WinWing MIP and Taurus

[TopGun2914]

I'm nearing my wits end with WinWing products. I purchased their F-18 HOTAS and controller products ($2500 worth) but have been having nothing but problems with the MIP and Super Taurus.

My Super Taurus disconnects after anywhere from 30 seconds to 5 minutes... and then shows up as an unknown device in Windows. When I uninstall the software and restart... it will connect again... and then it will disconnect as before. I have reinstalled all of their SimApp Pro software, updated all the firmware... done everything on their FAQ... and tried connecting the base on 4 different computers. All PC's experience the same intermittent disconnection issue. It all started when I purchased, and subsequently plugged in, the MIP hardware.

Since then, I've been going back and forth for 3 weeks with WinWing customer service, doing everything that they recommend... and trying to get the product warrantied (still in the warranty period). They're full of mostly useless ideas.

"Connect it direct to rear USB port."
"Update the firmware of the product."
"Oh, no... it can't be connected to the rear, it must be connected to a powered USB Hub."
"It actually needs to be USB 3.0 Port."
"Standby while our techs sort something out."
"Connect JUST the startup panel."
"Well the throttle needs to be plugged in as well or it won't work."

Any other recent experiences like this, or possible fixes? I've uninstalled device drivers and rebooted... adjusted power settings and disabled USB Suspend... I've deselected power saving options on specific USB drives... tried 3 different USB Hubs... I've even gone so far as reinstalling my entire Windows software from scratch. Nothing.

I feel like when the problem persists on 4 different PC's... it's not my software... but junky hardware. But! I'm open to trying anything, so I can get back up and flying again.
Ideas?!

[Mr_sukebe]

Do you have it connected to a powered USB3 hub that has plenty of power?

[TopGun2914]

Yeah. I have tried 3 different USB 3.0 Hubs, all with external power sources... and only the Startup Panel connected to them. It still disconnects. I've also tried it with a DC adapter hooked up directly to the panel, as it has an external plug in option. No joy.

Not sure what the power requirements of the panel are, or what the powered USB hubs offer... but it feels like there should be enough for a single USB controller. The same hubs will power the WinWing Throttle, Tek Multi Panel, WinWing Take Off Panel, Combat Panel, and 3x Cougar MFD's without issue.

I might be missing something... but I don't think it's a low power disconnect, unless there's a short somewhere in the panel.

[erniedaoage]

I don't have Winwing Products but i would recommend you plug in one device after the other to see which one will cause the trouble. Like start with one device and see if it works for 10 minutes or more then plugin the next device. If you start to run into troubles again, unplug all devices and start with the last one as first one and see if you got the same problem again. 

If it is the last device you plugged in and you still get problems with only one device attached it's maybe faulty. 

If you can repeat the process with a different order of the devices and you run into troubles after the 3th 4th or 5th device than maybe there could be a power problem.

[Av8tor]

In device manager under USB controllers just check each hub and device, look at power management tab on the top right. If any of these hubs or devices have a check in the box windows can switch off devices randomly as a power saving measure.

 

[BitMaster]

Maybe this can help.

If the devices get recognized by a modern Linux kernel, you could try booting a Linux Distro and see if the devices get properly recognized and STAY connected in Ubuntu, or Mint or SuSE, whatever you prefer as a distro.

SInce other Windows OS' may share the same USB flaws, it may pay to exclude HW from being faulty. If they stay connected properly in Linux ( or maybe even MacOS ) it is a Windows issue that you can hunt down and cure. If they get recognized but also fail to stay connected on other OS' it likely a HW error. If it happens across different HW and across different OS' itÄs likely a device issue.

But as I said, I have no idea if WinWing is supported in Linux or Mac World at all. Others may contribute their experiences.

 

edit*

as said above, crank up the power settings across the board.  USB settings in device manager as told above and also the whole PC, lift it to High-Performance Mode in Control Panel to eliminate any power savings playing a bad game on you.

Edited December 14, 2022 by BitMaster

[MustangSally]

On 12/11/2022 at 5:23 PM, TopGun2914 said:

I'm nearing my wits end with WinWing products. I purchased their F-18 HOTAS and controller products ($2500 worth) but have been having nothing but problems with the MIP and Super Taurus.

My Super Taurus disconnects after anywhere from 30 seconds to 5 minutes... and then shows up as an unknown device in Windows. When I uninstall the software and restart... it will connect again... and then it will disconnect as before. I have reinstalled all of their SimApp Pro software, updated all the firmware... done everything on their FAQ... and tried connecting the base on 4 different computers. All PC's experience the same intermittent disconnection issue. It all started when I purchased, and subsequently plugged in, the MIP hardware.

Since then, I've been going back and forth for 3 weeks with WinWing customer service, doing everything that they recommend... and trying to get the product warrantied (still in the warranty period). They're full of mostly useless ideas.

"Connect it direct to rear USB port."
"Update the firmware of the product."
"Oh, no... it can't be connected to the rear, it must be connected to a powered USB Hub."
"It actually needs to be USB 3.0 Port."
"Standby while our techs sort something out."
"Connect JUST the startup panel."
"Well the throttle needs to be plugged in as well or it won't work."

Any other recent experiences like this, or possible fixes? I've uninstalled device drivers and rebooted... adjusted power settings and disabled USB Suspend... I've deselected power saving options on specific USB drives... tried 3 different USB Hubs... I've even gone so far as reinstalling my entire Windows software from scratch. Nothing.

I feel like when the problem persists on 4 different PC's... it's not my software... but junky hardware. But! I'm open to trying anything, so I can get back up and flying again.
Ideas?!

Not junky hardware but a a USB power issue. I have the TG MIP, Taurus, Orion2, panels and collective with absolutely no issues.

Reinstall the Universal Serial Bus controllers driver (updated) on your main board and turn off the Power Saving Option for the USB driver

On 12/15/2022 at 6:08 AM, BitMaster said:

Maybe this can help.

If the devices get recognized by a modern Linux kernel, you could try booting a Linux Distro and see if the devices get properly recognized and STAY connected in Ubuntu, or Mint or SuSE, whatever you prefer as a distro.

SInce other Windows OS' may share the same USB flaws, it may pay to exclude HW from being faulty. If they stay connected properly in Linux ( or maybe even MacOS ) it is a Windows issue that you can hunt down and cure. If they get recognized but also fail to stay connected on other OS' it likely a HW error. If it happens across different HW and across different OS' itÄs likely a device issue.

But as I said, I have no idea if WinWing is supported in Linux or Mac World at all. Others may contribute their experiences.

 

edit*

as said above, crank up the power settings across the board.  USB settings in device manager as told above and also the whole PC, lift it to High-Performance Mode in Control Panel to eliminate any power savings playing a bad game on you.

 

Totally incompatible with MAC and Linux

Edited December 17, 2022 by MustangSally

[Padinn]

I'd check for a faulty USB cable as well. Maybe something came loose during the initial install. If it only happened after MIP I also wonder about available USB bandwidth.. 

[TopGun2914]

Been awhile, but a quick update:
The issue was resolved by getting a new startup panel. It cost me $200 to get one from WinWing, and over three weeks of back and forth... as well as fighting with them over warranty. Once I got the new panel, I connected it and it worked flawlessly. So, the issue was obviously hardware or firmware related.

In the end, it cost me several hours/days of time and effort as well as the monetary loss; I'm not sure if I saved anything, or just paid full price for the startup panel. The warranty clearly means very little, and I hope to never deal with WinWing again. But, I am relieved to be "flying" again. Still working on the MIP which is a different issue altogether, but that's another story.

[Gripen 4-1]

Knocking on wood that my winwing stuff works. Seems that they really have to learn how "customer care" works.  Their products are cool and innovative, but their service seems to be crap.

Edited January 10, 2023 by Gripen 4-1