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The Warthog Flight Stick Wiring Issue - Windows 10 2017


My used Thrustmaster Warthog finally arrived - unfortunately it doesn't work.

The drivers were installed and the software from my rudder pedals. The Warthog Flight Stick shows up when I connect the USB 3.0 in the drivers but doesn't show up in the game controllers nor does it work in the event viewer when I have loaded my config. Here is what I have found including links in case you are having the same issues

I should note that the previous owner mentioned he had changed out the mini-DIN on it which probably should have tipped me off that I was going to have issues.

so here is what I did in detail in case this will help others

Troubleshooting Steps - Software

 

Tried Flight Stick in each USB 3.0 port - uninstall and reinstall driver each time. What a pain but I went through them all.

Made sure all my drivers on computer were up to date

uninstalled and reinstalled all software

Firmwear update - Didn't work keeps giving me Thrust error code: 0x34100002 when loading

Thrustmaster error code 0x34100002

Boot Loader Method - Also a failure in both Windows 10 and with an old Windows XP box I have running around. I attempted this with both since there is some mention that the 3.0 drivers may be an issue with the Thrustmaster Joystick.

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The Warthog Firmware Issue: For Anyone Else Having Problems

Hello. I have been having real problems with my Warthog, and indeed my MFDs after a major computer update. I now seem to have solved them, with the help of Thrustmaster Technical Department. I want to outline what worked for me so any other poor bugger having the same problems has a head start in solving them. The Problem. I upgraded to an Asus x99 Deluxe motherboard and SLI 980s ect. I also went from Win 7 to Win 8.1 64 bit. As you may know, the new motherboard had predominantly USB 3 slots, and as you probably won't know, Win 8.1 introduced a new way of managing power to these USB ports. Both facts are relevant, as it turned out. The Symptoms. The computer suddenly became unstable when it booted up with the USB peripherals attached. In particular, Win would not recognise my Warthog joystick: it was listed as a 'Bootloader', and to make matters worse, when I tried to update the firmware, it would not load, and consistently failed at step 2 with the error message of 0x0000000c. I ended up with both my joystick and throttle without any firmware at all, and always being listed as Bootloader when I attached the cables into the USB slots. So..unstable computer that hung randomly on loading, and Warthog throttle and joystick not working. What I Tried. I first unloaded everything to do with the Warthog, re downloaded all the latest drivers and tried to reload drivers. No good; did not work. Then I followed the Thrustmaster advice on their website to 'wake up' Bootloader joysticks. I followed the instructions to the letter; this did NOT work, no matter how many times I followed it. Next, I tried setting up the Warthog on a seperate, older machine, with only USB 2 ports. No good. Did not work either; the firmware update kept failing at step 2 with error 0x0000000c. I was in despair. What Finally Worked For Me. I sent an email, in my despair, to TM support. In the meantime, I trawled the web. There was ONE post on the SimHQ website, just one, about a guy complaining about Win nit booting properly with a Warthog attached. The solution was to go into the BIOS to disable something called xHCI mode in the USB configuration settings. The guy disabled the xHCI mode and it sorted the problem. Upon doing research, I discovered that Intel xHCI controlled the USB ports: xHCI equalled having the USB ports active. Turn it off, and the ports reverted to USB 2. So the problem had something to do with peripherals, especially the Warthog HOTAS, being plugged into this Intel controlled xHCI USB 3 ports. Something was not gelling. So what I tried was to turn off in my BIOS the xHCI mode, then reloaded the Warthog drivers, following the prompts, and IT ALL WORKED! Especially, the firmware updated with no problems. My HOTAS was with firmware again, and recognised by the computer again, and working. I then turned the xHCI back to enabled again, and the settings stayed, and the HOTAS was still ok. I might point out here that I had it plugged into USB 3 ports; putting it into the USB 2 ports did not help when it was playing up. The second thing I did related to the way Win 8.1 managed the power settings of the USB ports. There was a work around in the TM message to me that dealt with apparent problems that this new power management arrangemnet of the USB ports that Win 8.1 used. Microsoft has acknowledged that the way Win 8.1 manages the ports has caused lots of compatibility y problems with USB devices. Apparently, the new power arrangement turns power off to the device when Windows thinks it is sleeping or not active. This causes problems, loading, disconnecting and reloading devices to the computer seemingly randomly. It was particularly evident when I attached the TM MFDs. They flicked on and off constantly, flashing lights and causing the computer to bleep constantly, and generally have a heart attack. What I did was to go into device manager, and located the HID device of game controller, click on it, go to device details and find the device path in the registry. I copied the HID/PID unique numerical line, opened Regedit, found the appropriate line under Current, System, Enum, USB, and then TURNED OFF a thing called EnhancedPowerManagement by setting the string entry to 0. This stopped Windows from managing the power of devices attached through the problematic USB ports. Microsoft has a detailed set of instructions on their site to specifically allow people to use this workaround to deal with problematic USB devices. It absolutely worked; the computer became more stable and the MFDs stopped disconnecting, and now behave themselves. I have yet to get to the bottom of the Intel xHCI thingy, but there is a problem I think with the way it relates on newer motherboards and legacy USB devices, which is what all of us have. Conclusion. What did I learn? The way Win 8.1 mangers power to the USB ports, especially USB 3 ports, is problematic and causes problems with devices, such as Warthog joysticks and throttles and MFDs. (Btw, it also caused issues with my Saitek combat flight pedals.) the way to fix it was to turn off in Registry by Regedit this enhanced power management. I also switched the BIOS setting of USB configuration of Intel xHCI to Enabled from AutoSmart...after I had disabled it to fix the Warthog (which did the trick). Any instability, and I will play around with the xHCI setting in the BIOS. Hope this is/will be helpful to users in the future. Happy to expand on anything I wrote here. Apoll

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Troubleshooting Steps - Hardware

 

In case you can't tell - I'm very much like a dog with bone -- so I decided to start pulling things apart and checking the hardware side of things.

The Thrustmaster Warthog Flight Stick Boot Mode update fail issue - pins & ground looked decent though not perfect so I fiddled a bit seeing if I could get better contact with the metal. used some contact cleaner on a Q-tip and cleaned things up a bit. still nothing

Time to contact Tech Support - after a quick call & an explanation of what I had done so far the support agent suggested that the wires are often the issue.

He forwarded me the following email:

We thank you for your choice of Thrustmaster products and for reaching us regarding your inquiry.

Please make sure you have installed the latest driver from our website: http://ts.thrustmaster.com/download/pub/webupdate/hotaswt/2014_tmhw_1.exe

After the driver was successfully installed, please to a firmware following the instructions below: http://ts.thrustmaster.com/faqs/eng/thr_eng_00136.pdf

If the firmware update will not be completed successfully, please follow the instructions below to update the firmware using the bootloader method: http://ts.thrustmaster.com/faqs/eng/thr_eng_00140.pdf

Attached you have instructions on how to check the DIN wires.

Also send us few picture with the DIN connectors (male/female) pointing at a 60 degrees angle.

We rest at your disposal for any other inquiries.

To ensure the most efficient follow-up of your query, please answer directly to this email (do not open a new ticket).

Kind regards, Your Thrustmaster Customer Support Agent, Gabriel http://support.thrustmaster.com

 

this also included a new file I hadn't see as of yet

which I have just followed and might have found the issue- we will see :)

Here are some pictures of the disassemble

Stripped Screws

Glue?

Mini-DIN

What's left of the Mini-DIN

Base of Handle

View with the bottom base plate removed

Thrustmaster Flight Stick Ground Wire

5 wires of the mini-DIN - Note the ground was loose with some glue and sitting between the Orange and the Yellow

so there we are- awaiting parts now which will hopefully fix the unit so I can actually have some game time :)

Cheers

PtahX

well a quick update -- I messed about with the 5 pin mini-DIN and got the custom connector built with some trial an error. Once I connected it I found yet another issue - the connector on the board had lifted, also the previous owner had tried to glue everything including the pin connector into place and it all came out as one piece. Aka it's pooched as well. So I re-called Thrustmaster support since they never got back to me with my previous request.

CUSTOMER SERVICE ANSWER Reference: [666970] ______________________________________________________

Dear xxxxxxx,

Thank you for taking the time to provide us with the requested details.

We would like to inform you that a new STICK FEMALE DIN AND WARTHOG PCB costs 65.40 EUR (for regular postal service) / 90.40 EUR (specialized delivery company). Please be informed that if replacing the broken component doesn't solve the issue, we are not liable for other defects, the warranty term for any spare part is 3 months.

Payment possibility: PayPal

If you would like to proceed with the order, reply to this e-mail with the following:

- PayPal e-mail address; - Your complete postal information; - Your full name and phone number; - Preferred shipping option: Regular/Specialized.

We will send you the payment request as soon as we receive the requested payment details.

To ensure the most efficient follow-up of your query, please answer directly to this email (do not open a new ticket).

Kind regards, Your Thrustmaster Customer Support Agent, Emil http://support.thrustmaster.com ______________________________________________________ Your message:

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I did not reply as I can buy the entire unit for $245 on Amazon and there is no guarantee this will solve all the issues. I now own a nice paper weight which may be used for spare parts if I decide to buy another warthog. Also that will be the last time I buy anything used on Ebay. Either way -- hope these pictures might help someone else out there working on their own joystick.

Cheers

PtahX


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