U360 stopped working :(

[LeedsFan]

I have a two player control panel with 2x U360s. Everything was working fine yesterday.... now when I plug my CP into my laptop Im contantly getting an error message "USB device not recognized". I go into Ultramap software to scan for sticks and it does not detect it (yet the Player 2 stick is fine)

I tried plugging in the player two stick into the USB port player 1 was plugged into and its fine. If I unplug player 1 stick and replug it back in I can actually see it being detected in Windows joystick controllers (along with the player 2 stick). It's even called "Ultimarc Ultrastik Player 1". So Windows is not rejecting it at this point.

However it's not working in test section of Windows (but player 2 stick does). Then when I go scan in Ultramap software it just disappears from the Windows controller list and then XP tells me it does not recognize the USB device.  I been at this for hours now and really can't fathom out the problem. Like I say yesterday everything was working fine.   

[LeedsFan]

Well I seem to have found the problem.... though solving it is another issue. When I plugged the CP into my laptop today I was using an external monitor for the first time (through VGA port). The laptop resides in the CP you see to make an "arcade in a box" sort of thing.

I just tried shutting the laptop down and then powering back up using only the laptop screen. This time I got both U360's working together right away! So I shut down again, reconnected my external monitor and tried again. No dice! Again player 1 stick not recognized at all.

How can using an external monitor cause roblems with USB device? It's quite worrying really 'cos if I can't use an external monitor then the whole project is a waste. 

[drventure]

Maybe a power load issue? Sounds very strange.

One thing you might try is to hook your USB devices up to a POWERED hub and hook that up to the laptop. then connect the extern monitor.

[LeedsFan]

Maybe a power load issue? Sounds very strange.

One thing you might try is to hook your USB devices up to a POWERED hub and hook that up to the laptop. then connect the extern monitor.

The problem is that I still get the error even if the Player 1 stick is plugged directly into the laptop with all other USB devices unplugged. So the USB hub is not even plugged in. 

[severdhed]

i think what he is getting at is that not all USB is created equal..some devices draw more power than others....a powered USB hub will often provide more power to a usb device than the built in usb port on the laptop...

[LeedsFan]

i think what he is getting at is that not all USB is created equal..some devices draw more power than others....a powered USB hub will often provide more power to a usb device than the built in usb port on the laptop...

Yes I understand that. But the device works when I use the native LCD screen on the laptop (after unplugging the VGA external). You mean the VGA port can affect USB power? I suppose I can only try a powered hub and see if that makes a difference. 

[drventure]

Exactly. I'd be the last to say that the VGA port would effect the USB port, but... It's a laptop, and they tend to have lots of odd powersave type features....

[LeedsFan]

Well it turned out to be a power issue. I bought a powered 7 port hub and everything worked great. The thing that really threw me was that it all worked in non-powered hub before plugging into the VGA port.... and also I used a powered hub from a friend and that didn't work either. But the power supply wasn't originally supplied with my friend's hub so maybe that wasn't supplying enough power? Not "matched"?

Anyway... it's all sorted now. Thanks for the help guys!