BB2 - Bios Level - Solved

[coolwavepic]

Could it be a faulty door switch? Maybe your stuck at the Config in Progress because it things the door is still closed??

[rickhunter]

On the one I am using it says 2006.

[teamclark4]

Jeff,


2006

[teamclark4]

Tried it in multiple BB1's. The door switch would do that; but it's open and the cherry switch is not pulled open.

[iramack]

Just a thought, although a bit late in the game...........


You say these are BB1 cabinets,  What size screens are they running??


Steve

[teamclark4]

I have 22" in the BB1 cabinet.  Either way it should at least take me to the config menu, good thought though.

[teamclark4]

UPDATE:


Tried more game/os combinations this morning. Bottom line.... If i put in 256mb OS's in the BB2 it will boot to the config screen (the game CF is 512mb). If i use the newer 512mb os's, it hangs at "connecting to gamemgr" forever. These are the same 512mb game/os pairs that will boot to the config when i swap in my BB1 CPU in the same exact cabinet. I even tested the Monkees; it has a weird combination of a 256mb Game Card but a 512mb OS Card. It boots in the BB1; but hangs in the BB2. So it's got to be that os level.


The only thing i haven't done is swap or mess with the Bios chip. It shows sbot-00002 - 3000 on the label. Small glimmer of hope here, when i booted it i took a pic of the boot screen and it's saying version 2000. Can someone verify when they boot their BB2 if you have the same bios level on the screen? I'm hoping you have a different bios level and maybe that is my problem.
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[teamclark4]

Weird, it cutoff my last few sentences in the last post.. 


The bios chip label says sbot-0002 3000; hoping someone can look at the pic i took and verify if i have the right level or not. I have a glimmer of hope that maybe i need to update the bios ?

[Blueridgeslots]

If it was not the newer update, on that screen at the bottom in Red would be a disclaimer ..running in Demo Mode only

[iramack]

If both monitors are 22 then it must be the lower capacity memory card.  512 OS does not leave much room in the hard memory to get the program configured and loaded.


My guess anyway.................


Steve

[Blueridgeslots]

Wait til you get the 2gb Ram before pulling your hair out (more)

But just so you know, just because a Card works in a BB1 does not mean it will work in a BB2, typically the OS in BB2 (512mb) needs to be WMS (yes I have seen others) but the OS card is picky in BB2 where the Game card is picky in BB1

So a Game card that may not work in a BB1 will work in a BB2 but a OS that works in BB1 will not work in a BB2, WMS OS in BB2 cures all ills

[teamclark4]

Yes, running short on hair..


I am using the WMS original cards; i had heard that the non WMS are fussy in the BB2 so i made sure during my testing that wasn't one of the variables.


Might try to dig thru some of my many laptops for a compatible 2gb memory card to borrow; so i don't have to wait until Tuesday for the one i ordered. If the 2gb is not the issue, then i would have the rest of the weekend to still mess with it.


Thanks...

[teamclark4]

Solved..   


This morning i mentally went thru everything i had 100% ruled out during all the testing, to see if i missed anything that it could possibly be. Didn't leave much left. Then i remembered that when it switches from the black boot screen, to the little cross, and then to connecting to gamemgr that is resets the display resolution (display flickers and auto-adjusts the resolution).  During my testing i had my BB1 dual screen with my 22" monitor (which always had the vga plugged in and looked awesome) as the slot machine i was putting the BB2 into. On either side of that machine were 2 other BB1's with standard 19" screen. When i was testing the other BB1 machines, i was always leaving the DVI cable plugged into that 22" LCD in the dual screen cabinet ( i had a long dvi cable) and was just putting that BB2 into the other BB1's.


So one of the constants that never changed during testing  was that 22" LCD in the dual screen is where i always outputted the BB2 to; whether the BB2 was in that dual screen or in one of the other 2 BB1's next to it.


And i'll be damned if switching the dvi cable to the 19" LCD in the BB1 next to it made it fully boot to the config screen.


My 22" LCD couldn't handle whatever resolution that "connecting to gamemgr" piece of the boot code was looking for before it would give the blue splash screen.


Tried it on multiple games today, in my same BB1 dual screen cabinet with the 22"; and every time it hangs when the dvi is connected to the 22". But if i move the cable over to the 19", it boots to the configuration screen. 


Afer i config the game in the 19" screen, and it actually boots to the game itself, i can move back over the DVI to the 22" and it displays (but it definately is wonky in that it doesn't like the resolution or refresh rate that is happening, jumpy shaky picture).  I have another 22" that is a different model, plugged that into the DVI and the picture looks perfect. Looks like i'm going to be doing some 22" LCD swapping.


So bottom line, the boot sequence to get to the configuration screen needs a certain resolution/refresh rate. If you are using something other then the 19" that is already in the BB1, it may (or may not) accomodate that resolution.  And the symptom will be hanging on "connecting to gamemgr" forever.


Thanks to all for help during this challenging process.   

[iramack]

Glad you figured it out. 


I haven't been able to fully absorb the description of the problem you have given, but I think it boils down to having to use DVI for the lower screen no matter what size 19 or 22 the BB2 cpu needs to use the DVI output.
So what 22 inch touchscreen monitor does not have the resolution capability to run the games?? Monitor defective??

Am I understanding you correctly?


Steve

[rokgpsman]

Don't know if this is what's going on, but on boot-up most computers and their operating system send an id request to the monitor and it answers back. This is done over the normal svga video cable. If the computer does not recognize the monitor or does not get an id answer from it then the computer can have a problem using high resolution settings since it doesn't know the proper refresh rates and max res setting of the monitor. This was especially a problem some years ago before Windows was made smarter (!!yeah, I know!!) and before all the monitor manufacturers got better at handling the id request. Believe it or not, it was possible for a monitor to be asked by the computer to sync to a horiz rate that exceeded its ability and the monitor circuit board would burn out trying to run at that higher frequency. So they became careful about asking a monitor to run in high res unless they were sure it could handle it. Hence the id request and confirm procedure.

If your 22" monitor that was not playing along were to power up in a high res mode that the machine software didn't recognize then that might have caused things to choke.  It could be a defect in the 22" monitor, or just something with the particular model & brand. If the monitor has a setup menu you could try changing its default screen mode setting to a lower res or refresh rate setting and storing that setting. That way it would maybe power up in a compatible mode for your system.

Just a throw-it-out-there thing to consider......

[teamclark4]

Thanks, tried messing with the LCD menu options, they are limited. It's a 22" Kortek.  Looks great via vga; which is why i had it as my main in the BB1 dual screen.


I agree, it's like changing out the video card on a pc and then windows get's to the user screen but won't boot into the windows menu because it's changing the screen resolution and the monitor isn't compatible. Been there and done that; that's actually what made me think about the possible refresh/resolution issue stopping it.


Thanks for the feedback... For now i'm swapping the monitors...

[rokgpsman]

yeah, the 22" Kortek requires a video input range from VGA and upward, VGA mode is the lowest. It requires a horiz input freq of 59 khz minimum. The horiz input range is spec'd at 59-75 khz. It's got some good high res modes but not too friendly to the lower and medium res video modes.

But the older 19" can drop all the way down to CGA and EGA modes to sync up if needed. It is compatible with horiz input freq as low as 15 khz. Its horiz input range is 15-32 khz.