USB woes? Collective PPRuNe help needed!

[Maxbert]

Gaaaaahhh! This is driving me mad...

I have a USB drum set (ION IED 01 or 05) which up until now has been connected to my desktop (Vista) and has always worked as advertised.

I am trying to connect it to my old laptop (recently re-installed XP and given to my son).

The software (VR Drum) loads fine, but prompts me to "connect module", ie the drum set. Now I know the USB cable is OK, and the green LED on the module lights up, but the software refuses to "see" it...

I even tried loading the asio4all driver, recommended for Vista users, but nothing changes. Note that the software has a window showing the drum set, and clicking on the various items produces the corresponding sound, but the physical drum pads are unrecognised.

Could it be insufficiently vigorous USB ports? The laptop acknowledges the device being plugged in and unplugged (with the usual "Bingbong" and "Bongbing" upon plugging and unplugging), but no popup window appears confirming new peripherals detected, or problems therewith...

As I write this I realise that I have always used the lappy in battery mode, and have not tried it whilst connected to the mains- Could this help?

Fora on the subject are few and far between, and all ask the question but no answers are forthcoming.

Does anybody have any idea...?

Maxbert

[islander539]

Could it be that the old laptop has only USB1 ports, whereas the desktop has USB2 ports? I've no idea really but suppose it could be.

[Mike-Bracknell]

USB 1.0 vs USB 2.0 shouldn't (in this case) make any difference.

It sounds like the hardware isn't being recognised, and/or the driver(s) not being installed.

Firstly, when you plug the USB device into the laptop, do you hear a two-tone sound from the speakers indicating that the device has been plugged in?

If you do, do the two tones rise, or are they both of the same pitch?

If the former, then the USB device is being recognised OK, but if the latter then there's something wrong with the associated driver for the USB device.

Secondly, go into Control Panel, into Device Manager (you'll find it in "System"), and check whether your list of devices all have + signs against them (i.e. the device tree is closed/unexpanded), or whether one or more items are expanded with a yellow or red icon against them.

If the latter, then investigate that device and the associated driver. FYI a Vista driver is unlikely to work in XP. My best advice would be to select to "uninstall" the relevant device, and then unplug and replug the USB drum kit and deal with driver installation anew.

HTH.

[Maxbert]

Mike-Bracknell: Thanks- I get the Windows sound when I plug / unplug the cable but, as mentioned, no popup to tell me all is well or all is bu@@ered...

I will check the CP / DM settings, but I am baffled as the install disc installs everything (I think) with no error msg. FWIW the ION site is useless in this respect.

The asio4all driver was the XP version, but according to the manual, is only necessary for Vista machines.

:confused: I shall fiddle further :(

[Keef]

Maxbert: clearly the PC is seeing the drumkit arrive and leave - the sounds tell you that. It's something "downstream" that's misbehaving, either the drivers or the drum software.

Some of this stuff is fussy about what order you install things in - software first, or driver first, and whether you should install the software before you plug in for the first time. Check the instructions carefully to see what order they tell you to use.

What worked for me on a different bit of kit was to remove completely, then reinstall in accordance with the instructions (I know, I know!).
- Unplug USB device
- Control Panel, Device Manager, Remove (or Uninstall) device
- Control Panel, Add/Remove Programs (or "Programs and Features" if that's what it shows) and remove the drumkit software.
- Power off the machine (nost just "restart")
- Power on and follow the destructions.

[bnt]

I don't think ASIO comes in to it at that level, to be honest. The fact that it comes up at all makes me think that the power is sufficient. and so it's back to drivers.

If you look in Device Manager, can you find the kit, and does it have an exclamation mark next to it? If it does, you can look there and see what it says e.g. no driver etc.

(To launch Device Manager, the easiest way I know is to right-click on "My Computer" then select "Manage". )

[Maxbert]

Well :mad: !

I have just installed the thing on the new über laptop which I am currently using (Vista again)- I connected the kit, Windows downloaded a generic driver I think (USB MIDI DRUMS). I then installed the SW which came with the kit and, as with the desktop, everything is recognised and works.

So- The software with the kit is definitely for XP and Vista, but on the XP laptop the SW doesn't recognise the kit- The same (generic?) driver shows up on the XP laptop and says it?s working fine...

I'm NOT giving my mew lappy to my son :(

[PappaAlphaX-ray]

Had USB problem installing iTunes. Back USB ports were "high speed" as compared to front-facing. Took a bit of time, but sorted.

[Saab Dastard]

The ied05 specifically supports USB 1.1 or 2.0, so it shouldn't be a USB compatibility issue.

SD

[Mike-Bracknell]

Well http://images.ibsrv.net/ibsrv/res/src:www.pprune.org/get/images/smilies/censored.gif !

I have just installed the thing on the new über laptop which I am currently using (Vista again)- I connected the kit, Windows downloaded a generic driver I think (USB MIDI DRUMS). I then installed the SW which came with the kit and, as with the desktop, everything is recognised and works.

So- The software with the kit is definitely for XP and Vista, but on the XP laptop the SW doesn't recognise the kit- The same (generic?) driver shows up on the XP laptop and says it?s working fine...

I'm NOT giving my mew lappy to my son

This tells me that you may be missing a driver, or that the driver you get from the CD isn't working properly.

Basically, Vista (a later OS) is auto-detecting the hardware and installing it's own driver (the midi drums one), and then the software works on top of that driver.

XP doesn't seem to have access to the same driver, and as such it might either be trying to use an inferior XP driver from the CD or just not even installing anything. The latter issue here will be highlighted in Device Manager, but the former issue will be harder to troubleshoot as it would manifest itself as a "working" driver which doesn't in fact work.

Another useful exercise you could do is to find another XP machine with which you can install the software and then the hardware, and see whether it works.....as that would give you a working system based on XP which would allow you to know what works and how it works.

[green granite]

Probably a stupid question but you do have directX installed on the xp m/c don't you? It needs it to function properly.

[Maxbert]

Many thanks to all who have responded:ok:

Having read through all the replies, and done my best to understand them, it seems that I either have a driver (for XP) issue, and/or a DirectX issue:

Can somebody please tell me what DirectX is or, more importantly, how to determine if it is on the XP laptop?

Also, how do I list drivers in my Vista machine? I will then (hopefully) manage to identify the driver which is working under Vista, and start a search for a suitable XP version...

Drapes is right... Feckin' puters:(

Maxbert

[green granite]

Can somebody please tell me what DirectX is or, more importantly, how to determine if it is on the XP laptop?

Probably the easiest thing is to just download it from microsoft: Download details: DirectX End-User Runtime (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=2DA43D38-DB71-4C1B-BC6A-9B6652CD92A3&displaylang=en)

[islander539]

In XP- Start/run, type dxdiag.

[Mike-Bracknell]

how do I list drivers in my Vista machine? I will then (hopefully) manage to identify the driver which is working under Vista, and start a search for a suitable XP version...

Right-click "Computer" and choose "Manage".
Click "Device Manager".
Expand the relevant driver tree and double-click the relevant drumkit device.
Click the "Driver" tab.
Click the "Driver Details" button.

Bob's an avuncular relative :ok:

[Maxbert]

Drat- Nothing doing, no BOOM, TISH, BOOM-BOOM, TISH forthcoming... :(

DirectX installed, software removed / reinstalled countless times, with and W/out the gear connected, nothing, nada, bupkes. :{

Email sent off today to ION support, we'll see if they come through, otherwise lappy and drumkit go off for a visit to the local computer shop (or get boxed and sent to Drapes, I recon he's a dab hand in both departments!) :ugh: