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I've had my Track IR3 Pro for three weeks now. All has worked perfectly, and I was just starting to get used to it.

Unfortunately, its not working now. The view stays frozen in one spot ( not where I'm looking ), then it will bounce around a few times and freeze in another spot.

The 'center' key and the ' disable' key only work after a 15 second delay. ( never thought I'd be using the disable key )

Over the past week, I've had numerous occasions where the green led wouldnt come on when the program was activated ( with my Track IR hat on ) and the software said I had no signal. I unplugged the unit and plugged it back in and it worked.

The tracking program works perfectly. The heads mirror my movement, all is well in the editing screens. The green dot in the tracking screen is centered and mirrors my movements perfectly. The 'center' key and 'disable' key work instantly in the editing program. ( out of game)

I am using this in IL-2 FB.

I am using this in a room with no overhead or desk mounted lights. The only illumination comes from the monitor and a light mounted under my desktop that washes over the keyboard.

I have tried re-booting my system...didnt work.

I have tried uninstalling the software and unplugging the track IR, then reinstalling the whole thing....didnt work.

From the number of posts here, looks like I'm not the only one with this problem.

Unfortunately, this isnt the first problem I've had. I was one of the lucky ones that received the smart nav disc disquised as the Track IR disc. That was an easy fix, d'load the drivers.

Hopefully, with all the problems, there should be enough data to come up with a solution for this. I hate to see $130.00 sitting on top of my monitor not being used.

Thanks for any help you can offer me.

Mike A.

[ February 19, 2005, 03:32 AM: Message edited by: Mike A. ]

Mike are you using a HOTAS?

If you are then I would suggest from TIR working when you are in the TIR screen but not ingame is a clasic USB overload.

There is a simple way to resolve the problem (most of the time) if you do have a HOTAS and TIR running from the same USB port even if it is through a HUB (powered or not).

Plug the TIR into a different port to the HOTAS.

Both are high data devices and together in one USB they will transmit more than the USB can handle and as joystics (unless told otherwise) have a higher priority over the TIR so it will look as if the TIR is malfunctioning.

Come back if the answer is no and I will try some other reasons why it might be behaving as it does.

Barred,

Yes, I am using CH combatstick USB, CH Pro Throttle USB and CH Rudder Pedals USB.

I understand about the USB overload, although I was under the impression ( maybe the mistaken impression) that a USB port could handle a huge volume of traffic.

This doesnt explain how it could all work for 2 weeks, same programs running, same applications, but now, for some reason it doesnt work?

Thanks for your reply and thanks for your help.

Mike

Barred,

Ok, you've had the same problem. Please tell me its fixed and you are now enjoying your TIR.

I have 4 USB ports, one for each device ( joystick, throttle, pedals and TIR ). Maybe I'm missing something here. If each device is plugged into its own port;

1.) why am I (possibly) having a conflict and

2.) why did it all work for 3 +/- weeks before deciding it didnt want to play nice?

BTW, not to go off topic, how do you like your couger? Quite a piece of construction. One of the most solid devices I've ever seen.

Thanks,

Mike

Mike I have TIR and Vector working as sweet as a nut, so it is possible to get it running.

Could you possably post a copy of your dxdiag.
(just incase) goto run and type 'dxdiag' (without the ' ') and once it has done i's thing run a full check and save to desktop and copy/past it here or pm me and I will give you my email.
If you know how to get e dxdiag sorry

Like you I did have it running for a while with both on the same USB (TIR was a bit jerly but I put that down to it being a TIR1 so it was normal.)
I updated XP so that it had USB2 and the TIR flipped out and behaved just like yours does.

This might help but no garentees

Unplug the TIR
run "Add/Remove Programs" and remove TIR
GOTO where the TIR directory is i.e C:\Programs\NaturalPoint and delet the directory.

If you are using the VIA chipset please run the lates driver (VIA can be a pain in the rear)

HAVE YOUR SYSTEM DISK FOR THE NEXT BIT.
Go into Hardware manager and find you USB and delete all the references and then the USB it self (there might be multiple ones)
Reboot.

There should be multip;e beeps as your hardware on USB is found.
Once that all has been done reinstall the lates TIR driver (prefably not into the same Dir just in case and it saves going into the regestry).
Plug in the TIR and it should be redirected.

Doing all of the above will clean out any possibly corrupt drivers for both TIR and USB
and reinstalling them might do the trick. Installing your TIR software will over write or redirct where your drivers are in your regestry, so it saves you going into your regestry and deleting the keys and hooks (not recomended if you do not know what you are doing.)

One of the above should fix your problem if not you know where I am (so to speak.)

Now for the OT bit/
The Cougar is worth the money if you are really into flight sims and want to build up your right arm.
The cougar is HEAVY at 16KG (about 34lb) that is the stick and throttle combined. Apart from the switches (which are totally different in quality compaired to the X-45 I use to have). The metal of the grip and throttle are smooth so there is no chance of catching your hands on someting sharp.

The throttle moves in an arc that is positive to muscle man depending on the friction you select for it. If you have some CH pedals (GamePort) then they plug into the back of the Cougar.

Oh did I mention that the springs are HEAVY about 9lb in strength!

Some rich peopple have had total mods of the gimbal for the stick modded or even swapped right out (I do not have the $600 that some have spent)

It looks sexy in a way that makes any plastic stick look cheap. (I have even used the HOTAS in MechWarrior 4)

Hopefully Mike some of the above is helpful if not please sing out.

Mike my Cougar/CH peddals/TIR all worked for a few weeks then I ran an update for XP and then Pffff I had exactly the same problems that you had.

To be honest I think that modern input devices like TIR and HOTAS were not even dreamed of when the USB standard was thought up and as for the 256 devices from one port, well I supose they could in theory if you had enough powered hubs and nothing accessing the devices.

In reality I can not see it being to long if high data devices like TIR and HOTAS were using the 'Firewire' ports.

Barred,

Wow, thats a lot of info you posted!

I feel like an idiot posting this......but I solved the problem ( for now ), I think.

I was using a profole that I created. I still dont know what went wrong, it was working just like I wanted, but whatever happened, happened. After reading your post and thinking about all that stuff to do, I got lazy and decided to load a different profile, to test the TIR.

I loaded the default combat flight profile and loaded IL-2 FB. Got into the game and wammo, it all worked. Was kind of fast for me, so I went back out and selected the dead zone option for the profile. Adjusted the smoothing a little and off to the races.

All has been working awesomely again! Thanks a million for all your suggestions, tips and help. Thanks for the time you took to try and get me going! You're "The Man" !

OT, I had a couger HOTAS. I sent it back . I didnt like how hard the springs were and didnt want to spend even more $ to mod it up. Still, a very impressive piece of hardware.

Thanks again!

Mike

Mike my pleasure, I am just glad you got it working. No you are not stupid, far from it, I asked a simular question when I first started and PC can be a nightmare if something is not working.

The main thing is ENJOY