IPAC - Failed to program device

[OC_Ryan]

Hey everyone,

I was very excited when I got my first cabinet, ordered all the buttons and joysticks, the IPAC, and was making my own control panels in my living room, dreaming of a day (that I thought would be soon) when I would be playing all my old favorite games on my new MAME cab. I hit a huge snag a while back, and tried everything to get it working, after I couldn't I got too busy with work to take another look. Regardless, I want to turn this project into something fun rather than having it sit in a corner in pieces!

I'm using WinIPAC on Vista, trying to program my IPAC, an older version. It has 1/2STRT and 1/2COIN, as well as the 1-8 SW, left, right, up, down, and GND. I'm not quite sure which version of the board this would be, but I got it around a year ago. It has 15 inputs per player, as detailed above.

Regardless, I cannot get it to program, it installs the driver fine, but it always comes up saying "Failed to program device". I'm not sure what else to try. I've read other threads about people having this problem, but nothing works. I'm at a loss.

Anyone have any suggestions for me?

Thanks,
ocryan

[brian_hoffman]

I have bought 3 ipacs and had that problem with all of them, but I ALWAYS got through it. The first time the fix was adjusting the time out. Make it super slow to time out it may work after that.

The other fix was downloading a diffrent driver than the one it came with. It appears they have changed hardware slightly between versions.

[OC_Ryan]

Okay, I changed the IPAC Model in Options to the wrong IPAC and changed the download timer to 10 seconds and it programmed mine fine... hmm.

But I went into test mode and the button presses aren't doing anything after it's been programmed... Now what? 

[AndyWarne]

Make sure you are using the latest version from www.ultimarc.com/download.html

If still problems, drop me an email. I will need to know whether you are connected via USB or PS/2.

andy@ultimarc.com

[Fordman]

Do as Andy says then:

Connect the IPAC to your computer with one of these:



Plug the PS2 end of the adaptor into the 'PC-USB/KB' side of the IPAC.


Use a male to male USB 2.0 cable from adaptor above to USB 2.0 port on computer



Then open WinIpac programmer, select USB as your mode of programming. your IPAC will be programmed faster than you can imagine! I've set up about a dozen or so this way and they all program lightning fast!

 

Fordman

[Nick Tedstone]

I was having problems programming my MiniPAC. WinIPAC 2 would not see the board, no matter what I did in device manager. I tried WinIPAC (the older version) but initially when pressing the program button it simply stated that the "Driver not loaded". This was soon found to be using Windows 11 because I needed to run the program as Administrator (right click the actual EXE [not a shortcut] and select "run as administrator" from the pop-up menu).

So now I could hit program and it said Driver Loaded, but then a pop-up would appear to say that "Failed to Program Device". Not knowing the history of my 2nd hand MiniPAC I initially thought that it had been damaged or badly flashed, yet it worked fine in my cabinet as defaults, I just couldn't program it with new assignments.

Finally I found an even older version of the WinIPAC software v1.0.16 which has a PacMan style ICON, not a 'U'.
          1 -  navigate to  "https://www.ultimarc.com/control-interfaces/mini-pac-en/mini-pac/"
          2 -  Click link near top of page "Click Here for older software versions for pre-2015 boards"
          3 -  Scroll down to ""Legacy" Programming Utility for Windows"
          4 -  Click link "Click Here to Download Program"
          5 - Run Set Up contained in "WinIPAC_Setup.zip" but don't install to default folder as that will be where WinIPAC 'V1' (for want of better label) is already installed
This software was for IPAC2 & IPAC4 and was circa 2002. On installation to Win 11 I had to reboot my machine before the install because the Setup told me I had to. Then when Win restarted and I re-ran Setup picked a different install directory but I still had 2 warnings about copying older files to my PC (windows folders), I opted to keep the versions I had. I ran this old version of the WinIPAC software, hit program AND IT DIDNH'T WORK either!

However even though we know that MINI-PAC does not need any specific drivers, something installed on my PC that allowed the WinIPAC v1 to the successfully program my MiniPAC. I still ran it as Administrator on the 1st try, but subsequent tries allowed me to successfully program even if not started as administrator.

I hope that this post will help someone trouble shoot their own issues because it was the original posts here that set me off on the path to success.
So many thanks all.

 

[Gilrock]

I'm mainly commenting so I can come back and find this later.  My virtual pinball has an older IPAC probably around 2014 that I haven't been able to get to program since upgrading my PC hardware and using Windows 10.

[jimj]

In case anyone else is tempted to buy a StarTech GC46MFKEY for use with their IPAC, don't.  It doesn't work, you get a "device not recognized" error in Device Manager.

The Ultimarc USB Cable for pre-2015 boards (USB to Mini-DIN) is the way to go.
   

[Hutt]

Just tried to program an old school Ipac that I put in a panel at least 15 years ago and never used.

Having the same issues... tried the older and newer program and both failing.
With WinIPAC 1.0.16 it says it's programming but keeps ending with 'FAILED Reconnect IPAC'

Any other suggestions?

I was having problems programming my MiniPAC. WinIPAC 2 would not see the board, no matter what I did in device manager. I tried WinIPAC (the older version) but initially when pressing the program button it simply stated that the "Driver not loaded". This was soon found to be using Windows 11 because I needed to run the program as Administrator (right click the actual EXE [not a shortcut] and select "run as administrator" from the pop-up menu).

So now I could hit program and it said Driver Loaded, but then a pop-up would appear to say that "Failed to Program Device". Not knowing the history of my 2nd hand MiniPAC I initially thought that it had been damaged or badly flashed, yet it worked fine in my cabinet as defaults, I just couldn't program it with new assignments.

Finally I found an even older version of the WinIPAC software v1.0.16 which has a PacMan style ICON, not a 'U'.
          1 -  navigate to  "https://www.ultimarc.com/control-interfaces/mini-pac-en/mini-pac/"
          2 -  Click link near top of page "Click Here for older software versions for pre-2015 boards"
          3 -  Scroll down to ""Legacy" Programming Utility for Windows"
          4 -  Click link "Click Here to Download Program"
          5 - Run Set Up contained in "WinIPAC_Setup.zip" but don't install to default folder as that will be where WinIPAC 'V1' (for want of better label) is already installed
This software was for IPAC2 & IPAC4 and was circa 2002. On installation to Win 11 I had to reboot my machine before the install because the Setup told me I had to. Then when Win restarted and I re-ran Setup picked a different install directory but I still had 2 warnings about copying older files to my PC (windows folders), I opted to keep the versions I had. I ran this old version of the WinIPAC software, hit program AND IT DIDNH'T WORK either!

However even though we know that MINI-PAC does not need any specific drivers, something installed on my PC that allowed the WinIPAC v1 to the successfully program my MiniPAC. I still ran it as Administrator on the 1st try, but subsequent tries allowed me to successfully program even if not started as administrator.

I hope that this post will help someone trouble shoot their own issues because it was the original posts here that set me off on the path to success.
So many thanks all.

 

[jimj]

Just tried to program an old school Ipac that I put in a panel at least 15 years ago and never used.

Having the same issues... tried the older and newer program and both failing.
With WinIPAC 1.0.16 it says it's programming but keeps ending with 'FAILED Reconnect IPAC'

Any other suggestions?

If you're using Windows 10 (or 11 I assume) you must have your IPAC (properly) connected via USB.  Windows 10 can't program an IPAC connected to a PS2 port.

[Hutt]

Just tried to program an old school Ipac that I put in a panel at least 15 years ago and never used.

Having the same issues... tried the older and newer program and both failing.
With WinIPAC 1.0.16 it says it's programming but keeps ending with 'FAILED Reconnect IPAC'

Any other suggestions?

If you're using Windows 10 (or 11 I assume) you must have your IPAC (properly) connected via USB.  Windows 10 can't program an IPAC connected to a PS2 port.

Yeah I have a PS2 to USB adapter plugged directly into the IPAC.
I'm going to get a different cable to try... I've seen issues with cables in the past... unless you have another suggestion.

[jimj]

Yeah I have a PS2 to USB adapter plugged directly into the IPAC.
I'm going to get a different cable to try... I've seen issues with cables in the past... unless you have another suggestion.

Trying a different cable is a good idea.  I've read that not all PS2 adapters work, so if you have another type of PS2 adapter to try that may help (or you could always buy an Ultimarc cable).

[Zebidee]

My experience with the older IPACs, especially when connected by PS2 to USB adapter, was that sometimes you'd have to unplug and reinsert the IPAC until windows recognises it. Sometimes takes a while. This is even with XP. But once it gets there, it usually stays, even after rebooting the PC.

Going into Device Manager and uninstalling/reinstalling the device sometimes works too, possibly in conjunction with the replugging strategy. Been a while, and I never did in with Windows 10, but this is what I had to do. Once windows recognises the IPAC usally seems fine from then on.