MegaTouch Maxx Error Help

difinof

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Sorry if this is a little long, but I wanted to make sure I got it all out there before soliciting help...

I bought a MegaTouch Maxx in March off ebay. The guy had stellar reviews, the machine worked wonderfully, etc etc. But every time I'd ask him for a little help early on, he gave weird directions that never lined up with what was inside the machine, like he was referring to a different version. So I just gave up on correcting him, and lived with things like the volume being just a little too loud.

Fast forward to a couple weeks ago. I turned the machine on, and it's stuck on a screen saying that there's a "CMOS checksum error -- Defaults loaded." I tried to contact the seller again, but no reply.

I'm guessing, from reading around on these boards, that I likely have to either plug in a keyboard (to get to F1 and "continue") and/or replace the battery. But I'd rather just get on the phone -- or, better yet, on some kind of skype interface -- with someone who can hold my hand through a few questions.

I'm by no means a genius when it comes to this, but I'd say I'm a little past beginner. Maybe in the limbo between intermediate and advanced...

Anyway, I'm willing to shoot a little holiday donation in the direction of someone willing to help give me a quick tutorial on the ins and outs of operating the MegaTouch. The casing says it's a Mega Touch Maxx Ruby Edition. Beyond that, I can list off some games from memory, if that helps to place it, but I know little else about it.

Thanks for any help you can give here. I've attached a pic of the error screen to help with the details of what I'm working with here.
 

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I just had a Maxx Ruby 2 have the same issue, everytime its fired up comes up CMOS error, I had to plug a PS2 keyboard and hit it to continue, Im happy to talk you thru on phone/skype if that helps, from memory its a CR2032 battery
 
Hi;
I had the same problem, all was working correctly and then I got the error, I replaced the battery, set the BIOS for the proper time, date etc. and now it does go through the boot sequence and now stated:
"Bad command or filename"
I ran autoexec.bat and received the same stop error.
So I went to the F: drive, (which is the CDROM) and ran "megacdll.exe" and then I get the stop error:
ERROR Invalid key!!!

Is there anything I can do to get the game going again or is it done?!?!

Thanks for any suggestions...
Jeff
 
Hi;
I have done that several times and still received the dead screen, meaning that it locked up and gave me the option to hit F? or "del".
I replaced the board with a leftover from a previous game and then was able to get the game boot to proceed to the errors I had mentioned.
BTW, I set the BIOS with the keyboard attached, did I do more damage....
Thanks
Jeff
 
I don't know Megatouch much but I know PCs.

WARNING: These guys have a Dallas 1-wire security dongle that looks a lot like a battery. DO NOT try to replace this dongle with a battery. The battery is on the motherboard, that's the larger board with the big heatsink and fan.

Anyway, the "CMOS Checksum Failed" appearing after the machine was working invariably means the CR2032 battery on the motherboard is bad. Replace it with a new CR2032, then set up the BIOS using a PC keyboard (usually most things should be set as defaults except for "Power On AC Loss" or similar should be "Enabled" or "On"). That'll get you past that error. If the machine was working before, and now you get a new error, you may need to change a BIOS setting somewhere.

Swap the battery and let us know.
 
OK,
I swapped the battery, I set the CMOS (as far as I know- (date and time)) and it boots to this:

http://youtu.be/UmPcdl1jBI4

Just a static C:\ prompt......
(Bad command or filename)

If I switch to drive F: which is the CDROM, I run megacdll.exe and get this error:

http://youtu.be/a_Y6ld9fo8M
(invalid key!!!)

I removed the board and edge connector and cleaned all contacts with an eraser. I check all voltages and get the +12, +5 and -5vdc.

The security dongle is glued into place so that was not disturbed, on this replacement board, the original board had a loose dongle, not glued into place and when I fired the game up, it did not recognize the CD ROM drive at all and kept stopping on a "bad system disk" error.

Thank you for your help.
Jeff
 
Last edited:
You can't just boot the software directly.
You have to boot the operating system first.

The machine should boot the operating system, load the drivers,
check the key against the software version, then boot the software.

I know that the xl runs a version of dos that is booted from an eprom chip
on the I/O card and the operating system handles the rest.
I think you have to set up your bios to "boot from network device" or
something like that.

I'm not sure how the maxx handles it, but it should be similar.

Merit/Ami keeps all of the documentation for these machines archived
on their site, so it should be worth checking out before proceeding further.
 
Sometimes you NEED to reseat the security key. Poor contacts on it will cause license errors.
 
First of all, thanks for all the help. These games are not my specialty. I'm mostly a "classics" kind of guy.

I have installed a spare boardset and got game, or should I say, had game. After spending several hours troubleshooting the set, replacing the set and finally being able to play, about an hour later, the screen went "red".

I can still see the game in the background but the screen is red with the raster lines through and through.

I guess it's time for a cap kit (including HVT).......

Thanks again.
Jeff
 
I just checked the tech manual, (thanks again dbsyrny) and it looks like the over driven color could also be caused by the video amp on the neck PCB.

Should I start another thread regarding this repair or just update this thread?

Thanks
Jeff
 
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