Peripherals messed up when unplugged and replugged

[Masterius 15]

I've no idea why this happens, and I'm hoping there is an easier method of fixing it than what I've been doing.

I've quite a few flight sim peripherals plugged in, all Saitek/Logitech: Pro Flight Yoke w/throttle quadrant, X-52 Flight System (stick and throttle), Pro Flight Rudder pedals, Radio Panel, Switch panel, and five additional throttle quadrants. As long as I unplug and replug back to the same USB port, no problems. But if I change the plug/port...

Usually that isn't a problem, as long as it's just a single plug/port change. But if it's a multiple reassignment, things get ugly. In this instance, I disconnected all the peripherals--keyboard and mice included--in order to connect an additional powered USB hub, and to better utilize the desktop's USB ports, which are a single 2.0, three 3.0, and four 3.1 ports. Since Saitek doesn't seem to play nicely with 3.1 ports, and since external powered ports are always better when using devices that consume power--like the switch and radio panels--it took come creativity to connect everything.

Once I had, the same problem reared its ugly head: Five out of the six throttle quadrants no longer match their programmed functions. (The same thing happens with FSUIPC but, since I use joystick letter assignments, it's a very quick fix)

So, this time, Quadrant #2 (Q2) has the programming for Q5; Q5 for Q2; Q3 is now Q6; Q4 is Q3; Q6 for Q4.

I have been manually editing the config-hid.lua file to change things, but that's a rather laborious process and one easily prone to typographical/date entry errors. Is there a better means of changing this? And from it happening again?

[ScotFlieger 280]

LINDA will recognise devices of each type using a unique combination of the Vendor and Product codes (VID and PID) plus a unique digit from 0 to 9. For those devices with a manufacturer’s serial number, like USB cards, the serial number is also used. This works as you describe provided that the order devices are plugged in do not change. I only have the issue you describe with the 2 Saitek Throttle Quadrants I use. The best advice is don’t unplug devices.

You should also note that when devices are plugged into different ports the power management settings will be lost and have to be reapplied. This can have the effect of these devices appearing to stop working.

[Masterius 15]

1 hour ago, ScotFlieger said:

I only have the issue you describe with the 2 Saitek Throttle Quadrants I use.

Same here; it's only the Saitek Throttle Quadrants that get scrambled about.

1 hour ago, ScotFlieger said:

The best advice is don’t unplug devices.

That's pretty good advice, but not always possible to follow. Just as an example, deciding to use a powered USB hub after having been using direct-plugged equipment necessitates "being unplugged".

1 hour ago, ScotFlieger said:

You should also note that when devices are plugged into different ports the power management settings will be lost and have to be reapplied. This can have the effect of these devices appearing to stop working.

Thanks for that reminder! I'll need to double-check them again!

[Masterius 15]

Short of deleting every aircraft's assignments and starting over from scratch, how do I fix the scrambled assignments? Editing config-hid.lua in LINDA-CFG/System as I've done in the past isn't working this time.  

[ScotFlieger 280]

You need to edit the system config-hid.LUA file (in /Linda-cfg/system). First identify the current unique reference of the problem devices (eg. 044F00FE0) playing particular attention to the final digit. Then workout what the key assignments are for each of these devices. For example, which suffix belongs to the correct device.

Now edit the config-hid.LUA file changing the last digit to the correct one. Make sure there are no duplicates reference. Save the file and restart LINDA to check the changes are what you wanted.

Caution - the above changes will affect all aircraft. If you have already corrected one aircraft these will become corrupted. In this case you will need to edit that aircrafts config-hid.LUA file in the same way to reverse the changes.

Finally, don’t unplug and reorder devices. I have a USB Hub for my 2 throttle quadrants and other devices so that they always keep the same USB port.

[Masterius 15]

4 hours ago, ScotFlieger said:

You need to edit the system config-hid.LUA file (in /Linda-cfg/system). First identify the current unique reference of the problem devices (eg. 044F00FE0) playing particular attention to the final digit. Then workout what the key assignments are for each of these devices. For example, which suffix belongs to the correct device.

Now edit the config-hid.LUA file changing the last digit to the correct one. Make sure there are no duplicates reference. Save the file and restart LINDA to check the changes are what you wanted.

That's what I've done in the past but, for some reason, it's not working this time.

For example, and to make it easier, let's just look at two of the throttles.

*Examining LINDA-CFG/system/config-hid.lua I see that the throttles are identified as "06A30C2D0" and "06A30C2D1".

*Heading to an aircraft--in this example, the A2A B17--I then examine the LINDA-CFG/aircrafts/A2A B17/config-hid.lua of that aircraft, and find  -- ## Saitek Throttle ## (06A30C2D0) ## {NoSerNum} ############ and -- ## Saitek Throttle ## (06A30C2D1) ## {NoSerNum} ############. Examining the key assignments I see that 06A30C2D0 contains 06A30C2D1's assignments, and vice versa.

*Returning to LINDA-CFG/system/config-hid.lua, I change all instances of 06A30C2D0 to 06A30C2D1, and all instances of 06A30C2D1 to 06A30C2D0. 

*I save the file, then run LINDA.

And nothing changes: throttle #1 still shows throttle #2's assignments, and vice versa.

As an example, the following is the definition for one of the throttles:

J[5]={}
J[5][1]="06A30C2D0"
J[5][2]="Saitek Throttle"
J[5][3]="3"
J[5][4]="1"
J[5][5]="9"
J[5][6]="3"
J[5][7]="0"
J[5][8]="NoSerNum"

    JSTK["06A30C2D0"]={}
  JSTKrp["06A30C2D0"]={}
  JSTKrl["06A30C2D0"]={}

   JSTK2["06A30C2D0"]={}
 JSTK2rp["06A30C2D0"]={}
 JSTK2rl["06A30C2D0"]={}

   JSTK3["06A30C2D0"]={}
 JSTK3rp["06A30C2D0"]={}
 JSTK3rl["06A30C2D0"]={}

I change all 10 "06A30C2D0" to "06A30C2D1"

[Masterius 15]

I assume that the steps I've outlined above are correct, and thus should work?

Edited April 2, 2021 by Masterius