IPAC 2 query *solved*

[danny_galaga]

I used an IPAC 2 in my mame cab when I first built it some years ago, with a ps2 connection. I've recently put in a new motherboard. Now when I play certain games, like Scramble or Commando, where you might be hitting two buttons at once I noticed a weird glitch. Basically what happens (most noticeable in Scramble) is if you were moving in a direction and hitting Fire and Bomb at the same time, the movement freezes where the ship is and won't move again except with a double tap of the joystick in the direction you wanted to go.

So out of curiosity, I checked on my PC which has the same version of mame, and it doesn't happen, either with the keyboard or with a USB pad. I tested my cab with the ps2 keyboard and the same problem occurs. But it doesn't occur with the USB gamepad plugged in. Now, I've already determined that this motherboard is a piece of poo (foxconn d51s, con being the operative word. you get what you pay for I guess!). The onboard sound doesn't work for instance, so I think it's quite likely that there is something amiss with the ps2 part of it.

My question is (finally!) that i notice my IPAC 2 has a USB pinout. Can I just buy a USB connector for it and it should be ok? Is this something generic or would it have to be something specifically for the IPAC? And how long can a USB cable be before the signal gets a bit funky?

[AndyWarne]

All I-PACs are USB devices so with the correct cable it will work in USB mode. We sell the cables on their own or you can use a small adaptor plug.

Do not use a PS/2 to USB active converter. This will not work as the I-PAC is already a USB device, and these converters suffer from various problems which means they are not suitable for gaming.

Andy

[danny_galaga]

All I-PACs are USB devices so with the correct cable it will work in USB mode. We sell the cables on their own or you can use a small adaptor plug.

Do not use a PS/2 to USB active converter. This will not work as the I-PAC is already a USB device, and these converters suffer from various problems which means they are not suitable for gaming.

Andy

Thanks for that! I've had the thing for about 6 years now and it works flawlessly (the only thing that has on my cab!) so it's great I can just use a USB cable. I'll have a look on your website (",)

[danny_galaga]

Hmmm, I haven't gotten around to trying a USB cable yet. I was going to make one, but just recently the controls have been playing up even more. Now the shift function isn't working. Player 1, instead of holding for shift, just reads as '1' now, so for instance, if I am in the menu, and I try to select raiden from the list by holding P1 and left joystick, it just jumps to 1942, because it is just being read as the number one. So there may be something up with the encoder after all    .

 I got wise and thought I might try and reseat the chip (its in a socket), but that didn't make any difference. I have shoddy diagnosis skills, and I haven't yet done the obvious thing of trying this IPAC on another computer. This requires me lugging my PC over to the cab. I'll report back when I've tried that.  I'm trying for the High score comp (Raiden) so it would be handy if I didn't freeze in place anytime I drop a bomb   I have a backup plan if the device is shot though, as I have a keywiz that i was going to use for another project, but ended up hacking a joypad. There's no keyboard passthrough though, which is annoying, but at least I have an option (",)

[NoBullMAME]

All I-PACs are USB devices so with the correct cable it will work in USB mode. We sell the cables on their own or you can use a small adaptor plug.

Do not use a PS/2 to USB active converter. This will not work as the I-PAC is already a USB device, and these converters suffer from various problems which means they are not suitable for gaming.

Andy

Andy, does the small plug adapter work on older versions? I'm not sure, but I thought you needed your special USB to PS/2 cable? Maybe I'm remembering wrong? Can you confirm?

I can vouch the those little converters you buy with keyboard and mouse ports don't work; they have a problem with key repeating (like on the arrow keys) for one thing.

Here's a photo of what NOT to buy:

[AndyWarne]

Yes the little adaptor will work on all I-PACs.

You need something that does NOT convert the protocol from PS/2 to USB. The I-PAC is already USB and auto-detects the type of interface its connected to, switching to the correct protocol as required.

If you use a converter, the I-PAC will run in PS/2 mode, not USB, and the converter will attepmt to transalate to USB. This will not work for gaming. The main problem is these converters cancel all keypresses after 2-3 seconds to avoid stuck keys. Thats useless for gaming of course.

[danny_galaga]

Just an update on the new problems. Last night, even the coin slot stopped working. I opened up the coin door, and all the new probs went away. Quite obviously, i had shorted something. So now I'm back to just that problem of the two button interference. I have four days off now, so hopefully i can get around to lugging the pc over to the cab (",)

[danny_galaga]

Just an update on my ipac oddyssey (",)

I picked up one of those little adapters a few weeks ago from the local ipac dealer. I took one look at it and thought that he'd sent me the wrong part. For some reason it looked like it converted a USB cable to ps2. Today I looked at it again and it quite obviously does what I was told it would do. It changes the end of a ps2 cable to a usb. Which is exactly what I needed. This is the part Andy is talking about



So I set it up, changing the jumper on the ipac to usb. restart the cab, let it update the drivers for it and tried it out. It works, which is good, but still exactly the same problem as before 

While I was in a testin' mood, I finally dragged my duel boot pc over to the cab to try the ipac on that. Booted up, and then the monitor shut down! I rebooted it into Linux, and everything was fine. Hmmm. Tried windows again. Again with the black screen. Booted into Linux and desperately had a look to see if I had mame on it. Nope. Set the pc back where I grabbed it from, and it boots into windows just fine! WTF? I sure am surrounded by a lot of crappy equipment!

So anyway, this is what I've eliminated for sure so far:

mame cabs ps2 connection (same problem occurred in USB mode)
the ps2 cable in the cab (I used a spare to hook up the pc to the ipac)

Basically, in all this time, I still haven't figured out whether it's the IPAC or the mame cab pc!


I will try and get a friend over with mame on a laptop and try again. To be continued...

Edit: Just re-read my first post. Maybe I have narrowed it down to the ipac. The ipac has the same problem with either ps2 or usb. But when I tried a usb gamepad, no problem. Bugger. Oh wait. I also tried it with a ps2 keyboard and it had the problem. What the hell. I might go and try the game pad and the keyboard again to verify.

[newmanfamilyvlogs]

I'm confused.. Isn't that exactly what he told you NOT to use?

[danny_galaga]

I'm confused.. Isn't that exactly what he told you NOT to use?

No, all the little adapter I used does is physically (not electronically) convert the end of a ps2 cable to USB. The ipac is USB already. Move the jumper to USB and now the whole thing is USB.

[newmanfamilyvlogs]

Ah right right... That's what I get for posting at 6:30am.

[notroubleclubber]

OK , there are simple things you can do:

Download WINIPAC from ultimarc and check all your button connections and make sure what you press lights up on the screen.

Use WINIPAC to reset the ipac to default and try again.

[danny_galaga]

OK , there are simple things you can do:

Download WINIPAC from ultimarc and check all your button connections and make sure what you press lights up on the screen.

Use WINIPAC to reset the ipac to default and try again.

Ok, finally just got around to trying your suggestion! As I suspected, winipac can't show me the problem I'm having, which is that when 'fire' and 'bomb' are hit at the same time, the last position of the joystick freezes until you double tap it in the desired direction. All functions work correctly individually. That is, if I press fire, and after that press bomb, my movement isn't impinged.

When I get a chance, the bset wat to test the Ipac for sure is to hook it up to another computer. I'll do that by using someones laptop with mame installed...

[danny_galaga]

I finally found out was wrong (well, bolied it down to a very large component anyway  ). I've been having all sorts of difficulties with the OS on my cab. It was tinyxp, but the install wasn't very straight forward. I've only just learnt that I can use my legit xp pro cd on the cab. Reformat, reinstall a proper OS, now the IPAC works properly again (",)

[evh347]

Sorry to drudge this topic up again, but I am STUCK.

I have an older Slik Stik CO2 panel with an IPAC 4 in it.  I recently upgraded my old computer (Windows XP) to a new computer (Windows 7) that doesn't have any PS/2 slots. 

I upgraded my keyboard (Logitech USB) some months ago and that plugs into a USB slot now, so the Keyboard output off the IPAC is connected to nothing at the moment.

I bought an PS/2 to USB adapter (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00028OP2Y/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00) thinking I would just have to plug the IPAC's IPAC (PC) PS/2 into that adapter and then into an available USB port on the new computer….didn't work.  After reading this thread, I went out and bought one of those little green PS/2 to male USB adapters pictured above in this thread.

Working backwards by plugging everything back into my older legacy computer as such (IPAC into computer's PS/2 Keyboard port, Trackball into USB port, Spinner into USB port)….the trackball and spinner work fine, but the IPAC doesn't register in Notepad until I plug the Keyboard (female) PS/2 cable into the male PS/2 splitter attached to my trackball USB cable.  This is the ONLY time the little blue LED (that used to be under my trackball) powers on and the IPAC begins to register keystrokes in Notepad.  Problem is, the older computer then stops recognizing the trackball.  Right now, I can't quite figure out why this is happening since I didn't have this issue before I unplugged everything from my old computer and into the new.  I might be drawing a blank on how I exactly I had this hooked up prior to trying to transfer all the cables over to the

I've done numerous restarts and played around in the device manager options (control panel).  The IPAC only starts registering in Notepad if the IPAC's Keyboard PS/2 is plugged into something and all the manuals related to Slik Stik (left on the internet) state that the IPAC's Keyboard PS/2 cable is optional.

I've checked both connections on the IPAC and they are solid.

Now I am at the point where I have everything plugged into the new computer via USB (Trackball, Spinner) and now the IPAC going into the little green PS/2 to USB adapter.  I downloaded Winipac from Ultimarc, rebooted, and then tried running Winipac (as an Administrator) and now when I go to Program the IPAC via Winipac it says....Programming IPAC, Installing Driver, and then it says, "FAiled to program device.  Try reinstall with board connected and/or reboot".  I reboot and the same thing happens.

What should I do?

Thanks.

[evh347]

Replaced my 10-year-old "legacy" IPAC/4 with a new IPAC/4 from Andy @ Ultimarc.

Works.