Hardware & Technical Windows 10 & Saitek X52 pro
- Thread starter apolloz
- Start date
Ok the tip off to Avast! being the issue was my inability to access the C:\Windows\Temp folder. If you are running Avast! (and possibly any other antivirus with self protection) and unable to open this folder, you are likely to experience issues with the X52 drivers at some point as the drivers periodically access this folder particularly during uninstallation and reinstallation resulting in incomplete installations and eventual random glitches. I did the following to successfully correct this:
NOTE: This procedure is fairly advanced and should only be attempted by those who are comfortable with mucking around with permission settings and the registry.
1) Uninstall Avast! and set Windows Defender as antivirus.
2) Reset permissions on the C:\Windows\Temp folder. This did it quickly and easily: http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/2814-take-ownership-add-context-menu-windows-8-a.html
3) Go to the control panel (not settings!) select "Uninstall a program", then uninstall anything with Saitek or Mad Catz as the Manufacturer.
3a) If you get error messages in step 3, download the Fixit Utility here: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/mats/program_install_and_uninstall?wa=wsignin1.0 and use it to uninstall all Saitek and Mad Catz entries.
4) Right click on the Start menu, select run and type in "regedit" without quotes and hit enter.
5) In Regedit, navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\MediaProperties\PrivateProperties\DirectInput
6) Delete all Saitek Keys, Delete all keys starting with VID_06A3&PID
7) Reboot the PC
8) Install your X52 driver of choice and test.
Last edited:
+1 Rep for your post Driconis.
There may be other factors in play on your system depending on what you have installed. I'm very confident that Avast was the problem in my case, and I'm sure I can't be alone in this as Avast does indeed lock out that folder, which the Saitek drivers also demand access to. Probably not the best way for them to go about it, but it is what it is. It is probably bad practice for Avast to block access to a commonly used system folder as well. There are other ways they could have accomplished what they wanted to do as well.
That being said, I am currently running the latest driver for the X-52 Pro, I believe it's version 7.0.40.9x64, and I don't use the programming software. I have been issue free for 2 days now as this is the first time I have been able to use my X-52 at all since I upgraded to Windows 10. However it is my understanding that there are many programs out there that conflict with the X-52 for one reason or another, and these conflicts may be made all the worse by differences in how Windows 10 handles drivers as opposed to Windows 8.1. I know Teamspeak is one of them.
That being said, if you get so frustrated as to want to roll back the upgrade as part of your troubleshooting, I can only say it didn't work for me. The issues survived the roilback and I had to reinstall windows 10
Last edited:
Removed Avast (temporarily) to see if that helped.
It's the programming software that kernackers it.... I had the same problem under windows 7 and for the life of me I can't remember how I fixed it - took me a while.
Eliminated the power side of things as I've tested on a separate powered USB as well as on all sockets off the mobo
Each time, removed all old files (incl old driver files) and cleaned registry out as well as removing the drivers from device manager
All other peripherals are the same - the only thing I'm noticing is that the root enumerator is chucking a certificate error. There ARE ways to allow unsigned drivers, but they are a little heavy handed just for this issue. Funnily enough, just once, I've had it working and showing the current profile name on the MFD, but after it recovered from a crash, that stopped again.
Tried exactly that but sadly it does not work for me. As soon as I active a profile inside the Software, I get a BSOD (Bad Pool Caller) a few seconds later.
If I dont use a profile then it seems to work fine but that does not solve my problem. So I am happy that I have still my W8.1 installation for playing ED and hope for new W10 drivers.
Last edited:
OK - Fangrim - after all those steps, that APPEARS to have got it working.
To confirm the process that worked (for me) given the error appearing above:
0.5 Remove Avast (though I'm going to test putting it back now that it's all working).
1. Remove installed software from the usual control panel
2. Go to Device Manager and remove the X52Pro AND the faulty root enumerator (making sure to click DELETE DRIVERS)
3. Delete c:\windows\temp\madcatz
4. Make changes to allow me to take control of c:\windows\temp AND allow unsigned drivers
5. Download the drivers listed above
6. Reboot the PC, making sure it's a clean start
7. Run the drivers listed above in administrator mode, with win 7 compatability turned ON
And test using notepad - change modes applies the correct sequence only once and doesn't spam the screen with button presses.
If that works, not touching until some Win 10 drivers come out.
To confirm the process that worked (for me) given the error appearing above:
0.5 Remove Avast (though I'm going to test putting it back now that it's all working).
1. Remove installed software from the usual control panel
2. Go to Device Manager and remove the X52Pro AND the faulty root enumerator (making sure to click DELETE DRIVERS)
3. Delete c:\windows\temp\madcatz
4. Make changes to allow me to take control of c:\windows\temp AND allow unsigned drivers
5. Download the drivers listed above
6. Reboot the PC, making sure it's a clean start
7. Run the drivers listed above in administrator mode, with win 7 compatability turned ON
And test using notepad - change modes applies the correct sequence only once and doesn't spam the screen with button presses.
If that works, not touching until some Win 10 drivers come out.
Stay away from them. The quality of both the hardware and the software is horrendous.
After only a few months, several buttons start malfunctioning or double triggering.
Also can't seem to keep the secondary fire button clicked anymore. Doing a KWS or a planetary body scan is nearly impossible because it continues to reset over and over.
The mouse emulation is also starting to have a life of its own and need to reset calibration often by temporarily disconnecting it from the pc.
They're utter .
After only a few months, several buttons start malfunctioning or double triggering.
Also can't seem to keep the secondary fire button clicked anymore. Doing a KWS or a planetary body scan is nearly impossible because it continues to reset over and over.
The mouse emulation is also starting to have a life of its own and need to reset calibration often by temporarily disconnecting it from the pc.
They're utter .
Other than the driver issue and breaking a spring internally that was an easy fix, mine has been worth every penny.
There isn't much in the price bracket that compares, unfortunately. I'd happily pay more for one with machined parts rather than the plastic, and with good drivers, but not THAT much more.
There is definitely a market, with the current influx of this kind of game, for a manufacturer to create one in the £100-£200 bracket that has HOTAS, with twist for yaw and a good pile of buttons at your fingertips for use with the Oculus Rift.
I agree, my wife bought mine for me for Xmas, and I'm on my second replacement for various mechanical failures. Issues that keep cropping up from one unit to the next seem to be consistent. Stuck first step on the main trigger, throttle detents jamming, as well as many of the issues you mention. I'm in the middle of a battle with Mad Catz at the moment as this SECOND replacement they sent me in 4 months has a stuck first stage on the main trigger, flaky secondary trigger as you mentioned, and a failed upper throttle detent that now seems to act like a spring when I push the throttle fully forward making it impossible for it to stay in the full throttle position. While they granted me an RMA, they refuse to cover the return shipping and as a result I refuse to send it back. I paid the shipping for the first return, which was quite expensive as the box for this thing is what Fedex and UPS consider "Oversized". They sent me a shipping label for the second RMA, but they refused to do the same for this one with the tech I spoke to on the phone claiming "We never do that". Mad Catz tech support is woefully terrible, and excuse me, but one failed product is bad luck, two in a row is possibly an unfortunate rarity, but three in a row is malpractice and I refuse to pay shipping charges that are greater than one third the cost of a new unit when I cant even have any guarantee that a replacement they send me will work issue free for the remainder of my warranty. Nor will I pay repeated shipping charges while they figure out how to get it right. I lodged a complaint with the Better business Bureau, but I'm not that hopeful that will accomplish anything.
Right now, I can use it albeit with some difficulty. But its better than pulling out my T Flight HOTAS which is a great product but too small for my hands to use regularly. I am saving for a Warthog and a decent set of pedals. Once I get that my X52 will get tossed in the attic where it belongs.
May I suggest, for all those who own X52 Pro AND windows 10 that a polite message on Twitter from everyone, as well as a post on their facebook page will let them know that there is pressure to get it done.
I would suggest:
http://twitter.com/SaitekSim and using
As well as
http://www.facebook.com/SaitekProFlight
The more that post, the more polite pressure there is!
I would suggest:
http://twitter.com/SaitekSim and using
As well as
http://www.facebook.com/SaitekProFlight
The more that post, the more polite pressure there is!
I upgraded mine from Windows 7 to 10. Plugged it in and it worked straight away.
Unplugged it after playing (no room to keep it plugged in when not playing) and then I couldn't click anything with the mouse. Then the mouse curser became jerky and making strange noises when I tried to click.
I manually told it to shutdown and it hung on the shutting down message. After 15minutes I gave it the powerswitch of death.
On reboot it had failed one of the disks in my "data" mirror (OS sits on SSD, everything else sits on the "data" disks which are mirrored in Windows) and re-detected it as a foreign disk. I had to resync the mirror.
I thought at first this was just a coincidence as I have the side off (due to messing about with disks for installing 10) and thought I'd caught a power cable or sata cable with my leg but it did exactly the same again a second time.
Currently rebuilding the mirror once again, only a 5.5h process. Next time I shall be testing without the mirror disks plugged in!
Holy crap, I'm definitely not unplugging mine now. In fact I'm tempted to get the iron out and solder the plug's outer to the chassis.
On a less flippant note, one of the things I noticed with my X52 Pro under Windows 7 was that the PC would take a long time to come out of sleep, sometimes upwards of 20 seconds, due to some initialisation issue with the stick or the USB hub it was using. It was obviously the X52 because I have its preferences set to keep all of the LEDs dimmed, and it would power out of sleep mode with all its lights glowing. Only after the delay would they dim, as the software finally initialised and the rest of the PC sprang to life.
This does not happen under Windows 10. The PC now wakes almost instantly. The stick's LEDs do illuminate but only for the briefest moment, before the PC wakes and they dim again.
I'm using the same Mad Catz / Saitek drivers and support software under both versions of Windows, so I can only guess that improvements in Windows 10's USB handling are to thank for this. Nothing earth-shattering but possibly worthy of note for anyone else having the "delayed wake" problem under Windows 7. It's possible that Windows 10 will help with this.
So overall Windows 10 has definitely improved my experience in using the X52 Pro. I'm still not unplugging it though.
After a few weeks of frustration with bugged x52 (not pro) drivers on my win 10 system, countless drivers and software installs, uninstalls, clean installs, half installs, registry cleaning, versions combining, Saitek ftp server browsing, I think I found a working driver/software combination. At least for my Saitek X52.
I used these drivers ftp://ftp.saitek.com/pub/software/full/Saitek_X52_Flight_Controller_SD6_64.exe
with the latest programming software ftp://ftp.saitek.com/pub/software/full/Smart Technology 7_0_27_13 64Bit.exe
so now my HID and USB driver version s are now 6.0.4.1
and my programmable 'everything' driver version is 7.0.27.13
Everything's working now!
System is fully programmable, no more mid flight stick disconnects/re-calibration, lights flashing.
I can unplug the x52 from usb, plug it back in, and my PC doesn't go full .
I can put my PC to sleep and wake it back and all the lights on x52 are working.
Even MFD brightness can be adjusted!
I hope this helps someone.
Guys with x52 pro systems would maybe want to try these drivers ftp://ftp.saitek.com/pub/software/full/Saitek_X52Pro_Flight_Controller_SD6_64.exe with the latest programming software.
Good luck and safe flying commanders!
I used these drivers ftp://ftp.saitek.com/pub/software/full/Saitek_X52_Flight_Controller_SD6_64.exe
with the latest programming software ftp://ftp.saitek.com/pub/software/full/Smart Technology 7_0_27_13 64Bit.exe
so now my HID and USB driver version s are now 6.0.4.1
and my programmable 'everything' driver version is 7.0.27.13
Everything's working now!
System is fully programmable, no more mid flight stick disconnects/re-calibration, lights flashing.
I can unplug the x52 from usb, plug it back in, and my PC doesn't go full .
I can put my PC to sleep and wake it back and all the lights on x52 are working.
Even MFD brightness can be adjusted!
I hope this helps someone.
Guys with x52 pro systems would maybe want to try these drivers ftp://ftp.saitek.com/pub/software/full/Saitek_X52Pro_Flight_Controller_SD6_64.exe with the latest programming software.
Good luck and safe flying commanders!
Thanks Gordi that worked a treat!