(As with all my help files, this only pertains to PCs with
Windows 95/98)
Of all the problem items I see, I think this is one of the worst to solve.
A typical comment, "I just put in (new device) or upgraded system,
and now I get a "no communication" message when I try to connect
the computer to my sewing machine!" And to make matters worse,
talking to computer reps often does little good..they usually don’t
even know you can connect a sewing machine to a computer! So
where are you going to get help? Right here on one of the Pfaffie
lists! Altogether, we know quite a lot about fixing the problem!
First, recheck the cables! I have had several people tell me that
they solved the problem by repluging the cable, or "jiggling" the
the cable. So make sure the cable is firmly plugged in..you may
also want to check to make sure none of the pins are bent.
Secondly, I would recommend you check Elaine Reick’s site, where she
has an excellent tip about this very problem..your answer might be
there. The following URL will take you directly to the tip on
"no communications" problem:
http://members.home.net/erieck/puter.htm
Well, lots of good info there, but maybe you are still
unable to fix the
problem. Well let's look around a bit and see if we can find
something wrong. You should have already did the obvious; sewing
machine turned on ; cable connected..and attached to the correct
port on your computer. Let’s check easy stuff first.
(The following illustrations are from my wife’s PC..I don’t have
her Pfaff connected to my PC. Oh, I ought to also mention
that her PC does NOT use a Com port for a mouse..she has a
PS2 mouse connection. Also, she has Windows95.)
The following is from PC Designer (click on Machine, then select
Configuration from dropdown menu). Verify that the com port
you are using is the one you have checked. Make sure you have
checked the proper sewing machine. Transfer-Rate should probably
be set at High, as in this example.
If all is OK above, let’s go check just what resources Com3 is using.
To get to the following screen do this: Right click on the My Computer
icon (should be near top left of your screen). Click on Preferences in
the dropdown menu. Finally, click on the Device Manager tab, and you
should get a display that looks like the following (if the dot is in the
View
devices by connection radio button, click on the dot in front of View
devices by type, and the list will change to look like below. Next, if the
box in front of the Ports (COM & LPT) has a plus sign, click on it to
expand the entries. Finally, hilight the Com entry you assigned your
sewing machine to (Com 3 in my example) and click on the
Properties button.
OK, if your screen does not look like the following, it is because
it first displays with the General tab information..click on the
Resources tab to get the view below.
Gives us some information..tells me I am using IRQ 3 for Com3, and
more importantly tells me in the Conflicting device list window that
I have no conflicts. If you DON’T have this message, you have
zeroed in on the problem! The list will tell you what device Com3
is in conflict with. You will have to change something. However,
there are so many possibilities at this point that it would be impossible
for me to tell you what to do, other than you will have to change
the IRQ of something!
Let’s just do another check to see if your Modem might be trying to
share the same Com port (but, I think that would have showed up in
the previous screen, but let’s check anyway..can’t hurt!)
To get to the following screen do this: Left click on My Computer
icon. Next click on the Control Panel icon. After the Control Panel
shows up, click on the Modems icon.
Now you should see just which com port your modem is on.
In this case it is on Com1 and no modem on Com3..that’s fine!
Well, that’s about all the suggestions I have..except let’s do
a hardware conflict check. I often suggest people do this, not just
for the "no communication" problem, but for others problems also.
Probably a good thing to know about anyway.
(Note: All of the previous illustrations were from my wife’s
PC, which has Windows95. All of the following screens
are from my PC which has Windows98. If you have
Windows95, your screens will look a little different, but
the process is basically the same.)
I got to the following screen by following this sequence: Click
on Start button on the taskbar, select "Help". I then typed the
word "troubleshoot" in the index window (click on Index tab if
Contents tab is the active tab) Finally, I have hilighted
"hardware conflict".
OK, let’s click the display button and see what happens!
You will get a troubleshooter screen. What!…yours doesn’t look
like the following screen? Well, if you have Windows95 it won’t,
but it will bring up the troubleshooting help Wizard which will lead
you thru some steps that may find a conflict. Oh, you have Windows98
and you still didn’t see the following screen? Well, I skipped a
couple of simple steps! After you click the Display above, you are
asked do you want to start up troubleshooter? Of course I do, that’s
why I am here! So click on that and then it asks me to check which thing
I want to do. Well on my PC there was only one thing..start the
Troubleshooter! So I select that and finally I get troubleshooter! So, you
did those two steps and yours still doesn’t look exactly like mine?
Well,
click on the Hide button..it turns off the left panel..we don’t
need it anyway
and gives us room to move the remaining panel over so we can read and
follow instructions.
At the end of each one of these panels, will be some questions as below:
Gives us a few choices. Pick one. Clicking on Next brings you
to some more stuff to check…this may go on for a number of
panels. If troubleshooter hasn’t found your problem, you
end up with the following screen: (I deliberately skipped the
questions..I don’t have a machine conflict :-) …sorry about that)
Trouble shooter gives up. Time to find a friendly guru!
Don Moore
Pjungles@aol.com