Ipac/4 Not registering certain keypresses?!?!?!

[nipsmg]

I tried posting to the ultimarc forum and e-mailing andy, but that might take some time..


I've got a problem:

My setup is like this:

Control panel -> 2 parallel cables -> ipac4

EVERY button on my CP works except for the ones I'm using for emulator options, which are P1B7, P1B8, P2B7, P2B8, and the higher P3 and P4 buttons.

I at first thought there was a problem with the wiring.. so I hooked up the parallel cables, put a contact from my voltmeter on the wire inside the control panel, and touched a contact to the screw on the terminal on the IPAC for that button.  I got a beep (there's definitely continuity).  so I got a microswitch, hooked the ground wire up to the common ground inside my cabinet, then touched the wire to one of the connections in my panel that already work (like Player 1 Button 1), and clicked the switch. WinIPAC IPD responds.

When I touch the wire to one of the connections for the buttons that don't work.. NOTHING.


So I wired a microswitch directly to the ipac tesing random connections that worked in the panel, and they worked here.  Then I wired to gnd and P1b7 AND/OR p1b8.. none of the clicks register in the panel designer.   Am I doing something horribly wrong here?

Help me!!!

--NipsMG

[Zathras]

Do those buttons have a default program?  If not you may need to program in a keypress to those in order to work.

I know my IPAC ocassionally "loses" its programming and suddenly my admin buttons act like they aren't hooked up (I believe I have them on similar if not the same buttons - higher # buttons).  I don't get anything when using the keypress shower application - but then I click program and it works like a charm.


Trying to figure out if it is anything I am doing to wipe out the programming but it only happens once a month or so.

[nipsmg]

I just tried what you suggested, no dice.
:-/

It's really weird how only these few don't work..

Player 2 buttons 1-6 work fine, but 7 and 8 don't?!? it's really getting on my nerves. >:O

Any other suggestions?

[Apollo]

Don't you have to program those for the individual game i.e. play the game press pause, press tab then program the buttons? There is no support for those buttons on the I-Pac ( same for player 2 buttons 5 and 6 ).

[nipsmg]

The IPAC Panel Designer allows you to program the keys for all the inputs on the board.

It also responds when you press programmed keys.  I've programmed values for all the inputs on the board, but only certain ones don't respond.

I tried going into mame and seeing if I could set a game key to one of the buttons in question, but there was no response in mame either :-/

[hulkster]

as of right now, i have the same problem.  i have a 4 player panel with a trackball and all buttons work (including coin buttons and start buttons for all 4 players)....but the only buttons that dont register anything are the buttons that would be Pause and Escape.  i have them wired into the ipac at like, Player 3's SW5 and SW6.  why would all buttons work and not thse?  i replaced the microswitches on both thinking that might be it, but nothing happened.  do i need to rewire a disconnect?  or is this an ipac software thing.  i loaded the winipac utitility to test to see if everything was being registered, and it was for all the buttons and joystick movements, except for the pause and escape.  suggestions?

[REBIRTH]

Just a thought, this is what I have done when I had a problem with the Ipac (problem was always MY fault).  

First, if you are using the WinIPAC to configure some of your buttons, make sure that is set up correctly.  It certainly sounds like you SHOULD be using this for what you want to do - configuring P1B7 to be Pause for example.  Normal P1B7 is NOT pause/escape/etc in Mame.  Pause for example is "SHIFT/P" - P1B7 is  a "C".  You would use WinIPAC to program your P1B7 button to equal the Pause keystroke in Mame - "SHIFT/P" (FYI - WinIPAC has all these Mame special buttons configured in it, you just tell it which button on your panel to associate with each Mame function).  Anyway, the original post sounds like you are using WinIPAC so my guess is you somehow have these buttons already configured to something else incorrectly?

Secondly, once you verify that is correct - if it still doesn't work in Mame - then in Windows upen up Wordpad or something like that and start hitting the buttons you are having trouble with and see if what is typed in Wordpad is correct.  So using the Mame pause example, you should see an Uppercase "P" in wordpad when hitting the P1B7 button that was configured with "shift/P" in WinIPAC.

Good luck - I think the IPAC and WinIPAC (free download) is ones set of primo products.  Assuming the thing is just not broken, I would assume you have something not set up correctly.

[Tilzs]

Have the ipac do a dump of how all the inputs are programmed by entering test mode. Then open up notepad and see if your buttons output what it says they output

[Grasshopper]

Hmm, this might not be related to your problem, but I vaguely remember reading in a very old thread that some of the standard (i.e. 2 player) Ipac's inputs are somehow shared with the keyboard LED connectors. Apparently these inputs can become unreliable if you connect your Ipac to your panel using DB25 cables or similar.

I've been meaning to email Ultimarc for some time to see whether this is a genuine problem as I'm planning a setup similar to yours.

Please can you post Andy's reply once you get it.

Thanks in advance.

[AndyWarne]

Just to say I have noted this thread. I will assist by email as I can get hold of the relevant IPC and CPL files this way.
The LED input issue with very long multi-core cable is eliminated on later boards but this does not sound like the problem here.

Andy

[Grasshopper]

The LED input issue with very long multi-core cable is eliminated on later boards but this does not sound like the problem here.

Andy

Unfortunately, I bought my Ipac a couple of years ago (haven't used it yet, although I've since built a control panel using a keyboard hack!).

I think I'll have to dig out my Ipac and email you about this. Do I need to quote a serial number or something?

Thanks in advance

[AndyWarne]

nipsmg, have you emailed me about your problem? I don't seem to have received anything.

Andy

[cjb]

Off topic, but as long as Andy's here - I just wanted to give him a thumbs up for responding to one of my emails within an hour of sending it...

* oh, looks like I have another in the inbox

[nipsmg]

nipsmg, have you emailed me about your problem? I don't seem to have received anything.

Andy

Andy, I tried to e-mail you.

Got a bounceback with a message "access denied" ?? interesting...  >:O

--NipsMG


Edit-

Tried it from my work e-mail, no bounceback yet (YAY!) :-D

[nipsmg]

Ok Let me just update everyone on this.

Basically, I'm a moron.  

I've been so fried from work, that i neglected to realize that the reason why I couldn't get the buttons to respond was purely because I was testing the wrong input.  I should have been testing Player 3 Buttons 5-9.  I was testing P2 B7-8 in the software, which is why I got no response.

Let me just say Andy got back to me very quickly, and is and has ALWAYS been very helpful.  

This was a user problem, not an IPAC problem.

   

Thanks everyone for the help anyways. :-/

--NipsMG