Problem installing games (Error Activating)

[Joez]

I'm running OS AI014-B0A on an AVP 3.0M box and am having problems loading games.  Was able to install one the "old" way (ekey 7 and usb with game on it inserted with the machine off and then power up).  Doing it this way the game installed with no issues.  Read some older posts where it said the correct way to install is through the Add Game Packages screen so I tried it that way.  Final message was "Install  complete.  Error Activating:  Game014-000129-D05.  Select Exit to confirm".  Tried it with a couple different files and got the same message for every one.  Exited, rebooted and the game wasn't installed.  Trying to do it the right way but I'm obviously missing something.  Any insight on what I could be doing wrong?

[bpracer]

I'm running OS AI014-B0A on an AVP 3.0M box and am having problems loading games.  Was able to install one the "old" way (ekey 7 and usb with game on it inserted with the machine off and then power up).  Doing it this way the game installed with no issues.  Read some older posts where it said the correct way to install is through the Add Game Packages screen so I tried it that way.  Final message was "Install  complete.  Error Activating:  Game014-000129-D05.  Select Exit to confirm".  Tried it with a couple different files and got the same message for every one.  Exited, rebooted and the game wasn't installed.  Trying to do it the right way but I'm obviously missing something.  Any insight on what I could be doing wrong?

Is your Protocol that Controls Legacy Meters set to not required?


  Ekey7
Setup
Communication
Protocol
Advanced – G2STransportG2S6
Protocol that controls Legacy Meter
Change Setting ------
“Not required”
 

[rickhunter]

May have a dependency you are missing, sometimes the games require a feature package to go along with it.

[Joez]

Thanks for the input.


bpracer - I saw an earlier post on that, so I made sure I had those settings before trying.


rickhunter - Is there any way to find out if it would require a dependency?

[rickhunter]

Check to see if inside the zip file there is a feature packaged called FI014-PC-129-00001

[Joez]

No, that file isn't in the zip file

[rickhunter]

Then you need to find the feature set installer to activate the game.  In gameking sets, there's usually one or two feature packages that are needed to get it to work right.  Some of the newer installers have everything in one package, but I'm thinking yours probably has it separately since it is not inside the zip file.

[Joez]

Thanks Rick - saved me a couple hours of racking my brain!

[FireballJackpot]

One last thing to check is be sure you have 4GB of RAM installed on the main board (2- 2GB sticks). Also, on the Enable/Disable screen; check to be sure you have at least 20%-15% NVRAM available (not over 80% used). Anything over that will give you unstable Authentications/Activations because the game software doesn’t have enough head room for the games accounting to operate.


GameKing packages should be the FIRST packages to load before adding more games to your machine.


For example, GK 8.3 takes up almost 75% of available NVRAM if you Enable all 500+ configurations it offers.  So if your machine is already at, say, 65%-75% and you try to load a GK package, that may be the reason it fails to Activate (not enough memory left).


Always load “games” from the Manage Packages menu. The OS checks for available RAM and NVRAM when doing so. During a DOS boot, it does a “forced manual load” via boot chip code in which it does not check for memory. Which is why you’ll sometimes get an error when the game operating system verifies head room.


DOS boot loads are only for installing the OS or a Feature File onto the drive.


Hope this helps!

[Joez]

The whole NVRAM is confusing to me - not sure exactly how it works.  The machine came with OS AI014-B0A and GK 8.3R loaded when I bought it (nothing else).  NVRAM was running in the mid-80% range and I couldn't figure out how to bring it down.  Was able to load one additional game (through the boot up process which I now know not to do) and it brought the NVRAM usage up to 90%.  I then tried adding 3 more games (again, with the USB in when booting) and it put the NVRAM usage over 100% and the screen went red when it rebooted.  I did a cabinet memory and safe storage wipe and it got rid of the red screen.  Went back through the setup and only enabled a handful of the GK paytables (31 of 569) but the NVRAM is now showing over 90% (GK 8.3R and the "first" other game are the only ones installed).  The machine came "as-is" so no files available to wipe the hard drive and reload the system/GK.  I'm stumped as far as how to get the NVRAM to read lower.   

[bpracer]

The whole NVRAM is confusing to me - not sure exactly how it works.  The machine came with OS AI014-B0A and GK 8.3R loaded when I bought it (nothing else).  NVRAM was running in the mid-80% range and I couldn't figure out how to bring it down.  Was able to load one additional game (through the boot up process which I now know not to do) and it brought the NVRAM usage up to 90%.  I then tried adding 3 more games (again, with the USB in when booting) and it put the NVRAM usage over 100% and the screen went red when it rebooted.  I did a cabinet memory and safe storage wipe and it got rid of the red screen.  Went back through the setup and only enabled a handful of the GK paytables (31 of 569) but the NVRAM is now showing over 90% (GK 8.3R and the "first" other game are the only ones installed).  The machine came "as-is" so no files available to wipe the hard drive and reload the system/GK.  I'm stumped as far as how to get the NVRAM to read lower.   

I have B0C running with the 8.3, not the 8.3r and if I remember right it was not even at 70%.  I was able to fit many more slot games after that without issue.


What machine are you running?  What CPU?  How much RAM?

[Joez]

I'm running AVP 3.0M on a G20, 2 GB of RAM

[bpracer]

I'm running AVP 3.0M on a G20, 2 GB of RAM

Upgrade the 2gb to 4gb to start with.  2 sticks of 2gb.

[mvco]

Wow, I feel lucky!  Have two SMLD cabinets.  one with 107 games, and one with around 90.  NV ram usage at 97% on both, but both run and play just fine.  I used to worry about that much usage, but they have run great for almost two years now.  :-)

[Joez]

If nothing else I'm learning.  I had bought two 2GB sticks of off brand RAM that I "thought" was the same in hopes of upgrading at some point.  Put the 2 stick of RAM in the machine and it booted to the game with no issues.  I turned the key and checked the NVRAM usage and it showed 97%.  Turned the machine off and tried booting to the diagnostic ekey to verify that the RAM was actually reading 8 GB and it wouldn't boot at all (ekey didn't light up and the screen just sat there blank).  Changed back to the old 2GB stick of RAM and it was back to its old self and booted up fine to the diagnostics.  Just ordered another exact match of the RAM that's in there now - going to have to wait until Wednesday for it to get here 

[rickhunter]

I am under the impression that max ram is 4GB.  The games are usually sourced with a pair of 1GB sticks to give the game 2GB.  I upgraded all my mpu's to 4GB's (using a pair of 2GB sticks).  It is important to note that having 4GB of ram does not affect the NVRAM usage, there's no  way to expand the NVRAM.

[Joez]

Thanks for the clarification Rick.  I meant to say 4 GB (not .  I have right around 40 games enabled right now and it's sitting at 97% of NVRAM usage.  No idea why it would be taking up so much of the NVRAM - it sounds like it should be much less based on everyone's comments.

[rickhunter]

depends on the games.  Some games use more NVRAM than others.  I will say this, for those who have 92%+ usage.  Every time you spin, it fills up a little more of the nvram.  I don't know what will happen when you reach 100%, but I bet it is not going to be good.  These machines were not designed to ever reach that kind of threshold (Which they wouldn't based on how they deployed in casinos with less than 70% usage).  I try to not go over 92%.  I think one time I tried installing a game at 94% and got a red screen of death.  Had to remove the game and do a clear and re-enable all my games to get it back and running, ever since then, I never go over 92% to allow room for play.

[mvco]

An interesting thing to share, with my two SMLD games with over 100 games in each, the NV ram seems to stay at 97 to 97.5%.  It will go as high as 97.5, but later on, it will have moved itself back to 97%.  I too was worried about running out of NV ram.  But it seems to hold itself at that level.  Anyone else observe this?   My game all load and play just fine.

[rickhunter]

Mine seems to slowly grow over time, but I never pass my self imposed 92%.  I typically remove a game if I want to try something new.