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Author Topic: MAMEWah freezing, ROMS or computer  (Read 1073 times)

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SouthernFist

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MAMEWah freezing, ROMS or computer
« on: September 27, 2006, 04:48:03 am »
Greetings fellas
   I recently picked up a new cabinet (MVS-u4 29) running MAMEWah. I had some problems getting the new drivers working and getting MAMEWah to recognize the control panel, so...I just got the latest version along with the system files and started over. I did not find a installer in the newest version of the MAMEWah file, but did on the system file. Does that seem right or could that lead to the problem I am about to explain...
So now MAMEwah starts up fine except alot of games, and sadly the ones I most want to play, do not load. It goes to a black screen until I bring up the task manager which also delays coming up. Sometimes though, if I exit the task manager it starts the game up despite saying it is an unresponsive program in the task manager. Other times MAMEWah will stop working (at the black screen) but I can hear the game sound effects/music coming from the speakers.

I am not entirely sure what kind of computer the gentlemen I bought it from installed in there so cannot say much there. Does it seem like a computer problem or a ROM problem?

I have MacMAME on my laptop and most all the games play flawlessly, granted it is a good laptop though. But if it is a rom problem, could I just transfer the roms over via thumb drive?

Sorry for the newbie question as I am sure this has been answered in the past many times over. Any tips and help is greatly appreciated as I am admittadly not the most PC competent user. Thanks for your time.
Regards

SouthernFist

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Re: MAMEWah freezing, ROMS or computer
« Reply #1 on: September 27, 2006, 06:09:43 am »
so I read in an older thread that perhaps changing the folders from read only may help solve the problem. I changed all the MAME and MAMEWah folders with no results. I did however let one game that I could not load (mars matrix) just sit, for a long time and it eventually loaded and played fine seemingly. However it did take quite some time. Afterwards I chose MArk of the wolves and it never even left the MAMEWah loading screen. Im starting to think it is the computer, because some games with not as good graphics load nice and fast. Those being other Neo Geo games like samurai shodown and others.

Some games are off center or entirely too big as well

Last issue is the speakers are barely even audible, they are not the cabinet speakers and just some small computer speakers. I have the sound card turned all the way up but it makes it no louder.

Sorry for all the questions, I am hoping someone with more experience or like problems in the past might enlighten me with some possibilities and hopefully some solutions. Thanks in advance
regards
« Last Edit: September 27, 2006, 06:11:43 am by SouthernFist »

Turnarcades

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Re: MAMEWah freezing, ROMS or computer
« Reply #2 on: September 27, 2006, 01:58:22 pm »
If I was you I'd do a clean install of Windows and make sure you find all the correct drivers using another PC before you continue. Make sure Directx is up to date and anything else you need. Then copy everything back to the PC. As it is displaying differently and everything I'd say some of the MAMEWAH or MAME configuration files are incorrect or altered.

Prevention is better than cure. Do a clean install, and you should never need to fix problems like this.

SouthernFist

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Re: MAMEWah freezing, ROMS or computer
« Reply #3 on: September 27, 2006, 04:00:52 pm »
thanks samshaw
   To be perfectly honest that makes things more complicated. Aside from the drivers (arcade VGA and sound card) I am not sure what other files need being in there as I did not set up this machine and have never done so before. The guy I bought it from said the most recent version of DirectX was on there, the VGA driver he gave me was on a CD and only the sound card driver I had to find on the internet and copy over via thumb drive. Well that and the newest version of MAMEWah and the system folder. Could it be that since I was using a MAC to fdownoad those files before transferring them overit is creating problems? I do have a copy of windows so I guess I need to wipe the whole OS from the computer and start over? Thanks for the help samshaw.

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Re: MAMEWah freezing, ROMS or computer
« Reply #4 on: September 28, 2006, 08:36:44 am »
If you just picked this up and it's acting funny from the get go, perhaps a call to the guy you got it from could save you a lot of work. Could be something simple they'd be able to talk you through over the phone.

Once you wipe that hard drive you'll have started down a long road with no return.

SouthernFist

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Re: MAMEWah freezing, ROMS or computer
« Reply #5 on: September 28, 2006, 05:20:33 pm »
"Once you wipe that hard drive you'll have started down a long road with no return."

Yup. Thats precisely why I was apprehensive to do that. Though I understand some of this stuff I seriously was doubting my ability to build the thing up from scratch.

That being said, I opted to just get the latest version of MAME and after installing that I re-installed everything else, sort of a last ditch effort. And what d'ya know? Working! I find it strange that the frontend was crashing and now that I installed a newer MAME it is fine. Granted some games still take a long time to load, but I'm not complaining. I am guessing this is more an issue of RAM then anything else, so thats the next step.

Resolved the sound card issue as well by simply putting the card in another slot and again, reinstalling the driver. All these fixes seemed to obvious, I was sure it was hardware or scripting(?) problem, which is where my already limited knowledge ends. Im happy everything is working, now I just need to figure out how to add ROMS. Any help guys?

I put a few from my laptop in the C>MAME>ROM folder but MAMEWah would not find them. Hmmm. ALot of the games I have currently on the cabinet are a little bo-bo and off center, so I would like to put some of my laptop ones on.
Either way, thanks guys for all the help and sorry to be "that guy with those questions". Take care
Regards