Is my TrackIR3-Pro starting to die on me?

[LWulffe_Dumbo]

I can't remember exactly when I purchased my TrackIR3-Pro...it was shortly before TrackIR4 with vector expansion came out. A couple of years old, maybe?

Anyway, it's always worked great for me until recently. In the past month or two, I've been encountering problems where I'll turn it on and hop into one of my flight sims...only to find it's not working. The green light is on...but no joy. My PAUSE hotkey works...but the CENTER and PRECISION hotkeys are useless.

When I back out of my sim and hop into my TrackIR3 profile (I only use one, btw...the default Combat Flight sim profile that came with the unit...no tweaks whatsoever), I see that it's not tracking at all. The only way to fix it is to completely back out of the TrackIR software, unplug my TrackIR from the computer, wait a few seconds, and then plug it back in.

I'm having to do this almost every time I want to fly now, and it's getting annoying to say the least.

Is my unit dying on me...or is there something I can do?

Although I can't recall the exact version of the software drivers I'm using, they're not that old. I downloaded NaturalPoint's latest version when I built my new rig back in March. And, no, this problem didn't crop until recently.

Thanks in advance for any help!

[VincentG]

Have you tried the device on another system?

Are you plugging in directly to the system, or are you using a hub?

Have you tried isolating the device on the USB ports?

Have you tried turn off any kind of power save feature for your USB ports?

In the "Device Manager" you can right click the "USB Hub"(s), that show, and then select properties. On the power management tab, uncheck the box that allows the computer to turn off the USB port to save power (i.e. uncheck the box). Sometimes that has an impact on the connectivity of the devices.

[LWulffe_Dumbo]

Hi, Vincent. Thanks for trying to help. Sorry for taking so long to get back to this forum.

Have you tried the device on another system?

No other system available.

Are you plugging in directly to the system, or are you using a hub?

Directly into the system.

Have you tried isolating the device on the USB ports?

Not sure I understand your question. Are you telling me to try different ports--e.g., switching my joystick and TrackIR ports?

Have you tried turn off any kind of power save feature for your USB ports?

I did this about a month ago after seeing your response to Thunderbolt56 on this forum, hoping it would solve the problem. No joy.


By no means is this the end of the world, and it certainly doesn't warrant buying a new unit. It's just a minor hassle. Now, every time I fire up my TrackIR, I open up all the gauges to make sure it's tracking properly before I fire up one of my flight sims. If it's not tracking properly, I back out of the TrackIR program...crawl under my desk...un-plug the TrackIR...wait 5 seconds...plug it back in.

[VincentG]

Couple of things to look at -

1 - Make sure you have the latest motherboard bios installed

2 - You can try an external USB hub, that has it's own power supply.

[Vespar]

I have the exact problem you are describing. Did you ever find out what was causing this?

[VincentG]

Usually, it can come down to a USB power issue......

[Vespar]

Just happened just now, the 3 dots are moving around on the tracking windows and work correctly. But when I select under view...Heads the head doesnt move, f12 dont center.

Have to unplug the trackir 3 from USB port to get it working again. Its never done this before started happening with the newest software. Is there some place I can download older versions to test with?

UPDATE...
This time I just exited the TrackIR software and started it again, without unplugging the device from the USB port and it corrected itself.

Vespar

[VincentG]

Remove the TrackIR software by doing the following:
a. Click "Start"
b. Click on the "Control Panel"
c. Click "Add/Remove Programs"
d. Find "TrackIR" and click "Change/Remove"
e. Once launched it will give the option to completely remove it.
f. Delete the NaturalPoint folder at the following location, C:\Program Files\NaturalPoint
g. Download and reinstall the software from the following location,
http://www.naturalpoint.com/trackir/06- ... nuals.html