wiring troubleshooting...

[apu95]

hey guys.
today, my last day of summer vacation, i worked on my wiring :D

i tried to keep it as tidy as possible. player 1 (right side) is fully finished, soldered the grounds and everything. i gave it a test run and all buttons work except for number 4 (circled in red).

whats a good way to troubleshoot it? i already changed the wire and it still didnt work. in the case the microswitch is busted, can i open it and fix it myself or just order a new button altogether?

oh yeah, also, what happens if i connect the buttons and use them, but theyre not properly grounded? can i damage my mobo or my whole pc?

thx!
Apu

[pocketbikez]

u could trouble shoot by take a microswitch off of one of your 2nd player buttons and switch it out with the broken one.

recheck all your connections and grounds.

[itismejs]

Why does every1 end up having a few toes in there pics????and I dont see any daisy chain grounding cable!!!

[Bgnome]

theres ground on player one.

now, this would be really simple to troubleshoot if you had a multimeter/continuity meter.  if you solder i dont see why you wouldnt have a dmm.

first, i would check to make sure all the connections were continuous by placing the probes on the contacts past the conections.  if they all check out, then i would check continuity through the switch.  if that all checks out, i would use a wire to jumper ground to that input on the ipac.  if its not one of those, its your wiring..

[reebboy]

Simply take an ohm meter and place test lead to the NO terminal on the #4 button and the other test lead to the ground terminal on the #4 button.  It should be showing open on the voltmeter. Now press the button, it should show resistance ohms (closed). If that tests good, ohm out your wires through the switch from the encoder by placing one test lead on the terminal end of button #4 on the encoder and the other test lead on the ground and press the button to see if you have good wiring from the encoder through the button to ground. If this tests ok, you then may have an encoder problem.

[fredster]

the multimeter test is the best.

Flip the meter to ohms.  Touch the red and black probes together.  You will see the meter jump.

That's how you test continuity.  Put one probe on each of the contacts and press the button.  It should move.

I hope that you have all those buttons wired for normally open.

[apu95]

sorry it took so long to reply, i started school and i havent had time to sit down for a decent computer session.

Thats the weird thing...since the ground is running thru all the buttons, then if the ground on number 4 were not working, the other buttons that follow that button wouldnt work either. i know the other buttons work tho (start, coin, etc) so thats why i was thinking of blaming a busted microswitch. my wiring mat also be the fault, but ive changed the wire twice already, so i doubt it...im gonna do it again just in case and get back to the msg.

thx,
Apu

[EricB]

I'm new here, but I'll chime in on this one anyway.  If all of your other buttons work, then the ground is not the problem at all.  Sounds to me as though the wire coming from the other side of the #4 switch is not making contact OR the switch is no good.  I think I would do like someone else recommended and try a different switch on button 4.  If that still doesn't work, then I would wonder about my encoder being faulty on that input.  Be sure that the wire going into that terminal is stripped back enough so the insulation isn't under the screw.