Quick Sheller and XP Sound Problem

[rawbe]

Hello-
I finally finished my cab and to put the last touch of hiding my XP's OS I installed Quick Sheller. It works like I was hoping but with one problem. I can not access the PC's volume. I am booting into Mala and using a Mini Pac.  I have the volume programmed to keys using the Mini Pac shift feature. This use to work but now does not. I found a work around using Mala's volume but I can not use this feature when a game starts.

I would like to have my PC recognize the volume up and down commands. Also, I tried putting the volume icon in startup but that didn't work.

Anyone know how to fix this?

Robbie

[lilshawn]

i think your problem is the volume control is attached to the windows program manager itself. by switching the shell to load the front end instead, you never load the volume portion itself.

you may have to do a system restore and just manually hide the boot screens and drop your front end in the startup folder. it's not a clean, but it should make the volume control work properly.

[rawbe]

lilshawn- I am afraid that is the only solution but I was hoping for another option. I like quick sheller and would like to keep my current setup.

[Typefighter01]

Could you install a small volume utility like this http://www.arcadecab.com/Projects/VolumeTray.htm ?

I installed it on a bartop cab I built, and it worked perfect. I could adjust the volume inside the FE and inside MAME (during game) and it never stole focus.

EDIT:Rereading lilshawn's post, looks like my idea won't work, but VolumeTray worked so well, I thought I would post anyway (maybe dumping it in the start-up folder will force program manager to open it?).

[ant2]

I had similar issues where the troubleshooter app etc would not work without the windows shell being loaded.
What you could do is spawn the "explorer" shell after booting mala, i.e 30 seconds after windows booting.

I load mine manually with a script that I call directly from within gameex, I also have another one for loading and hiding the mouse pointer

[rawbe]

I tried the Volume Tray program. I like it but it didn't work. The shell is blocking all  XP volume options from working. Bummer.

[rawbe]

Not for sure how to write a script to allow access. Plus I am not sure where to put a script so Mala could read it.

[DeLuSioNal29]

How about CabVol?

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=69901.0

D

[DeLuSioNal29]

Also, this may help with lauching commands in Mala:

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,121399.msg1287727.html#msg1287727

D

[rockyrocket]

I had this once with a mobo that had a realtek sound chip.
The solution was to start the realtek sound manager (SOUNDMAN.EXE) with windows as the shelled system did not start it.

This may be different for your mobo but its worth looking at what your sound driver needs to run?.

[rawbe]

rockyrocket-
It is a Realtek. Should I drop SOUNDMAN.EXE into the Startup folder?

DeLuSioNal29-
Thank you for the suggestions! I will check out CabVol when I get a chance.

[rockyrocket]

Just a shortcut in the start up folder should be fine.

[rawbe]

After looking in the control panel under Sound/volume I am using Soundmax. I looked for a shortcut to this and can't find anything. Anyone have any ideas?

[rockyrocket]

After looking in the control panel under Sound/volume I am using Soundmax. I looked for a shortcut to this and can't find anything. Anyone have any ideas?

I would use the windows search feature for soundmax.exe - for me SOUNDMAN.exe was in C/Windows.

So I think what I ended up doing when I had this problem was to use my front end to start SOUNDMAN and not the start up folder at all.

[lilshawn]

soundMAX is a volume component some manufacturers use for their audio system chipset specifically. (usually IBM)

kinda like when you have to install the "realtek" audio drivers and they include a specific sound mixer panel program and the sound effects programs.etc.

either would work.

[rawbe]

Argh...I couldn't find soundMON.exe or any exe associated with Soundmax. I did find SndVol32.exe which brings up Window's mixer. I used MalaLauncher to open SndVol32.exe when Mala starts. No go.

So I rebooted the pc and exited out of Mala, then opened Task Manager and opened window's sound mixer. I did not start the toolbar. I left the mixer up and opened Mala back up. Still no volume control!!

The only way I can control  the PC's volume is to have the Window's toolbar open.

[lilshawn]

maybe give this a try: http://www.autohotkey.com/

you should be able to use it to create a macro that will change the master sound volume form the with a keyboard key or other command.

[rawbe]

Ok…looks like CabVol is the winner! Works great with my trackball. Now I need to figure out how to have CabVol load minimized. First, I tried creating a shortcut to CabVol. Under properties of the shortcut I selected minimized. I then selected in Scheduled Tasks to start the shortcut ever startup. When I start the pc everything loads properly but Cabvol always loads max.

Can anyone help me with a Batch file to minimize CabVol at startup? Since the task bar is hidden is this even possible?

Is this correct?
START /MIN C:\CabVol\CabVol.exe


Robbie

[rawbe]

I have it working!

1. Install MaLa Launcher (this plugin is awesome! Big props to TheShanMan) http://malafe.net/index.php?page=plugins
2. Install CabVol (Another awesome program! Thanks ahofle!) http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,69901.0.html
3. In my CabVol folder I created a Batch file with this code: start/min "CabVol" "C:\CabVol\CabVol.exe"
4. Now go to Mala\plugins\Launch folder and create a shortcut to the Batch file. (You need to create the Launch folder)
5. Now when you start Mala CabVol should be running minimized.

This worked for my setup. After trying several different suggested programs I have found no one method is guaranteed when you are dealing with a shelled OS. I thought I would share in hopes someone could find it useful.

Robbie