Tough USB questions.

[yaethom]

I have a Sidewinder Precision Pro 2. And I'm running into problems with the USB portion of it:

I also have a Game Theater XP and am using its USB hub.
Im running Windows XP Pro.

The problem arises, is when I plug the joystick into the USB hub, it just never detects it. Windows XP doesn't make any beep or notice of detecting a new USB device, as it should with other USB devices. I tried using different USB ports and even the one on my mobo. None work. The weirder thing is that my USB mouse and USB keyboard work in all the ports.

The next problem is that the joystick worked when i plugged it into the USB hub (any port) the FIRST time since installing the OS. I plugged it in the first time I got it and it worked. Then after a reboot, it stopped. Then I reformatted and installed WinXP again. I plugged in the joystick and it worked. Once I reboot the device doesn't exist, and replugging it doesn't help.

I'm looking for some kind of help out there... I have NO clue what would be going wrong with the USB.

1- Its not the hub because the mouse and keyboard work just fine on all of the 4 ports on it.
2- Its not power, cuz the joystick requires 20 mA, while the mouse uses 100. And besides, the joystick worked fine the first time i plugged it in (before reboot).
3- It PROBABLY isn't the joystick, cuz it works the first time I plug it in when I install the OS.

P.S. Oh and when I plug it in and try to do "add new hardware" i thinks that I have a device on the GAME Controller (the serial gameport on the GTXP). It thinks it is a Sidewinder 3D Pro. but of course, it can't detect it since there is nothing in my game port.... its on my USB.

Thanks a LOT in advance!!

This should be a toughie for u techies out there...

 

[nortexoid]

it's probably a driver issue...try these:

1. make sure yoru USB ports are set NOT to power off after a certain time interval for power savings (change this through device manager-->USB controllers--->USB root hub--->power management)

2. now plug in your device and see if it detects it? - yes, good...no? - hit the hardware refresh in device manager and see if it detects it - yes? good, no? bad...

3. show hidden devices, see if it's listed

4. check the device properties if listed and see if it's functioning and the drivers are installed ok

5. check which drivers it installed for the device, compare it w/ the ini file on the disk and see if all the proper drivers are install

6. try reinstalling the drivers, either by doing a new hardware install from controll panel or a setup program on the disk, or "reinstall/update drivers" from the device properties box.

hope any of that helps...if not...?

 

[yaethom]

hey, thx for the quick reply... but it doesn't seem to be going well.

1- The USB ports WERE set to the power off thing. I just changed them.
2- Didn't detect it even after refreshing and trying diff. ports.
3- It's not listed anywhere. and that prevents me from doing anything else with the drivers.

Thx for the help though. Maybe it was the Power issue. I'll try rebooting.

 

[yaethom]

*update*

wasn't the power issue.
Any other ideas out there?

 

[nortexoid]

are there different driver versions u can use? - or just the one set?...or do they manufacture a similar device with different drivers that u might be able to use and get away with???

do they have a separate manager utility u have to run before the device is "activated"?

it is extremely odd that u could use it when u first installed it but not after...check exactly which drivers it's using by the ini file, and remove those from your system including the .inf file that windows makes and keeps in the windows\inf directory...

then reboot, and plug in your device only AFTER booting into the OS has completed...i know my wingman required that i keep the device uninstalled initially while installing the drivers and software, and THEN i had to plug it in after..otherwise things can get screwy.

 

[Mojonba]

<< It PROBABLY isn't the joystick, cuz it works the first time I plug it in when I install the OS. >>

"

PROBABLY is not good enough. Check in an other comptuer to eliminate, for sure, the joystick from the equation.

 

[yaethom]

Well, I reformatted twice and now it doesn't detect it at all.

I'm wondering what is wrong. And the joystick seems fine, since it works on another computer. Except it has the same problem with that computer.

 

[Zach]

<< Well, I reformatted twice and now it doesn't detect it at all.

I'm wondering what is wrong. And the joystick seems fine, since it works on another computer. Except it has the same problem with that computer. >>



"except...."? Hmmm.

 

[yaethom]

well... it works the first time i installed it. But after i reboot the 2nd comptuer, it doesn't work.

 

[Pabster]

Give us your system details.

Are you by chance using a VIA-chipset based mainboard?

 

[yaethom]

P4 1.7 GHz (478 Chipset)
ECS P4S5A Mobo (SiS 645 chipset)
Integrated SiS Ethernet
2 X 128 MB Sticks of SDRAM
Hercules GTXP
ATI Radeon 8500 (OEM)
MS optical mouse
MS office keyboard
Sony 18.1" LCD
Sony CRX-140E (8/4/32) Burner
1 X WD 11 GB Hdd.
2 X Maxtor (5400 rpm) 80 GB Hdd.

:| MS Sidewinder Precision 2 joystick. :|

 

[Pabster]

Well, first I'd check the joystick ... verify it works properly on another machine. Might sound stupid, but you've got to start somewhere. Next, make sure you've got all the old drivers and software uninstalled. Get rid of it all. Then try again. Also, make sure you're using the latest drivers, et al.

 

[Zach]

<< P4 1.7 GHz (478 Chipset)
ECS P4S5A Mobo (SiS 645 chipset)
Integrated SiS Ethernet
2 X 128 MB Sticks of SDRAM
Hercules GTXP
ATI Radeon 8500 (OEM)
MS optical mouse
MS office keyboard
Sony 18.1" LCD
Sony CRX-140E (8/4/32) Burner
1 X WD 11 GB Hdd.
2 X Maxtor (5400 rpm) 80 GB Hdd.

:| MS Sidewinder Precision 2 joystick. :| >>



And the other system, since it happens to both. Also the OS's for either.

 

[yaethom]

P3-500 Mhz
Abit BE-6 Mobo.
3dfx Voodoo 3-3000 AGP
3 X 128 MB Sticks of SDRAM
20 Gig Maxtor 5400 hdd.
Hercules GTXP
MS mouse
Generic Keyboard
generic CDROM
Netgear Ethernet Card

And both are running windowsXP

 

[Zach]

Find a windows 98 or Me system to try it on, you should know pretty quick with your symptoms if it works or not. Its either the OS or the joystick, since the systems are different enough hardware wise. I was mostly wondering if they were both SiS based, or something like that. They do both have the GTXP sound card though, that could be a driver conflict. I have no idea how, but you need to look for commonalities when the same thing happens on two systems. Here it's the Joystick, OS, or sound card. If the joystick works the first time you'd think it'd always work, so I'd look for a Win98 system and try pulling the sound card.

 

[cavingjan]

I had this happen somewhat recently on my system with a precision pro 1 usb. How I got it back without issues was to plug it into another usb port and it was detected again. I could then use either port again. Not sure what happened. But with me, it happened when I accidently unplugged my usb hub during a sound card upgrade and I have 98 not xp. Since it worked once and not after that (on two systems) I'd lean towards an OS/driver issue but confirm that there are no issues with the joystick itself first.