X-Arcade owners, please look here!

[nize]

Hey everyone!

I am in the process of building a control panel for my MAME cabinet and I got an old X-Arcade PCB from a friend on another forum. The problem is that I only got the card and no cable harness. So I am now in the process of connecting everything with my own cables.

When I test the rig now the computer doesnt recognize the panel as a keyboard, and my conclusion is that I have to hook up the "Mode Switch" that is available on the regular X-Arcade. Thing is though, I have no idea which pins to connect! My thought is that, since I won't need the actual mode switch, I could just hook up whatever cables represent Mode 1 and that is that. I have found the pinout of the switch, but I can't figure out which pins get connected when the switch is set to Mode 1.

So I guess my question is, could someone that owns an X-Arcade measure the current on the PCB to see which pins are active on Mode 1? Then I could just hook those up and be on my way.

The pinout for the switch is here:



And the pinout for the board (PDF file, J9 is the mode switch pins):

http://www.xgaming.com/service/ServiceFiles/BYO_Advanced_Inst.pdf

My panel and PCB:



The X-Arcade PCB closer:



I might be way off with my guess here, but I presume that two pins should be active, right? Or am I missing something in my lack of electronics knowledge? Maybe something else entirely is supposed to happen?

Anyway, I'm thankful for all the help I can get!

[Donkbaca]

My guess is that its not the mode switch, and that if you have the old PCB, you need the serial cable with the PS2 connector to plug a keyboard into it

[BadMouth]

Have you tried it with a keyboard connected?

[BobA]

Xarcade controller manual Here

You definitely need the the PC cable.

[MiahXGaming]

That is an older PS/2 only model PCB, you would need the serial-PS/2 cable to connect it to a PC, and a keyboard must be connected to it before booting the PC. It will probably work as mode1 if there is no switch connected to the PCB.

The USB BYO Kit with wiring harness, switch,  and cables would have been a lot less of a headache for $50. 

[Necro]

I have a X-Arcade with this board - the PS2 port is to plug a keyboard into.  The serial port connects the 'adapter wire' that actually connects to the PC.

Because of performance issues with this board, I HIGHLY recommend getting another one from Ultimarc or GGG.  I view this thing as a POS - they don't even sell it anymore.

[nize]

Sorry, I guess I should have mentioned... I have a serial to ps2 cable and a keyboard connected when I try it.

Also, my question is if someone could help me out here so all tips and suggestions of buying cables or changing board to an ipac2 or whatever are, although appreciated, not needed.

My guess is that when the logic board doesn't get a reply from the mode switch it malfunctions. However, it might just default to mode 1 and something else is my problem... But if someone would be able to measure on the PCB what two pins are active when the switch is in mode 1, at least then I can eliminate that as a problem.

Thanks!

[bkenobi]

The USB BYO Kit with wiring harness, switch,  and cables would have been a lot less of a headache for $50. 

If you are going to spend that much, you might consider getting an Ultimarc or GroovyGameGear product.  There are versions of the GGG GP-Wiz products for $20-35 and similar for Ultimarc.  If you are going to buy something, do some research on the right product for you.  If you are going to use the adapter that you have, read the manual.  If it were me (and I'm super cheap), I'd use the X-Arcade board and just buy the adapter for $15.  Of course, that gets you half way to a whole new adapter, so...

[nize]

I would get an ipac2 any day before shelling out $50 for one of these. I had one in my old cabinet and it worked perfectly. This one I got for free and I'm sticking to it as long as I can. I am certain I cam get it to work, I just need some info. There's nothing in the manual, on their homepage, in any faqs or on any forums I have scoured about this though, that's why I need the help o someone who actually has one.

[ark_ader]

Sounds like a grounding issue.  X Arcades are notorious for not working properly if all the inputs on the board are not grounded properly.

Other than that I would consider building getting a proper wiring harness built.

[Necro]

These boards are notorious for being finicky.  Try plugging it in with a PS/2 keyboard attached to the PS2 port of the card - that is sometimes required depending on your setup.

[Donkbaca]

I am pretty sure the mode defaults to 1. You can program other modes, but when you plug in the x-arcade, it defaults to one and you have to switch to the other ones.

I think grounding may be your issue.  There is no common ground, and each one of the harnesses has a ground for that group of buttons. 

Does that help?

[nize]

Ah, ok. So I might need to connect all the buttons for it to work? I have just connected one player at the moment and I'm only planning to hook up four buttons for each player. Can I somehow jumper my "unused" button pins? Also, I have drawn the ground for all player one microswitches together and then hooked them up to the three pin "clusters" I am using. Do I need to change that and separate the ground?

[Donkbaca]

yes you need to seperate the ground.  There is a separate ground for each cluster

[nize]

Ok thanks, I'll try that next before I go any further with the mode switch thing.

Do You think I need to hook all the buttons up? I would think I wouldn't have to, cause that would mean that the whole controller would stop working if one button were to be disconnected or hade some other failure... Maybe I need to hook all the ground pins up though...?