Do I have a bad USB port?

Total n00b, here, so it's possible I'm just a complete idiot, but...

Got my Devo 7e on Thursday. Set up Deviation 5.0.0 with relatively little difficulty. Tried to use FPV Freerider, but I just couldn't get it to read my controller. I used a couple different .ini files, even tried to make my own...no luck.

Friday morning, I woke up and BAM! worked no problem. Later in the day, I realized that the sticks just weren't reading AT ALL in the program. As I tried to figure out what was going on, I recognized that I kept hearing "do DEE" and "DEE do" which is the sound of Windows recognizing and unrecognizing USB input.

Also started using a really cool Tiny Whoop sim called FPE Event. Exact same thing happens here. I don't think it's the controller itself, but rather the USB connection that makes it work sometimes and other times not. It makes me nervous that the sounds keep playing, like it's connecting and disconnecting. Seems like when it disconnects, I have to wait 15 minutes before it works again, no matter what I do. And it also feels like I have to hold it just right to keep it connected.

Am I imagining things? Has this been an issue for others? Is it more likely the actual tx or maybe just the cord?

Any thoughts/advice appreciated! I feel slightly insane.

It sure sounds like a hardware issue. Did you try a different USB cable or a different USB port on your PC? It is also possible that the USB port inside the 10 is coming loose. It's actually a daughter-board with the connector on it that sticks out from the processor board, so it is possible it isn't mounted securely. There are photos of the Devo 10 insides you should look at on the downloads page. Then you may just need a little hot glue to reinforce the part, or possibly need new solder and then a little hot glue.

Let us know what you find.

I should have mentioned that I'd previously tried all the ports on my computer.

However, I just tried a different cable, and it worked like magic! Honestly, I'm surprised. The cable is pretty ancient...I believe from a mighty old Kodak digital camera. I'm a little surprised they would send me a bad cable in the box.

Makes life SOOO much better. Really, I just thought I was too stupid to make it work on the computer. I was also NOT looking forward to busting it open to check on the port. Busting it open to add a module...well, I'm going to HAVE to do that! But reducing the number of times I am personally screwing around inside there seems like a way to make it last longer...

Thanks for the thoughts!

It might not be a bad cable. That is to say it may work perfectly well with the camera.

I have found that some cables work for some things and not others, and not just the cables that only have the power lines for charging which of course won't work for comms.

So as Deal57 sez, early on in the alphabet soup of trouble shooting is to try another cable… and many of my cables have a label on them "good for X' and/or "bad for Y".

And try another USB port and of course the classic - try without any USB hub. Lotsa manufacturers state this as a requirement, mostly as a cheap CYA move I think, but hubs can cause problems.

I try to use the cable that came with the device. This isn't always enough!

crash7X