Silver Bullet Cutters Forum

I've been having issues with blue screen errors lately, also. Mine only happens when I disconnect my Cougar from my windows 7 laptop. The laptop does not "read" the Cougar as hardware that I can disconnect using the "safely disconnect hardware" feature. Unless I completely shut down the computer, I get a blue screen whenever I unplug. I have tried putting it to sleep, rather than shutting down, but that isn't effective. Makes it a bit inconvenient, as my printer is at the opposite end of the house, on a different floor, and I cant print to it unless I move the laptop. I did not have this issue prior to installing the MTC update, so I will pop over there and ask about it. I'm not sure if this is related to your problem or not. I'll let you know what I find out.

That is odd!

Yup! I thought I was imagining it at first, but now DH has seen it, so I know its real! (He is good for a reality check now and then!)

Have you thought of doing a system restore to when it was okay?

No, but I probably should have! I'll try that and let you know.

okie dokie

My first attempt at restoring didn't work. I'll try one more time, which will remove the Windows 7 service pack, which may be the problem. I will be away today and tomorrow, so it will have to wait until Sunday.

okie dokie, I'll wait to hear the result

I was having crashes with my Win7 also, but it turned out to be a conflict with the antivirus software I was using and I needed to do some updates of Win7. I would look more to Win 7 than to MTC, but you can also submit a support ticket to Andy on MTC forum to get the best answer.
Good luck!

Things seem to be going well now. Using the Keyspan adapter seems to have fixed the bluescreen errors.
I then had an issue with what I think were data transfer time-outs (I was cutting a very large file as a test; one from Paulo's svg site) resulting in a full-stop and having to close and restart both Cougar and MTC, but reading a post on the MTC forum led me to a solution for that in the settings of the com port.

In the advanced settings I set -
RECEIVE FIFO = NONE (DEFAULT = 16)
TRANSMIT COMPLETION = FASTER (DEFAULT = STANDARD)

There were some intermediate settings, but I got time-outs with those as well in trying to cut this large file of over 37,000 coordinates). I'd guess smaller files would not require setting adjustments, but as long as everything else works as it should I will leave the advanced settings as above.

I'm posting this message in the machine area also, as I believe I mistakenly posed my question in the software section.

Thanks all!
Deborah

Thanks for letting us know Deborah, hope all goes well for you now

Happy cutting, Deborah - hope all goes well going forward!

Mine has been doing the same thing, Elizabeth. It's so random. Sometimes it happens, and sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes I shut down my computer and then unplug the cougar, but that's often inconvenient. I think maybe I should try a keyspan as well. Tami

I never did figure this out. I ended up getting a new laptop and this isn't a problem with this one. I just installed a keyspan adaptor, and so far it is working really well. I like the nice tight connection.

OK, so just where would one procure a keyspan adapter? Staples? On the net?
Fondly, Tami

keyspan can be obtained at amozon.com

http://www.amazon.com/Keyspan-USA-19HS- ... B0000VYJRY
and a serial to usb converter can be purchased at radioshack or best buy


http://www.radioshack.com/product/index ... Id=3584699

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Dynex%26%23 ... &st=serial to usb converter&cp=1&lp=1

tamihowse wrote:Mine has been doing the same thing, Elizabeth. It's so random. Sometimes it happens, and sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes I shut down my computer and then unplug the cougar, but that's often inconvenient. I think maybe I should try a keyspan as well. Tami

if using scal3 please look on the forum here for the scal 3 update it has fixed many who were having this same issue with out them having to spend more money.