Another Mk3 Ultimate Died

[xavchow]

Hi all,

My Mk3 Ultimate has been working fine (up till two days ago) and today when i wanted to launch DCS, I noticed the BB red light was flashing. I tried :
1) reseating the stick
2) removing the extension, cleaning all pins and contacts and reseating the stick directly without the extension
3) reflashing with the same firmware that i used successfully and without problems (2.09) ; able to detect and reflashes fine without error

If i remove the usb cable and reconnect it the stick blinks both white led and then all lights are off.
The green LED on the base of the stick (gimbal housing) still glows.
DevCfg is able to detect stick but none of the Axis and buttons on the stick are working.
The T-rudders connected works fine.

Is the Ultimate dead?

[DavidNDC]

Exact same issue here with my MK3 Ultimate. Was working fine in DCS using the new Apache and then went completely unresponsive with the flashing red light.

Did the reseat thing several times, eliminated the gooseneck extension, firmware flash, etc to no avail. Pretty disappointed TBH.

[fallout9]

3) reflashing with the same firmware that i used successfully and without problems (2.09) ; able to detect and reflashes fine without error

Exact same issue here

Press the Default button under Tools tab and try again.

[DavidNDC]

Thanks for the quick reply!

Upon clicking the Default button, Windows chimes like it's disconnecting the device. The lights on the device go out, Windows chimes again and the lights go back to solid Blue and flashing Red. When it 1st boots up, the stick briefly flashes two white leds below button 1.

When clicking on the Calibration tab, only the X and Y axis are recognized, nothing else.

[fallout9]

Clean up the 3 contact pads on top of the base stem with a cloth and alcohol. When installing the grip press on it gently while tightening the fastener for better contact.

[xavchow]

Did both
1) clicking on Default
2) cleaning the contact pins with deoxit

My mk3 pro lasted longer than this. what's happening with the Ultimate?

is it a batch problem and is there a circuit board in the grip that we can replace to fix this issue?

[fallout9]

Post pictures please, in focus and good light, with the 3 contact pads on the top of the base stem and the 3 pins inside the grip.

[xavchow]

Have attached for reference.

The pins are sliding smoothly and not stuck.

[fallout9]

You were saying you have a second base laying around?

[DavidNDC]

Here's mine. Cleaned all contacts and reseated several times with and without the extension.

[xavchow]

You were saying you have a second base laying around?

No I don't. I sold my previous GF mk2 Pro when I got the Ultimate. But i had used the Mk3 Pro a lot longer without such issue.
In the case of the pic, I dismounted the Ultimate from my VR pit for easier troubleshooting.

[fallout9]

Any chance to try the joystick on another computer? If that's not possible, at least plug it directly to the motherboard USB port and try again.

[xavchow]

Have tried using my laptop. Same red flashing LED.
The grip also does not flash white momentarily on the 2 led below the red button anymore regardless of plugging into my desktop or laptop.
The Ultimate has always been plugged directly into the back USB of the motherboard. I have also tried switching to other ports but not able to resolve the issue.

[xavchow]

Hi fallout9

More findings:

I managed to find the new owner of my previous GF mk2 Pro and troubleshoot with the mk2 Pro base unit.
So the combi of [ My Ultimate + old mk2 Pro Base + my Blackbox Mk2 ] gets recognised and immediately gave the green LED. Configurator showed buttons and axis working. So the problem is definitely with my Base Unit.
So to confirm, I tested with [ my Ultimate + my Base Unit + my BlackBox mk2 ] at his place and to my surprise, the BB flashed green momentarily then red then green. Bit unstable but configurator indicated that the buttons and axis are working.
I thought the problem was somewhat fixed and went home happy.

I tested all the connections (including the extension) back at my place and all were green and i began assembling it back to my VR pit. Everything seemed to be working at this point so I thought it was a good idea to do a reset with the Default button and recalibrate with the configurator. **The moment I hit the Default button, everything went dead - back to the flashing red LED again and nothing seem to be able to revive it.**

Seems like something to do with the base unit/firmware combi or something. I'm using the firmware [ _BlackBox_MK2_GF_MCG_Ultimate_v2_09_0 ].

Any idea what might be the cause?

[Ron61]

Try another firmware from here, for example 2.09F.