Various I-PAC 4 issues....HELP!!!

[Postalp]

Where to begin....

Got my I-PAC 4 today, was a happy camper until I tried testing various games with it, keep in mind it is wired up correctly...

Various buttons do not work (They register in the WinIPAC utility), for example Player 1 buttons: 1, 2, and 4. I have tried to remap the buttons using the two utilities, but to no effect (See below)

The guides say to switch the "MAME/ALT" jumper which I do not see anywhere on the board!!!!

1st: When I tried using the I-Pac DOS utility to remap buttons, it froze.

2nd: Instead tried using the newer "WinIPAC" configuration, but when I choose to "Program I-PAC", it says "FAILED! IPAC is not connected" even though it is recognized and usable.

I am running on Windows XP and MAME32plus. Do not bother trying to tell me to use straight up MAME Dos, tried that to no avial as well.

HELP!

[cdbrown]

First of all there are 2 jumpers located between the large microchips

http://www.ultimarc.com/ipac1.html can be seen about 2/3 down the page

the jumper needs to be changed to ALT which means alternate to the standard mame config.  Once you change this WinIPAC should then be able to update the hardware with your settings.

You also need to make sure that once you have changed the button config in WinIPAC, you need to change the button config for MAME32Plus to suit.

Once they are all mapped together everything should go smoothly.

Good luck
-cdbrown

[PiNPOiNT]

It took me a while also to get mine up and running, here's what i learned in the process

I was having the same programming issues with my Ipac, being not reconized even though it was plugged in. so what i did was removed the jumper all together that toggles between "mame/alt", and that seemed to fix my program /connectivity problems.  I also updated the software for the WINIPC software, you can get that from the downloads section of ultimarc's website.  

The only issue i have now is that windows doesnt seem to reconize any of my USB devices when i first boot up the machine, and i have to  unplug/replug them for it to kick in, which usually leads to the IPAC needing to be re installed.  But im sure that's more of a windows thing i still have to work out.

Try taking off the jumper all together that says "mame/alt" its next to one of the big black memory chips, and its a red looking jumper.

[Troz]

The I-PAC 4 I received recently did not have jumpers on it (I think) and has the ps/2 connectors located together like the I-PAC 2.  Does this sound similar?  I was thinking I was going crazy for a while looking for it.

Have you checked the settings in WinIPAC for how the device is connected?  My device was functioning and registering buttons but could not be programmed because WinIPAC defaulted to USB instead of ps/2.

[PiNPOiNT]

My Ipac 4 that i got recently has the two ps2 connectors on either end, not together.

wierd.
must be a different version
its a ps2->usb one.

[Troz]

Here's a picture of the I-PAC4 version I received just last week:

[Postalp]

Thanks for the replies,

It is a newer one without the jumpers.

Problem is fixed, just initiated the older program interface, it needed the newer one to reprogram.

[Jakobud]

So in the new IPAC4's the MAME/ALT jumper no longer exists?  It is just a software toggle now?

[AndyWarne]

All of our boards, I-PAC 2, 4 , J-PAC have no jumpers. They come with a default MAME configuration pre-programmed and this can be re-programmed if required. The default settings can be reverted using the programming utility as well.
All the boards also have a self-test LED which uses flash patterns to indicate various error conditions, including which input(S) have faulty or mis-wired switches.
All boards auto-detect which interface they are connected to, USB or PS/2.
Andy