I have MAME v0.176 and its ROMs and software libraries, but having problems with a few games (e.g., Munch Man and E.T.) in Texas Instrument 99/4A from Pleasuredome that don't seem to respond to my key inputs even without any cartridges mounte.

Is it just me? I am using an very old, updated 32-bit Windows XP Pro SP3 box with a PS/2 clicky Dell PC104 keyboard. Other games, systems, non-computer arcades, etc. seem to be OK though.

Thank you in advance.

People with real TI-994A's will tell you that joysticks always had a problem going up under one circumstance involving the ALPHA LOCK button (the button which makes it so all your text is typed in UPPER CASE), which must be in the OFF state for joysticks to work in all directions. In testing, both games work with he arrow keys fine for me after you make sure this is done

In short, if it isn't moving up.. hit Alpha Lock key (CAPS LOCK) once.

Nope, that doesn't work. Basically, I can't press keys in the boot up menu (even without cartridges), in games, etc.

Hmmm ... I hate to simply say WORKSFORME, but that's just the case here. I'm using 0.176 with no such problems. Both emulated and natural keyboards are working.

Can you type or redefine keys within the OSD menu, "Input (this machine)"?

BTW, for Alpha Lock I would strongly recommend to use another key than CapsLock; my keyboard often gets out of sync with that key. I'm using "Left Win" for Alpha Lock.

I don't see where I can configure my keys in TI99/4A screens? I tried all keys. Even Esc key don't quit. I had to use the window's X to close/exit it with the mouse. See http://i.imgbox.com/Y2qfomjY.jpg for a screen shot/capture of where I got stuck.

I suspect you have some more general issues with your emulation.

What I meant is: Can you change to partial mode (press ScrlLock), then press TAB (display the on-screen display (OSD))?

Pressing ESC to leave the emulation only works in partial mode.

Maybe you could try to run it in a new directory or to remove the existing configuration files.

Yeah, I tried clean a MAME from scratch too.

I think I know how to reproduce it. Start up MAME, go to Texas Instrument (TI) 99/4A, pick Munch Man cartridge game (don't need to have its files), go to start withgout cartridge, boot up the machine, try to press keys like to start and BASICS. I did find a few keys that worked: Scroll Lock, R, right arrow, etc. But those are weird. I found that machine's input screen in MAME and tried to configured "1" so I can start BASIC in the startup screen behind this configuration: http://i.imgbox.com/mZUEuZVj.jpg ... It did NOT register my "1" key when I pressed it. It thought I pressed nothing.

I noticed https://github.com/mamedev/mame/releases/download/mame0176/mame0176b_debug.exe ... Would this help if I used it?

So the "1" key is dead? Do other keys work? Does it make a difference when you choose another computer system or arcade game? If the OSD does not sense the 1 key, the emulation will not get it for sure.

Other keys don't seem to work. Sometimes other keys do other things. Arcade games had no problems so far. Commodore 64's BASIC seem to work fine with my key inputs. However, Apple //c did in its ProDOS v1.1.1's Apple BASIC v1.1. So, it is not just the system specific. I also notice it has a missing key input for double quotation mark (").

Also, is MAME fully compatible with old KVM (keyboard video mouse; PS/2 and VGA) switches from Y2K? I wonder if this is the problem. Can't unplug and plug the hardwares right now (pain in the arse to do it too with my hardware setups).

FWIW I've just tried all ti99_4 variants in 0.176 and no problems. All present the boot screen, press any key for menu, then 1 for BASIC. Works perfectly.

yep works here as well

OK, I was able to disconnect my old Dell clicky PS/2 keyboard from my OmniCube KVM, from Y2K, to connect directly to my desktop PC to retest. I easily reproduce it. So, it's not a KVM issue.

I am starting to notice a pattern. If I start up TI 99/4A, keys work fine until I quit that session and relaunch it/another cartridge. The key input stops working correctly until I exit MAME fully and retry. It seems like key inputs aren't reinitalized correctly between booted up session? I also did notice a few times, MAME would freeze and crash (goes away) after a few seconds without any error messages.

I recalled not having problems in MAME v0.175 with TI 99/4A games, but that was briefly. So, I decided to download and retry. No problems. Something seems to have broke in v0.176 for me.

I'm afraid I can't really help here ... first, I don't know how the TI emulation can have such an effect on the input subsystem, second, there were no TI-related changes from 0.175 to 0.176.

Might be yet another GCC 6 thing. Does someone have a (post) 0.176 built with MSVC or Clang or GCC 5 that he could try?

FYI. V0.177 fixed this issue. Thanks to whoever fixed it!