At my wits end...multimeter use question. yeah, another one.

[hypernova]

edit:  see third post.

I've emailed Andy about this, but thought I'd bring it up here too, just to spread the word about my experience so far.

Initially, I thought my Ipac went bad.  Just one day, after a few weeks of blissful fun, the P1/2 LED didn't light up, and it didn't work.   Tried both the usb and ps/2 ports.  Neither wanted to function.  Keyboard passthru wouldn't work either.  So I naturally assumed it was the Ipac.  Had Ultimarc send out a replacement chip.  Got the chip in, replaced it on the P1/2 side, and still nothing.  Ok, so maybe the chip housing on the board is screwed or something.  Just got the new board in today, wire it all back up, and WHAM!  It's still doing the same damn thing!  It's like someone bitchslapping me and laughing at the same time.

So I go nuts.   (This stuff, problems that aren't covered in a simple faq, always happens to me.  ALWAYS.)  Anywho, I let a few words fly  (no one was home,) and decided to start unplugging things.  Disconnected the Tornado and Optipac.  Had the entire thing unplugged.  With only the Ipac in, I power it up, and all of a sudden it works!  What?  So I test the other one I thought was broken.  It works too!  What's going on?

So I start testing things out.  Originally, I couldn't get the thing to work correctly half the time, but then I figured out the pc was giving it power even while turned off.  In order to reset its "state" the power had to be cut off, so I unplugged the arcade (pc) each time.  Here were my results after that discovery:

Test 1.  Only Ipac in ps/2.  Good
Test 2.  Ipac in USB.  Good
Test 3.  Ipac with keyboard connected to passthru to ps/2 port.  Good
Test 4.  Ipac in ps/2 with keyboard in passthru, with tornado in USB.  Good
Test 5.  Same as above, with Optipac in other USB port.  NO GO.  Optipac functions correctly.  Mouse buttons, and trackball work.  P1/2 light on Ipac doesn't light up, Ipac doesn't work.
Test 6.  Removed Optipac and everything is good again.
Test 7.  Ipac in USB with keyboard in passthru, Optipac in other USB.  NO GO.

(I need to get a serial cable for the Optipac to test if it'll do the same thing.)

So according to my results, somehow the Optipac is interfering with the Ipac.  What in the world is happening?

 

[hypernova]

Update.  After playing around some more, I found that two grounds I had running into the Optipac were causing the problem.  What uses those grounds, I'm not sure, but I need to figure it out.  Because now, my buttons aren't always working when pressed.  They register about 75% of the time.  The other 25% nothing happens when I press them.

When I first popped the "hood" I found a wire forcing the P1 button 2 to stick.  Also found two of P2s LEDs were disconnected.  This obviously can't be the cause of the problem.  I need to figure out where those grounds lead to exactly, and what's causing them to freak out.

Uuugghhh...

[hypernova]

Something is wrong with my wiring, and I can't find anything obvious.  This thing should be done now, but here I am, still, with no end in sight.

I want to use my multimeter, but am very afraid to use it.  My player 1 and 3 inputs are not working, and the others are a little iffy.  I have my two 4ways connected to the same Ipac terminals as the P1 joystick.  The P1 joystick doesn't work, but the 4ways do, except sometimes the buttons don't register correctly.  Some of the other buttons don't work all the time either it seems.  (Might be the Winipac software limitations, don't know for certain.)

Anyway, here's a picture of my multimeter.  Could someone point me out to what settings I should be using, and tell me what I'm supposed to touch the probes to?  Getting so frustrated, the last thing I need to do is break anything.

Thanks.

[Orclord]

Hmmmm..Have you considered

Maybe your USB ports are not supplying enough power to run both the optipac and the spinner

Do a quick check plug the the I-Pac and spinner in

I presume you are using XP....

Start-->Control panel-->System-->Hardware-->Device Manager-->Expand USB serial bus controller-->right click USB root hub-->Properties-->Power

That will tell you what is being drawn from the comp, Plug the opti-pac in and hit refresh see what the readings say...

Try that first..

If that is OK..Check you have not connected to an "NC" connection on a microswith, this is the Normally Closed connection that will make the circuit with the Com/ground without a button or joystick being pressed/moved. You want to connect to the "NO" connections, these are the Normally Open connections which make the circuit to com/ground when the switch or joystick is pressed/moved

The connections are normally labelled on the switch or there is a small diagram



All microswitches DO NOT have the same connections, on some the "NC" and the "NO" are swapped. The normal culprit if you use them is the Ultimarc T-Sticks/Mag sticks which can have 3 different switch types fitted.

To check the continuity of the ground to make sure you do not have a break, set the meter to "buzzer" so that it makes a sound when the probes are placed together. Disconnect everything from the comp. If you have daisychained your grounds place one probe on the last ground connection on your CP and the other on the ground terminal at the I-Pac, you should get a sound, if not you have a break in the ground somewhere.

If you get a sound that means all your grounds are connected. Then fit a clip on one lead, if you have one and connect it to the ground wire, anywhere will do because you have just confirmed they are all connected. Now place the probe on say P1 SW1 on the I-pac, there should be no sound, press the P1 SW1 button and you should hear a sound, move the probe accoss to P1 SW2 and do the same, carry on like this for all your connections. If you hear a sound when you touch the probe to a terminal without you pressing anything that will be the problem because you have connected to an "NC"


HTH

[hypernova]

I'll check the power, but I'm not sure anything you suggested will find the problem.  This all worked for a good month or so with no problems whatsoever.  It's definitely not a case of putting the wire on the NC.

The fact that I've made a loop out of each of my ground series won't help me.

Maybe I'll get lucky, and somehow the mobo isn't supplying the needed power anymore.  We'll see.

[Quarters]

I had a similar problem also using ipac, optipac, and tornado. I suspected usb port on my old mobo were the problem.

Simple fix: Go buy a $15.00 pci usb card. It has worked perfectly for me.

Also check for a bios setting for usb power while off. I have seen boards with this option.

[hypernova]

Well, I relocated my Ipac on the underside of the CP.  Which rendered the cat5 wall terminals useless.

Whatever the problem was, I eliminated it.  I'm figuring it was the cat5 cabling getting scrunched under there.  (Where the cables connected to the wall terminals, it was a bit crowded.  Only about 2" of head room.  Might've caused some of the contacts to be iffy.)  At least, that's my theory.  The Optipac isn't having any trouble yet, so I'll leave it where it is.

Thank God I found it.  Nothing can kill the desire to do something like having an inexplicable problem rear itself that you can't figure out.  This was dangerously close to exactly that.  I would've bitched to the end of time if I hadn't fixed it (or in this case, found a workaround.)