0.input-00-not' does not exist"
indicates that the 7I76 field I/O is not working
This can happen for a number of reasons:

1. There is no field power supplied to the 7I76 ( check if LED CR2 is on )
2. There is no 5V power supplied to the 7I76 ( check if LED CR1 is on)
3. 5I25 and 7I76 cable power jumpers don't match
(normally you use cable power so 7I76 W2 must be "LEFT" and 5I25 W2 must be "UP" )
4. 7I76 setup jumper in setup position (W3 must be in operate position = left)
5. Wrong 5I25 firmware (check with sudo mesaflash --device 5i25 --readhmid )

Thank you for the helpful hints. Items 1-4 all check out. When I type sudo mesaflash it says Mesaflash version 3.1.0. I get a 'command not found' when I type the other commands.

Does the -- mean next line or should I actually type --? (the -- referring to the commands above). I tried it both ways and get the same 'command not found'.

Any suggestions?

Thanks!

You need to type the command as written

You can get a list of supported mesaflash commands with

Below is the results of 'sudo mesaflash --device 5i25 --readhmid'. This is after what I thought was an successful reflash of the 5i25. I notice the configuration pinout below does not match the 5i25_7i76x2.pin pinout.

The exact steps I followed to reflash are as follows: Did I do something wrong?
1) I copied the 5i25.zip file from the Mesa site and unzipped it to my desktop
2) In terminal, I typed "sudo mesaflash --device 5i25 --write 5i25_7i76x2.bit"
3) In terminal, I typed "sudo mesaflash --device 5i25 --reload"
No problems were apparent. I power cycled the computer just in case. Still get the same error when I try to load LinuxCNC.

Suggestions?



Configuration Name: HOSTMOT2

General configuration information:

BoardName : MESA5I25
FPGA Size: 9 KGates
FPGA Pins: 144
Number of IO Ports: 2
Width of one I/O port: 17
Clock Low frequency: 33.3333 MHz
Clock High frequency: 200.0000 MHz
IDROM Type: 3
Instance Stride 0: 4
Instance Stride 1: 64
Register Stride 0: 256
Register Stride 1: 256

Modules in configuration:

Module: WatchDog
There are 1 of WatchDog in configuration
Version: 0
Registers: 3
BaseAddress: 0C00
ClockFrequency: 33.333 MHz
Register Stride: 256 bytes
Instance Stride: 4 bytes

Module: IOPort
There are 2 of IOPort in configuration
Version: 0
Registers: 5
BaseAddress: 1000
ClockFrequency: 33.333 MHz
Register Stride: 256 bytes
Instance Stride: 4 bytes

Module: QCount
There are 2 of QCount in configuration
Version: 2
Registers: 5
BaseAddress: 3000
ClockFrequency: 33.333 MHz
Register Stride: 256 bytes
Instance Stride: 4 bytes

Module: PWM
There are 2 of PWM in configuration
Version: 0
Registers: 5
BaseAddress: 4000
ClockFrequency: 200.000 MHz
Register Stride: 256 bytes
Instance Stride: 4 bytes

Module: StepGen
There are 10 of StepGen in configuration
Version: 2
Registers: 10
BaseAddress: 2000
ClockFrequency: 33.333 MHz
Register Stride: 256 bytes
Instance Stride: 4 bytes

Module: LED
There are 1 of LED in configuration
Version: 0
Registers: 1
BaseAddress: 0200
ClockFrequency: 33.333 MHz
Register Stride: 256 bytes
Instance Stride: 4 bytes

Configuration pin-out:

IO Connections for P3
Pin# I/O Pri. func Sec. func Chan Pin func Pin Dir

1 0 IOPort StepGen 4 Step/Table1 (Out)
14 1 IOPort None
2 2 IOPort StepGen 0 Dir/Table2 (Out)
15 3 IOPort None
3 4 IOPort StepGen 0 Step/Table1 (Out)
16 5 IOPort None
4 6 IOPort StepGen 1 Dir/Table2 (Out)
17 7 IOPort PWM 0 PWM (Out)
5 8 IOPort StepGen 1 Step/Table1 (Out)
6 9 IOPort StepGen 2 Dir/Table2 (Out)
7 10 IOPort StepGen 2 Step/Table1 (Out)
8 11 IOPort StepGen 3 Dir/Table2 (Out)
9 12 IOPort StepGen 3 Step/Table1 (Out)
10 13 IOPort None
11 14 IOPort None
12 15 IOPort None
13 16 IOPort QCount 0 Quad-IDX (In)

IO Connections for P2
Pin# I/O Pri. func Sec. func Chan Pin func Pin Dir

1 17 IOPort StepGen 9 Step/Table1 (Out)
14 18 IOPort None
2 19 IOPort StepGen 5 Dir/Table2 (Out)
15 20 IOPort None
3 21 IOPort StepGen 5 Step/Table1 (Out)
16 22 IOPort None
4 23 IOPort StepGen 6 Dir/Table2 (Out)
17 24 IOPort PWM 1 PWM (Out)
5 25 IOPort StepGen 6 Step/Table1 (Out)
6 26 IOPort StepGen 7 Dir/Table2 (Out)
7 27 IOPort StepGen 7 Step/Table1 (Out)
8 28 IOPort StepGen 8 Dir/Table2 (Out)
9 29 IOPort StepGen 8 Step/Table1 (Out)
10 30 IOPort QCount 1 Quad-IDX (In)
11 31 IOPort QCount 1 Quad-A (In)
12 32 IOPort QCount 1 Quad-B (In)
13 33 IOPort None

OK that's fairly weird, that is not one of our configurations

That looks like some kind of parallel port compatible config but not ours

I would try the mesaflash verify option to see if the flash was actually written at all

maybe someone wrote a busted config to that card

Also what OS/hardware/LinuxCNC version are you running?

I think the above pinout listing is from Pathpilot. I played around with a Pathpilot install before reinstalling LinuxCNC 2.7 Wheezy last week. It must have flashed the Pathpilot bit file. Computer is Dell Dimension 4550.

So how do I reflash it with the 5i25_7i76.bit file? In the terminal I typed "sudo mesaflash --device 5i25 -- verify 5i25_7i76.bit". It returns " Can't find file 5i25_7i76.bit".

Currently the 5i25_7i76.bit file is on the desktop in the following path = /home/mycomputername/Desktop/5i25/configs/hostmot2/. Do I need to move it somewhere else? Please be explicit on where and how as I am not Linux literate. I can't find any Mesa folders or bit files on the using the File Manager program.

Thanks.

AFAIK, there is no 5i25_7i76.bit file (at least not from Mesa)

it looks like you have downloaded and unzipped the 5i25.zip file from Mesa (if not you should)
once you have unzipped this into your home directory open up a terminal window and then type:

cd 5i25/configs/hostmot2
sudo mesaflash --device 5i25 --write 5i25_7i76x2.bit
sudo mesaflash --device 5i25 --reload
sudo mesaflash --device 5i25 --verify 5i25_7i76x2.bit

PCW, thanks for all your help! I finally got my motors, limits, home, and mist coolant functioning. I mis-typed above, I was trying to load 5i25_7i76x2 but the location was the problem.

Can you give some assistance on how to get my VFD operational? Its a Hitachi SJ100. My connections to the 7i76 are as follows on connector TB4:

TB4
Pin 1 VFD Analog common
Pin 2 VFD 0-10VDC
Pin 3 VFD Analog reference
Pin 5 VFD Run/stop
Pin 6 24V+
Pin 7 VFD Fwd/Rev
Pin 8 24V+

The PNCconfig didn't have all the TB4 pin options so no sure what to do here.

Thanks!