Parallel Port Problem

[NaokiS]

Since upgrading from 32-bit board and Win to 64-bit board and Win, I seem to have lost the ability to control the data lines on the parallel port directly using MAME Hooker. At first I thought it was Vista but it even does it on Windows 7 and on a second 64-bit board, even if 32-Bit seems to work fine. Has Windows changed and stopped something from allowing this to work?

[Gray_Area]

Works for some. Look for drivers for your hardware.

[lilshawn]

there is no direct hardware access to hardware anymore with windows.

there is a program called "GIVEIO.sys" what breaks the stranglehold windows has and allows direct IO access.

http://www.cs.ucr.edu/~eblock/pages/pictools/giveio.html

[NaokiS]

Thanks for the sugestion but it doesn't seem to install any service, and hence forth doesn't work. I tested the same PC with 32 and 64 bit OSes and all I needed to do was set it to ECP, but nothing I tried would make MAMEHooker change the lights on the PP.

[DaOld Man]

What does mame hooker use to access the port?
If it is inpout32.dll, then you need to download the inpout32.dll for 64bit and place it in a special folder.

Here is an excerpt from the Mrotate3 help file (ignore the references to rstimer.ocx).
You might try this, please post here if it works or not:

Windows 7 and Vista 64 bit systems:

You will need to download inpout32 for 64 bit systems. Go to http://logix4u.net to get this free
download. Place the inpout32 for 64 bit in the C:\Windows\sysWOW64 folder. It's probably best to
also install rstimer.ocx there as well using the install program. The rstimer install program will default to
C:\Windows\System32, at that point, browse to the C:\Windows\sysWOW64 folder and install it there.
Also, do NOT put a copy of inpout32.dll in the same directory as mrotate3.exe. If you do that,
mrotate3.exe will cease to function.

[NaokiS]

I copied the 64-bit versions (both inpout32.dll and inpoutx64.dll) to SysWOW64 and even into MAME Hooker's directory (thus replacing the standard one) to no avail. Tried restarting the computer and again, to no avail.

I guess unless there's other ways to get the PP to work I'll have to wait till I buy a PacDrive from Ultimarc

[DaOld Man]

I think it only needs to be in the syswow64 folder. You probably dont need the inpout32.dll anywhere.

[Howard_Casto]

That won't work unless you delete the inpout32.dll that I include. 

How windows programs work is that first they look for the dll in the folder where it is registered.  Since you didn't register the dlls, it won't find them. 

Then it looks  in the same folder as the application.  In this case it will find the regular old dll that I included with mamehooker. 

The easiest solution is to rename the inpout32.dll that I included to something else, and put the new one in the mamehooker folder.  I do see that note about mrotate though... I don't know why putting the dll in with the exe would cause issue, but regardless, if you do choose to try it via putting the dlls in a system folder, you are going to need to register the dlls once you copy them there and rename/delete the dll in the mamehooker folder.


Also you need to confirm that the problem isn't your parallel port.  Many newer pp's simply won't work in direct write access.  Unless you tested that particular motherboard in a 32 bit OS and it worked then you haven't even cofirmed that your parallel port is working.

[NaokiS]

That won't work unless you delete the inpout32.dll that I include. 

How windows programs work is that first they look for the dll in the folder where it is registered.  Since you didn't register the dlls, it won't find them. 

Then it looks  in the same folder as the application.  In this case it will find the regular old dll that I included with mamehooker. 

The easiest solution is to rename the inpout32.dll that I included to something else, and put the new one in the mamehooker folder.  I do see that note about mrotate though... I don't know why putting the dll in with the exe would cause issue, but regardless, if you do choose to try it via putting the dlls in a system folder, you are going to need to register the dlls once you copy them there and rename/delete the dll in the mamehooker folder.


Also you need to confirm that the problem isn't your parallel port.  Many newer pp's simply won't work in direct write access.  Unless you tested that particular motherboard in a 32 bit OS and it worked then you haven't even cofirmed that your parallel port is working.

I have tried this on two machines, both when using 64-bit OSes do not allow the use of the PP whereas 32-Bit OSes do. I did try removing the stock inpout32.dll but when using the one I found fro the site listed above, the same result (I.E the bass led doesn't light up) happens. Using the inpoutx64.dll with no inpout32.dll in the folder causes an error claiming it couldn't find the DLL (error number 54) and then when renaming inpoutx64.dll to inpout32.dll it complains with the same message but instead hows up with error 48.  I did read though that 32-bit programs can't use 64-bit drivers or DLLs and 64-Bit windows OSes can't use 32-bit drivers so I'm wondering if this is just a dead end thing.