Re-Install after lightning strike

[Ausworkshop]

My house and workshop pcs recently stopped working due to a lightning strike which means I have to replace both. I have a cnc shark I use for my home business and am trying to get it up and running again with an old pc I had lying around.
I installed Vcarve pro with the cd that came with my shark. The vcarve minimum system requirements say that the old pc doesnt have quite enough ram but I tried it anyway and it installed and runs ok.

The problem I have is when I download the shark software following the instructions it says its installed ok and the drivers etc but when I run it (30 day trial version) it says 'Please check CNC Shark Power and USB cable' I've tried pulling the cable in and out and (which usually fixes it) it still wont work, the machine sounds like its pulsing one or all of the steppers like when you first turn it on only now it keeps repeating pulsing every second and the lights on my controller flash at the same time.

Please help me figure it out as I have a lot of orders coming through leading up to Christmas and cant afford to fall further behind.
I think it has something to do with the old computer I tried to install the software on or maybe the software itself, I notice its slightly different and has more added to the jog control than what my old version had. Is there something I can do to check to find where the fault lies. I'm pretty sure the shark controller box wasn't damaged as it still has all the lights coming on and pulses the steppers it seems to be something wrong with the softrware/drivers.

Is there a minimum system requirement for the cnc shark basic controller? I would have thought that if it runs vcarve ok then it should have no problem with the cnc shark basic. How can I re register this new version into my old name? I'm not sure if I have a copy of my user information.

Thanks for your time.

[Turbo1zz]

There is a minimum but if you were able to instal VCarve and get it running then you shouldn't have a problem with the basic panel. What operating system are you using on the older computer?

Try installing another USB device into the computer you are using and see if you are able to access that device. If you can not, then you have an issue with the actual USB on the computer. If the device works then it's a driver issue or the control box took damage in the lightning strike as well.

[Kryptik]

'ello

Had the same problem when trying to use a touch screen unit from an old Woolies self service machine. I never solved it unfortunately, other things to do. I performed exactly the same install sequence on that (XP) as I did on my laptop which runs the Shark (XP) and my main PC (7/64), but no go. Same thing, turn it on, pulse, nothing.
Where abouts are you ? I'm in Gosford, may be able to get you sorted at least through Chrissy, the spice must flow

Cheers

Marc

[Ausworkshop]

I just had an email response from Tim, he says it will only work with USB 2.0
I'm pretty sure this old pc would only have USB1 so I think that is the problem.

I wish I had another spare pc to try but unfortunately the lighting took out both my house pc and workshop so I'm now looking for a second hand pc dealer near by.

If I don't get this up and running again soon I'm going to let a lot of customers down and it will cost my already struggling business.

Thanks for all your fast replies.

I am in Gippsland Victoria so I think its a bit far from Gosford.

[Kryptik]

Thought that was the case.
Hit Jaycar or Alltronics, I think Dicky's is now all cheap Chinese consumer crap now, and see if you can grab a USB 2.0 card that will fit one of the PCI slots in your PC. So long as you are running at least XP SP2, you will have a good chance of getting up and running methinks.
Shame about the tyranny of distance.

Good luck

[Ausworkshop]

I managed to get a couple of 2nd hand pcs (Dell GX620 & GX520) I thought I would use one as a spare. I got the gx620 up and running ok. The guy I bought them from told be they both have usb2 but I can't get it working on the gx520.

I installed the shark software in the usual order as instructed and when I try to run it says the winusb.dll was not found. I found other threads on here where people have had the same problem but not much info on how to fix.
I really want to find out if I can use this one as a spare, if not I will only have a day or two to return it to the guy and get my money back.

I've spent hours doing windows updates etc trying to get it to work, very frustrating.
I never had these problems the first time I set it up.

Thanks to all for your help, please let me know if you have any ideas on how to fix this problem. I might start a new thread.

[jeb2cav]

Hi - this thread has a method that has seemed to work for some folks - http://www.cncsharktalk.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=742.

As you'll see in a comment from Tim Owens, NWA has apparently seen this only on computers with very old Win XP installation. IDK what that means. I do recommend taking the time to connect to Windows Update and run it until this machine is updated - but if the process described in the thread above cures it for you, it's certainly not a requirement (just a habit I'm in).

The other possible resolution for this if it is an 'old Win XP' setup is to check the Dell site for this model and downloads, and install any updated drivers from there as well.

One last thing that is not in the thread above:

Some (but not really many) .DLL files need to be manually "registered". To register a dll file, follow these steps:
o Click on Start and then click on Run.
o Type in the Run field the command: regsvr32 "FileName.dll"
o Press Enter. ("filename.dll" represents the name of the specific dll)

Fortunately I have not had to go through this, despite using an 'old' Win XP setup. IDK if that's because I had kept up with Windows Updates and hardware drivers from the manufacturer, or just grace...

Hope this helps.

[Ausworkshop]

I managed to get them both working. The first pc worked ok because I had the shark connected through usb while installing the cnc shark basic program and drivers. The only thing I did differently for the second pc was to install them while in the house (not out in the workshop connected to the shark) so I took it out there after uninstalling the cncshark program then I plugged the controller in and followed the instructions installed the drivers etc and then turned the shark controller on. When I turned it on windows discovered the new hardware and must have automatically sorted itself out installing the bits it needed.

I might not have needed to uninstall the shark controller first, perhaps all it needed to do was be connected then turned on and windows would have just recognised it as a new device and installed what it needed. I will never know now but all I know is it works now and if anyone has any trouble with the winusb.dll the best thing to do is make sure you have the shark connected through usb but not powered on until after the software is installed then don't try to run the software until the controller has powered on for the first time and set itself up.

Only question I have now is do I need to download the CNC Shark Post Processors - USB version from NWA and install it into the vcarve folder. I didn't do this but it all seems to work ok regardless.
I tried to find the folder it mentions and it doesn't seem to exist on my pc. c:\Program Files (x86)\VCarve Pro 5.5\PostP\ Is this because the CNC Shark Post Processors are already installed in vcarve version 6? Does Version 6 not have this folder anymore? If this is so then maybe NWA should make a note of this so people don't go trying to do something that is not needed with version 6.
Maybe I do need to update it if I want to run a newer controller with router on/off control, still can't find where to put it though or where the existing file location is for the one already in version 6.

Thanks to everyone for your help, hopefully this will help anyone else who has the same issues although there may be differences between controller versions pc brand etc that would make all I have said to be wrong - who knows with computers.
I am so tired of waiting for windows update to finish only to reboot reconnect and find more updates to install. Maybe I should start using windows 7 in future. I've heard XP will not be supported anymore soon anyway.

[Buc]

Here is a post to help you find the Post Processor location. http://www.vectric.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=10018
Read the PDF file.

You should be OK with the PP that came with V-carve. If you want the lastest version PP, Mark posted the lastest version here.
http://www.vectric.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=12705 (Note: this is for 'inch' only)