Pico Technical Support and Discussion Forum

Sami · Guest

I connected ADC-12 succesfully to a new Fujitsu Siemens for a "testdrive".
Everythink seemed to be fine. Then I tried ADC-12 with a very old IBM Think Pad (266 MHz, runnnig both Win98 and XP, neither one did work with ADC-12). Now PicoLog only showed a constant voltage of 5 V, and did not react at all. Basically, I could naturally buy a new laptop for display unit, but I thought that an old IBM just could do fine as there is no need for ultimate computing capacity.
Any suggestions to get Thind Pad and ADV-12 work together.

Sami
.

Michael · Posted: Fri Nov 04, 2005 2:45 pm Post subject:

Hello

Thank you for your email, I am sorry to hear that you have been
experiencing these problems.

If the program appears to not find the unit then try selecting all the available LPT ports. Try LPT1, LPT2 and LPT3 to see if any these give readings. This is because Windows can virtualise the parallel port and it could be going by a different number.

If this doesn't help, then check and make sure that nothing else is installed to the parallel port. Printers, scanners and zip drives can all cause driver conflicts. If there is anything installed try assigning it to a different port or uninstalling it and see if this helps.

Also check the parallel port settings in the BIOS of the computer. It should be set to one of the following modes:

SPP, Normal, Output Only, Unidirectional

It should not be set to ECP, EPP or Bidirectional.

If none of this helps then please do not hesitate to contact me further.

Best Regards
Michael

>>> · Guest

you may need to try using the ibm setup utility (which can be downloaded from ibm) to setup your Paralell port.

Guest · Posted: Wed Jan 11, 2006 9:22 pm Post subject: ADC-12 with IBM Think Pad

Hello
I had the same problem, I changed the port setting to Unidirectional and when the ADC12 was plugged in the 5v changed to 0.015v, testing a battery made no difference to the display. Can you please offer any advice?

Michael · Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2006 2:48 pm Post subject:

Hello,

You will need to check the LPT port address. You can do this in the BIOS settings.

Try Port address 3f8 or try selecting a different LPT port in PicoScope. IBM had decided to give thier ports a different address to others which can caus problems with parallel port devices.

Best regards,
Michael

Dave · Guest

Hi Michael
Thank you for your reply, I found that the problem was a broken cable !!!
I have another question that I was hoping that you might be able to help me with. I am trying to measure the balance of a detector head of a metal detector, this balance I used to measure with an hand held oscilloscope but that died on me this week hence me buying the ADC-12. The head balance is in Vpp and previously I connected my positive to a known terminal and the ground to the frame of the machine. Can you offer any advice on whether the ADC-12 will measure this Vpp which is usually in the region of 700mv? (I then calibrate the machine to give me a balance of <100mv). And if it will, any idea how to go about it?
I tried to measure but I got zero when I connected as above, when I removed the ground I got 0.015v which seems to be normal when the ADC is plugged in to the port and not actually connected to anything.
Thanks again, Dave

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