Problem Can't set enable pins low?

So, after screwing around for a week trying to get hold of a DB25 male/male cable, I have everything plugged in (in a manner of speaking...), but, naturally, problems.

I'm running LinuxCNC on an old but suitable PC chosen mostly for the fact it has a parallel port on it. Also it was free.

Anyway, I managed to get everything set up to where things are making noise, but nothing useful is actually happening. The problem, I've determined, is the fact that I can't get the enable pins for the X or Z axes...enabled.

I'm using a Univelop v1.0 3-axis board (don't say it; I bought the thing years ago and I'm poor right now), which means pins 8, 9, and 14 must be low to ready their axes for input. Thing is, I can't seem to do that. My Google-fu got me as far as adding the enable pin/invert signal instructions in the appropriate HAL file, but that doesn't seem to actually do anything. Odder still (at least to me) is the fact that pin 8 is set to low from the moment the PC is turned on.

I know the board isn't faulty, because I can ground the pins manually and it behaves as it should, but I have no idea what the problem is when the cable is actually attached.


Any suggestions that don't involve the purchase of a Gecko?