Saitek Display not Working - Windows 8.1 Power Management

[ab-tools]

Yes, that's exactly the behavior I had with the Multi Panel, too - display only minimal lid and no text visible:
this was solved by applying the change with my tool as well.

So very good that it worked for you, too.

[thedazman]

I was getting exactly the same symptoms with my setup. The motherboard just couldn't power all my panels. Fixed when I added quality powered USB hubs. I had the same problem with some cheap ebay hubs too. I know some people have tried new hubs without much luck. I still have SPAD complain at me for moving my BIP and it never changes ports or hubs. PC's seam to have a mind of their own. Good luck getting to the bottom of this for those who still suffer USB issues.

Daren

[fppilot]

Andreas,
I have a new issue now. I am not aware of this problem before running the small .exe file, but am also not certain the problem did not exist.

When I end FSX and get back to my Windows 10 desktop, when I unplug the USB cable to either my Cessna Pro Flight Yoke or the cable to my Multipanel, my mouse goes bye bye. The mouse pointer moves freely, but the buttons and scroll wheel do not perform. If I make a number of unsuccessful mouse clicks I eventually begin to get audible beeps from all additional mouse clicks, likely because a buffer has been filled. The keyboard functions and I am able at that point to access via the Windows key the Start menu where I can attempt to shut down or restart the system. But although Windows proceeds to shut down, it never completes the action and I am eventually forced to hold down my CPU power switch until it shuts down.

As far as USB cabled devices this is only happening with the two Saitek devices mentioned above. I have tested by also connecting a USB Wacoom graphics editing tablet, a Garmin GPS, and an iPad, and then disconnecting them. None of them cause the same issue.

[midnitecwby]

I am using Windows 10 with the multi panel, switch panel, yoke and 2 throttle quadrants and everything is working fine. What I do is plug the 2 throttle quadrants into the yoke, (one of them you have to) and then the yoke into a usb 3.0 in the front of my tower. Then I plug the multi panel and switch panel into 2 of my usb's in the back of my tower. I did the same thing when I had windows 7 running. Hope this helps

[ab-tools]

Hello fppilot,

I also remember having such an USB behavior longer time ago, but not related to any Saitek devices. No idea what causes this, but after (forced) restart everything worked fine for me again.

But all your Saitek devices are connected to an active USB hub (not directly to the computer), right?

@midnitecwby:
interesting that it works for you when you connect the yoke to an USB 3.0 port. For me no Saitek device works on USB 3.0 at all.

Best regards
Andreas

[fppilot]

But all your Saitek devices are connected to an active USB hub (not directly to the computer), right?

Not correct. My two Saitek devices are connected direct to USB 2.0 ports on the computer.

[ab-tools]

Hello fppilot,

could it be possible that it's additional a power draw problem in that case?
I remember that I had this symptomatic (basically Windows almost crashing and even don't want to shutdown) some time ago when much power (from different devices) was drawn from the mainboard USB ports. I think it was an ASUS mainboard at that time which just "crashed" when too much USB power was used...

Maybe should try to use an active USB 2.0 hub instead just for testing (or excluding this reason) in case this issue still persists for you.

Best regards
Andreas

[thedazman]

don't fry your motherboard, overloading with all these panels, external power will fix most (not all) USB issues except it creates this one....

I now find you have to either keep your USB hubs powered or make sure you turn on the hub power BEFORE booting the computer and turn off the hubs AFTER shutting the computer down. If at any time the hubs are not mains powered when the PC is on the motherboard will try and power them and in my case only manages to power 1/2 my FIP's and stops the FIP driver loading on the next PC bootup. Meaning you have to physically disconnect and re-boot the FIP's to get the driver working again.

I've learned to live with that process and don't have any further problems. I'm going to replace my hub's USB cable with one having the power pin disconnected so the PC will NEVER be able to power the hardware. Then if I was to turn on the hubs power while the PC was already on all the devices would boot together and the FIP driver works properly.

Daren

[ab-tools]

Hello Daren,

that's a good idea (also had the problem already that I forgot to power the hubs before starting the PC):
do you get such USB cables "without power" out of the box or do you solder one yourself?

Andreas

[thedazman]

you can make them yourself. I couldn't find any ready made, but I did come across a fly lead (small extn cable) with an in line switch which just cuts the power wire and spotted these on ebay, although they were about £10 each.

Daren