CRT_EMU Black Screen on 380x

[sunnywala]

My previous PC has finally died so I was happy to finally upgrade it and the video card. I had everything working perfectly with soft15 for years with a old 4850x card in the old pc(q6600)

I'm 6 days into troubleshooting and all I've got to show is black screen and I'm finally out of steps to troubleshoot.

I've tried many combinations of settings in CRT_EMU and adapters(dvi/vga and hdmi/vga).

The 4850 and soft15khz with catalyst 9.2 and 13.9 neither worked.

To confirm I have done restarts between every install and uninstall.

The completely black screen is throwing me for a loop though.

Pics of the monitor:I tested the monitor with the old Wrestlemania board that is still mounted in the cab. The tube looks Great!

New PC is i7-2600k(not exactly new lol)
Sapphire r9 380x

Please let me know if I forgot some needed details. Any helps or next steps would be greatly appreciated.

[Zebidee]

A completely black screen is weird. Even if CRTEMU isn't working properly you'd expect to see something, like BIOS boot screen images in 640x480p that don't sync (although I think some newer UEFI BIOSes might do BIOS/BOOT in higher res like 1024x768, not sure about this, someone out there will know).

Suspect your video connections might be the issue, and it is a good place to start troubleshooting, so:

How have you connected the PC to arcade monitor (VGA breakout cable? JPAC?)?
How exactly are RGB, ground, sync signals being input to the monitor? Are they connected properly? (pics?)
Do you have a video amplifier (you'll probably need one with an arcade monitor, unless you have a JPAC already)?
Have you done anything to combine H+V sync?

[sunnywala]

Hey thanks for the response!

PC is connected via VGA breakout cable. I checked anddid not see any lose connections on the breakout end of the cable. Please let me know if anything looks off:

I believe all I did with my old setup was connect the cable to the monitor and installed soft15, no video amp used. Will I need that with CRTEMU?

I have not done anything with H+V sync, didnt know I needed to.

[buttersoft]

If you had not enabled composite sync in the older ATI drivers while using Soft15kHz, then TBH you should just be able to use the same cable, connected up the same way, without bothering to combine sync - that R9 380x card should have a DVI-I port, so you'll want to use that with the passive DVI-to-VGA adapter.  Does the chassis have switches to set sync separate/combined or pos/neg? R9 380x card is not compatible with Atom15 though, so you will have to let windows load before turning on the PC.

Follow this guide to install and setup crt_emudriver 2.0 - http://geedorah.com/eiusdemmodi/forum/viewtopic.php?id=301

Do not skip steps or jump ahead, be thorough. If you run into a hiccup, let us know at exactly which step, and what happens/goes wrong.

If you had enable composite sync for your Soft15kHz setup, and want to try composite sync with crt_emudriver, see post #2 in this thread - http://geedorah.com/eiusdemmodi/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=1343#p1343
Remembering that composite sync will be pushed on pin 13 of the DIV-to-VGA adapter - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VGA_connector (which is the same pins as before, so again, you should just need to set composite sync like before and use the same cable connected the same way)

R9 380x cards are not compatible with Atom15 though, as far as we've seen, so you will have to let windows load before turning on the monitor.

[Zebidee]

Thanks Buttersoft, I hadn't thought about Sunnywala using a DVI-VGA adapter. If so, that is likely the problem.

Your VGA breakout supplies separate H (pin 13) + V (pin 14) sync to the monitor.

However, if you are using a passive DVI-I to VGA adapter (assuming it is like mine), it only supplies sync to VGA pin 13 (H sync) and has no connection whatsoever to VGA pin 14 (V sync). It does nothing to separate or combine sync. The DVI-I head on your video card has only one pin for sync, which is composite.

This means that your monitor is getting no vertical sync signal, which would explain no picture.

A possible solution, by far the easiest, is to connect the H + V pins on the monitor's video connector. Use a small piece of stiff wire 1-2cm long, bend it into a tight U shape and insert it into the back of your video connector, so that it makes a good connection between H+V sync pins. If you don't have any suitable wire, try making it from a paperclip! Use a small pair of pliers to make it easier. Your sync inputs are the two sitting together at the top of the pic. Test the connectivity with your multimeter on "diode" test setting.

Why would this work? Your monitor is most likely clever enough to work out the H & V sync components from the combined signal as the H&V sync pulses are flagged, distinct and occur at separate times.

If you don't have a multimeter, I suggest you get one at your local hardware or electronics store. Cheap one should be around $10 or so. Ask the staff to show you how to use it to test connectivity (or read instructions, or go on YT).

Let's see how the above idea goes first. Otherwise you may need to buy some kind of sync separator, which sounds like a hassle and expensive (or make one yourself!).

[EDIT]

PS - I notice that the sync wires to your video connector are being pulled very tight - would be best to give the wires a little slack.

[sunnywala]

Hey guys, thanks for all the info. Just want to let you know I haven't disappeared on you. I will test these suggestions and report back/ask questions as needed. This is one of my favorite projects so I truly appreciate it, thanks again!

[sunnywala]

Hello all,

Almost a year later, I finally have the time to address this project.

To start , I reinstalled windows and CRT_EMU. it went well and directions were pretty simple. No output on the monitor. I checked the H and V sync cables and I had previously jumped them as suggested.
Is there anything I need to do on the PC after doing this? Should I be choosing the composite sync option?
If I test with a multimeter on diode setting what am I looking for?
Is there a way to properly identify my monitor to be confident I am choosing the correct type in VMmaker?

Pic attached of the cable, just to confirm I am doing this correctly.

[Zebidee]

Hello all,

Almost a year later, I finally have the time to address this project.

To start , I reinstalled windows and CRT_EMU. it went well and directions were pretty simple. No output on the monitor. I checked the H and V sync cables and I had previously jumped them as suggested.
Is there anything I need to do on the PC after doing this? Should I be choosing the composite sync option?

Hiya Sunny! 

You could try enabling composite sync in VMM, can't hurt to try.

If I test with a multimeter on diode setting what am I looking for?

You are looking for continuity, direct connection from one probe to the other.

https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/how-to-use-a-multimeter/continuity


On your input pic - there are some 5 wires going into ground there. Make sure they are all grounds! There are other functions like monitor ID and even a 5v line, worth making sure nothing crossed/wrong there. Check vs VGA pinout with your digital multimeter (DMM) as described above. This is the kind of thing that might make a problem with one card but not the next.

Also the fact the you aren't getting any image at all suggests there is more than just sync going on here. If no sync you usually still get some kind of pic (but rolling, split or zigzaged or whatever).

[sunnywala]

So I messed with it some more tonight. I was able to get a something to scroll on the screen, but only in black and white. I adjusted the pots but was unable to get a picture. Hopefully this makes things easier to troubleshoot.

I did also try the composite setting and there was no change.

I also looked at the original Jamma connector in the cabinet and it only has RGB, ground and a white cable for Sync on pin 14.

A couple of pictures are attached.

Do I still need to investigate the 5 bunched wires? Any other ideas?

Thanks a bunch to responding to my year old thread

[Zebidee]

So I messed with it some more tonight. I was able to get a something to scroll on the screen, but only in black and white. I adjusted the pots but was unable to get a picture. Hopefully this makes things easier to troubleshoot.

What did you do to get an image onscreen?

I did also try the composite setting and there was no change.

I also looked at the original Jamma connector in the cabinet and it only has RGB, ground and a white cable for Sync on pin 14.

The white wire is for H or composite sync. Pin 14 (VGA) is V sync. But don't worry, the connector you showed looks normal except:
tidy up that loose ground shield wire. Cut it off.

Do I still need to investigate the 5 bunched wires? Any other ideas?

I definitely would. Won't take long and will eliminate it as a possible source of issues. As you've just demonstrated in your pic, the monitor only needs 5 wires total (RGB+Csync+GND).

The screen pic you just showed seems to have bad horizontal sync. Makes me wonder if you've installed CRTEMU properly. BTW, what OS are you using? This may be important as you have a HD4850 card. HD4XXX are a PITA to install on Win7 as your CRT loses status as the primary adaptor after you remove the other monitor (LCD/VGA) you use to set it all up.  There is a trick involving swapping heads at the right time, but you need a DVI-VGA dongle. When I was installing CRTEMU with a HD4650 card I couldn't find my dongle and gave up, put the HD4650 into an XP64 machine instead. Axiom of this story is that you might have better luck with another cheap 2nd hand card (HD5XXX+)

Thanks a bunch to responding to my year old thread

No worries

[flybynight]

What model is your crt? Perhaps it is a 31khz model.

If it is 15khz, consider purchasing a jpac. Connect a dvi to vga adapter to the dvi-i port on the r9 380x and then a vga cable from that to the jpac.


Set the jumpers on the jpac to 15k.
Plug the jpac into the jamma harness instead of the wwf game.

That should work fine in theory.

.