USB dieing in flight

[Sancho]

I seem to be losing aircraft control 10-15 minutes into a flight.  My joystick doesn't respond, nor does my mouse... both are USB.  When I alt-tab back into windows, the mouse is dead.  Any ideas?

Win2k Sp2 on Abit KT7A 1.4ghz K7, usb hub in monitor where my saitek and mouse are plugged in, directly plugged into usb port on back of pc.

[bloom25]

Are your USB hub and mouse both sharing IRQ 12?  That's about the only thing I can think of right offhand.

You might also try downloading and installing the USB filter drivers from www.viahardware.com.  (Check whether or not you have IRQ conflicts first.)

[funkedup]

This might be worth looking at:  http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q240/0/75.ASP

[SOB]

Is your second USB port free?  If so, maybe you should plug one the joystick into that port, and leave the mouse through the monitor.  In case it's some sort of power issue (although I doubt the mouse and joystick draw all that much power)...might be worth a try.


SOB

[batdog]

SImple test.... get rid of mouse w/USB and use a traditional one... and see if you lose your stick again.

 xBAT

[Eagler]

http://www.viahardware.com/faq/ka7/ka7faq.htm

sounds like your USB controller is sharing (not to well) it's IRQ with whatever is in the PCI slot that is in common with it. Dunno much about WIn2k as IRQ assigning goes. What I've read, it sounds like a pain. For me, I'll stay with Win98 for my game box at home & keep Win2K at work.

In the ABIT KT7, IRQs are shared by the following devices:

"INT Pin 1": AGP card and PCI Slot 1
"INT Pin 2": PCI Slot 2 and PCI Slot 3 and ACPI (if enabled)
"INT Pin 3": PCI Slot 5 (and HPT370 controller in KT7-RAID)
"INT Pin 4": PCI Slot 4 and PCI Slot 6 and USB

what's in slot 4 or 6? They are sharing ur USB IRQ..

[ 08-08-2001: Message edited by: Eagler ]

[Sancho]

This is wierd...
 
Both USB controllers are on IRQ 11.  USB mouse doesn't appear to use an IRQ, nor does the HUB or stick.  My sound card also appears to be using IRQ 11.  It is plugged into the 5th PCI slot (or 6th slot counting down from the AGP slot).

Now this is wierd.  I tried underclocking the CPU to 1250 (12.5x100) and the problem disappeared completely.  Is this a heat issue or IRQ issue???

Curiously, the machine isn't locking up at 1400 MHz (133x10.5).  USB just stops working!  I can use the keyboard to quit Aces High and shut down the PC properly.  I'll have to try plugging the hub into the second USB port to see if that works at 1400.

Maybe I need a small heatsink for my USB controller.    

<edit> The secondary USB controller locks up too.  I can't seem to run any faster than 133x9.5 and have USB work.  It ran fine for an hour at 133x9.0.  I can run at 112x12.5 (1.4GHz) with no problems.

[ 08-08-2001: Message edited by: Sancho ]

[Eagler]

Sancho
heck, didn't know you were overclocking. Not an oc'er here. Running my 1.3 at 1.3 - boring but stable & fast enough for me  

[Sancho]

Eagler, I'm UNDERCLOCKING!!    It's a 1.4 GHz Athlon.  I think this is more a motherboard config (IRQ conflict), RAM (can't handle 133 MHz bus?), or heat issue with some chip on the motherboard--like the USB controller.  The PC seems to run fine at 1.4 with 133 MHz bus... just without USB.  The PC hasn't locked up or rebooted itself or done anything else wierd.

[ 08-08-2001: Message edited by: Sancho ]

[bloom25]

I seem to have misread your original post.  I see the mouse and stick are both USB.  I suppose the easy solution would be to borrow a PS/2 mouse and use it to see if it solves the problem.

Your soundcard sharing an interupt with the USB hub can certainly cause problems as well.  I doubt the CPU clock speed has an effect here, but there is one possibility in this area.  That possibility is that you have turned up your PCI bus speed beyond 33 Mhz, which can/does often result in oddities.  I would recommend making sure that you are at or around 33 mhz.  I would also get your soundcard to a different interupt (usually IRQ 5 is used for soundcards).