Cameras not recognising properly on Intel Z170 chipset

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aprince
Posts: 1
Joined: Thu Oct 15, 2015 1:00 am

Cameras not recognising properly on Intel Z170 chipset

Post by aprince »

We sell a product that uses the OptiTrack library with 4x V100R2:FLEX cameras to provide a head tracking solution, which deployed globally to our customers.

We are trying to test a new system on the ASUS Z170-M PLUS MicroATX motherboard (based in the Intel Z170 Chispet for "Skylake" CPUs), and are having problems with the Tracking Tools library using this motherboard.

We are having major problems getting this to recognise the cameras via USB, and the Tracking Tools license check (which verifies against one of the connected cameras) is failing because it cannot detect the camera.
Some cameras with no LCD display, some with random combination of segments lit (no recognisable number).

Our current system is using an Asus Sabretooth Z97 Mark 2 motherboard (based on Intel Z97 chipset for "Broadwell" CPUs), but have been forced to move to a new motherboard as our supplier is not longer able to obtain any of these motherboards.

We have previously had seen some very infrequent issues with the Z97, but the incidence was so low (and seemed to fix itself after a reboot) that it did not warrant further investigation.
We go for months and months (and hundreds, if not thousands of reboots) without seeing any problems of this kind on the older Z97 board.

With the new Z170 board, we are getting failure to validate the license on more than 50% of system reboots, which is unacceptable in our situations.

We are suspecting it has something to do with the USB on the motherboard.
The Z97 had dedicated controllers for both eHCI and xHCI, and we had disabled the xHCI controller (that provides USB3.0 support) on the Z97 because of the incompatibilities reported with NaturalPoint cameras (as mentioned in this Knowledge Base article http://help.naturalpoint.com/kb/article ... 3-0-issues), and exclusively used USB2.0 ports provided by the eHCI controller.

The new Z170 motherboard only has an xHCI controller, from which it provides 6x USB2.0/1.1 ports, and 6x USB3.0/2.0 ports, and we cannot disable the USB3 completely.

All four cameras are connected to a single D-Link DUB-H7 7Port Active Hub, which is in turn connected to the computer via a passive 5m USB extension cable.
We are using the USB2.0/1.1 specific ports on the Z170 board.

We also have a different test platform, which we have separate licenses for the newer Motive software (and the hardware license dongle).

Trying the new system on this rig as well, while it is able to see the hardware dongle (and verify the license), the Motive library has similar problems with cameras not being detected.

We have also tried installing a Sunix USB4414N PCI Express USB 2.0 Expansion card, but this didn't event enumerate the cameras via USB.

We have ordered some cards from other manufacturers, but they have not yet arrived.
Given that most new motherboards coming out are using xHCI exclusively for their USB support, we need a solution that we can successfully use the cameras with a new system based on the Z170 chipset.
We already have the latest USB and Chipset drivers installed.

We are using Tracking Tools v2.2.0 Final on the first test platform.
We are using Motive v1.0.2 on the second test platform.

I have already raised a support ticket for this as well, but thought I would post on here in case anyone has any ideas.
NaturalPoint-Dustin
Posts: 609
Joined: Tue Mar 19, 2013 5:03 pm

Re: Cameras not recognising properly on Intel Z170 chipset

Post by NaturalPoint-Dustin »

Thanks for the detailed post. I will keep this forum post open but work with you via the support ticket you submitted.
Dustin
Technical Support Engineer
OptiTrack | TrackIR | SmartNav
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