J-Pac issues (possibly bricked)

[trencej]

Hello there.

I am having a few issues with a J-Pac unit that i have had for some time now.

All was working perfectly well after moving the Cab from my home to Work, However, after a couple of days, Some of the shifted Keys stopped responding.

Oddly enough, it seemed to be related to the actual key being programmed, rather than the button.

For example '5' stopped working on key 1, but programming '6' to the button worked fine. I could not program '5' to any button on the panel. The same went for F2, TAB, and 'P' Other keys could be programmed just fine.

ReBoots, and different USB ports had no effect.

Rather than just change the keys in Mame and other emulators, I wanted to get to the bottom of the problem.

I tried the Firmware update. This is where the problem gets worse, and I feel it may have been my own mistake.

WinIPAC now, upon trying to program the unit, Briefly states "installing Driver" then the system hangs, as seemingly the entire USB subsystem crashes as reboots (external HD's reconnect, Flashdrives Etc)

The system then brings up a Driver install window for a UHID Firmware Update, Of which it cannot find the drivers, and on Searching, cannot find these either. Now the jpac is seemingly not connected at all, and neither WinIPAC or U-Config can see it.

U_Config just states that a firmware update cannot run as more than one device is connected, but the J-Pac is the only uhid device plugged in.

I'm Guessing I have possibly bricked the unit, but any advice would be helpful.

Thanks

TrenceJ
(This has also been sent Directly to Andy at ultimarc)

[bulbousbeard]

I'm beginning to wonder about the *PAC devices, honestly. They seem to have a really high failure/defect rate. One of the two J-PACs I got came broken, and the one I-PAC I've got seems to make other USB devices plugged into the machine lose power.

I don't know...I might stop recommending them to people.

[yotsuya]

You must have bad luck. I have used 2 J-Pacs and 5 I-Pacs and haven't had any issues.

[Malenko]

You must have bad luck. I have used 2 J-Pacs and 5 I-Pacs and haven't had any issues.

Im at like 4 JPACs, 8 IPAC2s , and about to use my first IPAC4.  Also, had and used a PAC LED without issue

[opt2not]

Yup, I haven't had any failure problems with both Ultimarc and Groovygamegear interfaces. Since I pledged allegiance to the JAMMA standard, I've owned both new and used J-pacs, all solid.
 I've owned a couple Key-wiz's that were also without problems. These guys have good gear, so I think you might have got the luck-of-the-draw unfortunately. 

This might be a silly suggestion, but have you tried re-programming them on another computer? Just to eliminate a faulty USB voltage or IO possibility in your PC...

[AndyWarne]

I'm beginning to wonder about the *PAC devices, honestly. They seem to have a really high failure/defect rate. One of the two J-PACs I got came broken, and the one I-PAC I've got seems to make other USB devices plugged into the machine lose power.

I don't know...I might stop recommending them to people.

Hopefully you contacted me about these issues, especially if you have an I-PAC which is currently not working.

The original poster came back to me about his problems and everything is now working, it seems user error was the most likely explanation for the original issue and this was compounded by trying to load incorrect firmware. Despite all of this the board was able to be recovered without any replacement being needed.
The original problem, ie not being able to send a "5" from any input was quite implausible as a board problem in fact, and the only explanation I could think of was that a "5" was already being sent by a switch incorrectly wired or shorting. A coin mech which is stuck would cause a "5" to be constantly sent as this keycode is assigned to Coin1.
This, like almost all of the support questions I receive, was something caused externally from the board.

[pbj]

This, like almost all of the support questions I receive, was something caused externally from the board.