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X.-arcade trouble with laptop (PS/2 connnection) [SOLVED]
#247379 - 02/25/11 12:13 AM
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Hi all,
I'm having trouble with my X-arcade hooked up to my old laptop (Fujitsu Siemens, Pentium 4, 3 GHz, Amilo product line)
I cannot play more than two minutes without the control sticking, either the joysticks or any of the buttons. I swapped out of the joysticks, and even swapped out the little PCB inside the box with an old one I had lying around. To no avail.
When I hook it up to my main PC I have no problems whatsoever. On my main PC I can also unplug the keyboard and the X-Arcade continues working. On my laptop this is not possible, it just stops.
I googled for a while and couldn't find anything until I found a FAQ for an Australian parts store where it said that they were aware of an issue where in some cases the PS/2 port may not administer sufficient power for the X-Arcade to function. This may lead to sticking controls problems like mine.
Has anyone ever heard of this?
Has anyone ever found a solution to this?
Is there any way to control the power output of a PS/2 port?
I'm getting my HotRod back next week, then I can see if it has the same problem. If it is the case I may have to look at a USB solution. Any tips? Should I just upgrade or does it make more sense to just go for a new unit entirely? I'm a bit out of date and don't know what's out there these days. Both my X-Arcade and my HotRod are PS/2 versions.
Any tips would be much appreciated
Cheers
KC
PS: I am still a mod here, eh? Happy days! 
Edited by KiLLerCloWn (03/01/11 11:19 PM)
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Re: X.-arcade trouble with laptop (PS/2 connnection)
[Re: KiLLerCloWn]
#247390 - 02/25/11 03:09 AM
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Quick addition: I think there's also something wrong with the X-arcade. Even on my main PC it does seem to stick, only that I notice it a lot less in MAME, in fact I just played an hour without it happening. However in final burn or neo rage it's pretty apparent and happens all the time.
I was thinking just to get an I-Pac and take out the X-Arcade PCB. Surely that would cure the problem.
Cheers
KC
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| FatTrucker |
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Re: X.-arcade trouble with laptop (PS/2 connnection)
[Re: KiLLerCloWn]
#247587 - 02/28/11 04:26 PM
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> Quick addition: I think there's also something wrong with the X-arcade. Even on my
> main PC it does seem to stick, only that I notice it a lot less in MAME, in fact I
> just played an hour without it happening. However in final burn or neo rage it's
> pretty apparent and happens all the time.
>
> I was thinking just to get an I-Pac and take out the X-Arcade PCB. Surely that would
> cure the problem.
>
> Cheers
>
> KC
The laptop thing definitely sounds like a power issue. Re the actual controls 'sticking' if you mean they get stuck and won't respond then its probably the encoder so the I-Pac should solve the problem. If you mean they don't respond quickly enough then it could still be the encoder or it could be buttons and switches they use aren't up to much. Worth checking when you open it up that none of the swtiches are bent and failing to make good contact.
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Re: X.-arcade trouble with laptop (PS/2 connnection)
[Re: FatTrucker]
#247604 - 02/28/11 08:51 PM
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Thanks for the reply  This is getting weirder! Just went to a friends house and played MAME on his PC with my X-arcade: didn't stick once! Back home and I can't go a minute without it sticking...
By stick I mean the control is as if it were held down. So it may be stuck to the left, I can only undo this moving the joystick to the right and left again. Then it's freed again. Ususally happens with directions, only happened once with the fire button.
It doesn't seem to happen when I play with the keyboard that's connected through the X-arcade.
So I have:
1) my laptop where it sticks every minute or so in one form or another (Win XP)
2) My main PC where it sticks from time to time, maybe once or twice every 20 mins (Win7)
3) My friend's PC where it never sticks at all (WinNT/maybe 2000, not sure)
All machines use the same keyboard connected through. All machines play the same version of MAME from my USB drive.
WTH???
KC
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Re: X.-arcade trouble with laptop (PS/2 connnection)
[Re: KiLLerCloWn]
#247624 - 03/01/11 12:57 AM
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Okay, there's definitely something wrong with my laptop or its PS/2 port.
I got together the pieces of an old one player X-arcade and stuck them back together only connecting the joystick nothing else. I played 1941 for a few minutes just dodging bullets and again it got stuck several times.
Plugged the same stick in to my main PC and had no trouble whatsoever, dodged bullets for around 20 minutes without one single hickup.
Plugged an old joy pad into my laptop and played Mame fine without any problems with the joy pad.
So now the question is: is it a PS/2 thing, or is it a keyboard thing? If it's the PS/2 port, then I can just get a USB iPAQ and I'm sorted.
However if it has some sort of trouble with multiple repeated keypresses, then I'm completely out of luck and I guess I will need some sort of joy pad hack for my arcade stick.
Does anyone have any ideas how I can find out what seems to be the trouble on the laptop?
if I play on the keyboard connected through the X arcade I have no trouble. But if I play on the X arcade itself the controls keep sticking. Shouldn't the signals sent to the port be the exact same? And seeing that the X arcade seems to work fine in all other PCs no I'm really not sure how to interpret my test results.
Cheers
KC
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Re: X.-arcade trouble with laptop (PS/2 connnection)
[Re: KiLLerCloWn]
#247625 - 03/01/11 01:00 AM
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Re: X.-arcade trouble with laptop (PS/2 connnection)
[Re: MiahXGaming]
#247628 - 03/01/11 01:26 AM
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Hi, thanks for the reply!
Actually I had seen this when I first started googling. However I have no antivirus software installed (clean install of Windows XP, never been connected to any network) and I've tried with three different keyboards.
I think there's definitely something wrong with my laptop. Either it's the port or it's something with the keypresses.
If it's the port, then the USB upgrade kit maybe my solution.
However, if it has some trouble with keypresses or some ghost keypresses for some reason then the USB upgrade won't really help me. If I understand correctly it will work as if it were a USB keyboard, is that correct? That would then only help me if the port is at fault.
Cheers
Casey
Edited by KiLLerCloWn (03/01/11 01:34 AM)
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Re: X.-arcade trouble with laptop (PS/2 connnection)
[Re: KiLLerCloWn]
#247630 - 03/01/11 01:33 AM
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It sounds like low power to the PS/2 port, so I do believe the USB upgrade would be the fix.
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Re: X.-arcade trouble with laptop (PS/2 connnection)
[Re: MiahXGaming]
#247631 - 03/01/11 01:35 AM
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Ok, thanks for the tip, I'll definitely give it a shot
BTW, the X-Arcade trackball works without problems through the same PS/2 port ... go figure!
Cheers
KC
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Re: X.-arcade trouble with laptop (PS/2 connnection)
[Re: KiLLerCloWn]
#247725 - 03/01/11 11:18 PM
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Okay, I'm finally done testing and it's definitely the PS/2 port.
If I plug the hotrod in the same thing happens, controls stick.
I bought a little generic PS/2 to USB adapter. The X arcade is even worse with this (as expected as I guess it just needs its own adapter), but the hotrod works perfectly. No hiccups whatsoever, so I can safely assume that it's a PS/2 port issue.
So the plan is to buy the USB adapter for the X arcade. Then I can have X arcade and hotrod plus the X arcade trackball all hooked up to my laptop at the same time. Nice!
Cheers
KC
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X.-arcade trouble with laptop (PS/2 connnection) [SOLVED]
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This is getting weirder! Just went to a friends house and played MAME on his PC with my X-arcade: didn't stick once! Back home and I can't go a minute without it sticking...
