Cognisys Controller issues?

nielsgeode · Post by **nielsgeode** » Thu May 28, 2020 3:05 am

My stackshot controller is always USB-connected to my PC. After a fresh win10 install I get a USB-eject / connect sound every few seconds. From log utilities it turns out that the culprit is the stackshot controller.

With a special utility I force-removed the FTDI drivers from my system and then installed the latest FTDI drivers (version 21228). This doesn't help. Obviously when the USB cable is not connected the sound is not there, but that is not a solution. I tried a bunch of different USB cables and strangely only one cable "works": everything seems normal, including operation, except I get this USB sound all the time.

It's strange only one mini-usb cable works and I think I tried at least 4 or 5.

What do the forum members think of these issues? Would my stackshot controller be 'broken'?

lonepal · Post by **lonepal** » Thu May 28, 2020 5:21 am

Hi;

Did you try connecting with another USB port?

You should use the ports placed at mainboard.

nielsgeode · Post by **nielsgeode** » Thu May 28, 2020 5:25 am

lonepal wrote:Hi;

Did you try connecting with another USB port?

You should use the ports placed at mainboard.

Yes I did. In fact the motherboard is only a couple of weeks old (literally!). Everything is fresh and brand-new. I used several different ports directly on the motherboard, both USB2 and USB3 and USB3.1 gen2 (althouth that shouldn't matter because the controller is USB2).

The controller is now on a different system and I don't see issues there (yet).

lonepal · Post by **lonepal** » Thu May 28, 2020 7:34 am

Then it seems like a driver issue.

nielsgeode · Post by **nielsgeode** » Thu May 28, 2020 7:52 am

lonepal wrote:Then it seems like a driver issue.

Is my feeling too. However, it's a clean win10 install and I freshly installed the latest FTDI drivers are removing the older onces completely with a special tool.

So what can I do then?

Also weird is that only 1 of the 5 usb cables that I have works. This is the same for both systems.

rjlittlefield · Post by **rjlittlefield** » Thu May 28, 2020 8:56 am

I have not heard of a problem like this before, with any device.

Have you checked with Cognisys (support@cognisys-inc.com)?

--Rik

nielsgeode · Post by **nielsgeode** » Thu May 28, 2020 9:19 am

rjlittlefield wrote:I have not heard of a problem like this before, with any device.

Have you checked with Cognisys (support@cognisys-inc.com)?

--Rik

They suggest to ship the unit back to them, which is expensive from Europe and slow. So I like to try and test everything possible to eliminate other causes before I ship anything to them.

Macro_Cosmos · Post by **Macro_Cosmos** » Thu May 28, 2020 10:08 am

I've had this issue before, but not with a stackshot controller. My USB devices will connect and disconnect, spamming me with that annoying "deng deng deng", "deng-lung-denn" whatever sound, driving me nuts.

It was a hardware issue on my laptop, I disassembled the thing and somehow that worked... I don't know why.

How many peripherals do you have connected? Sometimes not enough current is supplied to USB devices which can cause this issue. I used to use a USB3.0 hub which was rubbish. Moved to a USB-C one which has way higher output and all problems vanished.

nielsgeode · Post by **nielsgeode** » Thu May 28, 2020 10:41 am

Macro_Cosmos wrote:I've had this issue before, but not with a stackshot controller. My USB devices will connect and disconnect, spamming me with that annoying "deng deng deng", "deng-lung-denn" whatever sound, driving me nuts.

It was a hardware issue on my laptop, I disassembled the thing and somehow that worked... I don't know why.

How many peripherals do you have connected? Sometimes not enough current is supplied to USB devices which can cause this issue. I used to use a USB3.0 hub which was rubbish. Moved to a USB-C one which has way higher output and all problems vanished.

There are quite some USB devices connected. However, each port can supply its own power, so as long as you are not using a non-powered hub to draw everthing from a single port on the computer it shouldn't be a problem. In my case the stackshot is connected directly to a usb3 port that is on the back of the motherboard. So the particular port is not shared with other devices, although I do know that internally the resources of some ports can be shared in. I have not considered this before, and I will check with some software which ports share their resources, so I can give the stackshot it's own dedicated port.

There remains the question why none of my cables (except 1) work. This issue is the same on both systems.

rjlittlefield · Post by **rjlittlefield** » Thu May 28, 2020 10:59 am

As a test, I suggest to try disconnecting all your other USB devices to eliminate their current draw.

The model that different USB ports "do not share resources" will almost certainly not apply all the way upstream to the power supply.

I wonder if your one cable that works, happens to have slightly larger conductors or better connectors, resulting in some millivolt difference in power seen by the StackShot controller.

--Rik

rjlittlefield · Post by **rjlittlefield** » Thu May 28, 2020 1:03 pm

nielsgeode wrote:There remains the question why none of my cables (except 1) work. This issue is the same on both systems.

Re-reading the whole thread, I think I misunderstood earlier.

Are you saying that:

On two computers, only 1 USB cable works at all with the StackShot.
On one computer, that 1 cable works entirely OK.
On the other computer, that 1 cable works sort of, but produces the connect/disconnect sound.

--Rik

nielsgeode · Post by **nielsgeode** » Thu May 28, 2020 1:30 pm

rjlittlefield wrote:
nielsgeode wrote:There remains the question why none of my cables (except 1) work. This issue is the same on both systems.
Re-reading the whole thread, I think I misunderstood earlier.

Are you saying that:
On two computers, only 1 USB cable works at all with the StackShot.
On one computer, that 1 cable works entirely OK.
On the other computer, that 1 cable works sort of, but produces the connect/disconnect sound.
--Rik

Yes, correct.

In the meantime, I was busy with the suggested test. It took some time because I had to use RDP as I also unplugged mouse and keyboard. In that case I don't see the annoying connect/disconnect-events. After that I experimented with different ports on the motherboard to replicate that '(dis)connect-thing'. So far I haven't managed to get that issue back.

However, what remains is that only one cable works at all, no matter what port, configuration or machine I try. This is something that worries me. If the cable fails I can no longer connect at all to my stackshot controller.