No power to joystick...it saya here.

[squeakmail]

Once again, I have bought a brand new product from Microsoft...and it will not work as it says in the book.

The Microsoft Sidewinder Force feedback Pro thingy seems to have a conflict with the sound card - which the driver pages of control panel tells me is a Creative Labs SoundBlaster.

Any ideas what buttons to press..or files to download?

[This message has been edited by squeakmail (edited 31 January 2000).]

[Ironguts]

Squeak,
Further info needed, what is the description for your gameport in device manager? and tho' it "says" you have a Creative Labs you may actually may not have.



[This message has been edited by Ironguts (edited 31 January 2000).]

[spannersatcx]

Run the Force Feedback Trouble shooter which can be found in the following directory
Program files\microsofty hardware\Game Controller and run the swfftrbl.hlp file.

Also look in the SW central soundcard compatability read me

Incompatible Sound Cards

The following sound cards are known to be incompatible with
the SideWinder Force Feedback Pro, and as a result, will not
allow the joystick to operated in the force feedback mode.

- ATI Stereo F/X
- Mozart 16
- NEC PC98 CX3 and its integrated sound system
- Roland Rap 10

or http://www.microsoft.com/sidewinder/

I'd guess the problem is your soundcard and/or drivers get the latest drivers,
sorry if I'm teaching you to suck eggs.

[squeakmail]

Hiya, guys...thanks for the input. Responses.....

Spannersatcx: Went into Troubleshoot...found nothing but dead ends that blame everything except microsoft. Nothing new there then (if they are so darned clever the software should look up the files and tell me what is needed, what happened to plug and play - it's become plug and pray).

Ironguts: You asked...I trawled - and found the following;

In Control Panel;
Game controllers; two tabs, "General" and "Advanced".
"Advanced" tells me ID1 is set for Force Feedback Pro connected through a standard gameport. (Hey, one bit correct).
"General" says that there is a Force Feedback Pro connected and it is in working order. Clicking "Properties" however, gives me a 'calibrate/test etc.' window..which is inactive..and is then overwritten by a text box saying "Power is Off. Reconnect power supply and press retry". Any button click loops me back to the same message...only 'close' will do anything (and it closes it).

Let's have a look in "system";
Device Manager...
Sound, video and game controllers
Closed Caption Decoder
Gameport Joystick
NABTS/FEC VBI Codec
SoundBlaster 16 or AWE32 or compatible
Wave Top (TM) NABTS/CC VBI Codec

Clicking 'Properties' on the Gameport Joystick option gives me three tabs... General, Driver and Resources.

'Resources' says Input/Output Range 0200-0207 No Conflicts.

'General' says "Working Properly"

'Driver' leads me to a 'Driver File Details' button which reveals four lines;

C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\VJOYD.VDX
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\MMDEVLDR.VXD
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\MSANALOG.VXD
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\MSJSTICK.DRV


That's all folks. Now, whilst looking at the suggested microsoft web site for FlightSim2000 I did find an option to download a patch that makes the game run smoother. I accepted the option and proceeded to watch the 'copying files' icon throw pages of stuff across the screen for 1hr34minutes.

Could I ask all of you who read this message to carefully check your hard drives to see if you have got this file....'cause I'm buggered if i can find it on my hard drive.

[spannersatcx]

Squeakmail, please don't be offended by my next statement, is the little green light on the front flashing - if it is then there may be no power being supplied - maybe worth checking if the external power supply is ok. Also if possible try it on another pc, if it works then you can narrow down where the problem is.
The FS2000 update you mention maybe the 10MB patch that was issued to update/debug it. If you are using IE it gives you an option when saving downloads to either save it to disk or open/run it, if you open/ran it the files would be updated automatically and auto replace files.
Just had a look at the MS site if you have Direct X 7 you may need to update to 7.0A only 237KB this fixes some problems with Force Feedback http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/release.asp?ReleaseID=17322
Also, The SideWinder Force Feedback game controller is a high performance digital device designed to work with a standard IBM-compatible game port. In addition to using Digital Overdrive Technology, the SideWinder Force Feedback game controller uses MIDI output from the game port to send force feedback data to the controller. If MIDI is not available on the game port, a serial adapter is available to transmit force feedback data to the joystick.

Sorry to go on but found this at http://www.jot-stick.net
Q. The green light is flashing on my force-feedback controller. What's up?

A. Your controller is receiving power from the power pack but is not receiving a signal from the gameport. Shut down and reset the connection. Assure you are not using extension cables or switches and that your gameport is properly configured. Also make sure the MIDI set you are using is the default set for your soundcard. The MS FF controllers use MIDI signals to transfer information. If the proper MIDI set is not used the controller will not function properly.





[This message has been edited by spannersatcx (edited 01 February 2000).]

[squeakmail]

Offended? Not a bit. It's what I need when I'm a computer doombrain (rather than geek).

Having said that, I used to be an electrician (does anybody stop being one?) and when I got the message about power not working, I tried it.

The little green light flashes when I unplug the power supply - but stays lit constant when it's plugged in.

Guess that means that volts are available at the relavent places.

With regard to Direct X 7 and MIDI's and all the other stuff...I'll print out the message and find a dictionary.

Seriously though...Thanks for your help.

[Jetset Willy]

Squeakmail, I think I had the same problem, and it was driving me mad, but here is the solution.......... I hope!

I recently bought the Sidewinder feedback joystick too, and it caused a conflict with what I thought was a creative labs sound card. The conflict was that the joystick wouldn't work at all in the game, and the sound was glitchy. I then discovered that by switching the sound off (Press 'Q'), the joystick worked fine... hmmm.... thereby the conflict.
I made numerous calls to the microsoft support desk, spent endless hours scouring their websites and troubleshooters, but all to no joy. I downloaded the FS2000 patch, (on their recommendation) and still nothing!!!
All microsoft could tell me was that it was something to do with their version of DirectX 7 which FS2000 uses, causing conflicts with that particular joystick using that particular soundcard, as the joystick works fine on FS98.

After more research, I found that my soundcard, although being soundblaster compatible, is actually based on the C-Media chipset, which is listed by microsoft as causing possible problems with DirectX 7 when using a digital optical joystick such as the sidewinder. I suspect this may be the same in your case. I contacted C-Media, downloaded an updated driver, and still nothing.

I now faced an agonizing option... do I get rid of the sidewinder, which I had eagerly purchased for the sole purpose of using with flightsim, or play without sound (a travesty in itself!), or do as the microsoft guy suggested and buy a new soundcard.....!!!

Anyway, to get to the point, after all this the solution is simple (but not so simple to find!!!). You just need to add three small lines to the FS2000.cfg file:

(Just do a find for this file in windows, and then open it in a program such as notepad)

Anywhere in that large config file, just put these three lines and then re-save the file....

[SOUND]
Channels=1
Samplespersec=11025

And hopefully, that should sort it out - you can now play it with the joystick, nice smooth sound, and not have to buy a new soundcard!

Well it worked for me...

cheers,
Jetset

[spannersatcx]

Squeakmail, hope what Jetset Willy says works, sounds good to me. Funny how you can find these things that microsoft don't know!!!
Jetset Willy, I remember you from my Commodore 64 days, what a great game, or is that nothing to do with it whatsoever!

[squeakmail]

Thanks again guys...you seem as agitated as I do.

I've written down all your words of wisdom...will try to get in to see if I can find any answers.

Unfortunately (?) I have to fly aeroplanes tomorrow - so it's an early night and no computers till Thursday evening.

Don't give up hope.

[squeakmail]

Does this count as progress?

I got back from my flying..plucked up the courage..searched out the files and added the three lines of text that Jet-Set told me about.

Now I have a joystick that gives me pitch and roll - and one fire button for the brakes. Congratulations to Jet-set.

However, this means that I have managed to bring the $140 (£85) Microsoft joystick up to the level of the $10 (£6) joystick that I was using before - without any problems.

I then found a file "sbw9xup.exe" on the Creative Labs page - supposed to be new Windows95/98 drivers for the card.

Downloaded it...and lost it somewhere in the machine (again). Doesn't seem to ahve made any difference.

[clownfish]

This probably wont help, but I had a problem at one stage with my force feedback sidewinder and soundblaster. All I did was uninstall the sidewinder software, remove the soundcard using the device manager, and then reinstall the sidewinder software and let the computer find the soundcard on the next boot up. Check the MS site for the latest sidewinder driver as well.

[squeakmail]

Well...we move forward.

In a fit of pique I uninstalled FlightSim...for a different reason (scenery snags). Then reinstalled it.

Now, I seem to have full joystick control - although Control Panel still says "No Power" and will not calibrate. No sign of force feedback though.

This means we have advanced to pitch, roll and ten fire buttons -oh, and throttle.

Now can somebody tell me....why didn't I think of looking at the MS site for updated joystick drivers? Good one, clownfish.

[Ironguts]

Squeak Mate

You have serious problems!

Sorry in the delay, but nose to the grindstone etc etc.

If you have various CODECS showing up in your device manager's entry for your sound card you do not have a genuine Creative Labs sound card! - I suggest you get on the case ( heavily! ) of the crowd that sold you the computer ( or Sound card ) esp if they said it was a " Sound Blaster Compatible". If they insist it is, get them, at their cost to get the joystick working! If they won't, shout loudly in the shop with other potential customers around about "the trade descriptions act" etc etc - make sure they have a lot of people in the shop when you do it - and do not pay a cent ( sorry, I'm an antipodean, penny for them to fix it!!!)

I've been keeping an eye on the computer post's on PPrune and I can't belive the probs the probs the boy's are having.
I'm ging to find out a good spec system that will run FS2000 & FS2000 Pro and post the results.

Regards


Ironguts

[Flying Banana]

Had much the same problem recently but with a interact force feedback wheel.

It wouldnt even recognise it was connected and the game played but with no picture and garbled sound.

A friend who is a programmer got the latest drivers off the creative site and also updated the drivers for the graphics card and accelerator and hey presto it works.

Check out the sites for all the hardware in your computer(If you look in the DirectX folder fire up the DxDiagexe file and it will tell you most of what you have)

Uninstall the joystick,update all the drivers you can find, including the joystick and see if that improves things.

If you are still haveing probs drop me an email and i'll pass it on to my mate and see if he can shed any light on it for you

[Flying Banana]

Had much the same problem recently but with a interact force feedback wheel.

It wouldnt even recognise it was connected and the game played but with no picture and garbled sound.

A friend who is a programmer got the latest drivers off the creative site and also updated the drivers for the graphics card and accelerator and hey presto it works.

Check out the sites for all the hardware in your computer(If you look in the DirectX folder fire up the DxDiagexe file and it will tell you most of what you have)

Uninstall the joystick,update all the drivers you can find, including the joystick and see if that improves things.

If you are still haveing probs drop me an email and i'll pass it on to my mate and see if he can shed any light on it for you

[squeakmail]

Sorted it!!

Now works properly.

For those of you who care - which is probably only me - I had an hour long conversation with MicroSoft....then went out and bought a new sound card...a SoundBlaster "PCI 128" for $60 (£40).

Now, works like a dream. Seems the three year old soundblaster that I was using would not handle sufficient MIDI components to power the stick correctly.

The move, by the way, was forced upon me by having a CDRom burner fitted to the machine in addition to the original CDRom reader....and the old soundcard could not handle two audio inputs.

Thanks to all who offered their help. Thankyou.

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LIVE in peace...or REST in it!