Old Saitek X45 flight stick BSODs

[PapaMooze]

Hey there
Just found this gem of a game, and thought I'd give it a go. 10 hours in, and I'm thinking that this might be fun with a flight stick.
Thought that I could try my good ol' X45 which has been sitting forever in the back of my cabinet.
Found out that Saitek released win 10 compatible drivers back in '17.

TLDR;:
Did anyone ever fix the problem with old Saitek X flight sticks causing BSOD?

Dug out the X45 and plugged it in and - ALAS - BSOD after 3 seconds.
So now I've been trawling the web for 2 days straight, found a ton of old forum threads written by people with the exact same problem, and a lot of threads describing problems that could relate to the same. Seems people are having problems with X52's and X55's but I am confident my problem is the same.

Here's what I have come up with:
Old Saitek flight sticks are not compatible with USB 3.0 and newer.
They have problems with Intel based USB 2.0.
They clog up the system if they are plugged in to a system before the driver software asks the user to plug in the stick.
If you do a step wrongly, you have to get rid of ALL traces of drivers and registry entries.
A powered USB 2.0 hub might work.

So after taking all of these things into account, I've tried all the different USB ports on my computer.
I've read the manual of my mother board and found out which ports are Intel and which are ASmedia. My Mobo is a Z170K btw.
I've removed all traces of drivers and sys-files at least a dozen times.
And now I've gotten hold of an old 2.0 hub from my job.

With this I finally managed to plug in the stick ONCE without it crashing the system. Thought I'd just check if it'd crash the system. And it didn't.
But when I try to install the driver software, the stick is recognized.

So once again, I uninstalled ALL drivers, rebooted the system and tried connecting the stick to the USB hub. AAAAAaaaaand BSOD!
§@£€X?ص§€$!!!!!

Anyone ever got this working? 'Cause I'm so close to giving up and just stick to mouse and keyboard.
I have one final thing I want to try and that is using a newer USB 2.0 hub. The one I have is really old, and might only be USB 1.1.

Hope someone has a good tip, cuz I'm stuck.

 

[Terekhov]

"Just found this gem of a game" - It is. isn't it!!

I've no experience with that stick model, but plenty with PCs and hardware. I'd be very surprised if the stick itself was causing the BSODs . I believe the fault is more likely power draw by the stick exceeding what the computer can provide, or hardware or driver issues related to the motherboard, or possibly if you have any support software for the stick installed, with that.

I said that I'd be surprised of the stick was causing the issue, but there is one case that might, and is worth considering as you investigate.I'm thinking that if a stick movement, ended up (due to a wiring fault in the stick) shorting out the USB power lines, that could be the cause. Think are the BSODs tied to stick movement. I suppose that could extend a hard short without stick movement, but that might be hard to diagnose (a powered USB hub might help the diagnosis)

So onto main advice..., Uninstall any suppoer software for the stick (I'd be surprised if windows cannot use the reasonably well without it), check for any updated USB drivers for your motherboard (separate USB drivers are rare these days, but had to mention it). I suspect that you will have more luck with the USB hyb that you mentioned, especially if it is a powered hub. Obviously the usual trick of trying things in different USB ports also appplies (but I expect that you've already tried that)

Additionally, the way the electronics behinf the USB ports works, it electrically associates two USB ports quite closely. Often these pairs of ports are also stacked together on the outside of the PC. If you can identify something like that, leave the other port in the pair, disconnected whilst you test.

 

[PapaMooze]

Hi Terekhov
Thanks for replying.
Power draw could be the cause. The old HUB I tried yesterday has a plug for an external power supply, but alas, I can't find the power supply itself. It looks like some no-name HUB and not even power supply details are written anywhere.

As mentioned I have removed all drivers and relevant software, so that can't be the problem. Also, everything on the stick is in neutral, and the BSOD happens just after the stick is plugged in.

I looked into how the USB ports are paired on the main board, and found two ports that could be used.

I guess my next step is to look into new drivers for the USB ports and finding an externally powered HUB. Good thing is, I'm living in Denmark which, by law, has a very liberal return legislation, so I could always go out and buy a HUB and return it if this doesn't work.

Again, thanks for the advice, I think we might be on to something.

 

[PapaMooze]

So, I actually managed to find another USB 2.0 hub at work, this one WITH a power supply.
When I came home, I connected it all, in of my USB 2.0 ports. This time, the PC didn't BSOD, a popup showed up, telling that drivers were installing and everything looked good. I went into ED, but here the stick didnt work. I found out there was a driver error, so I thought I'd do it right:
I cleaned my PC for every trace of Saitek software, rebooted, started the Saitek driver program, and waited for the prompt to insert the stick. Installation went on, and the software prompted for a reboot. But then, in the reboot phase, the PC just kept rebooting. It wouldn't boot until I removed the stick from the HUB. When I came back into Windows, I tried to connect the stick again, and this time I got BSOD.
I got ed off, cursed at the bloody thing, went to the gym for 1½ hours, and came back to try again. Now I can't even get the driver software to continue beyond the point where I'm prompted to connect the stick during installation. BSOD every time.
Oh well... It was fun while it lasted. I'm out of ideas.

Anyone know of a good, cheap HOTAS stick as good and sturdy as the X45, but not in the Saitek series?