Game attract mode goes wonky after a while ..

[JoeB]

I've build this Windows 7 64-bit with Atom-15 and GroovyMAME (version 0.16x or so) a few years ago.  It all sits inside a Sega New Astro City connected to the 29" arcade monitor using JPAC for controls.  Everything works perfectly fine (using HyperSpin).  I can jump around games, play for a few hours, and shutdown cleanly.

I did notice that if I let the game attract screen play (with no input from user) after a while, the screen gets all garbled up.  It's almost like it lost vertical hold.  Picture is dimmer, and looks duplicated/split top/bottom.  I exit from game to HyperSpin and it continues.  I power down the entire arcade machine, reboot, and everything back to normal. I recall this once happened before even inside of HyperSpin.

A few years ago the monitor had all its caps replaced, and it doesn't do this with real arcade PCBs.

I'm not sure what it is .. and I'll probably just ignore it.  Wondering if maybe it's something that was "known" and fixed in newer versions of GroovyMAME and any of the other software?

[Zebidee]

If your JPAC is connected by USB, try just reconnecting the JPAC instead of rebooting. Don't do this if JPAC is connected via PS2 as it does not support hot-swapping.

You could also try reconnecting the VGA cable.

This is just to isolate whether the JPAC is the cause of the issue.

[Sledge]

Is it one specific game? or every game?
Does it always happen at the same amount of time? If so, how long? or a random length of time?

[pbj]

Unplug and replug your video cable a few times on both ends.  Start simple.

[Zebidee]

OP is goooooone. Probably solved the problem but forget to tell anyone. Therefore my suggestion must have worked wheeeeee  \o/

[JoeB]

Sorry guys.  It's random amount of time, and only if I'm not using the machine.  Attract mode in Hyperspin or attract mode in a game.  Maybe after 10-15 mins on average. If I'm using the actual machine/playing games, nothing.  I can play for hours without a problem.

The JPAC is an old PS2 style.

[pbj]

What happens if you turn the monitor off and on, while leaving everything else powered up?

[Zebidee]

Sorry guys.  It's random amount of time, and only if I'm not using the machine.  Attract mode in Hyperspin or attract mode in a game.  Maybe after 10-15 mins on average. If I'm using the actual machine/playing games, nothing.  I can play for hours without a problem.

The JPAC is an old PS2 style.

unplug the VGA then, nothing bad can happen from that

[JoeB]

Thanks. I’ll give it a shot. Why do you suppose this happens? Bad video card, drivers or something between it? (Win7 64 running in unsigned mode?)

[Zebidee]

Data first, hypothesis later. I'm waiting to see what happens after you implement our suggestions first

[JoeB]

If I unplug the monitor it will go black. What do you want me to do then? Plug it back in to see if it reset?

[Zebidee]

Yep.

What I want you to do is unplug the VGA and then replug it in 5+ seconds later.

You could also try turning off the monitor, then turning it on again 15+ seconds later.

Do those tests separately, not at the same time.

Anything happen when you;ve finished beyond the obvious "monitor goes black when I unplug it"? Any improvement? Change? Does the problem go away? Does it go away for a while then come back?

All this info is important if you want people tyo help diagnose your problems. Just unplug and replug the VGA cable

[JoeB]

Of course when you want it to crash .. it doesn't!!!

But I think I've narrows the issue even further.  When I load moonwalker, and let the intro play.  30s into it, it crashes back into HyperSpin with windows error.  I clear error and go to another game.  I believe this happened before. 

I'll need to recreate the crash and see why Moonwalker crashes 30s into intro.  Hopefully Windows 7 has decent logs (or MAME)

[Zebidee]

Moonwalker sounds like another issue altogether - unless it is all about Hyperspin in the end.

That's why we want you to do those tests with VGA cable and monitor - to isolate where the issue is.

[JoeB]

Yeah.  I understand, but the damn thing doesn't want to crash today. 

I'll try more tests tomorrow...