IPAC not being detected at POST...

[Sinner]

I have a PS/2 IPAC4...I connected it to player1 controls (1 joystick and 7 buttons), I have daisy chained the ground connections and tested with a continuity tester...everything seems to be connected correctly, but when I power on the PC, it stops on POST with a no keyboard error...I know the system works, because I have an X-Arcade and it works fine...there is no flash on the LEDs of the IPAC, they just come on and stay on...
anyone have any ideas??

[Sinner]

I thought a key might be stuck or something that might cause an error at boot up, so I connected a regular keyboard, once in Windows, I opened Notepad, and connected the IPAC...I was hoping to see a stream of characters across the screen, but there was nothing...maybe it was a control key or something, but all the switches are connected to NO and the common ground...I dunno what else to check...

[markrvp]

I would try disconnecting all the switches from the Ipac.  Connect the Ipac to the computer and boot it up with nothing connected to it.  If the computer boots, then try grounding one input to ground and see if you get a keystroke. 

Also, do you have another computer you can hook the Ipac to?  I have one motherboard that always gives me boot problems depending on what ps2 and USB peripherals are connected. 

[Jess--]

I had a motherboard that woudl throw up a keyboard error if I had a keyboard daisy chained off the ipac, My solution was to go into the bios and tell the computer to ignore keyboard errors (mind you my ipac would work fine after throwing the error)

[Sinner]

Well, I tried plugging in a keyboard and booting the PC...then, once in Widows, I unplugged it, and plugged in the IPAC...it worked fine...I played a few games, then shut down...once I rebooted, it didn't work again...I disabled the "Halt on Keyboard Errors" option in the BIOS, and tried again...this time thePC would boot, but once in Windows the IPAC wouldn't respond...I'm going to see if I can get another PC in there to try...

[markrvp]

Well, I tried plugging in a keyboard and booting the PC...then, once in Widows, I unplugged it, and plugged in the IPAC...it worked fine...I played a few games, then shut down...once I rebooted, it didn't work again...I disabled the "Halt on Keyboard Errors" option in the BIOS, and tried again...this time thePC would boot, but once in Windows the IPAC wouldn't respond...I'm going to see if I can get another PC in there to try...

One other question . . . are you using the ps2 port (I am assuming so)?  If so, are you running an operating system that would let you connect it through USB?

[Sinner]

Well, I tried plugging in a keyboard and booting the PC...then, once in Widows, I unplugged it, and plugged in the IPAC...it worked fine...I played a few games, then shut down...once I rebooted, it didn't work again...I disabled the "Halt on Keyboard Errors" option in the BIOS, and tried again...this time thePC would boot, but once in Windows the IPAC wouldn't respond...I'm going to see if I can get another PC in there to try...

One other question . . . are you using the ps2 port (I am assuming so)?

[markrvp]

I'm running Windows XP and it is plugged into the PS2 port...is there a connector, that I can use to convert it to USB??

You can get a USB cable from Ultimarc that replaces the ps2 cable you are using now.

[gonzobrian]

I have a similar problem with my ipac but it is random.  Sometimes it is not detected.  If I reboot usually it is detected on the second attempt.

[tumult]

i'm curious as to what motherboard you are using.  I had similar problems (my ipac wouldn't register any keystrokes and the control panel would show a keyboard error msg).  I was using an old ECS KS75a (or something like that).  After switching it out with a new Asus board, my IPAC troubles have disappeared. 

[SOAPboy]

I'm running Windows XP and it is plugged into the PS2 port...is there a connector, that I can use to convert it to USB??

You can get a USB cable from Ultimarc that replaces the ps2 cable you are using now.

Which imo is useless.. PS2 works fine.. sounds like his board just dont like that ipac or that ipac is flakey..

[motorfish]

Do you have any other systems (x-box, Dreamcast) wired into the buttons and controls along with the controls for the PC?

[markrvp]

Which imo is useless.. PS2 works fine.. sounds like his board just dont like that ipac or that ipac is flakey..

If the ps2 port on the motherboard is the problem and connecting USB would solve it, wouldn't that be cheaper than getting a new motherboard? 

How useless would it be to replace a motherboard if you didn't have to?

[Sinner]

i'm curious as to what motherboard you are using.

[Sinner]

Do you have any other systems (x-box, Dreamcast) wired into the buttons and controls along with the controls for the PC?

Nothing but player 1 controls, and I wired the ground connections for the trackball buttons into my daisy chain, so I left them there...seems to be working fine...do you think that it may be the cause of my problem??
I have a few PCs, I just need to find one that I can pull out and connect in my cab...I'm hoping I can do that tonight...

[Sinner]

On a side note...when it was working, I tried pressing the player 1 button, and the player 2 button...shouldn't that have sent the "ESC" key to the computer?  I also tried player 1 and sw1, to try and get a coin, but neither worked...I figured I would get the detection problem out of the way, and deal with this afterwards...

[Sinner]

OK, I've figured it out...I'm such a boob...after I wired the player1 controls, I added wire ties to keep everything tidy, unfortunately I bent one of the connectors for 1SW4 and it was shorted against a ground...
I couldn't really see it...the lights of the IPAC fould just come on if I plugged it into the PS/2 port and turned on the PC...the way I saw the lights flash, was a reflection off the computer case, through the back of the cabinet, when I was disconnecting the regular keyboard, and plugging in the IPAC...
I also noticed that when I went to my desktop and tried doing some thing, that everytime I tried to click on an icon, it would select a whole bunch of them, like the shift key was stuck...I wish I had of tried this before posting this thread...
Oh well, thanks to everyone for their suggestions...

[Hoopz]

OK, I've figured it out...I'm such a boob...after I wired the player1 controls, I added wire ties to keep everything tidy, unfortunately I bent one of the connectors for 1SW4 and it was shorted against a ground...

Been there, done that.  Welcome to the club! 

It's frustrating when everything does not work right the first time.  I think it's worse when you think the wiring is good and the encoder is bad, onlyl to find out it was a very small thing with the wiring.  I re-built a control panel two weeks ago and it took a few hours to find where I screwed up.

[Sinner]

OK, I've figured it out...I'm such a boob...after I wired the player1 controls, I added wire ties to keep everything tidy, unfortunately I bent one of the connectors for 1SW4 and it was shorted against a ground...

Been there, done that.