Help Request - strange Player 1 "up" issue

[MilitiaMan]

Ok Guys ...

I need some help here ... this one has me stumped. Here is the problem:

My player 1 joys (a 4way and an 8way) are both experiencing a strange problem with the "up" direction. I will push the joystick up and the player on the screen (we will call him Mario for now) will move that way for a moment and then stop suddenly. If I push "up" again, Mario will move a bit more and then stop again. I can keep pushing "up" and each time Mario will go just a little bit further, but will always stop suddenly.

It is not happening with any other direction on the sticks and it is not happening with the Player 2 joystick.

I checked the microswitch connections as well as the connection with the I-Pac and everything appears to be OK.

This happens in every game - not just Donkey Kong.

This is a very new problem - it just started and I have been playing this cabinet for more than six months.

The joys are Ultimarc J-sticks if that makes any difference, but I really don't believe it to be a joystick problem because that would mean that both the 4 way and the 8 way malfunctioned at exactly the same time.

I can't think of any other troubleshooting to try.  Any Ideas?

Thanks in advance.

MM

BTW, If pics of the control panel would help, they can be found here:

http://groups.msn.com/BradensHomePage/thecab.msnw

[SirPeale]

Try another wire for that microswitch.  Both ground and data.

[slycrel]

  I'm having what sounds like a similar problem.

  My player 1 button doesn't stay down.  It's set to my shift key for my I-pac, but when I press it, it immediately registers the keypress.  So it still works, but it doesn't "stay" down like the other controls do.

  The easiest way I've found to show that this is the case is to go into the (now old) I-Pac diagnostic software.  You can see the keypress as handled, but it immediately stops registering after that.  If I hold down other buttons the ipac config software shows that hey are down until I release them.

  If I find a solution I'll let you know, but I'm stumped so far.  I haven't done anything signifigant that would change the config on this, so I'm a bit mystified.  Hopefully it's something simple...

[cdbrown]

Have you tried it with a different microswitch.  Perhaps it's stuffed.

[HagHore]

Have you tried it with a different microswitch.  Perhaps it's stuffed.

That was going to be my suggestion.  If your wiring checks out and you've connected to a different input on your ipac (or keywiz or whatever other encoder interface you are using) and set that input to the function you are having trouble with...and you are still having problems then the next step should be your microswitch.  Actually, considering the ease with which you can change out microswitches that should be your first step in troubleshooting.