MCG Gladiator mk.II Pro | Blackbox RED LED keeps flashing.

[Rlaxoxo]

Okay so ...

I've had this stick since October literally no issues worked flawlessly and still does, except one little thing...

Recently my hatslew on the throttle got busted and it's spiking everywhere so I've decided to make the Top hat slew on the stick itself as my primary Slew hat.
Since I recently re-formatted my PC, I couldn't find the "VKBDevCfg-C_v0.88.88" tool I had before so I went and downloaded the latest tool from here: http://alex-oz.strana.de/

It was "VKBDevCfg-C_v0.90.00" I believe which I've used.
So anyhow, all good so far no issues, and last night was fiddling around and think I just changed my Slew hat on the top from Relative into Absolute slew and changed the dead zones a bit and made the press function into TempoB mode so I have an extra button and made it so it's default state is to be a slew hat first and if I press and hold for 300ms it turns into a hatswitch.

Then I've noticed that the LED light on the black box light was blinking RED and stick worked fine, I could so no visible issues but that light is honestly annoying, I don't know what's wrong.

Here were my steps trying to fix it:
- Restarted the device (No change)
- Reverted back changes (No change)
- Pressed "Default" (Light turns into solid green color)
- Calibrated my stick (Light still stays green)
- Click "Set" without any change after calibration (LED light starts Lighting up again)
- Click "Default" again (Light turns into solid green color)
- I press "Set" again (Light starts blinking RED again)
- I load my previous profile (Light still blinks RED but stick works fine)
- Googled for issues and searched through this forum (Saw few threads about updating firmware)
- My old firmware was "_BlackBox_GF_MCG_PRO_v1_95_5.vkb" I think (Didn't change from October 2018
- Updated to new firmware "_BlackBox_GF_MCG_PRO_v1_96_B" (Repeated the process from above - No difference) - (Firmware site: http://ftp.vkb-sim.pro/Firmware/ | http://ftp.vkb-sim.pro/Programms/)
- Then I went on "Test" -> "External Devices" and went to check if the connections are stable (1 Green line on the bottom on both Box and Grip)
- Clicked on the Grip (Saw some minor fluctuations between 0-4%)
- Decided to Un-seat the grip and clean the contacts a bit and the base of the stick with and reseated the grip again (Now showing 0% and rarely shows 1%)
- Decided to repeat the steps from above (Same behavior)

Really annoying.

Does anyone know why this happens?

[Ron61]

Display screenshots of the Global-External-Leds tab. And it would be nice to understand which of the 4 blinks?

[Rlaxoxo]

Update:

Flashed new Firmware: _BlackBox_GF_MCG_PRO_v1_96_B (March 19th 2019)
Reverted back to the old .cfg tool: VKBDevCfg-C_v0.88.88 (Really old remember using this back in October 2018)

When I press "Default" and do any changes the light stays lit GREEN.

If I use any newer cfg tool and do the same the light will blink RED
Why is that?

What Firmware do I need to put to use like version VKBDevCfg-C_v0.90.00 for example?

[Zorik]

Hi.
When you open VKB device config look what is written on the top. For example : 0.90.08 you should use firmware 1.96B
In addition: Red light may flash if there is a bad connection between base of gunfighter and the stick.

[Rlaxoxo]

I'm using cfg. 88.88 version anything higher than that will cause the light to flash red once I do anything like change dead zone on one axis for example or any setting action really...

I tried using 1_96_B version firmware but its causing the same issue.

I think I must have messed something up cause I lost my old. 88.88 cfg version when I formated my pc and just downloaded newest tool without updating firmware on my blackbox and now when update my firmware to 1_96_B for example with cfg. 90.00 it causes issues even if I reset the profile to default close the configuration restart my pc than trying to change any value on the stick by using the SET function

I have checked the connections on my stick by going into the test external devices and everything is green with 1 line and I clicked on the graph thing and it says 0% on both the base and grip and rarely jumps to 1% then sits at 0% again.

I do not know what the issue is.

Now I'm using 1_96_0 firmware and. 88.88 cfg and I can set stuff like dead zone for example and the stick led light stays green however I after some time the Led light doesn't even light up anymore.

Stick works fine it's just green light is not there.

It's fresh new profile with the cfg and firmware from above.

[Ron61]

We need screenshots from the configurator, which I mentioned earlier. And also the Profile-Buttons tabs.And you have a Gladiator, not a Gunfighter?

[Rlaxoxo]

Okay, will try to showcase a problem once I'm home later.

EDIT:
Oops I have made a mistake in the title.
Yes I own MCG gunfighter mk. II pro

[Rlaxoxo]

Current firmware&cfg versions:


Device Report:


Okay so, currently with my current versions If If I reset and make a new default profile the Stick LED light will be lit steday GREEN. (Works ok)
- I go in somewhere and change deazone and press SET, Unit resets and the light still stays green (Works ok)
- I go to Profile -> Axes -> Logical Axis -> (Image)



- I change the Axis number 3 & 4 from relative to absolute (Top hat - Master Mode text above it)
- Press SET on the .cfg tool, unit restarts and GREEN led stops lighting up (Now Only blue light is lit up) (Stick works fine now but shouldn't the light stay green?)

Anyhow since the light isn't flashing anymore I guess I can just keep it like this since it's not as annoying as when the RED light was flashing.

However, If I decide to use any new .cfg tool and after ANY action if I press "SET" the unit will restart and the Stick light will be flashing RED all the time even tho the stick works fine.

Screenshot of the External Devices Test Page (Was left running 30+ sec):


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Button Profile tab you asked for:

[Ron61]

In order for the Leds tab to appear, you need to add the User = Developer line to the [User] section in the zConfig.ini file. And then show a screenshot of this tab and Povs.
It is better to use the latest firmware and configurator and reset to default (using the button in the configurator) after the firmware. Some settings are visible, which may affect the behavior of Led. In order to check this and ask to show only the specified tabs.

[Rlaxoxo]

Sigh ... it's ok, I managed to fix it somehow.

Nevermind, thx.

[DarthHydlaer]

Thank you for your post! I just got my MCG Pro yesterday and I meet the same problem. Now I successfully solved it.

I think the point is that the VKBDevCfg.exe should be the version exactly supporting the firmware. Initially my GF MCG had 1.96B firmware and I used the v_0.90.06 VKBDevCfg from VKB's official site, and the problem was the same as you described. I noticed that when I plug in my stick, the title bar of VKBDevCfg shows "1.96A". Then I found v_0.90.11 software from the site you give ( http://alex-oz.strana.de/). The problem was perfectly solved!

Maybe different versions of softwares has slightly difference in their "set" action, which makes the blackbox "feels" something wrong. I think this is VKB's fault for not providing latest software version on their website.


Anyway, I can use my MCG comfortably now. Thank a lot!

[Rlaxoxo]

Glad it helped you.

If you don't mind me asking what versions of firmware and cfg tool are you currently running on atm?

[DarthHydlaer]

Sorry but as a newbie, I don't really understand what "atm" means. So I suppose you are asking the versions I'm currently using on my stick.

The stick firmware is "_BlackBox_GF_MCG_PRO_v1_96_B.vkb" and the cfg tools is "VKBDevCfg-C_v0.90.11". Hope this can help you.