Flight Deck Solutions modules are conflicting !?

[Ton van Bochove]

A few weeks ago I received my FDS MCP. After some difficulties connecting to PSX (FDS issued the wrong drivers) but with help of this excellent forum and the drivers by Gary Oliver the MCP works like a charm. Impressed by the quality of the MCP I ordered  the CDU. Same quality, excellent but.....

Initially the CDU worked fine out of the box with the Tekworx software. There was a good connection between the CDU and PSX (pushing buttons) and the monitor worked fine as a second monitor. The only problem is/was that I did not manage (yet) to move the PSX CDU tot the hardware CDU. But that is a problem that should be solved after both FDS modules work together ;-)

My normal sequence is starting up PSX first, than the MCP and than the CDU. The latter would not start and trigged an error popup "no CDU's detect in the system to configure" I did everything: reset the hardware, reinstalled the software etc but to no avail.
By coincidence I altered the sequence: PSX, CDU and MCP and then the CDU worked and the MCP was dead.

So my conclusion is that it looks like that the MCP and CDU are conflicting. But I haven't got a clue where to find the solution. I hope there is someone who had a similar experience or just someone who can give me a clue.

.......................................................
Windows 8 and latest PSX version

hardware:

MCP: USB

CDU: HDMI, USB

software:

FDS-CDU Controller v3.2.2

FDS-MX-MCP747_V1.2

[GodAtum]

Yes, I think I had the same problem if I remember correctly. The MCP, CDU and Radio software are on separate PCs.

[Ton van Bochove]

and did you find a solution or is it still a problem?

[GodAtum]

No, I just put all the software on different PCs.

[Ton van Bochove]

Maybe I should try that!

[Jeroen Hoppenbrouwers]

Blind shot in the dark:
Possibly the USB connections use a common component inside the units, and when plugged into the same PC without a config change, both components fight and the first one wins access to the bus.

If the units come with their own configuration software, or if they have options when accessed through Windows' Device Manager control panel, you may be able to give them different identifiers, such as one is nr. 0 and the other nr. 1.

I have several USB devices that need this kind of help if you want to connect more than one.


Hoppie

[Ton van Bochove]

Thanks Hoppie, it makes sense,although I still don't know how to do it. But I will figure it out ;-) In line with your comment I removed one USB from the splitter (where both FDS modules were connected) and gave it a separate physical USB port but that did not work

[Ton van Bochove]

With the help of Jon Boe I finally managed to solve the problem.

My initial thoughts were not right: there was no conflict between both FDS devices, neither a driver problem.
Hoppie mentioned already a "usb" fight and in a way it was. A new USB hub and cable did not solve the problem but a tip from Jon was the golden one: unplug the computer from the power supply. After that the CDU hooked in and all the other USB connections work too

[Jeroen Hoppenbrouwers]

unplug the computer from the power supply

To be precise... did you:

1. Unplug the computer from the wall outlet, or
2. Open the computer and unplugged its internal power supply from the motherboard?


Hoppie

[Ton van Bochove]

In my case I removed the battery from my laptop, equal to removing it from the socket I guess

[Jeroen Hoppenbrouwers]

No, it's not equal for a laptop. For a floor PC, old style, it usually is sufficient to remove the power plug from the wall outlet for a minute, but even there I've seen cases that it was not. Laptops though nearly never really really shut down. They tend to keep some part of their minibrain "always on". However by pysically removing their main battery for a while, the usually lose all their stored state and really reset.

It's a last-resort method and in the vast majority of cases a normal restart will solve an issue. But not absolutely always.


Hoppie

[Ton van Bochove]

However by pysically removing their main battery for a while, the usually lose all their stored state and really reset.

In this case I am happy I have a laptop