MonarchLimited

Laserpoint 2 Not Connecting to multiple computers. Very Frustrating

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Recently got a laserpoint 2 plotter (fist cutter, pulled the trigger after weeks or contemplating) and have had nothing but disappointments. First, it was delayed delivery. Then I opened the box to find I had gotten no software at all. Once I dealt with support for 25 minutes I got home only to find out it won't connect to my laptop. Downloaded every driver I could find (FDTI or what not) 

Called support again he remoted into my laptop and had no luck. So I decided to hook up my old desk top (windows 7) that I had packed away. Still nothing. Just getting the "device has malfunctioned and cannot be recognized" pop up. 

I really don't want to call support again as their hours are terrible for anyone on the east coast who works normal hours. Seriously such a bad experience so far. 

Tech mentioned it might be a bad i/o board? 

 

Any help is greatly appreciated

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Well, to get you going why don't you go to SignCut and do the free trial. They offer live tech help ( live chat and of that doesn't get it done they will call or remote you), the program runs on windows or mac (yes both). I run the older SignCut Pro 1 which is just a cutting utility and I design on AI. SC will run with Inkscape or Corel too. They have a new version out that I have not tried out but I believe it had some design tools too. Can't vouch for version 2 but as a cutting utility (cutter interface) Pro 1 is fantastic and trouble free. You will probably still end up with a different program but you will have something to compare with and should be able to get up and running in the meantime. 

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1 hour ago, MonarchLimited said:

 

I really don't want to call support again as their hours are terrible for anyone on the east coast who works normal hours. Seriously such a bad experience so far. 

T

actually they are open after most people get out of work on the east coast because of the 3 hr time difference

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25 minutes ago, Dakotagrafx said:

actually they are open after most people get out of work on the east coast because of the 3 hr time difference

 

28 minutes ago, Dakotagrafx said:

what cutting software are you using?

I now have the sure cuts a lot 3 pro after talking to support. 

26 minutes ago, Wildgoose said:

Well, to get you going why don't you go to SignCut and do the free trial. They offer live tech help ( live chat and of that doesn't get it done they will call or remote you), the program runs on windows or mac (yes both). I run the older SignCut Pro 1 which is just a cutting utility and I design on AI. SC will run with Inkscape or Corel too. They have a new version out that I have not tried out but I believe it had some design tools too. Can't vouch for version 2 but as a cutting utility (cutter interface) Pro 1 is fantastic and trouble free. You will probably still end up with a different program but you will have something to compare with and should be able to get up and running in the meantime. 

I now have the sure cuts a lot 3 pro after talking to support

25 minutes ago, Dakotagrafx said:

actually they are open after most people get out of work on the east coast because of the 3 hr time difference

I work until 5:30 and it’s roughly 6:30 by the time I get home and take the dog out if I head straight home. I’ve had to cut errands out of my day to get home 2 days now so i can be near the computer while I call them. I know I’m just complaining but i haven’t had one thing go right besides it showing up in one piece. 

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Go into device manager and see if it's listed there, then look at the properties to see what port # it is assigned to.

Go into the cutting software and you should be able to designate which port that the program should be using - set it to the port that your computer assigned to the cutter (do not use "Auto" setting). Set the baud rate to 9600.

If none of that helps you - trying downloading Sign Blazer Elements and try it with that cutting software - it's free and you can search for the download link on forum.

I do not have an LP2, but am going to hazard a guess that there might be both a USB and serial port. If something isn't working with one, then try the other. Your puter might be too new to have a serial port on it, so you would need to get a keyspan adapter for it. People he will recommend you go with a tripplite, but I can tell you a cheap one from eBay worked for me.

I had the same issues when I first got my cutter, so keep the faith, and try anything and everything, and keep us posted on your progress.

Good luck!

Oh yah, I forgot to mention - because I still do this from time to time, make sure that your cutter is "online" or "ready". Sometimes I will have the cutter in a different mode because I was tweaking some settings, and I failed to bring it back online/ready.

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5 hours ago, haumana said:

Go into device manager and see if it's listed there, then look at the properties to see what port # it is assigned to.

Go into the cutting software and you should be able to designate which port that the program should be using - set it to the port that your computer assigned to the cutter (do not use "Auto" setting). Set the baud rate to 9600.

If none of that helps you - trying downloading Sign Blazer Elements and try it with that cutting software - it's free and you can search for the download link on forum.

I do not have an LP2, but am going to hazard a guess that there might be both a USB and serial port. If something isn't working with one, then try the other. Your puter might be too new to have a serial port on it, so you would need to get a keyspan adapter for it. People he will recommend you go with a tripplite, but I can tell you a cheap one from eBay worked for me.

I had the same issues when I first got my cutter, so keep the faith, and try anything and everything, and keep us posted on your progress.

Good luck!

Oh yah, I forgot to mention - because I still do this from time to time, make sure that your cutter is "online" or "ready". Sometimes I will have the cutter in a different mode because I was tweaking some settings, and I failed to bring it back online/ready.

Thank you for the reply. It shows in device manager as unknown with the "!" so it's leading me to believe it's a driver but it could also be the port/cable. I tried it on my brand new laptop as well as a desktop that is easily 5-6 years old with multiple usb ports and get the same problem. I might be stupid, but the laserpoint doesn't tell me if it's ready or not. I jut turn it on and plug it in. I could be missing something there though.

 

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Are you sure you bought a Laser Pointer 2?  As Laser pointer 2 has not been sold for a while on UScutter. ( Was it a refurb cutter?)   UScutter have been selling Laser Pointer 3. for awhile now.    So after you downloaded the Laser pointer 2 driver, you went ahead and extracted it, as you should? Then you rebooted your computer?  Plugged the USB cable into your computer and matched the device manager to your Sure Cuts A lot. USB port.    If the driver shows an error beside it, then it would be the driver is not installed most likely. Try uninstalling it, then reinstalling it.     But Sure Cuts 3 A Lot is a flaky software.    I hear version 4 is much better.   You should have chosen Vinyl Master. In my opinion.   But like the others say, try a different software.  Even Vinyl Master has a trial. 

 

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5 hours ago, MZ SKEETER said:

Are you sure you bought a Laser Pointer 2?  As Laser pointer 2 has not been sold for a while on UScutter. ( Was it a refurb cutter?)   UScutter have been selling Laser Pointer 3. for awhile now.    So after you downloaded the Laser pointer 2 driver, you went ahead and extracted it, as you should? Then you rebooted your computer?  Plugged the USB cable into your computer and matched the device manager to your Sure Cuts A lot. USB port.    If the driver shows an error beside it, then it would be the driver is not installed most likely. Try uninstalling it, then reinstalling it.     But Sure Cuts 3 A Lot is a flaky software.    I hear version 4 is much better.   You should have chosen Vinyl Master. In my opinion.   But like the others say, try a different software.  Even Vinyl Master has a trial. 

 

It was a refurb model and it came with sure cuts a lot pro 3 by default. The gentleman from support last night remoted into my computer and did everything you mentioned (or so I think, I assume he knows what he is doing) I spoke with support again and decided to go buy a serial to usb adapter and will try that tonight. Hopefully it isn't a bad board becasue the way she made it sound, it will take a while to source one because they aren't in stock. I would most likely have to return it and buy something else as I have some time- sensitive things that I need to use the cutter for. Thank you for all the help, I'll keep you posted

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on the serial to usb the tripp lite keyspan is the proven one that works along with the null modem serial cable that came with your plotter - other usb to serial adapters use the less reliable chipsets like in the plotters from the factory  FYI..    Keep in mind the tech tend to be short term employees so don't always assume they are the experts - some are some not so much we have found over the past 10 years

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6 minutes ago, Dakotagrafx said:

on the serial to usb the tripp lite keyspan is the proven one that works along with the null modem serial cable that came with your plotter - other usb to serial adapters use the less reliable chipsets like in the plotters from the factory  FYI..    Keep in mind the tech tend to be short term employees so don't always assume they are the experts - some are some not so much we have found over the past 10 years

Gotcha i will keep that in mind. Hopefully the one I picked up works haha. I'll check back later with my results

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If there is nothing plugged into the USB port of the puter, do  you still get the "!"?

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4 minutes ago, haumana said:

If there is nothing plugged into the USB port of the puter, do  you still get the "!"?

no there is nothing in that port so it shows nothing in the device manager. When I plug it in, it says "unknown device" or something like that with the "!" next to it

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6 minutes ago, MonarchLimited said:

no there is nothing in that port so it shows nothing in the device manager. When I plug it in, it says "unknown device" or something like that with the "!" next to it

that usually is what happens when that chipset driver is not installed, the plot thickens 

just for grins I would try the two drivers on their site

http://www.ftdichip.com/FTDrivers.htm

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I have seen that sort of problem, plugging something in and the computer seeing it, but not recognizing it and the problem turned out to be the USB port. It was a pass through port on a KVM and they had wired it wrong. Pin to Pin was correct but they were using the shield as a signal line so the computer was able to see that something was connected but the communication was so bad that the computer couldn't do anything with the device.

Have never heard of that being the problem with a plotter, but if all else is ruled out, that might be something to look into.

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The insignia (Best Buy brand) usb to serial adapter seemed to do the trick! Thank you everyone. Since I’m here, has anyone ever used their cutter to cut paper? I am trying to cut freezer paper (I use them as stencils for clothing stuff) but the cutter just jams it up. Probably because it’s a vinyl cutter and not a paper cutter lol

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Hurray!!! Now you're golden and will be cutting up a storm!!

Freezer paper is kind of thick - not sure how much drag there would be on the blade for that. You would need to stick the freezer paper so some of kind (light) adhesive mat so paper will stay flat to the backing when it gets sliced. It's how stuff like Cricuts work. Same how the fabric cutters work too.

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5 hours ago, haumana said:

Hurray!!! Now you're golden and will be cutting up a storm!!

Freezer paper is kind of thick - not sure how much drag there would be on the blade for that. You would need to stick the freezer paper so some of kind (light) adhesive mat so paper will stay flat to the backing when it gets sliced. It's how stuff like Cricuts work. Same how the fabric cutters work too.

Hmm I’ll have to try to think of something. Whenever the paper moves in a direction other than what the blade is oriented for it just crumples up like crazy lol

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You will damage your teflon cutting strip real bad doing that.  It will put gouges and scratches in it.  When you try vinyl again, it will not cut correctly. The vinyl cutter is not meant to cut thru material.    The paper needs a backing to hold it.  

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36 minutes ago, MZ SKEETER said:

You will damage your teflon cutting strip real bad doing that.  It will put gouges and scratches in it.  When you try vinyl again, it will not cut correctly. The vinyl cutter is not meant to cut thru material.    The paper needs a backing to hold it.  

Thank you, luckily I only tried it twice before cancelling it and just using the pen attachment to draw my stencil and then hand cut it. You think if I picked up a 12x24 cricut mat I would have any success? I mainly will be using this for vinyl but my gf and I make some things that require stencils and I thought it would make life easier possibly.

 

Thank you all for the help!

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18 hours ago, MonarchLimited said:

no there is nothing in that port so it shows nothing in the device manager. When I plug it in, it says "unknown device" or something like that with the "!" next to it

either the cutting mat or just get some cheap paint stencil to use - trying to cut paper you are just destroying your cutting strip and will cause problems cutting vinyl down the road if you continue to cut paper directly

http://shop.uscutter.com/search?w=stencil

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1 hour ago, Dakotagrafx said:

either the cutting mat or just get some cheap paint stencil to use - trying to cut paper you are just destroying your cutting strip and will cause problems cutting vinyl down the road if you continue to cut paper directly

http://shop.uscutter.com/search?w=stencil

genuinely didn't know this existed. Safe to use on the cutter I assume? I read that paper can be bad for the blades too. Thank you!

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