Loz

If this was predominately an Air to Air sim, then I can see that the greater vertical expanse offered by the monitors in Portrait would be an advantage, but for a "mud mover" I personally think that the wider view of landscape is better.

Thanks Topdog They finally responded with an apology for taking so long, and instruction on how to boot the joystick to it's "Bulk" configuration, also sent a firmware reading program for me to send back the results if it didn't install. They included a very handy .pdf showing the whole proceedure but it still didn't work even though I tried it on my laptop. (they advised me to try installing on a different pc.) So I've sent off the firmware program result plus .jpg of the error. I await further news

5 days now and still had nothing but automated receipt of my emails to Thrustmaster Technical Support. I am NOT impressed. :(

Best of luck. Nice reviews. Thanks

Sorry but couldn't reply sooner as my ISP has been down for 36 hours and counting. (Luckily my wife has a 3G USB modem that's allowed me to get on and update.) No reply from Thrustmaster Customer support as yet. As someone else has put it, I have a £350 lump of useless metal sat on my desk.

No it's OK hassata, thanks for the help but yes I have tried in my Laptop using the updater with exactly the same result.

@Gadroc Thanks but I think I've tried just about all my USB connections already. It seems to have worked for a lot of guys with a similar problem, but not on mine. I'm pretty hopeful that something will be sorted out soon but all I've had from TM Support so far, has been the auto receipt of my pleas for help. Does anyone have a listing for the faults on the Updater. They show a link to a .pdf but it's blank??

Yes you do have to "flash" the stick. This has already been released on SimHQ so I'll repeat here: If you plug it in with the Trigger and S2 button pressed (or with the handle removed) it becomes visible to the OS and the Firmware Updater program, but unlike the Cougar (which if I remember correctly was shown as a basic Joystick) this comes up as a weird breed called "Thrustmaster HOTAS WARTHOG Joystick Bulk" which I believe is a placeholder type device recognised by the OS but unuseable as a joystick. My firmware update program sees this (calls it "(BOOT) Hotas Warthog Joystick - Firmware: 65535) but fails when it attempts to load. I suspected the Firmware Upadater but it installed the Throttle update without any problem??

I've tried again with the Joystick attached to the MB, with it showing in the Device manager as Joystick Bulk and in the program itself as "(BOOT) Hotas Warthog Joystick - Firmware:65535" Running the Updater in Administrator mode, still fails but with the difference that the "2. Main Firmware" progress bar completes once to 100%, then runs a second time and fails with the same "ERROR: bulk write error. (Code:0x0000000D)"

I've tried it Mainboard USB but still no luck.

Yes I've got that version of Target Teej.

Hassata please check your PMs I do have the Cougar installed but just tried without it with no change. Trying the Joystick in another PC (laptop) comes up with the same result. It looks for drivers for a "HOTAS Joystick Bootloader" and when I run the firmware update it gives the same error.

I have contacted Tech support and await there response. I have been told how to reset the Joystick but unlike the Cougar which I think put you back to a factory setup, this leaves you with the Joystick as a "Thrustmaster HOTAS WARTHOG Joystick Bulk" which is mentioned in the Update instructions. But now after downloading three times, installing three times, I think for some reason, that the install program is the culprit as it gives the same error ever time. The trace log details from the last two attempts are below

Thanks Swift. I'm now downloading for the third time the .exe for the drivers/firmware update, but I'm not confident. I'll post the trace.log when I have had another go.

And you must realise that if you install this firmware update when everything is working fine (ie: you don't need it) then you stand the risk of disabling your Joystick like I and at least one other (just in this forum) has done to theirs. Oh and thanks for your help in trying to get my Joystick working again..........NOT!

You were lucky it reset as mine on the Joystick didn't and still refuses to work. BE WARNED IF YOU DON'T NEED THIS IT'S BEST AVOIDED. (sorry for shouting but it's something to be aware of as this seems to have failed for two people so far)

I wouldn't think that it would be noticeable as you are only increasing the horizontal resolution from 5760 to approx 6052 (in my case but that number depends on how you set up the bezel compensation in the CCC) Give it a go, as it's pretty easy to set up.

Thanks for the suggestions guys. So I did as you suggested, the firmware updater sees it but it still fails with "ERROR: bulk write error. (Code:0x0000000D)" ????

Nice setup similar to mine. I would recommend that you use the Bezel Management in the Catalsyst setup, then you will get a seamless blend between the different monitors without the cockpit frame repeating itself over the join.

That's what I was thinking. There used to be one on the Cougar Joystick, holding in the trigger when plugging in. I've tried that and it did nothing. :joystick:

Here is detail from that tm_fwupdate_trace.log [sTART SESSION] 16:28:22.545 Tuesday December 7, 2010 +00:00.000 Thrustmaster Firmware Updater (2.1.8.0) +00:00.000 GUI size detection: 0 +00:00.000 GUI size after constraint: 0 +00:00.156 Initialization completed. +00:16.193 Application will terminate. [END SESSION] ---SMCH- But I think that might be recording subsequent attempts to install it, or even the successful Throttle firmware update that I have done after the abortive Joystick try. I've tried all the "rebooting, unplugg/plugging it back in, trying the software again" All no good.

If it's not broke then don't fix it .......DOH Well I followed all the instructions listed above to the letter, and at 75% on the Joystick update it failed. Now I have a Joystick that isn't recognised as one. Where do I go from here, please. It is seen by the system and calls itself "Thrustmaster HOTAS WARTHOG Joystick Bulk" but does not show as a game controller, visible to either Windows or Target Device Analyzer HELP>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> :joystick:

Try this. I had a similar problem and although I was registered as Admin in the User Account I still needed to right click and select "run as administrator" for it to work. This in Windows 7. Had no such probs in Vista.

I've added a copy of my Monitor Setup .lua to my post above for those that want to try this setup.

Tell me about it. LOL I think I've done it so many times now that I don't need to look at any guide. I know it off by heart. :lol: