Mala Error message

[Knightlore]

Hi people, been a while!

I have a cocktail cabinet (2x U360's, running Mame, with Mala frontend) - basically I moved the cab upstairs a couple of ground wires on the U360 had become detatched (my bad soldering!) but previous to that the machine was working fine.

What happens now is, my Mala intro vid plays and I get (normally several popups) "Unexpected Error, Mala will terminate now, check the file Mala.exe log for bug report information!" and then the frontend flashes up and just the black windows screen.

Well I have looked in the log, but truth be told I don't know what I'm looking at... or why the error has suddenly come up...

Anyway, be great if someone could please help me diagnose the problem, I'm not sure which file is the correct log - there is Mala.exe(txt) or Mala.exe20020801.

[Knightlore]

Anyone?  Keen to get my cab up and running properly again but not sure what the correct thing is I'm mean't to be looking at.  In both of the files I mentioned there is a tonne of stuff!

[matt4949]

Did you save your settings in MaLa? If so you might be able restore the way you had it? Usually though when I get those messages it's because windows is interfering with Mala. Run task manager and see what else is running. Also check the start menu in widows and eliminate as much as possible
Good Luck.

[Knightlore]

Hi, thanks for response.  I don't think it's the settings, I had the cab working perfectly for maybe 1.5 years, nothing has changed other than a wire coming loose.  I have since checked all wires etc seem okay.  In the Windows joystick testing thing, all buttons and joystick seem to function correctly.  Pretty stumped at the moment.

[drventure]

there is Mala.exe(txt) or Mala.exe20020801.

Depends on the version of Mala I believe. Mine is called Mala-log.log. Though Mala will start a new log and rename the current one with a date, so you might have Mala-Log20140504-1.log or something similar

Simplest way is to sort the folder by DATE DESCENDING, the log should be at or very near the top.

Zip it and attach it here or scan through to find anything that might look like an error and clip a chunk of the lines out and post here.

The log +usually+ can point you in the right dir.

[Knightlore]

Thankyou.  Well the dates on mine say 2004 because I must not have set the right time when I installed XP on the machine but do show the error messages I'm recieving.

Attatched is the info from the last couple of times I've loaded it up (all in one block)

[drventure]

Loadman might have to get involved, but from the error log, it looks like you've got something going on with the joystick hardware

The reason I say this is Mala reports that it's "seen" two joysticks, and that it tries to recalibrate them, but then suddenly they show to become "unplugged".

Unless you're actually unplugging them, this could mean that the USB port they're plugged into is becoming underpowered for some reason and shutting down when it's not supposed to.

Since you're talking 2 U360's, I'd say your ground problem you mention probably isn't completely fixed, and once Mala addresses the sticks and they start trying to talk, there's not enough power or not a good ground and they "go dark".

Can you use ANY other program to check the sticks (maybe the windows control panel to calibrate them).

If that fails too, you've def got a hardware issue.

[Knightlore]

Well, I can see both joysticks in the Windows Control panel and all buttons/joysticks are working (according to that)....

Hmmmm

[drventure]

Yuck, Well, i'm not sure what else to do.

You might try plugging the sticks into different USB ports (or using a powered hub).

Mala's getting an error is when it's executing the hidctldevicechange callback. Most likely, the object windows is passing to that callback isn't setup right (or Mala is doing something in that callback with data that hasn't been initialized for some reason).

The "Read of address 00000118" seems pretty suspicious to me, though. It sure +seems+ like an internal structure hasn't been initialized properly.

But beyond that, I don't have the source so I couldn't say for sure what's going on.


Oh, also, try unplugging the sticks completely. Mala will run just fine with no sticks installed. See if that clears things up. If it does. Try uninstalling any joystick devices from the windows control panel, then plug them back in and let windows do it's autoplay magic. That might help.

[Knightlore]

Thank you so much for your suggestions, I will try those out tonight when I get in and report back!

[Knightlore]

Yep same error message again here.  Tried unplugging both sticks.

I get the feeling I'm going to have to start from scratch with this 

[drventure]

Well, you might try disconnecting both sticks and connecting just a standalone stick (or gamepad). see if that works.

Then reconnect 1 of the u360's and get it going, then add the second.

Basically, try to narrow down to one specific thing that's a prob.

That'd be my next attempt...