unable to use usb or serial cable to communicate with plotter

[dennynshannon 0]

hey all, i am new to the forums and need some help.  when i try to cut with flexi sign, all i get is a 0% cutting and goes no where. i have uninstalled the drivers and reinstalled, uninstalled flexi and reinstalled it.  this was cutting but just quit with no apparent reason.  i go to add remove programs to remove ftdi serial to usb converter and it wont let me remove it.  i bought a serial cable and have no luck with it.  the machine fires up and has no error messages on it. any advice would be appreciated.  im running flexi on xp. thanks in advance!!!  forgot to mention my plotter is refine mh1101 and i love it !!!!

[kenimes 42]

Welcome to our forums!

Does the cutter work with the software that came with it?

[dennynshannon 0]

i was using flexi sign 7.6 on this and it just quit one day.  i have formatted and reinstalled flexi and when i plug in the usb it doesnt even make a ding like it is connected.  is there a board that goes bad on the connections or is this even a problem.  i have tried usb and the serial db9 as well. no luck with either.  i have the disk and have also tried the new usb driver download which worked great before.  this doesnt seem to be a flexi issue as i have discussed this with a fellow cutter and he is at no reasoning as well. (is very computer savy to be added!!!!)  it does a test cut ok and all seems to be normal with settings, appears to be a com port connection issue. i have tested both NEW cables with other devices and they work fine. any help or diagnostic advice would be appreciated greatly!!!!!!

[TaterNuts 3]

I had a similar issue with another brand plotter...

I dont know if this applies to the refine or not...

but... I bought a serial cable and it wouldnt work.. turns out that the pin confuration of the OE cable is diffrent then a straight thru cable..., but like i said, this was with a diffrent brand plotter...

I do not know if this issue applies to the refine or not...

Do you have the original SERIAL or LPT cable that came with your machine???

as far as going to add/remove programs... i didnt even know that was there...

Heres what I would do...

Right click on your my computer icon and go to properties...

click on the hardware tab...

click on device manager...

Scroll down to ports...

hit the plus next to it to expand it...

What do you show for COM port???

If you see something there, what number is the COM port???

Make sure that flexi is reflecting the same number or it wont cut...

On my XP machine, it shows USB SERIAL port...

I would start there...

If you want to update those drivers, you can double click on it and click the drivers tab... I dont think that this is the issue tho... but click on have disk or browse to the location of the drivers...

Thats where i would start...

[Guest fivestar]

I would definitely say it is something with your computer settings   Denny actually brought his machine down to my shop today and we hooked it up to mine and it worked like a champ, so we know it's something in his computer that is causing the problems. 

Once he gets it hooked back up to his machine we'll figure out exactly what is causing it.

[dennynshannon 0]

we discovered that it was a bad usb and the new db5 cable i bought was too long, used the one that came with the machine and works great!!!!!!! hope this helps someone else!!!  special thanks to fivestar for his great knowledge and help!!!!!!