Reviving my first 2009 MAME! Monitor issue

[Jefferson]

Hey all! It's been a minute. Like over a decade.

This forum once taught me the ways of MAME, resulting in my first completed arcade project (of three now), this 4P turtles cabinet (http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,95439.0.html), which I adored. It moved with me, through several apartments, and then one day stopped working. When I say "not working" I was just getting the awful high pitched whine and no picture from the arcade monitor. The computer spins up and makes some harddrive noises, but... nothing. No frontend noises from the speakers so I know we're not just flying blind. The PC Power button doesn't even trigger the shutdown. But this "breakage" wasn't a result of banging around the cab too much, just like sliding it from one room to another. I just couldn't bring myself to get rid of it

Here are the basic specs:
-Old ass Dell running old ass MAME with Maximus Arcade frontend
-ArcadeVGA 3000 card running to a beautiful Wells Gardner WG 25k7131
-IPAC4 CP

TODAY- I took the PC out of the cab and plugged it into an LCD monitor using the stock video port of the PC and, to my shock, was able to get it running, talking to the CP and everything. Smooth as silk. I thought this thing was dead. The power button I had wired up shuts it down and everything. So I put the ArcadeVGA back in, made sure it was nice and secure. Lo and behold, the monitor comes to life... but with a black screen and the cursor sitting right there in the middle. I can't move it with a mouse, keyboard doesn't do anything, and again the power button doesn't shut it down (weird on that one-- cuz the only difference is the monitor-out)... but now I've confirmed that BOTH THE PC AND THE MONITOR ARE WORKING, they're just not talking to each other. I don't know how to proceed but I can refer to my old posts to answer any questions.

It's been so long since I dug into all this, I've forgotten nearly everything. but this is my last resort trying to resuscitate it before I try and sell it off! Please help!

SIDENOTE: All my beautiful photo documentation is missing from my orig project post. The photos lived at my since-revamped website. Any idea how to restore them? I've been poking around Wayback Machine but no luck yet since their search function seems down

[Zebidee]

There's a few things that might have happened.  Power button not working, lot of things could just be loose connections.

Also, as it is an old computer, the CMOS battery may have failed. More likely when it hasn't been used for a while. Then the computer BIOS reverts to default and tries to use the MB VGA out instead of the PCIe card. You freak out, pull the card, reboot and Windows (XP?) automatically reverts all drivers. Oooops. 

So, check the BIOS and make sure it defaults to the PCIe. Also good idea to check/change that CMOS battery if old, they only last up to ~ 8-10 years.

You may need to go into safe mode to uninstall video drivers back to basic VGA, then re-install AVGA and reboot and reinstall drivers again. I remember doing this many times with certain computers and AVGA cards. Oh what a feeling 

You can find old AVGA drivers here: http://www.ultimarc2.com/avgadrivers.html

On the other hand, if your AVGA card is causing problems, try re-seating it again. May as well reseat the RAM too. I like to use a little isopropyl ("ISO") alcohol to clean the gold finger contacts, and check the slots are clean, before putting them back in. Make sure to ground yourself first (touch metal PC case).

If your AVGA is completely fubar for some reason, just buy an older Groovymame/CRT_emulator compatible card for $15-$50.

[buttersoft]

Well, i'd certainly Try everything Zeb suggests first of all, but after that you might try to source a replacement AVGA card. depending on whether you still have the drivers and everything else on the system, that could be the easiest way.

If you can't get one, or just want to update, you could look into crt_emudriver and a compatible GPU (make sure to do some reading about what will work). There are some links under the GroovyMAME subforum on here. There is a version of crt_emudriver that works with Win xp, though it's deprecated now, and may not have an option for composite sync, you'd need to do some reading.

There's a guide i wrote that contains general information, and i'm going to link you to it because i have covid and cannot be f-ed typing more :/ Feel free to come back with some more questions and i'm sure others will try to help as well.

https://www.aussiearcade.com/topic/76809-a-guide-to-connecting-your-windows-pc-to-an-sd-crt-tv-pvm-or-arcade-monitor/#comments

 

[Jefferson]

Oh wow! I think ya nailed it Zebidee! I am getting an "unauthorized CMOS change detected" error on startup (pic attached.) I will change the CMOS battery to be safe, since I know how to do that.

From that screen I can access this Setup Utility menu (pics attached)...
-If I just exit it, it restarts, beeps twice and drops me back at the first black screen with the error message
-If I Save and Exit, it restarts, beeps once, does the normal startup and I'm able to play games etc (again this is from the basic VGA to LCD)

SO
-Within this Setup Utility, am I able to check the BIOS and make sure it defaults to PCIe? I hope XP didn't revert drivers
-Is there any chance that simply changing the CMOS battery will solve my issues?
-Once the default IS set to PCIe, is there any harm in bouncing back and forth from the AVGA to the normal VGA? (Cuz I figure I will be til this is solved?) Or, is pulling the AVGA card the "reset action" I'm trying to avoid once it's fixed?

Thanks for your patience it's taking me a bit to refamiliarize haha. I feel like I'm close and am really trying to avoid going down the rabbithole of a new AVGA card or crt_emudriver.

[Zebidee]

Oh wow! I think ya nailed it Zebidee!
...

SO
-Within this Setup Utility, am I able to check the BIOS and make sure it defaults to PCIe? I hope XP didn't revert drivers
-Is there any chance that simply changing the CMOS battery will solve my issues?

- That "setup utility" essentially is the BIOS.
- The battery saves your BIOS config. If you don't change it you'll be back to square one every day.
- I expect you'll likely find the PCI option under "Video Setup" (per your screenshot).
- Save and Exit (F10).

-Once the default IS set to PCIe, is there any harm in bouncing back and forth from the AVGA to the normal VGA? (Cuz I figure I will be til this is solved?) Or, is pulling the AVGA card the "reset action" I'm trying to avoid once it's fixed?

We've just established that booting into Windows without the AVGA card installed means it uninstalls the drivers - so don't swap it out and in, willy-nilly. You can access the BIOS with the AVGA, so can still change settings there if you want. In your perfect world, you'll never need the mainboard VGA again, unless you do something silly like booting to Windows without the card installed

AVGA cards have a second video head - you can attach a LCD monitor to that if you really want to.

Well, i'd certainly Try everything Zeb suggests first of all, but after that you might try to source a replacement AVGA card. depending on whether you still have the drivers and everything else on the system, that could be the easiest way.

I think their AVGA card is most likely fine. In fact I have a spare AVGAv2 card, older but still PCI. I didn't even bother mentioning it before as it is not necessarily the best option moving forwards. If you decide you need it and want to offer me a great price, just let me know

[Jefferson]

Happy to report, I replaced the CMOS battery and connected it via ArcadeVGA to the cabinet monitor. It fired up on the cab into that same Setup Utility. I did Save and Exit (didn't even make any changes!), and it booted me into XP and auto-started my frontend! Everything is like it was all those years ago. Every restart since skips Setup Utility entirely and goes right into XP/frontend, no keyboard or mouse required! I dunno if it was able to retrieve its old drivers/settings or what (cuz oops that AVGA went in and out a handful of times) but we are BACK IN BUSINESS

I CAN'T BELIEVE it was basically bricked for 3 years, sitting there at the side of my living room, the size of a refrigerator, and all it really took was a $5 battery from home depot.

Thanks so much BYOAC!!!! You rule Zeb

[buttersoft]

Nice, Zeb. That was pretty slick work.