Hotrod (or other controls) going tits-up?

[Stein]

hmm... my hotrod has worked flawlessly on my computer for well over a year, suddenly it seems like it's going haywire, the hotrod test utility no longer works and some of the hotrods keystrokes are doubled up or even tripled or worse when pressing only one button once.

Funny how it exactly coincided with the latest installation of DirectX 9a.... I can't belive it's DXs fault, seems unprobable.

But I've torn my hair out for 2 days now trying to fix the problem with no luck...

Has anyone had a similiar experience? Or even if you have a Hotrod and the new DX and 'know' this isn't the case, that would be helpful too

Stein

[Minwah]

Not sure why the test program has stopped working (I never really used it).

But getting 2 or 3 (or even more) keystrokes when hitting a button/stick direction once is common, or even normal.  My HotRod has always done it, and I believe this is just the way they are.  I even programmed a part into my FE to try and combat 'double-jumping' when moving through the game list.

I believe this 'problem' is just a characteristic of the keyboard encoder used.  It doesn't have any bad effects when playing games in my experience.

I don't think DX would affect the HotRod...

[J_K_M_A_N]

I don't have a hotrod but when my cp was giving 2-3 keypresses per press I found out after much testing that the cherry switches were wearing out. I put new ones in and everything works great again. Don't know if this is the problem for you and I know it doesn't have anything to do with the programming but it might help the multiple key presses. Good luck.

J_K_M_A_N

[Stein]

thanks guys, Minwah, I know for sure that the hotrod is NOT supposed to work like this, I've never seen the problem before and I've used my hotrod LOTS.

JK that's funny, I thought the same thing... it sure seems like the cherry switches are wearing out, I pulled about a half dozen and swapped places and opened them up and checked out the insides... they seem perfect, and still brand new.  In fact I switched buttons that weren't working right (switches and all) with my trackball controler, the 'bad' switches work fine in the trackball and the old TB switches give me the same problem in the Hotrod  

[Distortion]

aren't cherry switches supposed to last a REALLY long time?

[Minwah]

I personally don't like Cherry microswitches...I've had one or two that click, but don't actually make a contact until you press them slightly more.  This can be a pain (especially in joysticks) because you have to move some directions more than others.  Also, some of them seem to click & make contact, and then if you press them more it looses the contact.  I can't explain why either of these things happen (doesn't seem logical), but it does.  Perhaps I've just had some dodgy ones.

The microswitches may well be the cause of the problem, but all I'm saying is that my HotRod has *always* given ~1-4 keypresses (and I've had mine >18 months and have also used it LOTS).  Many other HotRod users I've communicated with have experienced exactly the same thing.  I was a little confused as to why this happened when I first got mine.

The mystery is why yours didn't used to do it...

[Auntie MAME]

Don't Hotrods use Happ controls?  If that is the case, wouldn't anyone using Happ buttons have the same problem?  Could the problem be the Hotrod keyboard encoder?

[Stein]

AM, yeah they use Happ controls. and your theory would be correct  I swear.... what Minwah says seems to be exactly it... but, you know it can't be as everyone here would be up in arms over bad cherry microswitches   so... a flaky keyboard encoder designed for ps2 use only, and it's a few years old now. What bothers me is I just had it working great with my athlon system for over a year straight of heavy gaming. Then a few weeks back problems. I should probly try running system restore.

or the ultimate fix, replace the encoder with a proper new one and add a 4way stick, scrap the whole hotrod and build a case to match my tb

still, would like to figure it out.... I'll try some other computers to see how it behaves on those.

[StephenH]

1) Try Uninstalling DirectX 9, if you can and if that fixes the problem, it is related to DirectX 9.

2) Try adjusting the "Key Repeat" settings in windows.  This sometimes fixes hotrod problems.   It is possible that DirectX could have reset some windows settings.

3) If you are still having problems, I would try testing on another computer.  If that computer does not work, it could be a problem with the HotRod itself.

[Minwah]

Stein:  Does your HotRod cause you problems when actually playing (say MAME)??  If so, then I'd say maybe something's gone wrong...I have *never* had gameplay problems with my HotRod apart from when microswitches have gone bad.

But try what StephenH just said - hope you sort it out...