Jump to content

Flipper Stutter


TdB

Recommended Posts

Hi all,
 
I have a mini cabinet with an issue that is bugging me for a long time.

 

setup:
 

AMD Athlon II X2 Dual Core 3.0GHz

4GB RAM
GeForce GTX 550 Ti 1024MB
Gigabyte 870 A-UD3 Mainboard
I-pac 2
 
The Problem:
 
While pushing the flipperbutton flippers receive a rapid on/off signal and will shoot the ball. The reverse situation happens as well, so not activated by the buttons it will still fire.
Funny thing is that the problem appears mostly (but not only) in the right flipper even after switching wires and connection to the i-pac. In the winipac software you can clearly see the button being activated on/off while being pressed.
 
 
Eliminated causes:
 
OS/software: I checked the issue with XP and W7 - I have the issue on both systems 
Wiring : I removed all wires from the i-pac and linked one wire from the I-pac directly to the button. Still the same behavior.
Button: switched buttons - didn't help
Temperature: I added a new more powerful cooler to the CPU - didn't help
 
I don't think temparature is the root cause but a high temperature in the cabinet might make it worse. I stopped overclocking more than a year ago and I haven't had the issue for a year. Unfortunately it re-appeared two months ago that is why I added a new CPU cooler. Probably a waste of money, because it didn't help.
I bought the cabinet in 2012 and played 1.5 years without the problem.
 
Possible causes of the issue:
 
- motherboard
- PS/2 connection to the i-pac
- i-pac

- grounding

 

The problem is I have no idea how to proceed further and find the root cause or elimate one of the possible causes. If I can't find it I will probably have to replace all my hardware in my cabinet. So I hope someone here will be able to help me finding the problem - or at least help me eliminate more 'possible causes'.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Did some more testing this weekend. I can pull the main part of the motherboard out of my cabinet. Let it hang out during using the cabinet to check if that would help.

As you can see the cabinet is pretty crowded and it gets hot inside. I could play a the whole weekend for hours like that without any stutter.

Today after work I could play for an hour and left the cabinet on for four hours and then tried again. Stutter was back. Seems like after a long period of non use and cold it works for quite a while without stutter.

 

I have attached a small movie to show the stutter if my explanation isn't clear enough and a picture to show the inside of the cabinet.

flip.mp4.zip

post-479-0-56087200-1427743669_thumb.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Content Provider

Are these Direct B2s tables? I have noticed if you setup a table for Direct B2s and forget to put the backglass file in there it has caused this in my machine. Putting the backglass file where it belongs was an immediate fix. Bu this was only on tables missing a backglass, and not all of them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Have you tried moving the iPac and any wiring away from all the Power cords to see if it makes a difference.

 

As you can see in the picture I already placed the ipac outside the cabinet and even unscrewed it from the bottom. So it now hangs loose to the right side as far away from the wiring as possible.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Any new devices? Wireless mice or keyboards or anything? Any button remapping in VP done recently? Sounds like more than 1 button is mapped to the ipac port on the ipac.

 

No new devices. I did try to remap, but that was not the cause only tried to solve the issue. Already removed all multi-mapping. Did not help..

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Are these Direct B2s tables? I have noticed if you setup a table for Direct B2s and forget to put the backglass file in there it has caused this in my machine. Putting the backglass file where it belongs was an immediate fix. Bu this was only on tables missing a backglass, and not all of them.

The stutter I filmed was indeed from a Direct B2s table but that is not the only type of table that has the issue. In winipac you can see the button firing without starting VP. I dont think it is a software issue.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Do you have an arduino and a Ledwiz? If so, move one of them to a different usb card

 

No, I don't have one of those.

 

I think I noticed something interesting, but need some more testing. My cabinet had a couple of playing hours without any issue in the weekend after my cabinet was disconnected from power.

After the stutter started again I did shut down the PC but it was still connected - the ipac led was continuesly burning durning this period. A day later I tried to play again and no stutter in the beginning but the issue returned sooner then before.

Have to check if I can reproduce this or it was just random behavior.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Most usb ports on newer machines have power at the port in standby and some even have power when the computer is off for charging phones and such.  That would be why the ipac stays lit.  I'm not sure if the ipac has a physical buffer onboard but if so it may not be clearing it. Disconnecting from the mains would force this clearing while staying plugged in but just in soft off wouldn't if the port remains powered.

 

There might be a toggle in the mainboard bios for disabling the power to the usb bus when in shutdown.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Is it plugged into a usb 3 port? Try uninstalling your usb 3 drivers if you do. I had to do that with mine . Without the drivers it runs as usb2

 

Nope, it is plugged into the PS/2 port

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Most usb ports on newer machines have power at the port in standby and some even have power when the computer is off for charging phones and such.  That would be why the ipac stays lit.  I'm not sure if the ipac has a physical buffer onboard but if so it may not be clearing it. Disconnecting from the mains would force this clearing while staying plugged in but just in soft off wouldn't if the port remains powered.

 

There might be a toggle in the mainboard bios for disabling the power to the usb bus when in shutdown.

 

All this talk about USB ports made me search for PS/2 issues with the ipac and found this http://www.ultimarc.com/usb_vs_ps2.html

and http://www.ultimarc.com/ipacusb.html

 

Maybe it helps to use a PS/2 to USB adaptor (I think I still have one).

 

After a cold boot the cabinet is now stutter free for more than 6 hours. The ipac or its connection is now my main suspect.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have left my cabinet powered on for the whole night and indeed the stutter is back. Then used the PS/2 to USB adaptor - didn't help.

I removed all other USB connected devices (mouse/keyboard). didn't help

The PS/2 cable from the ipac is pretty long so I unwinded the cable and also positioned it outside the cabinet (basically the only cable that was still positioned near the power cords (suggestion from gtxjoe)). Didn't help.

 

Some points that might help determining what causes the issue (I appreciate all the comments btw!).

 

- Using the keyboard as input doesn't give any stutter at all. 

- moving the ipac up/down/back in the cabinet doesn't seem to make a difference.

- the stutter got worse after playing around with my cabinet this morning and started to affect more buttons (it was even activating the flippers and nudge without me pushing the buttons).

- CPU / Cooler doesn't seem radiate a lot of heat 

- GPU gets pretty hot

 

I keep the cabinet powered on and the ipac disconnected. I will connect the ipac in a few hours to see if that helped, if not I think I can rule out the ipac and the ipac connection as cause of the stutter. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Disconnecting the ipac for 2 hours didn't help.

 

 

replace the ps/2 cable, probably has a broken shield on it.

 

OK, worth a try. The cable is pretty long as well, so I think I might buy a short one (if those are available).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Bought a new ps/2 cable, but the wiring of the cable is probably wrong. Ipac isn't  recognized at all with it. Oh well..

 

I will let the cabinet cool down for a few hours to hopefully be able to play stutter free this evening. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Do you happen to use LED lighting for visual effects on your cab?  I recently added LED lighting to my cab, and it caused major "stuttering" ... apparently as a result of interference.  Had to disconnect the lighting for the time being.  Posted a note about this today on the forum.

 

Jim

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...

Try unplugging the ipac and use your keyboard to play. See if it still happens

 

I don't understand the relevancy of this question. I don't have the problem with a keyboard anyway - with the keyboard there is not stutter. It only happens using the ipac / pressing buttons.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Do you happen to use LED lighting for visual effects on your cab?  I recently added LED lighting to my cab, and it caused major "stuttering" ... apparently as a result of interference.  Had to disconnect the lighting for the time being.  Posted a note about this today on the forum.

 

Jim

 

No additional lighting.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I haven't spent another minute on my cab since april, but have gathered some courage to try again. What about replacing my motherboard? Could that be the cause of the stutter? 

It seems I have tried everything else people suggested. I don't want to spend too much money on this anymore so was thinking about a cheap ASRock N68-VS3 UCC Socket AM3

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
  • Create New...