USB to Laserpoint - not talking

[kenF 0]

Hello All,

New laserpoint and I'm working through the startup issues.

Everything is installed.  in SBE I press "Cut", the dialog box shows progress,

then nothing.

Setup details

- Running XP on a laptop.  No serial port. So using usb to get started.

- Installed the USB drivers.  Came up with Com7 in the device manager.

- Installed SBE.  In setup configured to USB-serial(com7)

- The laserpoint turns on and the test square works.

Using the pen to cut a test letter.  Press "cut", then "cut tile".

The progess bar moves about 1/4 of the way,

showing  "setting output to cutter", flashes off, then  nothing.

Tried swapping out the USB cable.

Matched the "flow control" settings equal to "hardware" (taken from another post).

Turned off/on the computer.  Same with the laserpoint.

It looks like a number of people have made a similiar journey.

I'm probably missing something obvious.  Any help would

be appreciated.

Ken 

[kenimes 42]

Unplug the USB cable and plug it in to a different USB port on the computer. Try the new COM port it gets assigned.

[kenF 0]

good morning Kenimes,

I have 4 usb ports. 

I went through each one in turn, syncing sbe to each new port set in

device manager.

Two of the ports got assigned a com port higher than 8, I reassigned them

to a lower com port.

Still not talking.

Looking at device manager the "port settings" window has the rate set at

9,600.  When I click the advanced tab, it shows the "usb transfer rate" for

both "send" and "receive" at 4,096.  Should this matter?

When  I send the a test cut to the laserpoint should the status bar be saying

"online" or the x-y cooridinates?  I've had the cutter in both settings with the same

non-cutting results.

[kenimes 42]

Transfer rate should not matter, so leave it be. Cutter needs to say Online for it to be ready to cut.

[kenF 0]

Any more suggestions?

I've tried everyting I've found on the board.

- Tried all USB ports; reassigned the two usb ports above com8

- Switched out cable

- Ensured SBE and Computer have same settings.

- Set flow rate to "hardware"

no cutter action.

[kenimes 42]

Send me a PM with your phone number and the best time to catch you in front of the cutter and computer.

[kenF 0]

Got the cutter working.  Of course, it was something simple.

The first port I tried didn't work with the cutter in "on line" mode,

so I assumed...(in hindsight, the thought process is questionable) the cutter had to be in

the "x-y" mode.

So off I go changing cables, usb ports, device managering like crazy, rebooting

to no avail.  The whole time leaving it in "x-y" mode, not "online".

KenImes offers to help.  While I'm waiting  for his call, I try once more with the first port

I started with, with a new cable, with the cutter  "on line" mode, with device manager synced

with SBE.  Yep, it worked.

so, the lessons I learned that may be useful for others coming up the learning curve.

1. Leave cutter "on-line" mode.

2. Make sure you know how to access your computer's device manager and SBE setup.

    - confirm  com ports, baud rate, and flow control match.

2. Methodically start changing things. 

    - I'd say, first the cable.

    - Then going through the different usb ports.

Onto actually cutting.

Once I replace the cable I didn't go back and try the first

usb I started with.

So going through all the other ports with no results, I thought

I'd mess around while

[kenimes 42]

Glad you got it figured out. Sorry I wasn't able to call you yesterday, but had planned to today.