Need to unplug/plug-in rudder pedals

[billhuntsman 0]

I got a new computer a few months ago with Vista64. Most my FS peripherals work fine except for a small issue with the CH rudder pedals. Frequently when I start FSX the rudder pedals are not recognized. However, if I unplug the USB and plug it back in they work just fine. I have recently upgraded to Win7 and the problem is still there. Does anybody have any ideas how I can fix this problem of having to uplug/plug-in the rudder USB every FS session? Thanks.Bill

[Guest jahman]

1. Try different USB portsIf that doesn't work, try:2. Clean-up your orphaned USB device installations with the "USBDeview" utility from NirSoft at:http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/usb_devices_view.html (and the USB ID's file at: http://www.linux-usb.org/usb.ids so you can better ID your connected devices.)3. Use that utility to delete all your CH Products USB entries4. Go Into the CH Control Manager, clcik the "Test Calibrate" button and then "Rescan".5. Don't forget to re-calibrate all your CH devices.Cheers,-jahman.

[billhuntsman 0]

Thanks for your suggestions. The thing is, I don't think I have any CH drivers installed. When I plugged the pedals into the new computer they were recognized by some Windows driver, so I didn't go any further. Do you think it would be useful to go to the CH website and try to download drivers?Bill

[Guest jahman]

Strictly speaking the CH hardware uses standard windows HID drivers, so what I was referring-to was the assignments windows makes between drivers, USB hardware and the actual USB ports that hardware is plugged-into, so that after you repeatedly plug gear into different ports while testing/debugging you will then see a slew of orphaned hardware-driver-port assignments that will remain until deleted.In any case I would recommend you install the CH Control Manager (these are not drivers rather hardware management, configuration, *calibration*) that you should definitely install. See: http://www.chproducts.com/retail/tech_control_manager.htmlCheers,- jahman.

[Bob Church 0]

Hi jahman,If I might interject....Installing the Control Manager and running it in direct mode does indeed change the drivers. If you don't use a map, it's essentially transparent. There are a few changes with the Eclipse Yoke and you need to reassign one of the levers on Yoke USB. It uses the original ordering which put the R axis in the 4th position (as did FS). When FS switched to using the HID nomenclature (X, Y, Z, XRot, YRot, ZRot), they followed the HID recommendation that the rudders be ZRot which put them in the 6th position. It makes sense, but it can't really be changed. FS is probably the most common sim out there, and is free to do that, but the CM can't since it has to work with any sim and a lot of them still look for the rudder in the 4th position so the ordering is X, Y, Z, ZRot, YRot, XRot. An FS reassignment will fix it up, but it can be a little confusion. Installing the Control Manager is a good idea, it gives you calibration of Rudder Center, the additional gan and sensitivity settings, etc. but it doesn't really change the way things work with FS except for the XRot/ZRot swap and it's entirely compatible with FSUIPC. They aren't even aware of each other.Also, when you rescan, I would try it without removing the devices first. Rescan asks Windows to give it back any CH devices that Windows has taken control of and so just that should normally pick the pedals up. If you delete first and then rescan, then it's going to get all the CH devices back and there's a pretty good chance that FS will see it as a controller change and "Reset Defaults". Rescan alone shouldn't move the exisiting devices and the defaults are usually fine for pedals. MS changes the way it goes through detection from version to version so I can't really guarantee that it will avoid it, but you're less likely to have to reassign things on all the controllers if you only rescan. If it doesn't work, you can always go back to delete and rescan but I'd think just rescan would cause less trouble since it will leave the controllers it has in their current positions and FS won't do the reset.Anyway, some suggestions that may simplify things for whatever they're worth.Best regards,- BobThe StickWorkshttp://www.stickworks.com

[billhuntsman 0]

Hi Bob,Thanks for your comments. I haven't yet used the USBDeview due to nervousness about screwing something up. I'm a little puzzled by your reference to "rescan". All I see in the website talks about being able to choose "remove". If I remove a USB device, unplug and then plug it back in will it recognize the device again? Is this what you mean by rescan?Bill

[Bob Church 0]

Hi Bill,>> Thanks for your comments. I haven't yet used the USBDeview due to nervousness about screwing something up. I'm a little puzzled by your reference to "rescan". All I see in the website talks about being able to choose "remove". If I remove a USB device, unplug and then plug it back in will it recognize the device again? Is this what you mean by rescan? <<Sorry, I should have explained that a little bit more clearly. If you install the Control Manager, it needs to be calibrated using the Control Manager Calibration Applet. Normally you click the "Test/Calibrate" button on the main screen, the first dialog you see is a list of the controllers that the Control Manager has control over. CH Devices that are plugged in and don't show up there are those that, for whatever reason, Windows has given that control back to the standard Windows drivers. In the later versions of the Control Manager, there's a small button in the lower-left corner of that list dialog labelled "Rescan". It requests Windows to run through the list of the CH devices the standard Windows drivers have control over and to give that control back if it's one that the Control Manager supports. I haven't ever really tested it, but since it only asks for Windows only to check for incorrectly assigned devices, those that Windows is holding on to that should be going to the Control Manager, I would think that it would be less likely to disturb the rest of the configuration. If you delete the controllers first, FS is going to "Reset Defaults" on all of them and any custom assignments you've made will be lost on any CH controller you have plugged in. Using the Control Manager Rescan would (hopefully) end in a "Reset Defaults" being applied only to the pedals. You'd still probably want them back, "Rescan" should do that for you, but you would only need to redo the FS assignments for the pedals that way, not all of the CH controllers.Anyway, I just thought it was worth a try. If it doesn't work, the "delete first" option is always available. It's difficult to control the Reset Defaults. I've seen it happen to multiple controllers just because you hotplugged one controller, then it frequently does it again at the first Windows restart after that when it picks things up in their normal boot order. That happens with or without the Control Manager, really. If you restart Windows after you plug or install any controller, you should do a Windows restart before you make any reassignments in FS. That stabilizes the order and minimizes the chance that you'll need to reassign the next time you restart Windows.Hope this helps!Best regards,- BobThe StickWorkshttp://www.stickworks.com

[Guest jahman]

If you restart Windows after you plug or install any controller, you should do a Windows restart before you make any reassignments in FS. That stabilizes the order and minimizes the chance that you'll need to reassign the next time you restart Windows.

That is exactly why I gave up un assigning hardware in FSX and instead do *all* assignments in FSUIPC.Cheers,-jahman.

[Bob Church 0]

Hi Jahman,>> That is exactly why I gave up un assigning hardware in FSX and instead do *all* assignments in FSUIPC. <<Yup. A lot of people do for that same reason and it works very well, either with just Windows or with the Control Manager installed but no map running. The thing with the config file has been a pain since FS5 at least. I can't recall how FS4 and earlier did it, I don't recall them having that many control options, but it's been a long time.Best regards,- BobThe StickWorkshttp://www.stickworks.com

[Guest jahman]

As you guessed, I use Control Manager (with no Map running) for:1. Calibration, and...2. Setting a reverse zone on my throttle quadrant (you wouldn't be-lieve how long it took me to figure-out this one... :-)Cheers,- jahman