IPAC refuses programming?

[pmc]

I think I've seen this before in this forum, but can't seem to find it now. Anyone know how to search these forums?

Anyway, I have a few-months-old two-player PS/2 IPAC model on a Win98 machine. Works great with the MAME jumper in place. I moved it to ALT to program some custom shift keys. The software was acting flaky (ignoring input) and inconsistent (different flaky behavior after reboots and s/w relaunches).

So I switched to the console. While weird running a console in NOTEPAD, it certainly works great. And the test function is very nice.

So now everything is programmed and great, BUT, no matter what I do, I cannot get j/s-down to map to "down arrow". The console takes the program attempt, but then when you "list" what's mapped, it's blank. Mapping to another key (e.g., "t") works great, but not down-arrow.

Yes, the down-arrow key works. It works great. And the IPAC console sees me push it too. It just doesn't record the mapping and subsequently does not write it to EEPROM.

So I've been playing alot of Galaga which is OK I guess. But you try Berserk and only move up/left/right!

Any ideas? I hope it's something silly like NUMLOCK or soemthing. Thanks in advance!

- Patrick

[Superdude]

Have you downloaded the latest software WINIPAC util from utimarc?  Have you restored the defaults?  I think there is a way to reset the jpac or ipac in the documentation section.

[_Iz-]

Are you overclocking your system? Is the system stable otherwise?

Have you tried loading the defaults then just reprogramming the keys you want to change?

[pmc]

Are you overclocking your system? Is the system stable otherwise?

Have you tried loading the defaults then just reprogramming the keys you want to change?

Well, "stable" for Windows98 anyway. Meaning that I get the occassional blue-screen, MameWAH sometimes crashes, the CDROM drive is sometimes not an ATAPI device to the BIOS (a reboot fixes that), the NIC is sometimes "newly discovered hardware" upon boot and needs drivers installed repeatedly and then is listed multiple times as a MAC/PHY device...

Stuff like that. And yes.... I do consider that "stable" for Win98. And yes, I do need to wipe the partition and re-install for a nice clean cabinet MAME install. But I don't think any of that is related to my problem (unless you know something I don't!).

Regarding loading the defaults and starting over -- I'll try that. I didn't because the Windows software seems to repeatedly refuse to take input and I figured it'd be a step backwards. But I can reload the defaults and then use the console to program it. Good idea.

[_Iz-]

you can load the defaults from the console as well. You might be better off doing it all from the console. see ultimarcs help/documentation for the command.

[pmc]

you can load the defaults from the console as well. You might be better off doing it all from the console. see ultimarcs help/documentation for the command.

Excellent. I'll try that.

BTW, as for original overclocking question.... I'm actually UNDERclocking on this box. The chip is 450MHz and but I run it with a 6x multiplier on a 66MHz bus (~400MHz). Would that affect keyboard input? How?

[_Iz-]

No, underclocking shouldn't cause any problems as long as the chip is running at (or very close to ) the proper voltage. Does your motherboard have a Via chipset? Other than the occasional blue-screen, the behaviour you describe is not normal, even for Win98. Have you ever tried running in pure dos mode? Sounds like the motherboard is flakey. Could also be bad ram or weak powersupply.

[_Iz-]

One suggestion if you can't make any of the others work - can you attach the ipac to another computer, program it there in console mode, then move it back to the mame computer? Kind of a pain but should get the job done...

[pmc]

One suggestion if you can't make any of the others work - can you attach the ipac to another computer, program it there in console mode, then move it back to the mame computer? Kind of a pain but should get the job done...

Actually not a pain at all. And it'll show if I have a problem with the other setup. I'll try that for kicks.

Mobo is a PC-Chips 565 branded by Matsonic. I don't think it's flaky -- I know it pretty. Red Hat 7.2 runs awesome on it but win98 has been known to have problems with the PCI bus and the IDE drives. A weak powe supply is definately a consideration (it's a 250W with 4 IDE drives, one EISA card, and at least 3 PCI cards). Never thought of that. I'll debug with that in mind.....

Somhow I still feel like that's not related.... but then again....

Am I hearing that this is not normal IPAC behavior? That was sort of the root of my original question....

Thanx for the help....

[_Iz-]

Definitely not normal behavior for the Ipac.

Now on the other hand, I can't say I'm surprised that it's a PC-Chips mobo, explains alot...  I've had bad experiences with more than one model of PC-Chips mobo's. One in particular out of the blue decided to refuse to init a PCI NIC, period. Any PCI NIC. And would lock the computer solid for no apparent reason as well...  YMMV...

[steve_pss]

for whats it worth i had the same issue and it turned out i just neglected to:

1) load the default
2) setup the board settings and such

you'll find both in the options menu/tabs

[pmc]

for whats it worth i had the same issue and it turned out i just neglected to:

1) load the default
2) setup the board settings and such

you'll find both in the options menu/tabs

That did not work for me.

I replaced my Win98 partition with a fresh new partition and installed a clean new Win98 SE. Boot time is much faster and the configuration is pretty much stock. I also removed a Linux drive to simplify the IDE setup. The IDE setup now has a single Primary Master CDROM drive set for "Cable Select" (needed to do that to get it to work correctly), a Secondary Master that's a the C:\ drive and contains MAME, and a Secondary Slave that's the D:\ drive and contains Win98. Certainly not conventional, but it works OK and I don't feel like pulling all the drives to swap around jumpers just to line things up in a conventional format.

The PCI network card still likes to be rediscovered regularly. I still think that's a Belkin problem and not a a PC-Chips mobo prob, but I don't truely know.

The blue-screens are gone and MAMEWAH and EmuLoader both run great. MAME's speed seems to have improved too.

The IPAC software behaves the same way. What I've been doing is using the console (the GUI is totally flaky for me), resetting the defaults, and then programming in my specific mods. That's been working although it seems like I've had to do it a few times now.

So my last hurdle is to move the SHIFT key to P1 Button 7 which is a button I installed specifically to be a SHIFT key. Ultimarc says:

"Although it is possible to do this in interactive mode, it's easier to use one of the PC-based programming utilities to do this."

So given that the GUI doesn't really work for me, does anyone know how to do it with the console? I haven't queried Ultimarc directly yet although in retrospect I guess I should have. I also hve not stuck a second PC or a Mac in the there to test with.

I still don't suspect a PC hardware problem... but I've been known to be wrong....

[_Iz-]

If memory serves, all you need to do is remap a shifted function and it will ask you which key you want to be the shift key at the same time. I did all my programming through the console mode but it was quite awhile ago. I do remember it asking me about the shift key and it seemed intuitive.

[steve_pss]

I think at this point the best advice I could give you is to email Andy at Utilmarc.

He responds quickly (hence all the good PR) and as the creater of the product you'll be hard pressed to get a more accurate answer.

[pmc]

I think at this point the best advice I could give you is to email Andy at Utilmarc.

He responds quickly (hence all the good PR) and as the creater of the product you'll be hard pressed to get a more accurate answer.

Roger that. After posting here earlier today, I went to Ultimarc.com to check the "technical support" section. Interestingly, it indicates that he gets alot of mail and he suggests that you leverage this board for support. So I guess I'm movin' in the right direction.  

[_Iz-]

Just read the programming instructions on his site and then try it. It was pretty easy to figure out...

[AndyWarne]

PMC:
There is NO WAY that I would want to imply that people should come to this board rather than email me for tech support on our products.
If you have got this impression from anything on our site I urgently need to re-word it. I will try to contact you by email to find out what I need to change, if anything.

[pmc]

PMC:
There is NO WAY that I would want to imply that people should come to this board rather than email me for tech support on our products.
If you have got this impression from anything on our site I urgently need to re-word it. I will try to contact you by email to find out what I need to change, if anything.

Sorry for the late response to this. I thought the thread was dead.

I never for a second thought that Ultimarc was pushing support off to this group. I didn't mean to imply that. Personally, I think that refering people to this site for (additional) support is a good move. It certainly was my first instinct.

Incidentally, I managed to get the thing programmed using the Windows GUI. The key for me was to reset to defaults before programming and then program everything in one fell swoop. Any time I got fancy with it, would start to get flaky on me again. For now, it works. But what up with that strange behavior?

[steve_pss]

for whats it worth i had the same issue and it turned out i just neglected to:

1) load the default
2) setup the board settings and such

you'll find both in the options menu/tabs

This proves I'm only wrong 98% percent of the time.

[pmc]

This proves I'm only wrong 98% percent of the time.

I thought of that once I worked out suitable sequence of steps that worked.  

Yup... I didn't listen carefully enough the first time.  You shoulda mentioned that you are usually right!

[steve_pss]

This proves I'm only wrong 98% percent of the time.

I thought of that once I worked out suitable sequence of steps that worked.  

Yup... I didn't listen carefully enough the first time.  You shoulda mentioned that you are usually right!

I couldn't lie like that on this board and get away with it.