rec.autos.simulators

Strange soundcard joystick port and wheel problems

Ryan Mitchle

Strange soundcard joystick port and wheel problems

by Ryan Mitchle » Tue, 10 Mar 1998 04:00:00

Hi all

I have a SoundBlaster AWE64 Gold, and a Smith's Formula One Steering Wheel
(a South African product, for those who don't know). The wheel and pedals
form a standard 2-axis, 2-button joystick (the buttons map to shifter
buttons on the wheel). For a long time the wheel and pedals have been very
jittery in the Y-direction (i.e. the pedals' axis). When calibrating in
Control Panels' Game Controllers program, the cursor moves up-and-down
incessantly, and sometimes the program claims that the joystick is not
connected (this jitteriness is worst when braking, i.e. in the "negative"
range of the Y-axis). I get the same problem in DOS (using GP2).

The problem would be strange enough if it weren't for the fact that I have
had the wheel replaced once (before performing a more thorough test on the
old one), and the new wheel works perfectly with a friend's computer (with a
SoundBlaster 16). More recently, I have had my AWE 64 swapped out for a new
one, and the problem still persists. Could the wheel be incompatible with
one particular soundcard (the AWE 64) ? Surely not . . .

ANY assistance will be greatly appreciated !

Ryan

Chad McLeis

Strange soundcard joystick port and wheel problems

by Chad McLeis » Tue, 10 Mar 1998 04:00:00


> Hi all

> I have a SoundBlaster AWE64 Gold, and a Smith's Formula One Steering Wheel
> (a South African product, for those who don't know). The wheel and pedals
> form a standard 2-axis, 2-button joystick (the buttons map to shifter
> buttons on the wheel). For a long time the wheel and pedals have been very
> jittery in the Y-direction (i.e. the pedals' axis). When calibrating in
> Control Panels' Game Controllers program, the cursor moves up-and-down
> incessantly, and sometimes the program claims that the joystick is not
> connected (this jitteriness is worst when braking, i.e. in the "negative"
> range of the Y-axis). I get the same problem in DOS (using GP2).

> The problem would be strange enough if it weren't for the fact that I have
> had the wheel replaced once (before performing a more thorough test on the
> old one), and the new wheel works perfectly with a friend's computer (with a
> SoundBlaster 16). More recently, I have had my AWE 64 swapped out for a new
> one, and the problem still persists. Could the wheel be incompatible with
> one particular soundcard (the AWE 64) ? Surely not . . .

> ANY assistance will be greatly appreciated !

> Ryan

-------------------------------

How fast is your CPU/system? 486's were always jittery, and some of the
older Pentiums also... Have you tried an adjustable game card?

Ryan Mitchle

Strange soundcard joystick port and wheel problems

by Ryan Mitchle » Wed, 11 Mar 1998 04:00:00


> etc.

Well, I'm not sure if anyone cares, but I've managed to solve the joystick
problem. The cause was one of the strangest I've encountered in a while.
Believe it or not, but I eventually traced the cause of all my woes to A
VERY SLIGHTLY SHAKY PIECE OF WIRING at the mains plug for the extension lead
that powers my computer ! The rest of the machine wasn't affected. Just the
joystick port.

Oh well. Live and learn . . .

I'm just surprised that I managed to find the fault at all !

Ryan


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