Gamemaker issues after moving

[Phan000]

Machine has worked well for months.

I moved it,  no slams or any reason for problems.

On power up, machine asked for a clear

Performed clear, then persistent errors with touchscreen.

Hardware calibration showing errors, then trouble with software calibration.

I haven’t opened monitor,  but made sure the harness was properly seated.

Right now machine is running with touchscreen, but the cursor is not accurate.

Is there something I should look at?

Would a battery getting low cause glitches like this?  I will test in any case.

[Chris-socal]

A battery getting low on a Gamemaker causes all kinds of issues. Check the voltage of the lithium battery, its ok to pull the game board out, it doesn’t reset anything.
If voltage is not above 3v it should be replaced.
If you remove the battery you will need to a set chip.

If I catch low battery before they die I attach another battery to the contact points to hold the board memory while I change the battery.

If it isn’t the battery you should slightly lift and re-seat any IC or eeprom that is in a socket.

Chris

[Badbaud]

The battery will last much longer if  the jumper on JW12 is moved to JW11.
If it is in JW12 there are 3 additional chips on the board that uses up the battery voltage.

[kcirrick]

I agree with a potential battery issue.  I had one Game Maker that I hadn't powered up in quite a while and another that was on all the time (and was running fine).  I had two MPU boards for each machine.  One day I powered off the always on machine and when turned it back on it demanded a clear, but repeated attempts were unsuccessful.  I powered on the other machine and got the same result.  I swapped in the second MPU's for both machines and got the same results.  I tested battery voltage on all batteries and it appeared fine.  I had spare batteries, swapped those in and still couldn't do a clear.  I resolved it by purchasing brand new batteries.  Both boards now booted up fine in both machines and allowed me to do the eprom clear.  Even though unloaded battery voltage appeared fine, even for the "new" unused ones, all my batteries were old.  Replacing them with brand new batteries solved the issue.

Suggestion:  The batteries are soldered to the MPU.  If you haven't already done so, when you unsolder a battery to replace it, replace it with a standard AA battery holder.  It makes swapping batteries much easier in the future.

[Phan000]

The battery was not particularly low.  Around 3.3-3.4

Turns out one of the games was failing.  After a battery change and a clear, it does not see the game as an available option. So far error free.

Even after battery change however, monitor was still producing errors during hardware config.

I researched a bit and found some people having to touch machine frame while performing the hardware config. Never had this issue as my garage & house has a concrete/tile  floor.  Machine’s new location is carpet.  I put a hand on the door frame & the monitor config issues disappeared

So issue solved, except for replacing the bad game.

Thanks for the help.  Do I need to clear again if I move that jumper?

[kcirrick]

Glad you got it figured out.

Unfortunately, I’ve never had an issue with the hardware config, (it seems to me like it could be due to some type of grounding issue), and have never messed with the jumper so I’m not much help with either.  Hopefully, Badbaud will reply regarding the jumper.  Of course, there is one way to find out...

I will say that the battery should be 3.6v.  I believe there is a temporary increased load on the battery when powering the machine up which can drop the voltage of a weaker battery.  With the voltage already lower than 3.6v or, as in my experience in my previous reply showed, the battery is just getting old and weak (even though showing the correct voltage) then there is the risk of turning the machine on one day and it demanding an eprom clear. 

I previously mentioned soldering in a AA battery holder when replacing the battery.  When I did this I used wires long enough so the battery is off board.  As you know, when you swap out that battery with the power off then you will be required to do a clear.  Now, with the off board battery, I don’t have to remove the MPU in order to change the battery and can actually swap it out every couple of years with the power on and avoid having to do the clear. 

[Chris-socal]

The Jumper only removes 2 ICs from the backup that are not necessary for home use.I did not have to run setup again.

PM me with the game that got corrupted, I might be able to help get you the eeprom.

Chris

[Phan000]

I may have spoken too soon.  I was in a hurry and had left the unrecognized eprom in without remove/re-clear.

Machine worked flawlessly.  It was off for two days, now asking for a clear.

Would a failed game that is not enabled cause this loading issue?

I’ll remove in any case.

[Chris-socal]

Gamemakers do not like ANY changes to the games and will prompt for set chip. You don’t have to do a complete clear, usually you can enter through the settings.

Chris

[kcirrick]

I know I'm harping, but I'm curious if when you replaced the battery if it was store bought brand new or a new never used battery that you already had.  As my experience shows, a "new" unused battery I already had didn't work.  I apparently had just stored it too long and despite testing with the proper voltage it just didn't have the umph needed to maintain the machines configuration or even allow me to perform a clear.  Purchasing brand new batteries allowed me to perform the eprom clear, and kept the machine from demanding another clear just because it's been off for a couple of days.

Wouldn't it be nice if we could just install an nvram chip and eliminate the battery completely?