complete PFC and GoFlight work stoppage

[JCS]

Hello! In 2001 I bought PFC's rudder, jetliner yoke and digital throttle systems. Three years ago I added a few GoFlight modules but my set up has not changed at all in with everything running fine using FSX and SP1 since it came out on Windows XP. A month ago I switched from one supplier of DSL (antenna receiver/transmitter) to ATT's phone line DSL. As the hour approached for their tech to come by, I saved the flight I had in progress and turned off the PC. An hour later with a new router and DSL service I go to resume the flight and there is no response to controls for any PFC equipment nor, as I later discovered, the Goflight modules. There is power to the PFC throttle system as the indicator light on the back is on. The Goflight modules light up, but there is no reponse on the cockpit's gauges. I did notice in the PFC set up for calibration all controls were "pegged" which is to say rudder full right, ailerons full right, elevator full up, brakes on throttle wide open, and nothing could be moved from those positions.

I selected PFC's test at FSX start-up option and while com port 1 checks open, none of the peripherals were acknowledged. I updated FSUIPC and PFC DLL's, no change. I checked cable connections to the PC for PFC (game port) and GoFlight (USB) and all's well. I checked the device manager for USB issues and com port 1 issues, nothing obvious to me anyways.

I did a full uninstall of FSX and reinstalled it using the verions of the DLL's that had worked for so long. When I successfuly run the FSUIPC installer the new modules folder does show up in the FSX directory but when I start FSX the "add-ons" drop down menu is not there at all. I repeated reinstalling FSX twice. The results window of the FSUIPC installer says installed ok.

I uninstalled FSX, cleaned the system registry and defragged then installed FS9 with it's patches all the while rebooting the computer between tasks. I put the original DLL's that had worked with FS9 for so many years in the modules folder. Running FS9, I can open the PFC window but there is no change at all from what I saw in FSX, every input is pegged right or maxed out.

The desktop I run FSX on has been pretty much dedicated to FSX for 2 years or more now that I have a work laptop. It just seems too much of a coincidence that all communications stopped to USB and comport1 when the DSL tech left the house. Thanks for reading my issue and I look forward anyone's help in getting this resolved!

John

Ft Pierce FL

[Pete Dowson]

Thanks for reading my issue and I look forward anyone's help in getting this resolved!

I'm afraid it is looking rather like a hardware problem, possibly something on your motherboard as it appears to be affecting both COM and USB ports. Before rushing to replace that, however, there's a chance that some installed driver, maybe for the DSL connection you had changed, may be clobbering things (e.g. trying to share the IRQ and failing), so you could try a process of uninstalling the Network / DSL connection altogether to see if that brings things back to life. However, this isn't something to be taken lightly and if you are not totally confident of being able to reinstall everything and get back on-line I wouldn't start.

I assume you've tried alternative USB sockets? Do you have any USB devices which are working at all (oher than simple LED lights, which only use the power line, of course). Maybe you can plug your mouse into one and see if that still works?

You might try to find a hardware help forum, but in the end you may need to take it to a commercial company to get them to diagnose the problem and fix it. I cannot see how us software types can help a lot, at least not without access to your machine.

On the specific observations:

did a full uninstall of FSX and reinstalled it using the verions of the DLL's that had worked for so long. When I successfuly run the FSUIPC installer the new modules folder does show up in the FSX directory but when I start FSX the "add-ons" drop down menu is not there at all. I repeated reinstalling FSX twice. The results window of the FSUIPC installer says installed ok.

Unfortunately many folks find that uninstalling and reinstalling FSX clobbers the Simconnect system, essential for FSUIPC and many other FSX add-ons. The problem is that uninstall doesn't properly uninstall SimConnect, as it is then part of the Windows SxS (Side by Side) library system. Then it doesn't get instaled correctly. Help for this is given in the FSX Help announcement above.

Really none of your symptoms were at all related to FS or the PFC or GoFlight drivers in any case:

every input is pegged right or maxed out.

Yes, this is what it looks like when there's no connection. Something en route is broken.

Regards

Pete

[JCS]

Pete, I'm going first with the simconnect issue as you state in the help topic. Next, disconnect everything and dig out those pesky install manuals in the hopes that I'm missing something simple and proceed forward very slowly, could take weeks as FSX is an hour a week thing for me nowadays. I am also contacting the DSL provider's support people to find out what, other than installing a help file, they do to folks PC's when installing the modem for DSL (mine's a modem/router combo) to look for tips there. I suppose if all else fails, I can ask the wife for a new desktop as I trust software folks like yourself, not tire changing hardware folks. Unless I send the tower off to PFC.. Hmm... Thank-you for the insight Pete!