A single beep from the motherboard.. and then slowdown

[Truz]

Well i have been having a problem lately with mame. I am using the latest version of mame with mamewah if anyone needs to know, so here is my problem.


When playing certain game (like MvC, SFA3) I will hear a beep from the motherboard and the game will slowdown but then kick back to normal within about 5-10 secs. It is the same kind of beep you hear when pressing one too many keys at the same time within windows. I think this happens when i mash buttons in MvC (on certain moves you get more hits if u mash) so is there any fix to this. I am pretty sure this is the problem because it is just a single beep and thats what happens in windows when you press one too many keys.

Is there a solution to this or should i just stop mashin the damn buttons, haha. Also i am using an x-arcade solo stick. thanks for any input guys.

[PaulG]

Well if you figure out what BIOS your motherboard is using, the codes are easy to find on google (Ex. Phoenix Bios codes).  Noticed on one particuliar BIOS one beep meant bad RAM.

Not sure if that's relevant.  Never actually heard a beep from pressing too many keys.   But it's a start if you wanna figure out BIOS beeps.

[Truz]

well i looked into it and i found out that a single beep mean this:


ERROR message: Refresh Failure

Description: The memory refresh circuitry on the baseboard is faulty.


Now what does that mean and how would i go about solving this problem. Now i have only really experienced this problem in mame (dont do much else oon that pc) and really only in the more recent system taxing games. And the slowdown is bearable as it only lasts a couple seconds and then it kicks back in normally. So can anyone point me in the right direction to solving this problem? thanks

[Tiger-Heli]

If it's happening during the game itself, the BIOS codes are irrelevant, so ignore that line of logic.

One of the encoder designers could answer this better (RandyT ?), but.

It's possible the motherboard is not polling the PS/2 or USB? port fast enough.  Or it's possible you have some kind of ghosting with the X-Arcade encoder.

Try this - download Ghostkey or one of the other keyboard utilities from the utils section of the main page.  Fire it up.  Press EVERY X-Arcade button and move the joysticks to all the diagonals.

If you hear any beeps, you found your problem (although you still won't be sure if it's X-arcade or motherboard port ;-(( )

[Lilwolf]

one more note...

didn't x-arcades have a patch?  Might have been for that.

and ghostkey is a good bet... tests that it happens outside of mame... plus you will get a visual on whats happening.

[Tiger-Heli]

one more note...

didn't x-arcades have a patch?  Might have been for that.

and ghostkey is a good bet... tests that it happens outside of mame... plus you will get a visual on whats happening.

I didn't see a patch, but they do have a test program at http://www.xgaming.com/service.shtml as another diagnostic check.

And they have a toll-free 1-866 support number if all else fails.

[Truz]

ok i will try that guys, thanks for your input.


Oh and i just realized something. I have the x-arcade going straight into the ps2 port without ps2 keyboard going through the x-arcades pass through port. Instead i have a usb keyboard plugged in separately of the x-arcade. Could this be causing a conflict? I dont remember any documentation about this, but I just started using the x-arcade on this pc and i only have a usb keyboard for it. Do you think this could be causing a problem?

[Tiger-Heli]

ok i will try that guys, thanks for your input.


Oh and i just realized something. I have the x-arcade going straight into the ps2 port without ps2 keyboard going through the x-arcades pass through port. Instead i have a usb keyboard plugged in separately of the x-arcade. Could this be causing a conflict? I dont remember any documentation about this, but I just started using the x-arcade on this pc and i only have a usb keyboard for it. Do you think this could be causing a problem?

Highly doubtful.

X-arcade says something in their FAQ's about the PS/2 port sometimes not supplying enough power for the X-arcade, which seems unlikely as well, but more likely than your USB keyboard.

If possible, though, either try using the USB adapter (if you have one) to run the X-arcade to USB, or start MAMEWAH, unplug the USB keyboard, and see if the problem goes away.

If it is the problem, you can probably find a PS/2 keyboard to use with it either free with rebate or under $5-$10 somewhere.

[screaming]

When playing certain game (like MvC, SFA3) I will hear a beep from the motherboard and the game will slowdown but then kick back to normal within about 5-10 secs. It is the same kind of beep you hear when pressing one too many keys at the same time within windows. I think this happens when i mash buttons in MvC (on certain moves you get more hits if u mash) so is there any fix to this. I am pretty sure this is the problem because it is just a single beep and thats what happens in windows when you press one too many keys.

  Welp, if the problem is your motherboard then most likely the solution is a new motherboard (unfortunately).  Generally there's no fixing those kinds of things. However, you can try and troubleshoot it enough to get a good idea what exactly the problem is.

ERROR message: Refresh Failure

Description: The memory refresh circuitry on the baseboard is faulty.

 
  baseboard = motherboard.  If, in fact, this error message is correct, try messing around with the memory settings in your BIOS (latency, etc) or swapping out your memory for new sticks, if you have any available. If you have to buy them then it's probably cheaper to get a new motherboard.

  What are the specs of your computer?

   It might make sense that when you're playing one of these games that MAME exercises the memory more than usual, and it's probably safe to assume that when you're 'mashing buttons' that a lot is going on at once on the screen, no?

  If the other things that people posted don't enlighten you as to what your problem is, I'd try and download a memory tester or benchmark program from Tucows and see if by running one of those utilities that it causes your motherboard to beep.

  Honestly, though, I would bet the problem is not with your motherboard or memory but with Windows not allowing your X-Arcade to send all those keys at once.

Is there a solution to this or should i just stop mashin the damn buttons, haha. Also i am using an x-arcade solo stick. thanks for any input guys.

  What's the point of having an arcade if you can't get a little rough once in a while?

/Steve

[Tiger-Heli]

When playing certain game (like MvC, SFA3) I will hear a beep from the motherboard and the game will slowdown but then kick back to normal within about 5-10 secs. It is the same kind of beep you hear when pressing one too many keys at the same time within windows. I think this happens when i mash buttons in MvC (on certain moves you get more hits if u mash) so is there any fix to this. I am pretty sure this is the problem because it is just a single beep and thats what happens in windows when you press one too many keys.

  Welp, if the problem is your motherboard then most likely the solution is a new motherboard (unfortunately).  Generally there's no fixing those kinds of things. However, you can try and troubleshoot it enough to get a good idea what exactly the problem is.

ERROR message: Refresh Failure

Description: The memory refresh circuitry on the baseboard is faulty.

 
  baseboard = motherboard.  If, in fact, this error message is correct, try messing around with the memory settings in your BIOS (latency, etc) or swapping out your memory for new sticks, if you have any available. If you have to buy them then it's probably cheaper to get a new motherboard.

  What are the specs of your computer?

   It might make sense that when you're playing one of these games that MAME exercises the memory more than usual, and it's probably safe to assume that when you're 'mashing buttons' that a lot is going on at once on the screen, no?

  If the other things that people posted don't enlighten you as to what your problem is, I'd try and download a memory tester or benchmark program from Tucows and see if by running one of those utilities that it causes your motherboard to beep.

  Honestly, though, I would bet the problem is not with your motherboard or memory but with Windows not allowing your X-Arcade to send all those keys at once.

Is there a solution to this or should i just stop mashin the damn buttons, haha. Also i am using an x-arcade solo stick. thanks for any input guys.

  What's the point of having an arcade if you can't get a little rough once in a while?

/Steve

Again, ignore ALL these posts about BIOS codes and Error Messages and Baseboards.

Motherboards beep a single code, or series of codes at BOOTUP to let you know if something is not being read correctly.  I have never known one to beep after loading windows and MAME, even if the memory were defective.

OTOH, it's possible the motherboard either is not supplying enough power to the PS/2 connector for the X-arcade - options:

1) Buy X-Arcade USB adapter
2) Buy external +5V Power Supply and carefully wire it into X-arcade
3) Swap motherboard for other brand

or that the motherboard is not polling the PS/2 port fast enough - options:

1) Buy X-arcade USB adapter
2) Swap motherboard for other brand

[screaming]

Motherboards beep a single code, or series of codes at BOOTUP to let you know if something is not being read correctly.  I have never known one to beep after loading windows and MAME, even if the memory were defective.

   FWIW, try booting up your AthlonXP or P4 computer without your CPU fan connected to it's power and see how long it takes for your mobo to start beeping like a mofo.

/Steve

[Tiger-Heli]

Motherboards beep a single code, or series of codes at BOOTUP to let you know if something is not being read correctly.  I have never known one to beep after loading windows and MAME, even if the memory were defective.

   FWIW, try booting up your AthlonXP or P4 computer without your CPU fan connected to it's power and see how long it takes for your mobo to start beeping like a mofo.

/Steve

But on an older motherboard, it will beep b/c it can no longer find the (fried) XP processor, not b/c it doesn't sense the fan RPM.

A pretty expensive way to troubleshoot.  OTOH, if you need to JUSTIFY an upgrade . . .

[Truz]

well i just did a playtest with the USB keyboard unplugged and it seemed like it was going good for a while, but then the beep showed up again. Once again the game slows down a bit for about 2 seconds and then kicks right back in normally. Granted the slowdown doesn bring it to a crawl but it is annoying knowing that something isnt quite right.
 
   hmmmm im stumped on this one, what do you guys suggest i do. Also the x-arcade usb adapter, wouldnt that just be a usb-ps2 adapter? Do they even make those?

[Tiger-Heli]

well i just did a playtest with the USB keyboard unplugged and it seemed like it was going good for a while, but then the beep showed up again. Once again the game slows down a bit for about 2 seconds and then kicks right back in normally. Granted the slowdown doesn bring it to a crawl but it is annoying knowing that something isnt quite right.
 
   hmmmm im stumped on this one, what do you guys suggest i do. Also the x-arcade usb adapter, wouldnt that just be a usb-ps2 adapter? Do they even make those?

Well, you've ruled out the USB keyboard conflicting  

See what happens with Ghostkey with all buttons mashed, or with the X-Arcade test utility.  That will rule out something with this version of MAME.

I think X-Arcade sells a USB adapter that goes to the 9-pin connector on the unit, not sure of the cost, though.

[Truz]

well i went and tried out the x-arcade test utility and i found something very interesting.


Whenever i press the button that represents shift (1 button in the second row) it will not allow me to move the joystick. It is like it is get locked for some reason. When mashing all the buttons together everything seemed fine. But when i hit the shift button and the control stick together it goes all haywire. It as if the cancel eachother out or something. Its really weird.

I even mashed down every single button (except shift) and then moved the control stick and it works perfectly.


So basically when shift and the control stick are moved and pressed together it doesnt work.  Sometimes it will register shift , but most of the time it wont register either the stick or shift being pressed.

Pretty weird if you ask me, what do you guys think?

[Tiger-Heli]

well i went and tried out the x-arcade test utility and i found something very interesting.


Whenever i press the button that represents shift (1 button in the second row) it will not allow me to move the joystick. It is like it is get locked for some reason. When mashing all the buttons together everything seemed fine. But when i hit the shift button and the control stick together it goes all haywire. It as if the cancel eachother out or something. Its really weird.

I even mashed down every single button (except shift) and then moved the control stick and it works perfectly.


So basically when shift and the control stick are moved and pressed together it doesnt work.  Sometimes it will register shift , but most of the time it wont register either the stick or shift being pressed.

Pretty weird if you ask me, what do you guys think?

Not sure how Shift works (u just mean the button that is mapped to L shift, correct).

Try running MAME and pressing this button and moving your joystick, if it beeps now, then you've found the problem.

Next try re-programming the X-Arcade to assing this button to something other than Shift, re-run the setup, see if the problem goes away.  If so, remap P1B4 in MAME to whatever you changed it to and you should be golden.

[Truz]

well i went into mame and tried out to see if pressing the button mapped to left shift and the control stick would cause the beep, but it didnt. They worked fine together while in mame.

But also here is another weird bit of information... when i play games in MAME with my x-arcade i have to turn the num lock off on my usb keyboard or else the control stick wont work and only the buttons will. But if i run the x-arcade test utility i have to have num lock on or else the control stick wont work. Kind of odd if you ask me, maybe it is another clue in "The great beeping motherboard mystery"

[Tiger-Heli]

well i went into mame and tried out to see if pressing the button mapped to left shift and the control stick would cause the beep, but it didnt. They worked fine together while in mame.

But also here is another weird bit of information... when i play games in MAME with my x-arcade i have to turn the num lock off on my usb keyboard or else the control stick wont work and only the buttons will. But if i run the x-arcade test utility i have to have num lock on or else the control stick wont work. Kind of odd if you ask me, maybe it is another clue in "The great beeping motherboard mystery"

Weird, seems like a conflict somewhere, but I'm all out of ideas.

[Truz]

i just wanna say thanks alot for all of your help tigerheli, you have been tremendous help. Hopefully i figure this thing out.










TIGER-HELI ROCKS HARD!!!!!!!!

[Truz]

well i went and tried to use the x-arcade with ps/2 keyboard plugged into the passport on the x-arcade and i still had the problem with the shift button and the control stick.



Also i am having a problem with mamewah (hehe the probs just keep on coming) everytime i start it up and then try to activate a game it gives a "runtime error 75" and something like file path error... not to sure. So i go into mamewah setup utility and then repoint it to the mame.exe so it can reload all the roms and then it works. But everytime time i restart mamewah it gives me the same error and i have to go back to the setup utility again. Its like mamewah keeps forgetting where the files are or something. Its really annoying as every time i shut down mamewah it and then try to play again later on it wont work until i reload the mame exe into the mamewah setup utility. whats the deal here?

[Tiger-Heli]

well i went and tried to use the x-arcade with ps/2 keyboard plugged into the passport on the x-arcade and i still had the problem with the shift button and the control stick.

Also i am having a problem with mamewah (hehe the probs just keep on coming) . . .  whats the deal here?

Not surprised about the PS/2 keyboard not affecting anything.

I haven't used MAMEwah, but is there a chance that you have your .ini files or some files in the MAMEwah directory set to read-only - like if you copied them over from a CD.  If so, that would do it.

[Truz]

well i decided to reformat the computer for the hell of it (it was in need of it anyway) and it didnt resolve my problem. I still get the problem within the x-arcade test, and the single beep while playing games. Although the slow down does seem drastically improved now it is still there and annoying. Granted it will only happen once while playing a certain game it is annoying that i cannot figure out for the life of me what the hell the problem is. If anyone can help me out here i would greatly appreciate it.

[Tiger-Heli]

well i decided to reformat the computer for the hell of it (it was in need of it anyway) and it didnt resolve my problem. I still get the problem within the x-arcade test, and the single beep while playing games. Although the slow down does seem drastically improved now it is still there and annoying. Granted it will only happen once while playing a certain game it is annoying that i cannot figure out for the life of me what the hell the problem is. If anyone can help me out here i would greatly appreciate it.

I contacted a knowledgeable anonymous source and he replied (in part):

"Remember when I told you that the PS/2 port triggers an interrupt when the keyboard sends data?  If you have enough data being streamed at the cpu it will overflow the buffer (the "beep")  and choke the processor.....especially if it is running something computation heavy on a slow system."

I doubt you will hear this from their tech support, but my guess is the problem is a less than stellar encoder in the X-arcade (my opinion), combined with possibly a slow processor on your PC, and a processor-intensive application (MAME).

To solve it, I would recommend the following options (in cost-benefit) order.

1)  This is technical, but you don't need to understand the physics, (from my keyboard hacks page):

"There are certain keys which send extra commands to the keyboard buffer and should be avoided.  Highlight these non-recommended keys in Gray (for example) as follows:  Direction Arrows (note that both HotRod and X-Arcade avoid these), Windows Menu Key, L Windows GUI, R Windows GUI,  R Ctrl, R Alt, Insert, Home, Page Up, Delete, End, Page Down, PrntScrn, Pause, Keypad Slash, and Keypad Enter.  Details of how I came up with this list are available here.  Most keys send three characters to the keyboard buffer.  These all send five or more."

IF you are using any of these keys with the X-arcade, reprogram it, reprogram MAME to use the re-defined keys, and test it out.

2) If possible, test the X-arcade on a friend's faster machine.  If your problem doesn't appear, you might want to upgrade your processor/memory/OS version, or all of the above.

3)  It might be helpful to dump MAME for a faster and less hungry emulator, such as Calice, Final Burn, or Nebula for the games you mentioned.

4)  You might want to try the USB adapter for the X-arcade, I think it's about $20.00.   (Although I'm somewhat skeptical that this would help).

5)  If you aren't going to use the X-arcade with console systems, it would be possible to re-wire it to use either a KeyWiz (www.groovygamegear.com) or I-PAC/2 or mini-pac (www.ultimarc.com) encoder for around $40.

6)  Live with it or find other favorite games to play (not what you want to hear, I know).

[Truz]

well the computer that i am having trouble with is a p4 1.3ghz 512 mb ram with a geforce3.

But i tried it on my main pc (p4 3.0c, 1 gig ram, geforce fx 5900 ultra) and i did not run into the beeping problem. I did however have that problem within the x-arcade utility program.


And i went and checked out the keys that were mapped to the x-arcade, and the ones that might be causing problems are CTRL, ALT, and SHIFT. I know you specified the right ctrl, alt, and shift buttons .... but within the utility it only says xctrl, alt, shift without anything specifying left or right.

So i figured ill try and press the right form of the buttons on the keyboard (running through the pass through port) and sure enough the R ctrl, R alt, and R shift registered as the buttons on the x-arcade.

So i will try and remap these to different buttons and than see if that helps any. Thanks for all your help.

[Tiger-Heli]

well the computer that i am having trouble with is a p4 1.3ghz 512 mb ram with a geforce3.

But i tried it on my main pc (p4 3.0c, 1 gig ram, geforce fx 5900 ultra) and i did not run into the beeping problem. I did however have that problem within the x-arcade utility program.


And i went and checked out the keys that were mapped to the x-arcade, and the ones that might be causing problems are CTRL, ALT, and SHIFT. I know you specified the right ctrl, alt, and shift buttons .... but within the utility it only says xctrl, alt, shift without anything specifying left or right.

So i figured ill try and press the right form of the buttons on the keyboard (running through the pass through port) and sure enough the R ctrl, R alt, and R shift registered as the buttons on the x-arcade.

So i will try and remap these to different buttons and than see if that helps any. Thanks for all your help.

Sounds like decent hardware in both machines (it might be more a function of how fast the particular mobo polls the PS/2 port), I'm not sure of this, but I should have made that clear.

Remapping buttons is the easiest (and free) thing to test.

Let us know how it turns out.

[Truz]

well i went and remapped the buttons, and it was looking good for a little bit. But than the beep  came up again. I was getting excited because it looked like it may have solved my problem but then bam! the beep came again.

I guess we can rule that out as one of the problems

Could the problem be that the PSU isnt supplying enough power? This is my families old HP pavilion (yea i know... hp sucks) and i have added some new components to it from when we first got it. I added a sb live 5.1 card (had some generic crap in there) and i put in a geforce3 64mb in it also (it had a crappy tnt card in it). The psu is only 250w but i would think that would be enough to handle it right? This pc also has a cd burner and a dvd drive as well. Just a thought but maybe a problem. Is there any program or app to test the stressload or what not on the psu.

[Tiger-Heli]

well i went and remapped the buttons, and it was looking good for a little bit. But than the beep  came up again. I was getting excited because it looked like it may have solved my problem but then bam! the beep came again.

I guess we can rule that out as one of the problems

Could the problem be that the PSU isnt supplying enough power? This is my families old HP pavilion (yea i know... hp sucks) and i have added some new components to it from when we first got it. I added a sb live 5.1 card (had some generic crap in there) and i put in a geforce3 64mb in it also (it had a crappy tnt card in it). The psu is only 250w but i would think that would be enough to handle it right? This pc also has a cd burner and a dvd drive as well. Just a thought but maybe a problem. Is there any program or app to test the stressload or what not on the psu.

Maybe, but a psu would usually cause more problems - like this -

http://www.arcadecontrols.org/yabbse/index.php?board=1;action=display;threadid=16976

[Nailz]

well i went and remapped the buttons, and it was looking good for a little bit. But than the beep  came up again. I was getting excited because it looked like it may have solved my problem but then bam! the beep came again.

I guess we can rule that out as one of the problems

Could the problem be that the PSU isnt supplying enough power? This is my families old HP pavilion (yea i know... hp sucks) and i have added some new components to it from when we first got it. I added a sb live 5.1 card (had some generic crap in there) and i put in a geforce3 64mb in it also (it had a crappy tnt card in it). The psu is only 250w but i would think that would be enough to handle it right? This pc also has a cd burner and a dvd drive as well. Just a thought but maybe a problem. Is there any program or app to test the stressload or what not on the psu.

That is a lot of hardware for a 250W PS, maybe try unhooking one of the cd drives and see if that helps.  Also might not be a bad idea to see if your cpu fan is actually making contact with your cpu.  I had this happen to me recently, no contact between them, the computer was ok until I did something a little more stressful, then it would barf.  I applied a little thermal grease, and no more problems.....  

Just one more thing to add to the list.  

[Truz]

ok, ill try disconnecting the disk drives.... as i dont really use them anyway (i use my ipod to transfer files over) and then i will see what happens. Also i have a pci modem in there that i dont use that i will take out as well.  Ill try this stuff for the hell of it as i am desperate to figure this out as it is really bugging me. I think the fact that i dont know what it is is more annoying that the actual problem... hehe.

[Truz]

well i went and disonnected both the cdr drive and the dvd drive from the psu and also removed the pci modem card. And i still received the beep from the motherboard. This really does suck. This is the pc i plan to put in a mame cab in the *hopefully* near future but it will be quite annoying if i get this beep every once in a while.

[cdbrown]

Is it the same buttons being pressed and joystick direction each time the pc beeps.  I just tested on my keyboard and when I press 5 keys at the same time - nothing comes up on the screen and pc beeps.  But you have said before that holding all buttons down (except shift) and moved the joystick and all is fine.  Perhaps the x-arcade encoder is dodgy.  Would be interested to see the default.ini file in the XArcade ctrlr folder (if you have told mame to use that ctrlr file).  That numlock problem is due to the ctrlr file being mapped to
P1_JOYSTICK_UP          "KEYCODE_8_PAD"
P1_JOYSTICK_DOWN        "KEYCODE_2_PAD"
P1_JOYSTICK_LEFT        "KEYCODE_4_PAD"
P1_JOYSTICK_RIGHT       "KEYCODE_6_PAD"
instead of
P1_JOYSTICK_UP          "KEYCODE_UP"
P1_JOYSTICK_DOWN        "KEYCODE_DOWN"
P1_JOYSTICK_LEFT        "KEYCODE_LEFT"
P1_JOYSTICK_RIGHT       "KEYCODE_RIGHT"

Also was this what you were talking about shift before
P1_BUTTON4              "KEYCODE_LSHIFT"

Now that you've remapped do you still get the problem in the xarcade tool regarding one button cancelling out the joystick?

[Tiger-Heli]

Is it the same buttons being pressed and joystick direction each time the pc beeps.  I just tested on my keyboard and when I press 5 keys at the same time - nothing comes up on the screen and pc beeps.

That's because modern keyboards are designed to prevent ghosting and won't allow three keys in the same square on the matrix to be pressed.  The encoder in the X-arcade should not have this problem, though.

Perhaps the x-arcade encoder is dodgy.  . . . That numlock problem is due to the ctrlr file being mapped to
P1_JOYSTICK_UP          "KEYCODE_8_PAD"
instead of
P1_JOYSTICK_UP          "KEYCODE_UP"

And it is mapped to keycode 8 instead of Keycode Up probably partly b/c (as I said above) the UP Arrow sends more codes to the keyboard buffer, and possibly the X-Arcade encoder can't handle it.

A bit of history, before I get flamed by X-Arcade.  HotRod basically started this with their encoder.  The official story is that it was for compatibility with older programs and older keyboards that did not have separate arrow keys.  But when it was being sold, MAME was it's most common use.  And MAME has always used the arrow keys as default (poor choice, performance wise).  So I suspect the choice of the Numpad keys had more to do with the performance of their encoder.  But since it's non-programmable, there's no real way to test this.  I suspect that X-Arcade selected the NumPad keys mainly to have forward compatibility for people purchasing it to replace a HotRod, but the fact that the NumPad keys provided better performance probably didn't hurt either.

Now that you've remapped do you still get the problem in the xarcade tool regarding one button cancelling out the joystick?

Good question, Truz?

[Truz]

yes i remmapped the button that was mapped to shift and replaced it with M.

Then i went into the x-arcade utility and i still had the problem with that button and the control stick being pressed at the same time. They are still basically cancelling each other out.

[SirPeale]

One thing you have not mentioned is what motherboard you have.

Your 'specs' are certainly up there - P4, tons of RAM...but a crappy motherboard will be a serious bottleneck.

The two most important pieces of any computers system, in order, are: Power Supply and Motherboard.  Without them, you have a box of parts.

[Tiger-Heli]

yes i remmapped the button that was mapped to shift and replaced it with M.

Then i went into the x-arcade utility and i still had the problem with that button and the control stick being pressed at the same time. They are still basically cancelling each other out.

I wouldn't think that should be happening.  Maybe it's a wiring problem with the X-Arcade, or with it's encoder (your specific one, not in general).

At this point, I think I'd give their tech support number a call and see what they have to say

[Truz]

well this pc is an hp pavilion (crap i know), but the motherboard inside is an ASUS P4T.


yea and the problem with the button and the stick cancelling each other out definately should not be happening. But it is weird as it does not happen in mame at all, and only occurs in the x-arcade test utlity.

[cdbrown]

I would recommend re-mapping every single button and joystick movement to letters only.  Then open up notepad to ensure they are all working right.  Try ghostkey and press any and every combo you can come up with.  Then move onto the x-arcade test utility.  Have you sent x-arcade an email regarding this - they may just come back and say its a bug in the utility ''.  Then jump into mame and press all the buttons and move the joysticks to see if you can get it to happen.  Try and se if there is a pattern regarding which microswitches are being activates together or if it's just a number of microswitches thing.  The cancelling out after remapping is strange.

[Truz]

well i remapped all the buttons and it was not successful. The beep still comes in at a random point. And thats the thing about it, i cannot reproduce the beeping as it is totally random and has no set pattern so it is hard to tell what is causing it.


The weirdes thing  its that i have not experienced this in any other game. I have even looked for it in similar games such as marvel vs streetfigher... but i havent seen it in that game.

[Truz]

ok well i have still not figured this problem out and i have tried a lot of things.


I was thinking maybe it is an overheating problem.

So i have MotherBoard Monitor to tell me my temps. The temps it gives me after the beep occurs are 84 degrees farenheit for the case temp and 82 for the cpu temp. Are these too high? Also when idle in desktop the cpu temp levels off to about 77-78 degrees. Are these temps to high i dont really know what it too hot.


Also maybe it is a overheating gfx card problem. I placed my hand on the card (geforce3) and it seemed a bit warm. Anyone know how i can check the temp of the gfx card.

I still cant believe i have not yet fixed this oh so annoying problem.

[Nailz]

Umm, yeah, that's way too high.  Did you ever try what I suggested earlier, and put some thermal grease on your CPU so you will have better contact between the cpu and the fan?

[Truz]

ok tommorow or thursday i will head out to compusa and get some thermal grease, but the thing is i really dont know where to apply it or how to use it. Where exactly do i apply it and what precautions should i take.

[Nailz]

Not sure if CompUSA would have it, but they may.  Most smaller do it yourself computer shops would carry it though.

So once you get it, first thing is to turn off the computer, make sure you are using a grounding strap (or holding onto the case frame), you will then need to carefully remove the cpu fan, it shold be held to the mobo base by a clip on both sides.

In the center of the processor, there will be a small chip, apply the grease to that chip in a small, thin, even layer, being careful to not get it anywhere else but the chip.  Once you do that, put the fan back on, power it up, and give it a shot.

If that doesn't help with your problem, you'll be out a few dollars, but your cpu will thank you for it.....

[SirPeale]

CompUSA should have thermal grease.  Artic Silver or some such.

Remember, when you apply it, apply it SPARINGLY.  Make sure it is ONLY on the center chip, and not on the outer components.  You should be able to see thru what you've placed on the chip.  If you can't, wipe most of it off.

There are many good howto's on the subject.  

http://www.brian1.net/computers/grease/
http://www.devhardware.com/c/a/How-To/Applying-Thermal-Paste/
http://www.subzeropc.com/article/thermalinterface.htm


Likely there is already some variety of thermal compound on there, likely a thing that kind of looks like chewing gum.  Make sure you remove all of it.

[Truz]

ok i havent gotten the grease yet but i have a question.

I got the fan off and between the fan and the cpu is this big silver metal grate looking thing. What the hell is that. I got it off (it is held in by clips on both sides) so what is this thing and was purpose does it serve. It is pretty big and separated the cpu from the fan. Just out of curiosity what is it?

[Truz]

oh yea and i checked the compusa website and they have thermal grease in stock in the store closest to me. Hopefully i head over there tomorrow.

[saltypenguin]

Silver grate thing is most likely a heat sink.  It helps with cooling.

[Sasquatch!]

and the ones that might be causing problems are CTRL, ALT, and SHIFT.

Gadzooks!  Before you start poking around with hardware, I'd venture to guess that it's Windows' "Accessibility Options" kicking in:
http://www.opendoorworld.com/key-accessibility-1.htm

Go to Control Panel -> Accessibility Options.  In the "Keyboard" tab, click the "Settings" button by each of the three shortcuts and UNCHECK "use shortcut".  

[Nailz]

ok i havent gotten the grease yet but i have a question.

I got the fan off and between the fan and the cpu is this big silver metal grate looking thing. What the hell is that. I got it off (it is held in by clips on both sides) so what is this thing and was purpose does it serve. It is pretty big and separated the cpu from the fan. Just out of curiosity what is it?

Salty is right, it's a heatsink...

[knuttz]

I think Sasquatch! is on to something.  Check those "Accessibility Options".

[Truz]

sasquatch i already remapped the buttons on the x-arcade to all letter keypresses so that shouldnt even cause the problem. i am not using alt shift or control anymore.

[lokki]

HI,
Not sure what OS you are using (assuming some MS OS).

Is the beeping only happening while you are playing a game? This is to say that while you are sending keyboard commands to mame?
Or if you leave your computer on running a game will it eventually start beeping?
Try leaving it on on one of the more CPU intensive games to make sure that your CPU is overheating.

Could it be maybe a button is sticking and sending the same command over and over?

Also you may want to check your bios and see what the typematic rate is set to.... Bios can be configured to repeat the keys if the key is held long enough....

It does look like a keyboard buffer overflow. Have you tried chaning the buffer size?

http://www.winguides.com/registry/display.php/652/

[Truz]

ok all of the accessiblity options were already off so thats not the problem.


Also i applied thermal grease and while it did lower the temp by about ten degrees i am still getting the beep from the motherboard.

I tried doing what you said loki but i cannot find the "kbdclass" folder with in the registry. I followed everything up until the service folder and the "kbdclass" folder is not there. There is a "class" folder though. I dont know what the deal is.


Also i am running windows millenium (crap i know).

[SirPeale]

Try running DOS MAME and see if it does it there.

[lokki]

That Link I sent was for NT and newer....

I'll look around see if there is anything for ME...

[Tiger-Heli]

Also you may want to check your bios and see what the typematic rate is set to.... Bios can be configured to repeat the keys if the key is held long enough....

It does look like a keyboard buffer overflow. Have you tried chaning the buffer size?

http://www.winguides.com/registry/display.php/652/

MAME ignores the type-matic rate, though.  For example, start Tiger-Heli and hold down the Fire button.  The heli will fire about 1-2 times per second, at a constant rate, regardless of the typematic rate setting.

I had no idea you could change the buffer size.  That may well help.

[lokki]

Hi,
Well I looked around and I can't find much information on ME. I did find a bunch of stuff on DOS. Which I think is applicable. (I don't have and ME box so I can;t really test this).

DOS and windows 95 (not sure about ME but I want to say it is the same case). has a keyboard buffer of 16 characters.

I found the following tool that will allow you to change the the size of the buffer.

http://www.sweger.com/ansiplus/Features.html

This is a shareware program not sure if it is still supported but it does have support for windows 95.

I'm attaching an old dos program that increases the buffer size. You may want to try it out and see if it does the trick on ME.


Good luck

[Truz]

well last night i thought i had fixed it because i beat the entire game without it beeping and that has never happened before. But today it happened once again.

Ill give that a try lokki

[lokki]

Hi,
Just noticed that the attachment did not make it thorugh....

I was trying to upload a little utility called 256keys.zip
You should be able to download it form

http://www.bookcase.com/library/software/msdos.util.keyboard.html

[Nannuu]

This may be the stupidest idea yet since the game appears to work flawlessly.  But you may want to download the rom again and give it a try.

[Truz]

yea nanuu i have already tried that.


Loki i started the first program you gace me and it says that the keyboard buffer is set to 128. What should i change it to?


Also interesting to point out it says that the keyboard typematic rate is set to BIOS. Not sure what that means but the beep that i am getting is from the motherboard hence basically a bios beep. Could this be related to the problm?

[Tiger-Heli]

>Loki i started the first program you gace me and it says that the >keyboard buffer is set to 128. What should i change it to?

One of the utilities wasu called 256 keys, I'd try 256.  (You can always set it back).

>Also interesting to point out it says that the keyboard typematic rate >is set to BIOS. Not sure what that means but the beep that i am >getting is from the motherboard hence basically a bios beep. Could >this be related to the problm?

Doubtful - That's the setting that I was saying MAME ignores.  You could try going into the BIOS and futzing with it and seeing if it makes any difference.

[Truz]

well i tried setting the buffer to 256 but it still happened.

[Truz]

just out of curiosity i ran the benchmark program 3dmark 2001se just to see if my computer could handle it and see if the beeping was related to a heavy work load being placed on the cpu. But the computer ran the program fine and did not produce the beep at all. I guess this rules out the possibility of it being a processor/ overheat problem.

Man this is really annoying that i can figure this out.

[lokki]

I guess we are back on temperature.
The temperature is not too terribly high.
I do have a question did you buy install motherboard CPU or did you buy pre installed.

Are you testing with the Computer Case on the computer or with the case open?
on some factory manufactured PCs dell/hp/etc the cooling works better with the case closed. (better air flow).

Have you tried leaving the case open and leaving a small fan pointing to your mobo?

Is the heatsink for you cpu dirty? (

[lokki]

just out of curiosity i ran the benchmark program 3dmark 2001se just to see if my computer could handle it and see if the beeping was related to a heavy work load being placed on the cpu. But the computer ran the program fine and did not produce the beep at all. I guess this rules out the possibility of it being a processor/ overheat problem.

Doesn't really rule out CPU over heating.

If you really want to stress test your CPU to see if it is overheating try running

http://www.mersenne.org/prime.htm

Check out stress.txt in there and readme.txt for instructions on doing the stress test.


Also you can try
CPU Stability Test

http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/file_description/0,fid,7146,00.asp

[Truz]

well i ran that cpu stability test for a total of 4 hours and 22 minutes and at the end of the test it reported back no errors.

Also i had motherboard monitor running and it showed the temp for the case and cpu at both 89 degrees.


It didnt report any errors so this shouldnt be an overheat problem, what do you think?

[Sylentwulf]

82 degrees farenheit? That's UNBELEIVABLY LOW.
When my computer is idling with a thermaltake spark 7 heatsink/fan and Arctic Silver Ceramique thermal grease it's around 92 degrees. This is in a custom case with 7 fans going as well

If anywhere in your computer is under 100 degrees, you're fine. Don't worry about any temperates until they hit 115-140 degrees (depending on where what and when)

All temps listed in fahrenheit.

[Truz]

ok thanks, that is good to know wolf. I wasnt sure what was exceptable and what was to high. Thats good because the highest it was at was 89 farenheit while running the cpu stress test. The highest it ever got in mame was 82.

[lokki]

Glad It did not report errors but the question is did it beep and slowdown during those 4 hours........?

I don't think it would be heat. But running out of ideas.

[Truz]

well i did not sit by the computer for the entire four hours but when i was there it did not beep at all.


Yea i really cant understand this and what is causing it?

[SirPeale]

Have you tried DOS MAME yet?

[Truz]

do you mean dos mame by itself without mamewah?

right now i am running mame .80 but (the win version) but the problem has happened in mame .79b and mame32 as well.


I went to the mame website and there is not downloads up for the dos version of mame .80, where do i get it from?

[SirPeale]

Yes, I meant DOS command line MAME.  Doesn't matter if it's the latest version or not, just for testing purposes.

[Truz]

HOLY CRAP!

So i finally got a chance to try out the dos version of mame (the .80b version is up now on the mame site) and i think it may have worked.I did an entire play through the game without it beeping once at all. I give it another test in a few to see if i get it

But more astonishing than this was the way the game looked!!!! WOW!! The windows version of mame made my game look nothing like this. It looks amazing. Whats the deal why does it look so much better i wish i could show you guys the difference it is like night and day. First of all in dos mame it looked like it had scan lines automatically, and it seemed as if it was running the native resolution of the game (it had almost a widescreen effect because the top and bottom were black bars). I guess that is the resolution of the game. But i must say the game looked absolutley amazing. I could not believe my eyes the difference was that much. What do you think is the cause of this. I never messes with the windows mame display settings really (but i never did run it through command line only through mamewah).

Im really cannot believe how good the game looked when running it in the dos command line mame. Why do you guys think this is? When i say this i truly mean that the difference was astonishing.

The difference in picture and clarity has me more excited than the actual beeping problem (which i think dos mame may have fixed as well).


So heres to hoping this has fixed my beeping prob (i will test again and report back). But do any of you know why the game looks amazing now? Thank so much peale, hopefully this has solved my problem.

[Truz]

Sorry if my post is a little incoherent because of the bad grammar and such, i was really excited about what i had found, hehe

[Truz]

well i tested it again and I once again did not get the beep from the mb. Looking good so far. Ill test it again tomorrow.

But can anyone explain to me why the picture looks so much better for me in dos mame? The only bad thing was the volume was much lower. But why did i see much better visual results with this version? Also does mamewah work with dos mame?

[Tiger-Heli]

well i tested it again and I once again did not get the beep from the mb. Looking good so far. Ill test it again tomorrow.
But can anyone explain to me why the picture looks so much better for me in dos mame?

I haven't used straight DOS MAME since before windows went to command-line MAME.  I would bet you could get the same picture out of WinMAME with some tweaking - Figure out what resolution DOS MAME is using and select that for the particular game in Win MAME, turn hardware stretch off so you get the black borders, experiment with the different scanline options, etc.

The only bad thing was the volume was much lower.

Did you try adjusting it with the tilde menu?

Also does mamewah work with dos mame?

Yes, according to it's webpage.

I'm more curious why DOS MAME fixed the beeping problem, especially since I assume you were running it under a DOS box with Windows still in the background (not pure DOS mode).  Anyone have any ideas?

[Truz]

ahh i forgot about the tilde menu, ill give that a try later when i get back from classes.


Also i was not running this in pure dos. It was out of a dos window in Windows Millenium. Im curious as well, why do you guys think this may have solved my beeping problem. I say may because i still want to give it a couple more tests later today, but i am pretty sure that this probably has solved my problem.

[Truz]

well did another testing and i think this has solved my problem. WOOHOO!


But when i went to go try out dos mame in mamewah (see if that might cause a problem) i am having trouble. Mamewah sees all my roms and displays all of the artwork but when i go to launch a game the loading box comes up and it locks up there. The whole computer freezes and i have to restart. Its weird, the game wont load and it locks up on the loading box. Whats the deal

[Tiger-Heli]

Also i was not running this in pure dos. It was out of a dos window in Windows Millenium. Im curious as well, why do you guys think this may have solved my beeping problem.

I have a theory, but that's all it is . . .

Last night I was playing a few games in MAME and it was behaving weird (P1B1 would either not work or would fire repeatedly until I opened the UI menu, then it would work fine.  P1B2 was mapped to NONE, even though I don't have any ctrlr.ini files set up this way).

I didn't test it out, but I think this is my problem - I was using a PC joystick, but it died, and it was messing up some games, so I unplugged it, but I didn't change the "joystick 0" line in my mame.ini file, so MAME was still polling the gameport and getting confused.

How this applies to you is: Commandline winMAME stores configuration in the mame.ini file, DOS MAME in the mame.cfg file, and I'm not sure where MAME32 store it.

Presumably, when you installed DOS MAME, you didn't copy all the settings from your mame.ini file, so you didn't pick up the setting that was causing the problem, whatever that is . . .

But it's just a hunch . . .

[ErikRuud]

Tiger-Heli,

I have run into the same issue.  Having Joystick=1 without a joystick plugged in can cause strange keyboard issues.  In my case it was like up and left would get stuck on.

Truz,

Like TH said, Try comparing your mame.ini and mame.cfg files to see if there are any settings that are different.  If there are, that might be the one that is screwing things up.

[Nailz]

well did another testing and i think this has solved my problem. WOOHOO!


But when i went to go try out dos mame in mamewah (see if that might cause a problem) i am having trouble. Mamewah sees all my roms and displays all of the artwork but when i go to launch a game the loading box comes up and it locks up there. The whole computer freezes and i have to restart. Its weird, the game wont load and it locks up on the loading box. Whats the deal

That's your crappy 98ME OS for ya....  I had that problem even on 98SE from time to time.  Once I switched to XP, I haven't had Mamewah lock up on me ever.

[Truz]

yea but when i was using windows command line with mamewah i never had mamewah lock up on me (only had that annoying beeping problem. Now when i use dos mame with mamewah the games will not even load. I checked my ini and made it identical to the one on the ScreenShot Archive tutorial. That tutorial for mame within mamewah should work for dos mame as well right? Or would my mamewah ini have different settings when using dos mame with mamewah

[Truz]

ok well my games will not load in mamewah  when i have the showdos box option set to 2... but when i put it to 1 the games launched.

But this causes the dos box to show and looks ugly and this get messed up when i exit the game as the dos box is still there and it has to be exited out of. Quite annoying. Anyone know what the deal is here?