A7N8X-Deluxe: Gameport affects USB signal quality

[Gernot Saborowski]

Dear all,

since I connected the game port interface to the game port pins on the
A7N8X, I get corrupted images when I connect my USB card reader to the
front panel.

Here you can find an expample:
http://195.30.247.241/sabo/corrupt.jpg

When I connect the card reader to the rear USB connector of the MoBo,
everything works fine. I have already checked if the USB connector is
fitted properly.

Any suggestions or similar experiences?



Regards,

-Gernot

 

[Paul]

Dear all,

since I connected the game port interface to the game port pins on the
A7N8X, I get corrupted images when I connect my USB card reader to the
front panel.

Here you can find an expample:
http://195.30.247.241/sabo/corrupt.jpg

When I connect the card reader to the rear USB connector of the MoBo,
everything works fine. I have already checked if the USB connector is
fitted properly.

Any suggestions or similar experiences?



Regards,

-Gernot

I am willing to bet that your card reader is connected to USB56 header.
Due to the proximity of the Game Connector to the USB56 header, they
are probably sharing the same fused supply of +5V. Your Game Controller
is drawing excess current from +5V, and that is causing the polyfuse
automatic fuse to start to open. When the voltage drops, the card
reader is no longer able to function properly. (In the PDF manual for
the A7N8X, I can see two polyfuses in the area, a green one with
"1X1" on it and a black one with "P 110" on it. It is hard to tell
how they are wired using just the picture as a guide.)

I remember reading somewhere, that there are some older controllers
with incompatible pinouts for modern game controller connectors.

For a temporary fix, try moving the USBPWR_56 header jumper to run
from +5VSB, rather than +5. (This is on the assumption that Asus
wouldn't use +5VSB on the game port connector - which may or may
not be true.) Maybe that will separate the devices from
one another. That would leave the card reader running even when
the computer is shut down, which isn't desirable. A permanent fix
is to figure out why your game controller is drawing so much
current. It is only supposed to have 100K ohm potentiometers or
switches in it. Check that the adapter and cable are installed
properly on the GAME1 header.

HTH,
Paul

 

[Gernot Saborowski]

I am willing to bet that your card reader is connected to USB56 header.

Yes, it is...

For a temporary fix, try moving the USBPWR_56 header jumper to run
from +5VSB, rather than +5. (This is on the assumption that Asus
wouldn't use +5VSB on the game port connector - which may or may
not be true.) Maybe that will separate the devices from
one another. That would leave the card reader running even when
the computer is shut down, which isn't desirable.

I'll give that a try. I don't care about the card reader running even
when the computer is shut down since I switch off the complete stuff
with a switched multiple socket...

A permanent fix
is to figure out why your game controller is drawing so much
current.

It is a old (4 years) MS Sidewinder ForceFeedback. This has an
additional power supply, but I believe that the ForceFeedback technology
is not the best.

Best regards and thanks for your help,

-Gernot

 

[Gernot Saborowski]

I'll give that a try. I don't care about the card reader running even
when the computer is shut down since I switch off the complete stuff
with a switched multiple socket...

OK - I changed the jumper USBPWR_56 from the default +5 to +5VSB and -
surprise: A change! Now the artifacts in the images are different from
those I had with the original jumper setting. Unfortunately, no change
in usabilizty of the front panel connectors...

Thanks for your help anyway,

-Gernot

 

[Paul]

Yes, it is...


I'll give that a try. I don't care about the card reader running even
when the computer is shut down since I switch off the complete stuff
with a switched multiple socket...


It is a old (4 years) MS Sidewinder ForceFeedback. This has an
additional power supply, but I believe that the ForceFeedback technology
is not the best.

Best regards and thanks for your help,

-Gernot

This web page mentions the use of "digital mode", which is a way of
transferring the potentiometer settings using ADCs in the joystick.
This involves the use of a clock signal. Maybe the clock signal is
interfering with other circuits, like the USB ? (This interference
would be via crosstalk between the wires in the motherboard PCB.)
Can you disable the "digital mode" and see if the problem persists ?
I suppose the force feedback relies on the "digital mode", so this
isn't a viable solution.

http://atrey.karlin.mff.cuni.cz/~vojtech/joystick/specs.txt

I guess my first question about this situation, is why is the USB
interface allowing corrupted data to be accepted? I thought USB
packets were protected by CRC (cyclic redundancy check). The CRC
isn't too powerful, so I guess bad packets can be accepted by
the host. Normally, the host should repeat the request for data
from the card reader, when a CRC error is found.

The USB56 header is a 2x5 connector. Can you move the card reader
from one USB channel to the other on the USB56 header ? If the
card reader has a 1x5 connector, this will be easy to do. If the
card reader has a 2x5 connector, then you will have to extract
the D+,D- pins from the connector and swap them with the D+,D-
pins of the other channel. It might be easier to test using the
other USB ports on the computer, only then you'll need an adapter
cable of some sort, to connect the card reader to the back of
the computer.

The other way to move the problem, would be to put a separate PCI
sound card in the computer, where the sound card comes with a
Game Port. Plug the Sidewinder into the sound card. That should
isolate the two subsystems enough to get it to work.

HTH,
Paul

 

[Ben Pope]

The other way to move the problem, would be to put a separate PCI
sound card in the computer, where the sound card comes with a
Game Port. Plug the Sidewinder into the sound card. That should
isolate the two subsystems enough to get it to work.

Unfortunately, due to a limitation with this board, you can only use the
onboard game controller (AFAIK) - game ports on a sound card, will not be
operable.

Ben

 

[Ed]

Unfortunately, due to a limitation with this board, you can only use the
onboard game controller (AFAIK) - game ports on a sound card, will not be
operable.

Ben

The Game port on a sound card will not be operable? What's to stop it
from working, just curious, never heard that one before. ;p
Ed

 

[KCB]

The Game port on a sound card will not be operable? What's to stop it
from working, just curious, never heard that one before. ;p
Ed

Look here:
http://www.asus.com/support/faq/qanda.aspx?KB_ID=83947

It specifically mentions the Audigy2, although this may affect other sound
cards...

 

[Ed]

Look here:
http://www.asus.com/support/faq/qanda.aspx?KB_ID=83947

It specifically mentions the Audigy2, although this may affect other sound
cards...

Interesting!! , it says... due to Creative Audigy2 sound card must use
a designated I/O decided by the sound card itself, unlike the I/O for
other PCI devices are assigned by BIOS. Thus, this will cause I/O
conflict. If users want to put Audigy2 on A7N8X and use gameport's
function, please disable the gameport on Audigy2 and use the onboard
gameport.

Weird, I have a A7N8X(non-dlx) v2.00/Audigy 2/WinXP Pro.
I have the A7N8X onboard joystick and sound disabled and using the
Audigy2 joystick port to record and playback multi-track MIDI, I also
have a 7-1 flash card reader and USB joystick in the front USB ports,
everything works just fine.

Ed