Weird IPAC 4 prob

[peanut]

everytime i reboot my computer, my ipac looses all the programming. i have to open the ipac config panel, and click "program" for it to detect any of the keypresses. Anyone know why?

[kkingsto]

I haven't had that problem.   My problem is my PC doesn't see the IPac unless I unplug it from the USB hub....

[CheffoJeffo]

This might help:

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=38858.0

Cheers.

[Bumblebounces]

I had a weird problem with my old style IPAC2 (has it really been 4 years since I bought it?).  It was not so much that the IPAC lost programming.  More like it found new functions for existing programmed keys.  Right in the middle of the game, it would switch you to the desktop when a certain combo of moves was made.  It didn't exit the game, just minimized it to desktop.  By the time you switched back to the game, it was hopeless to continue with that game, you had lost.  Try to intentionally duplicate and it wouldn't happen at all.  Get back into a game and 20 minutes later, it would do it again.  Infuriating.  I did contact Andy at the time of the problem but it was intermittent and was working, then not working, then working again so I kinda forgot about it. 

I experienced the problem with it again recently (actually 6 months ago) during a party and finally just set the jumper to MAME and all of those issues vanished.  Works perfectly now.  Only now, the buttons on my CP that I dubbed the 'admin buttons' don't work.  I have become content to use the shift function of the IPAC to get to what I need to make it function.  People do ask what the admin buttons do since they are never used anymore.  I feel guilt about asking Andy to do something for on this so late in the game.  It was my fault for not continuing to follow up.  He was more than happy to try to help me at the time but I grew tired of conversing with him via email and since it worked today then not tomorrow and again the next day, I just kinda dropped it.  I figured I would order something else from him at some point in the future and just buy another one from him to swap it out at that point.  Hasn't happened yet.

Important to note that I'm not knocking Andy's product or support.  His product is great and his support very, very good considering he's UK and I'm US.  I am just having lazy man's remorse for not doing something about this when the problem was fresh and was within the "warranty period".  Still love the IPAC and would buy one again without hesitation if I needed one.  Just sharing my experience.

Bumble

[MameJunkie]

I had a weird problem with my old style IPAC2 (has it really been 4 years since I bought it?).

[Bumblebounces]

Switching to desktop may not be a I-PAC problem.  Certain key combination is a windows will minimize/maximize/shutdown the window with the focus.  For example Alt-F4 will shutdown window.
Since the MAME P1 buttons are default to the shift/ctrl/alt on the left of the keyboard. 

Good point.  Although I am not sure if this is what was happening for me as I did extensive testing in a Notepad window while jerking the stick and hitting buttons as you would while playing a game.  I was never, ever able to duplicate what was happening intermittently (but often) within MAME32 while running a game.  The only things that I mapped differently than the MAME jumper was the 4 inputs (P1 button 7 and 8 and P2 button 7 and 8 ) I wasn't using in games to be used for P (pause), TAB, ENTER, and ESC.  None of those buttons were ever used in the games (with the exception of the occassional pause) and the admin buttons were far enough way to not be hit accidently.  I also didn't touch the .cfg files in MAME(32) so they were whatever they are supposed to be by default (even threw out default.cfg a few times to be sure).

Installed the MAME jumper and I have not had a lick of trouble since.  I just have 8 buttons on my CP (the 4 mentioned above, one set on each side of the CP) that do nothing at all. 

Like I said, not knocking Ultimarc, just sharing experience.  I think Andy has done great things for advancing this hobby and I would never wish him ill.  If not for my own laziness in not wanting to continue to exchange email with him, I probably would have received a new IPAC to replace this one long ago.  I actually kinda felt bad about complaining at the time I did.  I had ordered the IPAC and the joysticks I bought from him close to a year before I began construction on my cab.  By the time I actually had it in use and noted the problem, it was probably about 18 months after purchase.

Bumble

[MameJunkie]

Yea...from the time I got my mini-pac from Andy to actually hooking it up was a good 6 months.