Hardware & Technical Lost X and Y axes on brand new X-55 flight stick after using "Calibrate Axes" in Saitek app

jayeffaar · Feb 4, 2016

Lost X and Y axes on brand new X-55 flight stick after using "Calibrate Axes" in Saitek app

There I was, all excited at the thought of finally using my new HOTAS after it took the long way around (2 weeks) to get to me.

Install the latest Saitek drivers and software, plug in the stick and throttle (oh... green lights!), and start looking around the configuration menus. All three axes on the stick seemed to work fine, but I decided to hit that attractive "Calibrate Axes" button at the bottom of the screen to see how it did that. Not very well, as it turned out. The UI flashed a few normal-looking progress bars, no error message whatsoever and then... no more data from the X and Y axes.

Everything else on the stick still seems to work, but the two main axes are now dead. Re-calibrating doesn't help. With or without the drivers and configuration software, no matter what PC I connect it to. Looks like it was updated with bad calibration data, and now all they report to windows is the maximum 16-bit value in both direction.

Note that this is not a problem with using the Saitek software. Even on a virgin PC that's never seen Saitek hardware, the stick doesn't report any motion on its 2 main axes at all. Something happened to the stick that made it incapable of reporting any data along the X and Y axes.

I have support tickets open with Mad Catz and Amazon, but even if they offer to exchange it, I would rather not have to go through that. The stick worked fine before the attempt at calibrating it, and this doesn't look to be a hardware issue.

Any idea how to force a factory reset on that thing?

[BTW, what is supposed to happen when you use "Calibrate Axes"? I get progress bars with

UPLOADING THE DEFAULT X AXIS CONFIGURATION.
UPLOADING THE DEFAULT Y AXIS CONFIGURATION.

A brief
SAMPLING THE AXES POSITION.

And two more progress bars
RECONFIGURING THE X AXIS.
RECONFIGURING THE Y AXIS.

How is that supposed to calibrate the axes if you're not asked to move anything around?]

Aleksej · Feb 4, 2016

Well, if nothing is working on different PCs and on Windows clean install then it might be a hardware failure, and calibration has nothing to do with it.

The only thing you could do (probably you have done this multiple times already) is to remove all Saitek software, the drivers from the device manager, re-install the drivers following the instructions (i.e. unplugging both the joystick and throttle if required and plugging them back). Then install the software.

During the calibration the current positions of X and Y axis are being set to 50%, i.e. both axes are centred. That's why no movement is required to calibrate them.

jayeffaar · Feb 5, 2016

Well, the stick was working just fine until I calibrated it, so calibration definitely has something to do with the issue. If it's a hardware failure, it's one that wasn't preventing the stick from working out of the box, but made it so it couldn't self-calibrate. Looking around online, I found two other people complaining about the exact same thing over the last 2 years, which tells me that it occasionally happens to this stick, but not all that often...

I was authorized for an RMA and I've also already ordered a new X-55 somewhere else for a slightly lower price. Will wait for the new one to come in before shipping back the busted X-55, since the throttle works, and until I get a working X-55 stick, I came up with a temporary back-up plan that works just fine. I'll get used to the luxury of a good HOTAS one component at a time

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Aleksej · Feb 5, 2016

Most probably it was simply a coincidence. If calibration was causing such issues then there would be a lot of similar cases. I have my 8th X55 now, and I have never had any failures that were caused by calibration.

Scrogg · Feb 5, 2016

Exact same thing happened to mine, calibrated and lost X & Y axes. Tried everything I could think of including removal and reinstall of all drivers and software. Wound up putting in a ticket and having to send it to MadCatz under warranty. They received it and marked it as unrepairable and sent me a replacement. It's still in the box.

Bit the bullet and got a warthog and crosswind rudder pedals. It hurt, but the only thing I regret is the money I spent on the X55.

jayeffaar · Feb 6, 2016

I am assuming the new one I am getting will work out of the box, but hearing about that, I will be very worried about having to calibrate it eventually.

I guess one way to bite my bullet will be to calibrate it the day I get it and it that fails again, get a refund on that one too, and upgrade to a warthog. At some point, you have to admit that you get what you pay for.

Hooplah · Feb 6, 2016

The Saitek X-55 is power starved and weird things can occur if each USB connection doesn't get the 0.5A the motherboard is "supposed" to supply (not all do). Running a powered USB hub to the PC resolves a lot of issues.

jayeffaar · Feb 6, 2016

Mine was plugged directly into one of the PC's front USB 3.0 ports, which seemed like a good idea, but I have a powered USB 3.0 hub within easy reach and I'll be using from now on.

I'm still scratching my head wondering what kind of flawed hardware design could permanently disable a joystick when something goes wrong during calibration...