My weird rudders.

[Rich46yo]

This is the second set of Saitek rudders Ive had like this, well the last pair just crapped out on me. But this one only works when I plug it into the USB port of a keyboard I dont like to use. I have two USB Hubs, both of which work perfectly for every USB device I have, and I have about 8. I was able to get the rudders to work on one hub but then it stopped and I had to go back to plugging it into the keyboard, which I had to dig out of the closet. The rudders dont work plugged directly into my computer, tho every other device does. Its driving me buts and I dont want to put more money into gaming right now.

By "work" I mean showing up in start window and windows recognizing them. For some odd reason they only do so when plugged into one particular keyboard. Weird eh?

[Bizman]

One possibility is that you've had a gazillion of USB devices connected in various ports. Each time you plug one into a different port, it will create a new installation port. You can delete the nonpresent devices with this simple batch file I've published several times:

Copy the following lines to a Notepad file, rename it to "yourchoice.bat" (without quotes), right click and run as an administrator. When the Device Manager opens, choose Show/Show hidden devices. Every device that is not connected will show grey and you should be quite safe to remove them.

@echo off
devmgr_show_nonpresent_device s=1
start devmgmt.msc

At least remove every Saitek rudder and their relevant HID device instances, and of course every Unknown device. You might also like to delete every formerly used antivirus related virtual machine from the Non plug and play section.

Not sure if that helps, but it certainly won't do any harm.

[Skuzzy]

Actually, it sounds like you are exceeding the power draw of the USB hubs you have installed.  The USB bus can only deliver 'X' amount of power before it crow bars (resets and shuts down).

[Rich46yo]

Actually, it sounds like you are exceeding the power draw of the USB hubs you have installed.  The USB bus can only deliver 'X' amount of power before it crow bars (resets and shuts down).

I thought of that to. Even testing it by taking off everything on the Hubs except the rudders. Even removing the Hubs and attaching the rudders directly to the box. No good.

So yesterday I tried using an extra Hub and only putting the rudders on them. I went thru 5 of the 7 USB slots on the Hub until I finally found a slot that would recognize the rudders. For now they are working and I dont have to use that POS keyboard.

Like i said, "weird".

[Bizman]

I'm not sure, but based on the fact that a device gets reinstalled every time it is connected to a new port (which often is offered as a remedy for badly behaving USB devices) I think that there might be a "not working" tab for your gear in several USB ports. So I repeat my previous recommendation to remove all nonpresent devices in the Device Manager.

[Rich46yo]

Thanks Biz. I had tried it yesterday.

[Bizman]

Thanks Biz. I had tried it yesterday.

Oh... Did you remove all greyed instances or just those saying Saitek? I mean, the pedals may show in multiple instances, under HID, USB and what not. In your place I'd detach the pedals and all hubs, then remove all grey devices. The only ones I don't dare to remove are in the Sound, video and game controllers section. The Microsoft thingies look like they might natively belong to Windows. If you remove something necessary from an intact Windows installation, the next boot should bring it back. Relatively safe, I should say.

Oh, and yet another hint: After cleaning up select the "Power Management" tab for each USB Root Hub and uncheck the box titled "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power." Do the same for each HID device where applicable.

[Rich46yo]

Well its stable now on the extra Hub I had , " I now have 3 Hubs". Thats the way it goes. It stay's stable for weeks or even months and then gets stubborn again to where it will only work off the one old keyboard. Like I said, "weird". Thanks for the help tho Biz.

[Bizman]

No problem at all. Actually, in a twisted way of looking, you've helped me: Pushing you towards cleaning your non-present devices made me think about my own precious rig. I think cleaning thirty or so hard disks and their equivalent HID and USB markings didn't hurt.

[ink]

One possibility is that you've had a gazillion of USB devices connected in various ports. Each time you plug one into a different port, it will create a new installation port. You can delete the nonpresent devices with this simple batch file I've published several times:

Copy the following lines to a Notepad file, rename it to "yourchoice.bat" (without quotes), right click and run as an administrator. When the Device Manager opens, choose Show/Show hidden devices. Every device that is not connected will show grey and you should be quite safe to remove them.

@echo off
devmgr_show_nonpresent_device s=1
start devmgmt.msc

At least remove every Saitek rudder and their relevant HID device instances, and of course every Unknown device. You might also like to delete every formerly used antivirus related virtual machine from the Non plug and play section.

Not sure if that helps, but it certainly won't do any harm.

hey man...I am trying to do what you suggest but I get no "run as administrator"

windows7

any clue?

[Chalenge]

Sounds like you don't have an extension of ".bat" so probably you have extensions off for known file types?

[Bizman]

Sounds like you don't have an extension of ".bat" so probably you have extensions off for known file types?

Or, when you saved the file as "yourchoice.bat", did you also change the "Save as type" dropdown menu below the file name from "Text Document (*.txt)" to "All files"? If you didn't and you have the known file type extensions hidden, the real name would be "yourchoice.bat.txt". Actually the icon should tell you: A *.txt icon looks like a piece of paper with a folded corner, a *.bat icon has a gear in it. You can't run files, only open them, that's why you won't find a "run as administrator" in the right-click menu of a .txt file.

The picture below is from http://fastricks.blogspot.fi/2010/07/how-to-create-batch-filebat-in-notepad.html, a nice little tutorial of making a batch file from a copy-pasteable piece of code.

[Chalenge]

Same meaning, but I think you did a great job making it clearer.

[ink]

cc that got it to work...but none are greyed out.

 

[Bizman]

After getting to the Device Manager with the batch, did you click Show hidden devices in the Show menu?

@Chalenge: Thanks for the compliment.