Originally Posted by MudPie

Ok, got it. Was it working prior, or did you do some work on it, and then it stopped working? As usual, hard to diagnose thru a series of texts, but let’s start:

1. can you pull on an exposed length of cable, say the segment under the down tube, and successfully move the front derailleur until it hits the stop, and while pulling the cable, turn the crank and spikes the chain engage the large sprocket?

2. Two thoughts come to mind: you have too much slack in your cable system, or the front shifter is sticking. Both are fixable, but tell me what happens when you try #1 above.