rec.autos.simulators

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

Okay, here is the situation:

---running Windows Me, with aforementioned Thrustmaster Ferrari FF
Racing Wheel.  Was successfully running  the wheel under drivers
dated, I believe, 8-28-2000.

---preparing machine for an XP upgrade this afternoon I checked the TM
site for new drivers.  Found one.  Installed.  

---after install this new driver (dated 7-23-2001) the wheel shows up
under the Device Manager but under the game controller control panel
it is now listed as "not connected".  I reboot.  Machine hangs on
reboot.  Reboot again.  Inside Windows, the Wheel isn't recognized as
connected.  I reinstall the 7-23-2001 driver in case I screwed it up
the first time.  Reboot, machine hangs, wheel still isn't recognized.

---now I "update" the driver but put it back to the 8-28-2000 driver
which it finds in my Windows directory.  It asks me to insert the TM
cd to find files (why, I don't know).  I do, it finishes installation.
The wheel still is "not connected".  Reboot, machine hangs, reboot,
etc.

---now I remove the wheel from the game device control panel, the
device manager, reboot, Windows Me detects the device and installs the
7-23-2001 driver from my hard drive.  Wheel "not connected" again.

---again I remove the wheel from the game device control panel and the
device manager, plus I manually delete the directory where the
7-23-2001 driver is located.  Reboot, Windows Me again finds the
7-23-2001 driver somewhere on my computer and installs it.

---"update" the driver from the TM cd to the driver it shipped with
(8-28-2000).  Reboot, now windows begins bluescreen crashes, plus the
wheel is "unconnected" plus under the device manager is the yellow
exclamation point and the following message:  "The NTKern.vxd,
MMDEVLDR.vxd device loaders for this device could not load the device
driver.  To fix this click Update Driver below."

---I do that, reinstall 8-28-2000 from the cd being careful that I'm
not selecting from a Windows NT subdirectory (looking at that first
file name).  Same result:  bluescreen crashes, exclamation point,
warning message, "not connected".

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

What do I do?  I am gonna upgrade to XP.  I am completely confused by
my driver situation now under Me.  I wonder if moving on to XP I might
get the 7-23-2001 driver to work.  On the other hand I sure hate to
install an operating system over top of serious technical problems
(the yellow exclamation point and the blue screen crashes to be
specific).

I can't even figure out how to get all these dam files off the system
for a clean driver install (why is the 7-23-2001 driver still on there
after I deleted it?  Is the whole driver package still on there
somewhere, or just one pointer file?).

Any advice appreciated.

Remember to save your application folder in the windows folder.

David G Fisher

If you're talking about wiping the hard drive I'm very concerned about
being able to install all of the programs that came on the computer
when I bought it (which comprise the majority of my expensive
software, i.e. Microsoft Office XP and stuff like that).  Seems like
it could take weeks to do all that if I even have the ability to do
it.

Right now I am still hung up trying to get a driver installed for the
TM wheel that doesn't crash windows, or at least to uninstall all of
it.

It took some time but was worth it. You may have a lot more software
installed on your computer than me though. Try simply upgrading to XP
without reformatting and you'll probably be just fine. You could always do a
clean install later on. I felt like I had a lot of "junk" on my hard drive
and thought it would be best to go with a clean install.

Here's a link to the latest Ferrari FF wheel drivers.
http://us.thrustmaster.com/support/driver_view.php3?id=357

David G Fisher

That is the same driver I began by upgrading to and started all my
problems.  Oh well.

I imagine I will do the upgrade rather than the HD wipe at this point.
As you said, I can do a clean install later on if need be.

Right now I have got my FF drivers installed at version 2.11.11 which
is the older version on the TM website.  The wheel doesn't work but at
least it isn't crashing windows.  (Pretty sorry when that's the best
you can say about a product.)

I suspect the "not recognized" thing is not directly related to the
driver version since I haven't been able to get it to show up in the
game device control panel in any driver version since I started
messing with it.  I can't think what else it might be but I seem to
remember something weird when I first installed this wheel.

| On Sat, 24 Nov 2001 23:44:45 GMT, "David G Fisher"
|
| >I reformatted the HD (wiped it clean) and did a clean install of XP. I
had
| >to have the XP CD in the CD drive when re-booting after I wiped the drive
| >clean. During installation it asks you to momentarily insert your
previous
| >Windows CD to make sure you qualify for the upgrade to XP.
| >
| >It took some time but was worth it. You may have a lot more software
| >installed on your computer than me though. Try simply upgrading to XP
| >without reformatting and you'll probably be just fine. You could always
do a
| >clean install later on. I felt like I had a lot of "junk" on my hard
drive
| >and thought it would be best to go with a clean install.
| >
| >Here's a link to the latest Ferrari FF wheel drivers.
| >http://us.thrustmaster.com/support/driver_view.php3?id=357
| >
| >David G Fisher
|
|
| Thanks.
|
| That is the same driver I began by upgrading to and started all my
| problems.  Oh well.
|
| I imagine I will do the upgrade rather than the HD wipe at this point.
| As you said, I can do a clean install later on if need be.
|
| Right now I have got my FF drivers installed at version 2.11.11 which
| is the older version on the TM website.  The wheel doesn't work but at
| least it isn't crashing windows.  (Pretty sorry when that's the best
| you can say about a product.)
|
| I suspect the "not recognized" thing is not directly related to the
| driver version since I haven't been able to get it to show up in the
| game device control panel in any driver version since I started
| messing with it.  I can't think what else it might be but I seem to
| remember something weird when I first installed this wheel.
|
|

I think that is the answer I've been looking for.  Going to try it
now.

Hey, it worked!  Thanks a million.

(Whoever is reading out there let me strongly recommend you not repeat
my error and choose another brand -- any other brand -- than
Thrustmaster).

|


| >
| >>per chance if you are using a Ferrari FF wheel did you use the
| >>cleanW.exe before re-installing your new or any other drivers?
| >>if you dont use the cleanW.exe in the Start Menu it wont take
| >>all your old driver info out for TM aka Guillemot ferrari wheel
| >>or even for their FF joysticks. just a passing thought. thom_j.
| >
| >
| >Hey, it worked!  Thanks a million.
|
| I take it back.  It still isn't working.
|
| (Whoever is reading out there let me strongly recommend you not repeat
| my error and choose another brand -- any other brand -- than
| Thrustmaster).
|

The CleanW did *something*, that's why I thought it worked.  For the
first time it finally showed up as "Okay" under the game controller
but when I tried to use the TM wheel editor it couldn't detect it.

I uninstalled everything, the wheel, the driver, the editor, then
reinstalled (after using cleanW).  Now its back to the same nightmare
as before, computer crashing, etc.

The truly maddening thing is that I have deleted all of the driver
updates from my computer, used cleanW, then tried reinstalling the
original (from CD) driver for the thing, and when I do that it comes
up with the message that I am overwriting a newer file.  In other
words it is not removing the files when I delete the wheel, the
drivers, run cleanW, etc.  I don't know what to do.  It is crashing my
computer about 75% of the time it boots up and I can't even ***ing
seem to remove the wheel from the computer now.

Another update in case you can help me (it is appreciated, by the
way)....

I've got it back to where it is running the most recent drivers, and
is showing up in the game control panel as okay, but still is not
recognized by the TM wheel editor software.

I have no idea how or why it is running the latest driver, because I
did everything I could to delete all remnants of that driver on my
computer, and yet when I cut the wheel on, Windows automatically
installs it (plug and play and all that) and it digs out that driver.

Is there a trick to getting the wheel editor to work?  Or do you think
my driver installation is still screwed but its not showing up until I
try using the wheel editor?  (the wheel is operating properly in the
game control panel when I go to the Test screen).

I would rather have a driver installation that I understand how it got
there but I'm afraid to make any more changes given the hours and
hours that have been lost every time I try to reinstall a driver.

Thanks again.