Just bought US cutter MH 721 & need some help

[Mudbug 0]

First off, Thx for letting me join, there is some great info here. I searched for my problem but was unlucky in finding anything.  My us cutter came with Signblazer 6.0 basic & the driver disk. I have followed these directions

 For Windows Me

  (1)  Boot Windows.
  (2)  Connect the USB cable to the FC5100 and plug the other end of the cable 
       into the USB port of your computer.
  (3)  Turn on the power to the FC5100; [Add New Hardware Wizard] is displayed. 
  (4)  Insert the floppy disk into the drive, select [Automatic search for a 
       better driver (Recommended)], and press the (Next>) button.
  (5)  When the driver search operation finishes, [Windows has finished 
       installing the new hardware device.] is displayed. Press the (Finish) 
       button.

  The above completes the installation of the USB driver.
  Continue and install the plotter driver following Section 2-3, "Installing 
  the plotter driver."
  Note: For [Available ports], select [GTCUSB].

2-3 Installing the Plotter Driver
  (1)  Boot Windows.
  (2)  After Windows has booted, click the [start] button and then point to
       [settings].
  (3)  Click [Printers] to open the Printers menu.
  (4)  Double click the [Add Printer] icon.
  (5)  Click the (Next >) button.
  (6)  Select <Local printer> and then click the (Next >) button.
  (7)  Click the (Have Disk...) button.
  (  When the Install Printer screen opens, insert the Windows Plotter
       Driver disk in the computer's disk drive.
  (9)  Specify the disk drive containing the disk either by typing in the
       drive followed by <WIN9X_ME> from the keyboard or by clicking the
       (Browse...) button, then click the (OK) button.
       For example, if your disk drive is A, then type <A:WIN9X_ME>.
  (10) Compatible plotter models are listed in <Printers>. Select the plotter
       you wish to use.
  (11) Click the (Next >) button.
  (12) Select the port from which you want plotter data to be output from
       <Available ports>, and then click the (Next >) button.
  (13) Click <Yes> to use the Graphtec driver as the default printer, and then
       click the (Finish) button.
  (14) When installation is completed, the Graphtec Plotter icon appears in
       the Printers window.

but cannot get my cutter to cut. When I plug the usb in the hardware wizard does not come up. I asume it was because I have the drivers installed allready but im not sure. I added new printer & have tried several of the ones thats on the disk with no luck.

  My setup in Signblazer matched my printer info but when I clicked cut then cut tile it would send to my printer but it timmed out. I have also tried LPT & it did about the same thing. I have a usb printer hooked up & i disabled it & that didnt help. Im at a lost now, I uninstalled everything & hoping someone here can spoon feed a newbie. I bought the cutter off of ebay & it came with SignBlazer Elements for SignWizard UK. Im really not good with this kinda stuff & would appreciate any help. Thx for looking.

[dbohemian 0]

Are you really using Windows ME??  ME was the worst op system ever by Microsoft are we talking an 8 year old computer at this point?

I would say, use a serial port to test,  ignore the USB right now. 

[Mudbug 0]

LoL!! Yea its my 15 yr. olds comp. He's gonna be the one playing around with this. Im just tryin to help get it going. Also in the cutter setup there is no US cutter. Im fixing to fix it with a hammer :-

[JoeCamaro 11]

Or try a new USB cable. Also make sure you have the same port selected in your device manager and in your software.

JC

[Mudbug 0]

When I install the new printer it does not show in my Device manager. Im dumb as a rock when it comes to this kinda stuff, Im just tryin to help my son out. Would it help if I post a pic of my device manager. Thx for your help.

[kenimes 42]

When I install the new printer it does not show in my Device manager. Im dumb as a rock when it comes to this kinda stuff, Im just tryin to help my son out. Would it help if I post a pic of my device manager. Thx for your help.

Yes it would. If it is not showing up in the Ports section as a USB Serial Port, then it could be showing up in Other Devices, or even as an unknown device in Universal Serial Bus Controllers, in which case the driver will need to be forced in using the little driver CD.

[Mudbug 0]

I have tried USB, LPT & com1 with no luck. I guess I need to go with my vista comp. Here is a pic. of my DM

[kenimes 42]

PM me your phone number and I will phone you for assistance.

[kenimes 42]

Just got off the phone with the gentleman, and he had a demo version of SignBlazer with all of the drivers for the software, but nothing for the Refine MH721. When I got him on the line, he already had the Serial cable plugged in, so I just went to Setup in SBE and set the cutter to the RedSail 720 (which works in place of the MH721), and set it to COM1. Away he went....

[Mudbug 0]

Yes it did!!!!!   Thx alot bro! This site Rocks. Thx everyone for the help....

[BannerJohn 1,324]

I am using the Redsail driver even now...HAD to in the beginning,never saw the need to change.

Ken to the rescue once again!

[kenimes 42]