Quote from Hondo I. Sackett on Dec 2nd, 2015, 9:48pm: there are some new and better looking programs out there I might look into instead that I have read are more stable.
all I can sugest is getting another and a different version of linux. try the same system in a different pi and if it works then its a pi problem, if it still doesn't try the different OS. the pi's are very changeable to fit your project but not as forgiving as a PC.
I use PiMame, which is a bit of a headache to configure, but once it is set, it runs nicely to an extent... Some emulations it can not do or do so with problems: Sega Genesis and Playstation emulations are too slow and jittery. And computers - you need the files in their proper place like your Atari 800 files in the Atari 800 folder and your Commodore files in your Commodore folders, and finally there are 2 sets of arcade ROMs, you would need to dump them all into the Mame4All folder and then see what games crap out, note them and then move them into the MAME folder.
There are some Atari 800 games listed under as Arcade Machine files. They will not work unless you put a file "mf_achas.zip" in the Mame4All or MAME Folder, and the Atari 800 games will work on the arcade emulator.
On the R-Pi 2 and Banana Pi (I have not tried it on either), arcade emulation is a lot cleaner and faster because of their increased RAM and Dual Core (on the B-Pi) and Quad Core (on the R-Pi 2) processors. RetroPi has been updated for the R-Pi2, but not PiMame.
EDIT: I forgot to ask - is the config file set to overclock the R-Pi? With arcade emulation, the R-Pi should be overclocked to 900MHz safely without heatsinks. Higher speeds can be achieved but for an arcade emulator - you should get heatsinks for the R-Pi.