IPAC problems/?'s

[aj6500]

Ok, I bought an IPAC (brand new, ps/2 style) for my jukebox controls.  Last night I finally got around to attempting the install.  I have a keypad w/11 buttons wired to it.  I've checked every connection, and all are good, no shorts.  

So I hook it up to my ps/2 port and turn on the computer.  As it's booting it beeps a few times randomly.  The pc boots and I load wordpad just to push buttons and see the cursor move.  Nothing happens.  All 13 buttons, nothing.  Left and right, nothing.

I thought the Ipac just replaced the ps/2 keyboard and would not need any drivers.  So anyway I try instaling the Ipac drivers just in case, and I can't get it to sucsessfully load.  At 57% it freezes while copying a DLL file.  It does this every time.

What do I do here?  Are the drivers required or not, is something else going wrong?  I don't need to run power to this thing do I?

All in all I'm pretty frustrated and dissapointed.  I was planning on having the whole thing buttoned up for the final time last night.

BTW: it's an athalon 900 mhz and --BINGO! Either that, or I was attempting to say "before" but it was too many letters to type-- this I was using usb mouse and keyboard if that matters.

[BobA]

Ok, I bought an IPAC (brand new, ps/2 style) for my jukebox controls.  Last night I finally got around to attempting the install.  I have a keypad w/11 buttons wired to it.  I've checked every connection, and all are good, no shorts.  

So I hook it up to my ps/2 port and turn on the computer.  As it's booting it beeps a few times randomly.  The pc boots and I load wordpad just to push buttons and see the cursor move.  Nothing happens.  All 13 buttons, nothing.  Left and right, nothing.

I thought the Ipac just replaced the ps/2 keyboard and would not need any drivers.  So anyway I try instaling the Ipac drivers just in case, and I can't get it to sucsessfully load.  At 57% it freezes while copying a DLL file.  It does this every time.

What do I do here?  Are the drivers required or not, is something else going wrong?  I don't need to run power to this thing do I?

All in all I'm pretty frustrated and dissapointed.  I was planning on having the whole thing buttoned up for the final time last night.

BTW: it's an athalon 900 mhz and --BINGO! Either that, or I was attempting to say "before" but it was too many letters to type-- this I was using usb mouse and keyboard if that matters.

I see that you are using a usb mouse and keyboard.  Is that also a USB keyboard?   Just asking because the IPAC troubleshooting util that is built in will not work with a USB KB.

Direct quote for ultimarc site:
Prerequisites: You must have a PS/2 keyboard plugged into the pass-through connector. A USB keyboard will not work. If using the I-PAC in USB mode, you will still need to plug a PS/2 keyboard into the pass-through

BobA

[HeadRusch]

Usually when a computer beeps at bootup more than once or twice, it could indicate a problem....some motherboards do intermittent beeps to announce a hardware problelm.  

In your case, the beeps could be a "Keyboard not detected" message...but thats just a guess....also if a keyboard isn't detected, most computers will not continue to boot...you said yours does..hmmm.  

Either way we need more info.

1) If you plug a regular keyboard into the computer, will it boot?

2) IF so, if you plug that keyboard into the ipac, and the ipac into the computer...will it boot and will the keyboard still work?  (forget your controls at this point).


3) You also say you cannot get the ipac programming utility to UNINSTALL? (did I read that right?)

[aj6500]

I don't have a keyboard hooked into the Ipac.   I thought the ipac was supposed to replace keyboard.  I don't know if I even have a ps/2 style keyboard floating around.

The install utility is not working.  It loads to 57%, then freezes.  I left it for an hour, didn't recover and continue.  I tried installing it several times, same results.

So the ? is, do I need a keyboard along with the Ipac, using the ps/2 style, are the drivers necessary?

[AndyWarne]

Wow! Masses of confusion here!

Firstly, the I-PAC does not need any drivers at all. There are none.

Second, Works fine on Athlon

Third, it does not need any keyboard plugged into the pass-through connector, this is optional (except for running the test utility but he was not asking about this)

I can think of many reasons why it is not working, the most common is using the "NC" terminals on the switches instead of "NO".
But why post this here? I can help with this by email right away if you drop me a mail. I would even phone to help if it was necessary.

I will email you anyway to get things moving if I can find your address.

Andy

[aj6500]

Ok, I'd like to preface this post with the following.  There are always different possible reasons to 1 problem.  Case in point, my laptop.  2 days ago, for some reason it did not want to boot windows.  It would start the boot process, then reset, and start all over again.  Over and over and over again.  I rebooted manually, shut down, pulled power... all with the same results.  I was going to boot to dos(god I miss dos) and reload windows.  But I decided to leave it for the day and do it the next as I was ready to take my .444 marlin to it.  Next day, it booted fine and has been no problem.  Not sure what happened.

So, Ipac.  Possibly my pc did not like the ipac and refused to boot with it.  It happens, windows sucks and is the only software I know of that conflicts with itself.

Possible reason #2.  I'm an idiot.  A complete and total idiot.  As such I may have hooked the ps/2 cord to the keyboard slot instead of the PC slot.  I honestly don't think I did this, but I have to consider the possibility.  This is the only thing I can think of that I did wrong, as I've changed nothing.

 Last night I pulled the Ipac to use my usb keyboard and try to load the drivers (see above).  Tonight I got a message from Andy to email him ref. my problems.  I figure I'll give it 1 more shot and really watch what's going on to gather actual info during the boot process.  My PC booted w/only the 1 beep it normally does.  I loaded notepad and found the buttons and keypad are doing things on the program.  Not random, but as I haven't checked to see what each input is supposed to do, I'm assuming it's working correctly.  I need to configure my software to work with the ipac, or the ipac to work with my software... whichever I decide is easier.

I would really like to belive I had the connection correct and I was having a compatibility problem.  

But since I know a little something about human behavior and denial, I will again say that I am an idiot and a complete moron incapable of reading 2 words on a pc board.  I am ordering hooked on phonics, watching sesame street, and sounding out the hard ones.  I am likely reducing the cumulative IQ of those around me, and to them I apologize.  Please ignore this post and any others that bear my name.