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newbie questions- racing cabinet

mathewbeall said:
I also am getting a second serial port tonite and am going to try and use a "bridge" piece of software to see and log all comms between the devices.
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I've had success with this script for bi-directional sniffing purposes:
https://github.com/pklaus/jpnevulator.py

Even if you just sniff one-way for now, if you get some logs from the game during play, I should be able to tell if the commands have holding force. Basically, based on my notes, the 5th byte in the command packet needs to be 10 or higher for noticeable holding force. If the game is not issuing commands with sufficient holding force,then my notes indicate that could be due to something going on with the POWER line or how the board is responding to changes to it.
 
Ok - I have the monitor set up - and am able to boot fine into the game as before.... so here is the weird thing.

After the selftest occurs - the FFB sends "E00E00" ..... and that is it - no more communication after that.. no C06C06 , nothing from the Chihiro at all...

But - the game starts up - exact same behaviour on WMMT and WMMT2.

I have contuinuity between J101, pin 8 on the FFB board and pin A7 on the connector going into the I/O Board.

Matt
 
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I noticed that on the wiring diagram, it references a namco FCA PCB for the I/O.

My cabinet has a FCA2 (B) PCB. I am going to try and get a FCA I/O board and see if that makes a difference.

My cabinet was originally a WMMT3 cabinet.

Matt
 
Maybe it's time to monitor what the FFB board replies to the game.
If the game stops communicating with it, it's obvious you don't get any force feedback.

So it looks like the game doesn't like the response it get's from the board and bails out.
 
Hmm... is the game not receiving the communication from the FFB board? I can't quite remember... are there DIP switches or jumpers that control the serial configuration on CN5 on the Chihiro?

My DIP switches on the fingerboard are 1-8:
off, off, on, on, off, on, on, on

My Jumpers on the board at the top in the lower half (accessible when top half is removed), JP3S to JP8S:
2-3, 1-2, 1-2, 2-3, 1-2, 2-3

A couple of those jumpers control the boot mode, and a couple of the DIPs are for video mode, so you could legitimately have some variation from mine.

I would not suspect the I/O. It simply drives the POWER line of the FFB board to ground at specific times by way of a standard JVS output, like a lamp. It basically just has an on or off state. The FFB board has no idea what I/O is driving it, so it doesn't care. WMMT in general is very open to I/O options and can even work on a Sega Type 1 with a couple of controls missing.
 
Ok thanks @winteriscoming - I will check the internal jumpers on the mobo when I get home.... the DIP switches on the fingerboard are the same.

I think the game must be receiving the comms from the FFB board, because if I remote the serial connection it gives me an E20 - so I think it must be at least receiving the E00E00 and allowing the game to boot.

Matt
 
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Another quick question - upon normal bootup and game running - the green led on the fingerboard blinks.... i can't seem to find an answer on that - is that normal, or should it be solid?
 
Ok - not sure why tonite is different than last night - but here is what I get upon bootup now

After the game loads - the wheel turns slightly and I get "E00E00" then "C06C06" then a few seconds later "C01C01"

And then nothing - zero coming back from the Chihiro.

@winteriscoming - your jumper settings on the chihiro mb are the same as mine.

I figure at this point - maybe the Chihiro serial port isn't working properly? I haven't seen anything out of it at all.... but, if it isn't hooked up - the game will give me an E20....

More testing:

The game (WMMT1) will boot up with the mobo TX disconnected... and I am at this point very sure there is no TX coming from pin1 of CN5 on my Chihiro. My next task is to take it apart and see if I can find any obvious broken trace, etc.

Matt
 
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AHHHH Ha!!!! testing continuity on the filter board, and lo and behold - EM37 is broken off!!!!

I do believe this is the root of my issue!

Now I just have to google around and figure out what an "EM" part is.... I have built many circuit boards - never run into an "EM" before...
 
Those are small emi filter devices. Basically the 2 outer pins are connected together with a small ferrite bead over the wire and they have a small capacitor to gnd (the middle pin) If you just connect pin 1 to pin 3 with a piece of wire, it should work. On my filter board, they did it like that on EM32 and EM35. (Using a small 0 ohm resistor)

Another option is finding one that connects to an unused pin and using that on the EM37 position.

It's not really a critical component. They are mounted to pass FCC or CE regulations considering EMI emission.

Good to hear you found an issue.
 
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Great! Hopefully that's it. I did throw together a simple script for controlling the Namco FFB, but haven't had time to test it. It sounds like you might have figured out your issue and won't need it.
 
Yes - thanks for the discussion back and forth @obcd and @winteriscoming - that indeed was it... :)

Force Feedback is now working as expected!

Now I just need to work on the speakers a bit and get a card reader for wmmt1/2 and I will be fully in business.... oh - and get the monitor back from the shop - had to replace the flyback transformer on it.

The good part of all this is that I learned a heck of a lot about this cabinet and setup that I wouldn't have learned had it been working 100% when i got it :)

Matt
 
I need the control board before I can fire it up... I have some searches out for it.... I believe that if I turn it on w/o that aux board that it will fry the electronics.

Matt
 
mathewbeall said:
I need the control board before I can fire it up... I have some searches out for it.... I believe that if I turn it on w/o that aux board that it will fry the electronics.

Matt
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I'll try and look around some more. If it's in storage it may be a while, but I will check the truck again and dig through the walk-in. Between school, court, and work, I've been a lot busier than usual :/.
 
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