Black screen on arcade monitor after Windows boots -- What am I missing?

[Bimmy]

My setup:
- Windows XP
- Asus HD 4350
- J-PAC with jumper on 15khz only
- arcade cab with standard res monitor, vertical

I followed cools' instructions word for word.

(however I found a discrepency: the instructions say to change monitor type in VMMAKER.INI to CGA, but that isn't a valid value according to the notes. So I tried NTSC but same black screen.)

Before rebooting, I set the resolution to 640x480.
After that, I connected the PC to the J-PAC and rebooted.
I saw the Windows loading screen with terrible roll.
After that, black screen.

Note that I can remote desktop into the PC and see what I'm doing while the PC is connected to the J-PAC.

[cools]

Corrected. I blame http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,116023.0.html for the discrepancy.

[cools]

Also, nowhere do I say to change the resolution by hand. That's probably what's screwed you up. Run vmmaker again to set the mode and try rebooting immediately after?

[Calamity]

Hi Bimmy,

Use the DVI-I output. (with a DVI to VGA converter)

[Bimmy]

My PC identifies the VGA port on the 4350 as "Monitor 1". It's what I've been using to set up the PC.

When the arcade cab is connected to VGA, I can see the boot screen (with terrible H or V roll). Then goes black when Windows is loaded.

When connected to DVI, I get no picture at all, not even boot screen.

---

I ran VMMAKER.EXE again and rebooted immediately after. Same result.

---

My PC monitor continues to work fine, so that tells me there is no 15khz signal being output?

 

[Sledge]

Is the sync light coming on on the jpac?

[Bimmy]

VGA:
self test = solid green
sync in = solid yellow
sync ok = not lit

DVI:
sync in = "strobing" yellow
sync ok = not lit

[Bimmy]

I've made progress.

Are you supposed to be able to see the Windows desktop? It's a black screen for me. But I can run and see MAME games.

But...

I can't get the damn picture to hold. I've twisted every pot on the monitor chassis. In addition to not holding, it's flickering like a fluorescent light. Something I've never seen before... not a typical hold issue.

The J-PAC SYNC light is flickering.

 

[Bimmy]

More progress, but it's getting stranger.

At one point, it was working perfectly. The image was holding, and Windows displayed on the monitor at 640x480.

I don't remember what I did. I was just switching back and forth from the PC monitor to arcade monitor, trying various resolutions. Once I got it, I wanted to see if I could reproduce it by rebooting. Nope.

Now I am back to black screen at Windows desktop. Furthermore, MAME no longer runs on the arcade monitor like it did before. I keep getting SwitchRes: could not find mode... error. I also saw a Direct 3D error once. Something about it couldn't write to a file.

I've run VMMAKER.EXE several times, rebooted, with same result.

[Bimmy]

I can reproduce:

1) Boot PC connected to PC monitor.
2) Switch res to 1366x768 (native)
3) Start MAME
4) Unplug PC monitor
5) Plug in arcade monitor
6) Play beautiful games

If I shut down the PC, I need to repeat these steps. Rebooting with the arcade monitor connected results in the black screen.

I guess I can just leave the PC running for extended periods of time, but damn it's annoying. Any advice?

[Sledge]

Checked that the drivers are actually installed?
Nothing in device manager showing as not installed?