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Author Topic: need some help making my U-HID work  (Read 4314 times)

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JoeStrout

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need some help making my U-HID work
« on: August 19, 2015, 07:37:44 pm »
I've finally wired up my U-HID to my controls, booted up the Windows box, downloaded the latest uhid-config utility, assigned some buttons to act like keys, and... it doesn't work.  Hoping somebody can spot what I've done wrong.

Here's the wiring on the back of the control panel:


Basically we've got one various-colored wire going to the one (normally open) terminal of each switch, and then a ground daisy-chain going to the top terminal of each switch.  I've verified with a multimeter that my ground daisy-chain really does link all the way from the first to the last.

Here's a close-up of the cable (with the sheath pulled back) attached to the U-HID, so you can verify that the black wire is connecting to the ground pin, etc.


Finally, here's a picture of the U-Hid config utility... (Skanky I know, but I don't know how to take a Windows screenshot and wouldn't have a quick way to get it over to my Mac for posting anyway.)



You can see that I have the selected pin set to send Key (yes, the radio buttons come AFTER the label, confusing but true) 4, going down normally on down, and clearing on up.  The other pins in that row were connected similarly to keys 1-3.  I cilcked Apply after each one, which according to the manual, immediately sends the configuration to the board.

Then I quit the configuration utility, fired up Notepad, pressed the buttons and... nothing.  I expected to see numbers 1-4 appear as if I'd pressed real keyboard keys, but nope, nada, zilch.

The other four switches (connected to the joystick) I configured as gamepad hatswitch inputs.  The manual suggested I could test those by running the "Configure Game Devices" control panel.  But no gamepads show up there at all.  The only device listed is my G27 racing wheel.

I know the U-Hid is physically plugged into the computer because it's receiving power (green light on).  But other than that, I can't tell it's even there.  I don't know if the "Boards available: None." message is normal.  Also, when I relaunched the utility after quitting it, with the board still plugged in, all my configuration settings were gone; I rather expected it to download them from the board.  But I don't know whether that's normal either.  (I do understand that you can save and restore your config in a file, which I did.)

Any idea what I'm missing here?


Paul Olson

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Re: need some help making my U-HID work
« Reply #1 on: August 20, 2015, 07:13:11 pm »
The boards available: None is not normal.  If you just bought your board (or bought it in the last few years, for that matter), it should not be version 1.0, so it looks like the software is not reading the version number from the board. Try unplugging the board and plugging it back in to see if it is recognized. Does it show up in device manager?

I know it says that it is saved to the board every time, and I can't remember the exact name of the menu item, but in the drop down menu, there is an option to program the encoder. It has been a while, but I think I did that every time. The board needs to be recognized before that will work though.

Email Andy at Ultimarc, and he can help you out.


JoeStrout

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Re: need some help making my U-HID work
« Reply #2 on: August 20, 2015, 07:22:40 pm »
Yeah, I wrote to Andy, and he seems to be scratching his head over it as we speak.  He also pointed out that the green light on, and the "boards available: None" indicate that the board is not being recognized by the PC.

Does anyone know if this app is compatible with Windows 8?  And, is there any sort of driver I should have installed?

dmckean

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Re: need some help making my U-HID work
« Reply #3 on: August 20, 2015, 07:47:50 pm »
Hook it up to another PC (or two) and see if you get the same thing.

JoeStrout

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Re: need some help making my U-HID work
« Reply #4 on: August 21, 2015, 01:13:35 am »
Man, I wish I could -- but there are no other Windows PCs in the house (or office).

JoeStrout

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Re: need some help making my U-HID work
« Reply #5 on: August 21, 2015, 12:05:04 pm »
OK, it turns out that apparently that U-HID board was simply bad.  I ordered two of them back in 2012, for reasons I no longer remember, but I'm sure glad I did!  The other board shows the correct signs: when plugged in, the U-HID config software says "Boards available: 1" and the green light on the board comes on briefly and then goes out (which Andy says is correct behavior).

I'm still having trouble getting it to actually emulate a keyboard or gamepad... but I'm pursuing that with Andy now, and feeling cautiously optimistic that this will turn out to be user error.

GeoMan

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Re: need some help making my U-HID work
« Reply #6 on: August 22, 2015, 05:30:52 am »
Did you try a Firmware update from the Uhid utility?

I once had a board which appeared dead, but after the firmware update came back to life! I guess the original firmware was corrupted somehow and the board didn't show up at all initially...


JoeStrout

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Re: need some help making my U-HID work
« Reply #7 on: August 22, 2015, 10:05:25 am »
Did you try a Firmware update from the Uhid utility?

I once had a board which appeared dead, but after the firmware update came back to life! I guess the original firmware was corrupted somehow and the board didn't show up at all initially...

Andy just sent me the firmware this morning... but when I follow the documented steps to reset the board and launch the updater, the updater reports "No device detected, or upgrade complete."

We're starting to suspect that the problem is USB 3.0.  Apparently he's had some other reports of problems with USB 3.0 ports, but this is a pretty new PC, and I'm almost certain that all its ports are 3.0 rather than 2.0.  In any case, I certainly get the same results on all ports.

Sigh... I wish technology would just work.   :-[

Wired203

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Re: need some help making my U-HID work
« Reply #8 on: August 22, 2015, 12:56:05 pm »
Your PC's bios will usually let you downgrade your usb 3.0 ports to 2.0 if you check.

JoeStrout

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Re: need some help making my U-HID work
« Reply #9 on: August 22, 2015, 05:42:50 pm »
We no longer thing USB 3.0 was the culprit.  After running U-Config as administrator, I was able to upgrade the firmware to 1.36.  And now the U-HID is working (hooray!).  I still have one button that seems a bit flaky, but that must be in the wiring, because when I connect the two pins more directly it generates the expected key right away.  So, that one's my fault, and I'll get to the bottom of it.

Props go to Andy for helping me through this difficulty.  I hope to be a strong advocate of the U-HID someday, but for now I've just moved back from "throw it out and hack a gamepad instead" to "cautiously optmistic". ;)

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Re: need some help making my U-HID work
« Reply #10 on: August 22, 2015, 05:57:26 pm »
We no longer thing USB 3.0 was the culprit.  After running U-Config as administrator, I was able to upgrade the firmware to 1.36.  And now the U-HID is working (hooray!).  I still have one button that seems a bit flaky, but that must be in the wiring, because when I connect the two pins more directly it generates the expected key right away.  So, that one's my fault, and I'll get to the bottom of it.

Props go to Andy for helping me through this difficulty.  I hope to be a strong advocate of the U-HID someday, but for now I've just moved back from "throw it out and hack a gamepad instead" to "cautiously optmistic". ;)

Glad you got it working, and Andy is awesome, but I still think the I-Pac is a million times better than hacking a gamepad for arcade cabs.
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