San Francisco Rush Linking Issue

KL03

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I have two San Francisco Rush the Rock machines and I am having trouble linking them. If I connect them directly with a crossover cable or crossover coupler, everything looks good on the first machine (cable OK and all four lights) but the second machine says cable ?? and only has the 3rd light. If I connect them to a network switch, I get the exact opposite results. Now the second machine appears to be fully functioning and the first one seems to be the problem. The switch gives me the additional information of no link/activity on the first machine, and normal flashing link/activity on the second machine. Kind of an anomaly, but during one session of switching cables around while on the test screen, I noticed 1 packet made it from one machine to the other with the correct car color.

Is there anything else I can try?

Some people have suggested that either the VALOR or SMC chip could be bad, but on which machine? What kind of fault would cause the behavior described above?

The issue sounds similar to this thread:


Seems like they never got to the bottom of the issue.


Additional information:

-They are both running on CF cards, but I tried their original hard drives with the same results.

-The car colors are different, and I have tried changing the car colors on both machines

-I have tried many, many different network cables

-They are both original rtr's, not upgrades

-I have not been able to try a network hub instead of a switch. Seems to be conflicting information on if this makes a difference.

Thank you for your time and any assistance with this issue.
 
Not sure of the solution, but can contribute to one piece of your puzzle. A network hub is not necessary. I used to run the 5 I had at one time on just a normal switch.
 
A switch would use straight through cables, no crossover cables or coupler.
Hubs are really old and no one uses those anymore.

If there is only 2 machines, then use a crossover cable or 2 straight through cables and a coupler.
 
I posted this in the other thread you linked to:
I had a similar problem with my Rush the Rock cabs when I had them. It wouldn't link with a crossover, and I tried various hubs, switches, routers, etc. I found an old 10 Base-T hub (this model I believe: https://www.ebay.com/itm/254002345062 ) was the only one that would work 100%.

In network test, I could leave that running and never get any failed packets. I had a Cisco 8-port switch that would work pretty well, but would occasionally drop packets (which in the game showed as the opponent car's motion being very jumpy).
What others are saying should be true, but I can confirm 100% that my game originally worked with a crossover cable, but at some point stopped working. I then tried several switches, routers (switch ports on the routers), and hubs, and the only one I tested that worked with 100% reliability was the CentreCOM (AT-MR415T I believe). I'm guessing something in the hardware degraded, and that hub just had the "strongest" repeater.

You can pick up that exact model for $10 shipped: https://www.ebay.com/itm/234229766375 , or $17 shipped if you need the 7.5V power supply: https://www.ebay.com/itm/134075788735

DogP
 
Thanks for the suggestions. I bought that MR415T hub and when I use it, I get all four lights on both machines, which is better than I could get get with a crossover cable or switch. But the link light on the hub still does not show for machine #1 and they do not show up for each other on the test screen and they do not link in game. So I guess I'll try getting a new main board and assume it's machine #1 with the issue. Hopefully I don't get another bad board, since this is apparently a common issue.
 
Just a follow up on an older thread that may help someone. About 6 months ago I bought the other MR415T hub above listed on ebay because I had the same issue where one of my RtRs would not light all 4 network lights consistently. Usually 1, sometimes 2, and sometimes all 4 but would never link. After getting the hub I would almost always get the 4 lights identical to my other RtR but the link light on the hub would never light. My solution was to reflow and add a little solder to both the network jack 8 pins on the back and the component just below jack. Immediately after I did this the link lite on the hub lit for both machines and the games linked perfectly.
 
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