Another noob needs help

[autoseals]

Everyone,

Just came across LCD smartie after buying my HTPC case. I purchase this case from Newegg:
Eagle Tech ET-CAEC2-SL Silver Aluminum ATX Desktop Computer Case

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6811117088

It did not come with the software the manual was refering to so I downloaded the the HTPC VFD and Remote Driver from www.want-ione.com.

I installed Port95NT. (I assumed all I needed to do was run the install?)

I ran lcd smartie (I now have the lated 5.4 build). I set my display plugin to HD44780 with startup parameters to $278 and screen size to 2 x20.

All I have on the VFD is a single row of black bars. I did not need to do much wiring as the VFD has a block end that plugs into port. I then have adapter that runs from those ports to a parallel port.

My motherboard does not have a parallel port onboard so I purchased a Rosewill RC-302.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6815166005

Note: running MCE 2005.[/img]

[mattcro]

Are you sure that the parallel port address is $278? The normal address for a single parallel port is $378. In Smartie you can usually use the default of LPT1.

Some PCI add-on parallel port cards use strange addresses like $8C00. You can find the exact address in Device Manager (Control Panel -> System, Hardware tab, Device Manager). Expand the Ports and double-click Printer Port (or Parallel Port), then look at the Resources tab. It should have one or more I/O ranges - use the lowest number in the first range.

The black blocks on the display indicate that it is powered up but not initialized by the driving software (Smartie in this case).

[autoseals]

I finally got it to work after changing the port correctly. I then put it on my vista machine and it did work for a little bit of time until I changed the name of the computer. Atleast I know the VFD works and will have to wait and see what needs to be done to keep it working on Vista.

[ion]

Hate to ressurect this post, but I got the same EC-2 case and having similar problems. The top line of the screen is blacked out and nothing that I've tried so far works.
I suspect that my mobo has some issues with the way the parallel port is initialized, but not sure how to check it. I tried changing the type of the port in BIOS to see if it helps, but to no avail. 378 is the address and I do not htink I need IRQ or DMA for this to work, or do I? In any case there is the motherboard: http://us.dfi.com.tw/Product/xx_product ... LP&SITE=US
I've installed Port95NT, but not sure what it does , as I can not tweak it. When it comes up the address there is not the same I as my port has.

Any ideas?

[rfryar]

I have the exact same case but instead of using $378 try using LTP1 as your port. That works fine for me and I have never had an issue with this HTPC display not initializing correctly.

However I am running XP and not Vista.

Rick

[ion]

Thanks for your reply.
Trust me I've tried everything and LPT1 was one of the first options.

As I've mentioned, I think I have an issue with the HW port not being recognized correctly. As you know there is very little you can screw up when connecting the VFD to mobo. And according to folks on the thread it seems that the display is working. So it must be the mobo or software.

The thing is I never got it to work even with the supplied software. All I see is that backed out line

Another issues is that I'm not really following which piece of software does what. This seems to be pretty technical audience and I was hoping that someone can help me to troubleshoot the issue or at least provide some pointers.
For instance PortNT95 comes up with a port number of 768 instead of 378. I'm not sure where it is reading that value from. Nor do I know how to change /tweak it. I did try to plug that number in, but no luck.

Also, could it be the pin out of the LPT port on this particular mobo? Should not be, but may be swapping a pin or to will get this to work?

Your help is greatly appreciated (We can to take it off line too). TIA.