Aces High Bulletin Board

General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: Urchin on April 07, 2006, 03:06:37 PM

Title: Man I got crap luck...
Post by: Urchin on April 07, 2006, 03:06:37 PM
Bought an X45 off Ebay, hesitantly... after I looked everywhere else first.

It was only $40 after shipping, which was good.  

So it finally gets here in the mail, packaged very nicely, bubble wrap and everything...  I tear it out of the bubblewrap, all the hat switches and buttons click when they move, just like a new joystick.  

Plug it in, d/l drivers.. go to calibrate it..

The damn joystick is broke, it sticks like crazy moving left, and flops like a noodle going right.

Figures.  

Thought maybe some folks (Mav) might be having a bad day, and could use some cheering up.  Anxiously awaiting the lecture on how I deserved it, and should take personally responsibility for this sweetheart ripping me off.
Title: Man I got crap luck...
Post by: ASTAC on April 07, 2006, 03:09:55 PM
X45's are crap anyway..I have 2 thinking that maybe the 1st was just a fluke (no one would sell a controller this bad) and the 2nd is just as bad..I think I may be able to get one good one out of the two...I just haven't had time to pull em apart yet.
Title: Man I got crap luck...
Post by: BlueJ1 on April 07, 2006, 03:22:45 PM
Sidewinder Force Feddback 2.
Title: Man I got crap luck...
Post by: Bronk on April 07, 2006, 03:28:01 PM
I just went from X-45 to X52... X-52 is much smoooooooooother. Feels like my old Sidewinder precision pro 2 with more movement. See if you can get a referb from saitek.


Bronk
Title: Man I got crap luck...
Post by: Urchin on April 07, 2006, 03:31:03 PM
Actually been on hold with Saitek for 90 minutes, want to see if I can ship it to them and have em fix it.  I don't want a twisty stick, or I'd get the X52.
Title: Man I got crap luck...
Post by: Urchin on April 07, 2006, 03:34:38 PM
Well, just got through, and the guy didn't know lol.  Said he'd have to check with someone and call back.  I guess they do 3rd party tech support... it kinda sucks IMO.
Title: Man I got crap luck...
Post by: Debonair on April 07, 2006, 03:55:44 PM
you'll get rich in the fertilizer or toilet business maybe
Title: Man I got crap luck...
Post by: Bronk on April 07, 2006, 04:04:21 PM
Quote
Originally posted by Urchin
Actually been on hold with Saitek for 90 minutes, want to see if I can ship it to them and have em fix it.  I don't want a twisty stick, or I'd get the X52.


Urchin do you have a soundcard with a gameport? If you do you can pick up old ch pro ped for about $20. They work fine with xp except no toe brakes.

This is what i use with my X-52.


Bronk
Title: Man I got crap luck...
Post by: Eagler on April 07, 2006, 05:06:45 PM
I've had good luck emailing Saitek support in the past - not sure what they can do for a used stick ...

used to be able to get refurbed X45's from the saitek site for about $40.
http://store.yahoo.com/saitekusa/recprod.html

I have had an X45 since they came out - it replaced my 2nd or 3rd X36. I get the service plan for $11 and get a brand new X45 once a year. Think those days are numbered though and will be forced to use the X52 again ..
Title: Man I got crap luck...
Post by: Ripsnort on April 07, 2006, 08:58:05 PM
Sorry to hear that Urchin. :(

Regarding the title of your post, from my only personal experience I've discovered that 99% of my own bad luck was due to my piss poor planning.
Title: Man I got crap luck...
Post by: Chairboy on April 07, 2006, 09:05:08 PM
I hear ya, I had an X-45 fail the exact same way.  I didn't want to deal with support (they already sent me a replacement last year, very cool company) so I unloaded it on ebay earlier this week so I could get an X-52.
Title: Man I got crap luck...
Post by: Urchin on April 07, 2006, 09:10:08 PM
Quote
Originally posted by Chairboy
I hear ya, I had an X-45 fail the exact same way.  I didn't want to deal with support (they already sent me a replacement last year, very cool company) so I unloaded it on ebay earlier this week so I could get an X-52.


*edited out*
Title: Man I got crap luck...
Post by: rabbidrabbit on April 07, 2006, 09:11:45 PM
Quote
Originally posted by Chairboy
I hear ya, I had an X-45 fail the exact same way.  I didn't want to deal with support (they already sent me a replacement last year, very cool company) so I unloaded it on ebay earlier this week so I could get an X-52.



You too?

What I don't get is why you paid 40 for an Ebay deal when for the same price you can get it from the company itself with warranty.  

here's ur sign..:D
Title: Man I got crap luck...
Post by: Chairboy on April 07, 2006, 09:12:52 PM
Quote
Originally posted by Urchin
(removed)
(I was just joking about selling broken stick, the implication was that he had purchased mine, there was a miscommunication)

For the record, my X-45 is still working great, though I've heard good things about the follow up joysticks (even if they look like they were salvaged from crashed UFOs).

edit: all is well, nothin to see here
Title: Man I got crap luck...
Post by: Urchin on April 07, 2006, 09:14:06 PM
It is the wierdest thing... the stick is worthless.  

However, the throttle works OK, when it is hooked up to the broken stick.

When I take the new throttle and hook it up to my mostly functional stick, the stick stops working.  My throttle broke, so if I could use the new throttle with the old stick I'd still be OK.  But the new throttle only works with the new broken stick, not with my old stick.

Actually, whats really wierd is if I play with the plug on the new throttle, I can sometimes get some parts of it working.  For example, when the plug isn't screwed in but it is about halfway connected, the rudder works, as long as the throttle is at half or below (physically)... but once you tighten up the connection everything dies.  

The buttons are all lit up, but as far as the computer is concerned there isnt a stick attached.
Title: Man I got crap luck...
Post by: Urchin on April 07, 2006, 09:15:31 PM
Quote
Originally posted by rabbidrabbit
You too?

What I don't get is why you paid 40 for an Ebay deal when for the same price you can get it from the company itself with warranty.  

here's ur sign..:D


You *can't* get it from the company at that price, they no longer carry refurbished X-45's, according to the guy I talked to.  They still have the link up on their site, but they are permanently out of stock.
Title: Man I got crap luck...
Post by: Urchin on April 07, 2006, 09:22:13 PM
Actually, scratch that problem.

Actually it looks like the problem is once the throttle goes past half (physically) everything shuts down.  If the throttle stays below half, everything works fine.

How the heck do I fix it?
Title: Man I got crap luck...
Post by: Chairboy on April 07, 2006, 09:25:49 PM
Is it plugged into a hub or directly into a USB port?  Could this be a power issue?

BTW, what was with the 'dishonest' comment?
Title: Man I got crap luck...
Post by: Urchin on April 07, 2006, 09:28:34 PM
It is plugged into a USB port... I've got 2 on the front and 4 on the back.

I've tried em all, same behaviour in each.  

The dishonest comment was me being a dick.

I'm sorry I said it, and I'll edit it out.
Title: Man I got crap luck...
Post by: Chairboy on April 07, 2006, 09:36:17 PM
No worries, I edited mine too.  If it's not covered by warranty, maybe you might consider pulling it apart and testing the potentiometer for the throttle?  Maybe there's an obvious short that's being triggered when it's pushed past halfway, or some other internal failure that would show up with an ohmeter?
Title: Man I got crap luck...
Post by: Urchin on April 07, 2006, 09:37:02 PM
Well, it just went from bad to OMFG worse.

Now the computer won't boot up... I was playing around with the stick and all of a sudden noticed that the screen had locked up.  

Held in the power button to turn it off, turned it back on, got a "disk read error" on boot.

I'm going to drive down to VA and beat the everloving **** out of this sweetheart if his ****ing hadrware fragged my computer.
Title: Man I got crap luck...
Post by: Chairboy on April 07, 2006, 09:38:09 PM
(http://www.inpulseresponse.com/common/Exclamation%20Point.jpg)
Title: Man I got crap luck...
Post by: Urchin on April 07, 2006, 09:54:20 PM
Well, something is well and definately fried.

With my normal HDD in, I get "disk read error".  

With an old HDD I had laying around, an IDE one, I get past that to a screen that says "we are sorry, Windows did not boot up properly, how do you want to boot up"?

I pick last known good configuration, it gets to the windows loading screen and then it reboots itself.
Title: Man I got crap luck...
Post by: Urchin on April 07, 2006, 10:17:49 PM
Pick safe mode with command prompt, it reboots itself at

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\Windows\System32\drivers\Mup.sys

Any idea what is wrong?  Two different problems?  One friend HDD and just some random problem with my old HDD (which worked alright, I just got a new one to put in my new computer).

I'm real pissed, I'm about tired of taking **** and getting ripped off and laying back and asking politely for another.  If this ******* fried my computer, I'm either driving to VA and stomping the **** out of his face, or suing him for a few thousand dollars.
Title: Man I got crap luck...
Post by: Urchin on April 07, 2006, 10:28:37 PM
And now I took the normal HDD and put it back in... and it booted up alright.

It came to windows log in screen and said the registry got corrupted and had gone to a backup copy.  So now I'm running a virus scan and adaware scan.

I don't know what the hell happened.
Title: some funny ****
Post by: moot on April 08, 2006, 05:29:38 AM
:lol
Shame I couldn't hear it happen over vox.
Title: Man I got crap luck...
Post by: lazs2 on April 08, 2006, 10:09:16 AM
ch stuff is worth the money.

lazs
Title: Man I got crap luck...
Post by: FUNKED1 on April 08, 2006, 11:58:24 AM
You deserved it, and should take personal responsibility, not for getting ripped off, but for buying a Sh_tek in the first place.
Title: Man I got crap luck...
Post by: lazs2 on April 08, 2006, 12:11:38 PM
well.... there is that of course..

lazs
Title: Man I got crap luck...
Post by: DREDIOCK on April 08, 2006, 04:59:24 PM
Quote
Originally posted by Chairboy
I hear ya, I had an X-45 fail the exact same way.  I didn't want to deal with support (they already sent me a replacement last year, very cool company) so I unloaded it on ebay earlier this week so I could get an X-52.



ahhh therein is your problem.

Remember. Joysticks are like women and cars.
Never unload the old one untill you already have the new one;)
Title: Man I got crap luck...
Post by: rabbidrabbit on April 08, 2006, 05:53:46 PM
girlfriends are great! everyone should have a couple.
Title: Man I got crap luck...
Post by: eilif on April 09, 2006, 12:10:35 PM
chances are with a little tinkering you can fix it yourself, i built my current joystick out of a few older ones, i took the insides of 2 old top gun tm sticks and put them into the x fighter stick, and put it on a tm flcs base since the springs on the x fighter are insanely stiff. Im not sure what they use these days but if you can get joysticks that use analog potentiometers you can customize the heck out of em and replace parts when needed. I have the best joystick i could ever buy now since i built it just for myself, and it cost about 15 dollars. I got one of those game port to usb adaptors and its got no spiking like you often get with gameport.
Title: Man I got crap luck...
Post by: DREDIOCK on April 09, 2006, 12:32:42 PM
Quote
Originally posted by eilif
chances are with a little tinkering you can fix it yourself, i built my current joystick out of a few older ones, i took the insides of 2 old top gun tm sticks and put them into the x fighter stick, and put it on a tm flcs base since the springs on the x fighter are insanely stiff. Im not sure what they use these days but if you can get joysticks that use analog potentiometers you can customize the heck out of em and replace parts when needed. I have the best joystick i could ever buy now since i built it just for myself, and it cost about 15 dollars. I got one of those game port to usb adaptors and its got no spiking like you often get with gameport.


LMAO I do the same thing with the same stick, only I still use the XFighter base.
Managed to unintentionally break that stiff spring so not its not so stiff but does bind up every once in a while.
but typically whenever I ned parts I buy a top gun stick for a few dollars and cannibalize it. Only thing that sucks is I Still only have a 4 way hatswitch.
but other then that I like it cause it fints my hand perfectly neither being too small like alot of the sticks out there now nor too big with the buttons spread too far apart like the newer TM & CH sticks which would be fine if I held my stick low and between my legs. but my stick is up slightly and on my desk. Which makes that reach somewhat uncomfortable if not problematic.

And the button layout is EXACTLY where I want them.

Where did you get the gameport to usb adapter? I havent been able to find one anywhere?

I was thinking of making a mold of this stick itself and using it as a base in  trying  designto make my own stick with newer parts from newer sticks. there are some features the newer sticks have I like. they just dont have them where I would want them.
Title: Man I got crap luck...
Post by: eilif on April 09, 2006, 01:24:27 PM
Hehe and i thought i was the only one sick enogh to do this kinda stuff :aok

 I found a game port to usb adaptor while in radio shack for 9 dollars, tho i think it was marked 19 dollars and the clerk ran it up wrong :lol  

Its worth buying! I had trouble with that old game port because it was so stinken spikey and i had to re-calibrate it every time i turned on my computer, this usb adaptor smoothed it out somehow and hasnt let me down yet.

One thing i know we dont have in common is our throttle system, i took the tm flcs throttle apart and re built it, now it has 8 potentiometers on it and 23 buttons.  

I have the old tm pedals too, must be about 15 years old now, i run the joystick and the pedals through the adaptor, and just use the game port plugs for the throttle since its mainly for trim and other secondary controls.
Title: Man I got crap luck...
Post by: Urchin on April 09, 2006, 02:13:24 PM
The problem I have now is I have an incompatible joystick and throttle.  

The joystick the crook sold me on Ebay is broken (literally) but the throttle works fine.  The joystick I had works alright (it'd get back to flawless if I replaced the hat switch) but the throttle is broken.

They don't work together though.  The new joystick is broken mechanically, not electronically, and I don't know how to fix it.
Title: Man I got crap luck...
Post by: SOB on April 09, 2006, 02:48:40 PM
I never did like the X-Fighter spring system much - always felt really spongey to me, but I definitely liked the full sized B8 handle.

I bought the Cougar, but even after upgrading the mechanics inside, it still didn't feel as good as my good ole F22 Pro.  The hat switches in the Cougar were all perfect though, so I pulled 'em from the Cougar stick and throttle and installed them in my F22 Pro and F16 TQS that are upgraded with the Stickworks Digital Chips... perfection!  :)  I'm also still using the original TM RCS, and have modded it with a better potentiometer that I picked up from Radio Shack.
Title: Man I got crap luck...
Post by: Gunslinger on April 09, 2006, 05:10:53 PM
Quote
Originally posted by Urchin
The problem I have now is I have an incompatible joystick and throttle.  

The joystick the crook sold me on Ebay is broken (literally) but the throttle works fine.  The joystick I had works alright (it'd get back to flawless if I replaced the hat switch) but the throttle is broken.

They don't work together though.  The new joystick is broken mechanically, not electronically, and I don't know how to fix it.


Did you contact the seller on Ebay?  Was it a "FINAL SALE" or did it say it worked in the description.  You could at least TRY and get your money back from EBAY.
Title: Man I got crap luck...
Post by: Debonair on April 09, 2006, 05:21:04 PM
I got a CH products yoke & rudder & I dont like them at all, but i forked up the $ for them so I stick with it
Title: Man I got crap luck...
Post by: Urchin on April 09, 2006, 05:54:36 PM
Quote
Originally posted by Gunslinger
Did you contact the seller on Ebay?  Was it a "FINAL SALE" or did it say it worked in the description.  You could at least TRY and get your money back from EBAY.



Yea, the guy said it "worked great" in the description, but he isn't giving me a refund.  I did the complaint thing, but even then I only paid $29 + $10 shipping, so I'll only get $4 from Ebay.
Title: Man I got crap luck...
Post by: Gunslinger on April 09, 2006, 06:31:09 PM
Quote
Originally posted by Urchin
Yea, the guy said it "worked great" in the description, but he isn't giving me a refund.  I did the complaint thing, but even then I only paid $29 + $10 shipping, so I'll only get $4 from Ebay.


did you leave Feedback allready.  If not I'd recommend leaving negative feedback.  That usually does wonders for opening up a seller to negotiations.
Title: Man I got crap luck...
Post by: Urchin on April 09, 2006, 06:47:41 PM
I did already, so he left me negative feedback for leaving him negative feedback.  

I'm actually waiting to find out if I can maybe ship it to Saitek to have it fixed, I'm not holding my breath though.
Title: Man I got crap luck...
Post by: Gunslinger on April 09, 2006, 08:38:46 PM
Quote
Originally posted by Urchin
I did already, so he left me negative feedback for leaving him negative feedback.  

I'm actually waiting to find out if I can maybe ship it to Saitek to have it fixed, I'm not holding my breath though.


you can also challenge your feedback as well.  Keep in mind YOU are the one that recieved the item DOA.  Unless you majorly flamed him there's not much he can respond to.  At least put a counterpoint under it explaining why he gave it to you.