Help! P1 buttons pressed = p2,3,4 works, p1 not pressed, p234 not work

[blueboy]

Hello all,

New interesting problem out of the blue...I'm using an Ipac 4
Nothing on my board works (continuity test shows everything connected)
Yet if I hold down player 1 buttons 1,2,3,4,5,6  Then every other key registers like normal.

I know someone is laughing right now because it's an easy fix, however I've spent a few hours and can't seem to get it.

Thanks for the help,
Blue

[Hoopz]

How many times the LED on the I-Pac flash when you first boot the pc?  The number of flashes indicates if there are any problems.  It is supposed to flash once and then stay lit.  Have you checked that?

[blueboy]

Yep,
checked the lights one flash then solid...

Thanks,
Blue

[Fozzy The Bear]

Hello all,

New interesting problem out of the blue...I'm using an Ipac 4
Nothing on my board works (continuity test shows everything connected)
Yet if I hold down player 1 buttons 1,2,3,4,5,6  Then every other key registers like normal.

I know someone is laughing right now because it's an easy fix, however I've spent a few hours and can't seem to get it.

Thanks for the help,
Blue

I suspect two things here

1) that you have the ground connections wired incorrectly.......
or 2) That you have connected some of your switches to the NC instead of the NO connection.

First...Check that you have a ground connection. which is looped to each switch, and that it is connected to the bottom terminal of each microswitch.

Second... Check carefully that you have the other connection to each switch on the NO (Normally Open) terminal of the microswitches, and NOT on the NC (Normally Closed) connection.

I think that the second of these is the most likely..... because by pressing the first six buttons you are then effectively opening the connection on those switches and not constantly filling the keyboard buffer with keypresses from them. That would block all the other keys. Which is exactly the symptom you are getting.

Best Regards,
Julian (Fozzy The Bear) 

[blueboy]

Still not figured out 

I checked all the switched, they are wired correctly...
However, when i do a continuity tester, from the ground on a button, to the NO, it lights up a bit, then when button is pressed lights up a lot...

I was always thought that it shouldn't light up at all when it's not pressed down.
So I've checked all the connections to ensure no loose strands are touching.
And still the problem persists.

The only thing i can think of to do, is to unhook each button one at a time from the ipac until the problem is solved, then rewire the buttons that were the problem?

Any other suggestions?

Thanks for all the help,
Blue

[Fozzy The Bear]

when i do a continuity tester, from the ground on a button, to the NO, it lights up a bit, then when button is pressed lights up a lot...

There should be no connection at all between ground and NO until the button is pressed.

Disconnect all wires from the button you are testing and connect the meter to the ground and NO connections on the switch. If you still register a connection when the button is not pressed, then you have defective microswitches.

Best Regards,
Julian (Fozzy The Bear)

[leapinlew]

when i do a continuity tester, from the ground on a button, to the NO, it lights up a bit, then when button is pressed lights up a lot...

There should be no connection at all between ground and NO until the button is pressed.

Disconnect all wires from the button you are testing and connect the meter to the ground and NO connections on the switch. If you still register a connection when the button is not pressed, then you have defective microswitches.

Best Regards,
Julian (Fozzy The Bear)

I don't work in the professional arena like you do, but do defective microswitches happen often? Or, often enough that you suspect them to be issues?

[blueboy]

unplugged and the buttons have no connection, but when plugged in they do...
I'm assuming this means somewhere a wire is touching another, but i've checked and don't see anything..

ANy ideas?

Thanks,
Blue

[bfauska]

I think the next step, if you don't find any wires shorted in your wiring, would be to check for continuity between the ground connection on your Ipac and each button connection on the Ipac.  Do this with nothing hooked to the Ipac, there should be no continuity.

when i do a continuity tester, from the ground on a button, to the NO, it lights up a bit, then when button is pressed lights up a lot...

There should be no connection at all between ground and NO until the button is pressed.

Disconnect all wires from the button you are testing and connect the meter to the ground and NO connections on the switch. If you still register a connection when the button is not pressed, then you have defective microswitches.

Best Regards,
Julian (Fozzy The Bear)

I don't work in the professional arena like you do, but do defective microswitches happen often? Or, often enough that you suspect them to be issues?

I've had microswitches with a intermittent connection on the NO when I press the button, so that if I hold the button it randomly rapid fires.  It actually happened on my joystick and it would not hold continuously in the direction of the bad microswitch.

[blueboy]

I think the next step, if you don't find any wires shorted in your wiring, would be to check for continuity between the ground connection on your Ipac and each button connection on the Ipac.  Do this with nothing hooked to the Ipac, there should be no continuity.


Hmm...Really, i thought there would be continuity....
Perhaps i'm misunderstanding but here's what i did...


I disconnected s1 and ground from the ipac...Used a continuity tester on the ipac switches themselves, one end on ground and one end on s1...There is continuity here....I thought the button is what would make it so there isn't continuity and the button press completes the circuit..

Is my board fried?

Thanks,
Blue

[Fozzy The Bear]

when i do a continuity tester, from the ground on a button, to the NO, it lights up a bit, then when button is pressed lights up a lot...

There should be no connection at all between ground and NO until the button is pressed.

Disconnect all wires from the button you are testing and connect the meter to the ground and NO connections on the switch. If you still register a connection when the button is not pressed, then you have defective microswitches.

Best Regards,
Julian (Fozzy The Bear)

I don't work in the professional arena like you do, but do defective microswitches happen often? Or, often enough that you suspect them to be issues?

Not often... but you can get a bad batch sometimes.... In this case it was worth checking to make sure.

What I don't understand is that he says none of his buttons work unless he holds down the first six and then all the others work.

Blue... If you checked the continuity of the buttons and the wires from the buttons as far as the IPac, and with them disconnected from the IPac you got no faults. Then the only logical place left now is the IPac itself.  It could be a faulty one. There's really little more we can do to help. 

Contact Andy by email and ask his advice.

When you do get a solution, don't forget to let us know what it is.

Best Regards,
Julian (Fozzy The Bear)

[bfauska]

I think the next step, if you don't find any wires shorted in your wiring, would be to check for continuity between the ground connection on your Ipac and each button connection on the Ipac.  Do this with nothing hooked to the Ipac, there should be no continuity.

Hmm...Really, i thought there would be continuity....
Perhaps i'm misunderstanding but here's what i did...


I disconnected s1 and ground from the ipac...Used a continuity tester on the ipac switches themselves, one end on ground and one end on s1...There is continuity here....I thought the button is what would make it so there isn't continuity and the button press completes the circuit..

Is my board fried?

Thanks,
Blue

It sounds like the board, there should not be continuity between the switch terminals and the ground.  If there were the switch would have no way to stop it, the switch when "open" keeps there from being any connection, it doesn't actively change anything, a Normally Open switch at rest is like having nothing between the two terminals.  When you depress the switch it makes contact inside and is like having a wire straight from one terminal to the other.  If you are waiting for a response from Andy you could actually test the Ipac this way too.  Remove all the wires and switches from the Ipac and put a wire in the ground terminal, with the Ipac hooked to the computer make contact between this ground wire and the switch terminals one at a time, if you do this with notepad or something similar open then you should get keystrokes on each contact, if you do, then the Ipac should be OK. 

First and foremost, I think it's time to ask Andy.

Good luck, and definately report back when it is solved.


P.S. when quoting make sure to type your response after the "[/Quote]" box it makes the response much easier to find.

[AndyWarne]

Can you drop me an email and I'll try to help. As has been mentioned, this is likely to be a ground connection which is broken and only made when those 6 buttons are pressed, indicating a wiring error.
andy@ultimarc.com

[blueboy]

Just for the heck of it, I rewired all the grounds, using new wires and new connections..
Still the same....
It can be any 6 buttons pressed and then the rest of the buttons/joy's work like normal, literally any 6.

Thanks for the help....
I'm at a stand still.

Blue

Andy fixed it!!!!! 
Was a simply uninstall of an item in device manager....
And to think, I rewired all the grounds 
Ohh well, lesson learned.
 
Thanks for all the help!!!!

[Fozzy The Bear]

Andy fixed it!!!!! 
Was a simply uninstall of an item in device manager....
And to think, I rewired all the grounds 
Ohh well, lesson learned.

What item was it?? when we come across this one again it would be helpful to know the answer to this.

Best Regards,
Julian (Fozzy The Bear)

[blueboy]

Here's what he had me do 

Go into Control Panel, System, Device Manager
Open up the USB Controller entry by clicking n the plus sign.
In the list there should be a "composite device".
Right click on this and "uninstall".
Unplug and reconnect the I-PAC.


Then when i did, bam, worked like  charm....

[leapinlew]

Here's what he had me do 

Go into Control Panel, System, Device Manager
Open up the USB Controller entry by clicking n the plus sign.
In the list there should be a "composite device".
Right click on this and "uninstall".
Unplug and reconnect the I-PAC.


Then when i did, bam, worked like  charm....

Nice, I would've bet quite a bit that wasn't the answer. Good job Andy and Blueboy.