Since the drive inputs are optically isolated, you shouldn't connect the PIC DC ground to the driver supply DC ground as that looses isolation. I think there could easily be enough noise on the driver DC ground to cause incorrect signals on the inputs if you tied them together.

What you're trying to do should take about 5 minutes, not days, so there's probably something simple we're missing. Could you carefully draw out the complete schematic of what you've set up?

Quote Originally Posted by dsc View Post
On the 7805 I have 9VDC on the input and 5.01VDC on the output.
I'm pretty sure Irving was asking to find what capacitors (if any) you'd put on the input and output of the 7805. The datasheets give typical values, which should be fine for this.

The 'clunking' you describe is normal at low speed, since the motor stops after every step. At high speeds a good driver will run the motor in a different way with continuous angular speed, so you wont hear the steps.