Sidewinder Racing Wheel

[Vaughn]

Recently with the Sidewinder Precision Pro racing wheel I
have been having problems with the software on Windows
XP. It seems to be a new driver for something that is
causing the problems. I have had this problem on other
operating systems as well though. The problem that I have
been having deals with the Sidewinder Game Controller
Software version 4.0. When I launch it from the taskbar,
Sidewinder Central comes up. I then go into Game
Controllers/Control Panel and select the Sidewinder
wheel. When I click properties it says "There was an
internal error that may be due to low system resources.
Please close this program, as well as other open programs,
and try again. If the problem presists, your computer may
be missing necessary components of this program. Please
reinstall the software." I have tried replugging in the
wheel several times as well as uninstalling the device in
device manager. None of these helped. Any help that
could be provided would be greatly appreciated. By the
way- I'm using Windows XP Professional. Thank You.

 

[Joshua Smith [MSFT]]

The problem you are seeing is probably that for some reason the system has
chosen to use the "HID-compliant device" driver instead of "Microsoft
SideWinder Precision Racing Wheel" (quotes may not be exact, I am going off
memory =) ). You can check this by opening Device Manager (Right click "My
Computer" -> Properties -> Hardware -> Device Manager) and checking what is
listed under "Human Interface Devices". There should be at least two devices
listed (more if you have other USB devices), one will be "HID-compliant game
controller" and the other should be "USB Human Interface Device". For each
of these you will need to do the following:

1. Double click the entry
2. Choose the Driver tab
3. Click Update Driver...
4. Select "Install from a list or specific location (Advanced)".
5. Hit Next.
6. Choose "Don't search. I will choose....", hit Next.
7. At this point you should have a list with "HID-compliant device" and one
or two listings for "Microsoft SideWinder Precision Racing Wheel". (in
Windows 2000 you will only have one listing, in Windows XP you should have 2
one marked as digitally signed the other not).
8. Highlight the "Microsoft SideWinder Precision Racing Wheel" entry with
the green check that indicates it is digitally signed and hit Next.
9. The rest should install ok. If you get any prompts click OK.
10. Do the same for "USB Human Interface Device".


At this point if everything went right you should have 3 devices listed:
"Microsoft SideWinder Precision Racing Wheel", "Microsoft SideWinder
Precision Racing Wheel HID Drivers", and "Microsoft SideWinder Virtual
Keyboard".

The absence in the beginning of the "Microsoft SideWinder Virtual Keyboard"
was the reason the "Low resources" error.

Hope this helps. If you need further assistance please feel free to let me
know.

 

[Hans Salvisberg]

Hi Joshua,

I have the exact same problem as the original poster (except for it's a
SideWinder Force Feedback 2), with the same error message

"There was an internal error that may be due to low system resources. Please
close this program, as well as other open programs, and try again. If the
problem presists, your computer may be missing necessary components of this
program. Please reinstall the software."

and your reply to him turned up in Google. I already have the "Microsoft
SideWinder Virtual Keyboard", but I still get the same error under non-Admin
users on WinXP Pro. Here's the list under Human Interface Devices:

HID-compliant game controller
Microsoft SideWinder Force Feedback 2
Microsoft SideWinder Force Feedback 2 (yes, twice!)
Microsoft SideWinder Freestyle Pro (USB) (yes, I have that, too!)
Microsoft SideWinder Virtual Keyboard

I don't have the "USB Human Interface Device" entry that you mentioned, but
the FF2 works fine under the Admin account.

Do you have any ideas for me to get this to work for the other accounts?

TIA
Hans

 

[Joshua Smith [MSFT]]

Unfortunatly no. The software for mapping the keyboard keys to controller
buttons was designed before Windows 2000 shipped for Windows 9x systems and
so I doesn't understand user accounts. It expects full control of the system
as it had under Windows 98 and Windows ME.

 

[Joshua Smith [MSFT]]

Hope this doesn't end up being a double post. Had OE troubles when I hit
send on the other message.
At this time unfortunatly, no. The keymapping portion of the software
expects full control of the system as it had in Windows 98 and Windows ME.
We have been doing work to help improve the Limited User experience. The
problem is that many of the areas of the system that could be modified
freely under Win9x are not under WinNT.

 

[Hans Salvisberg]

Hi Joshua,

Thank you for your reply -- I really appreciate your help and openness. FF2
is still a shipping product, with a 3 year warranty going forward from
today, and on
http://www.microsoft.com/catalog/display.asp?site=10560&subid=22&pg=3
it says that it works with all OSes up to and including XP Pro. Do today's
boxes have newer software inside?

FF2 doesn't cost all the world, but it just doesn't make sense to throw away
that nice heavy hardware just to get a software update. Isn't there a way to
get updated software?

Thanks again!
Hans

 

[Joshua Smith [MSFT]]

There were updates done to the Sidewinder Software (for the driver portion)
for Windows XP during development. The software for the controller itself
will not be updated most likely. However, I can tell you that we are looking
into a fix for this. I am also looking into any possible temporary hacks you
might be able to employ to get this working. Would you like me to send you
an e-mail when I find more info? If you would please send me a message to my
e-mail address. (remove "online")