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OK to cut the power on MAME instead of shutdown?
Marsupial:
I figure it is like a time bomb to do so, but I wonder what others do about it instead...
I would like to have a simple ON/OFF switch for my MAME machines.
Right now they run XP / MALA and log straight into the arcade account, loading MALA right ahead. I heard about instant sheller but haven't tried it yet (is it worth it?)
Anyway, I would like to power the machines up/down with a simple button. My machine have mains cut-off switch for when not in use, but I believe it would become harmful to the hard drive if always powered off "the hard way"
What are people doing for that?
drventure:
Generally speaking, it's not a good idea to just power off a windows machine. Windows tends to load things into caches that don't constantly get flushed to disk, so you might end up shuttiing the machine off right in the middle of one of the flush processes and scramble a file necessary for proper operation.
That said, as far as I know, neither mame nor any of the frontends do anything that would likely be harmed by powering off at any arbitrary point.
Generally, if you want to power off the machine via an external button, most typically, you wire a small button into the "power on" jumper on your motherboard, then configure windows power settings to "shutdown" when the power button is pressed.
And finally, put everything in the cab on a "smartstrip" powerstrip, with the PC power supply connected to the "Master" plug on the smartstrip.
That way, when you power down the PC, everthing else will be powered down automatically by the smartstrip.
That's how I've got both my arcade cab and jukebox wired up. Works a treat.
Eddie_Brock:
--- Quote from: drventure on March 11, 2012, 11:37:26 am ---wire a small button into the "power on" jumper on your motherboard, then configure windows power settings to "shutdown" when the power button is pressed.
And finally, put everything in the cab on a "smartstrip" powerstrip, with the PC power supply connected to the "Master" plug on the smartstrip. That way, when you power down the PC, everthing else will be powered down automatically by the smartstrip.
--- End quote ---
+1. Exactly.
This is what I have done too, and it works great. I created a simple windows background that says something to the effect of "Please Wait, system loading" so there is a nice looking screen while MAME is loading up or shutting down.
FYI: If you are adding a power button directly connected to your motherboard, it will need to be a momentary switch. (like an acade button, not like an on/off switch)
mgb:
+2 on what drventure said. I also just have the power button set to shutdown windows although I sometimes just hit my switch which I have to completely kill power to the smart strip.
Well Fed Games:
--- Quote from: Eddie_Brock on March 11, 2012, 02:41:54 pm ---
FYI: If you are adding a power button directly connected to your motherboard, it will need to be a momentary switch. (like an acade button, not like an on/off switch)
--- End quote ---
Yeah, I wired my MB to the original switch on my Ms. Pac Cab and it threw me for a loop... thankfully I had a momentary one lying around to switch in!