I-PAC woes

[tommyinajar]

I've got an old, old I-PAC w\ Windows 98 in a Gargantugame I just picked up. The player 2 controls are all messed up AFAIK only 2 buttons work and the joystick sends F12 when pulled down. The player 1 side works fine. The only software on it I can find is the IPACUTIL. It looks like all the inputs are set the same as on the Ultimarc site. If I try to change and save in the utility I get a "Timeout Error"

The instruction PDF file on there mentions shorting the A coin slot to ground when powering up to test, but when I do that I get the "No keyboard Connected" message in boot.




The wiring looks ok and original, but the  LED on the Ipac board is out. Opinions of if the board is just shot or what can I check? Thanks.

[EVEGames]

Tommy,
I can throw a few things out at you to try, but if you hit a brick wall, you can always reach out to Andy over at Ultimarc via email.  I've always found him very responsive to these kinds of questions. 

1) You say Player 2 Joystick Down sends F12, so I'm guessing you are using either the IPac Programming Utility or a 3rd party app like Chris Stuhr's "KeyThis!" (link: http://retroblast.arcadecontrols.com/files.html) to see what keycodes are being generated.  If not, I would suggest that you use KeyThis! to show you exactly which keycodes are being sent by the encoder for those Player 2 controls.

2) There is an older and a newer version of the IPac Programming utility, and you need to use the version which is compatible with your encoder (based on how old it is).  There should be a date stamped on the encoder.  There's more info on this on the Ultimarc site, in the IPac section.  If you are using the wrong version of the software, you won't be able to reprogram the keycodes.  This may contribute to your timeout error.

3) Jumpers.  I don't know exactly which version of the IPac you have, but you may have "MAME / ALT" jumper pins on the board.  If you do, put the jumper in the MAME position.  This overrides any custom programming, and gives you the default keyset.  That may solve your problem right there.  Also, if you DO want to reprogram the keycodes, this jumper needs to be set to ALT.  This may also contribute to your timeout error.

4) USB vs. PS/2.  You say you are using Windows98 as your OS.  Are you connecting your IPac via USB or PS/2?  Just a thought, USB can be problematic in Win98.  Also, the IPac Programming Utility software needs to know whether you are hooked up via USB or PS/2, it can't tell by itself.  This may also contribute to your timeout error.

5) The IPac Self-Test LED.  The pattern of flashes when you first power up the computer can tell you a lot.  This, and a lot more specific information can be seen on the Ultimarc site, under the IPac tab, in the Instruction section, toward the bottom, under the TROUBLESHOOTING heading.

Hope there's something in my ramblings that helps.

-EVEGames

[tommyinajar]

I should have said F11 because when you pull on the joystick you get the frame rate screen in Mame . Anyhow I'll try the "Key this" but I did open up notepad and got almost nothing off the right joystick or buttons. It's like the whole right side of the Ipac is messed up.

 It's the PS/2, and the configure utility has to be right because It was one of the few programs on it besides Mamewah and Mame32. This is a "commercially" produced game from http://gargantugame.com/

Thanks, I will go test it with the instructions from Ultimarc & also sent Andy an Email

P.S.The LED never comes on...

[BobA]

Thanks, I will go test it with the instructions from Ultimarc & also sent Andy an Email

P.S.The LED never comes on...

Error Conditions:
LED never lights:
Board faulty, cable faulty, PC not powering up correctly.

[fnord12]

You can go into the settings and increase the timeout.  For me, that's a necessity but once i do that, you should be able to remap the buttons.

[tommyinajar]

I never got any Ipac utiliity to work 100% in the windows 98 that was on there.

  I pulled the Ipac and fired it up on a XP machine and it looked like all the keys were programed to the default, and 8 were just 'dead' on the player 2 side. I just reset it default with newer ipac software in xp and they all worked again. Still no on on-board led but oh well, at least it seems to work now, Thanks for the responses