I've run into a bit of a problem trying to install a MS Sidewinder Force Feedback 2 joystick and I'm going nuts trying to figure out a fix. When I plug in the USB, the hardware wizard gives the following error "cannot install this hardware; an error occured installing device; data error (cyclic redundancy check)". The Sidewinder does not show under 'game controllers' in the Control Panel. When I check the Device Manager, The Sidewinder FFB2 does show in the Device Manager tree as a 'Human Interface Device' but with a yellow exclamation point showing. When I double click on it to see the properties the device status states that the drivers for the device are not installed (code 28). When I click 'Reinstall Driver' it attempts to reinstall the driver and then gives me the "cannot install this hardware; an error occured installing device; data error (cyclic redundancy check)" error again. Does the same thing if I try installing the driver from the CD. I know the Sidewinder works, because I can use it just fine on my other computer. Both are using winXP 32, sp3. I've been trying to figure this out for the last three days... any insights would be appreciated, 'cause I'm stumped.
Yep. No dice using the drivers off of the disk. Its the weirdest thing. Its not that it doesn't recognize the joystick... it just won't load the driver - not the embedded driver in XP or the driver on the disk. I've never seen anything like it. The Sidewinder works just great on my other WinXP computer. Just plugged in the usb and thats all. Pure plug and play. But on my main PC I get this weirdness. Frankly I'm at a loss. When I plug in the joystick, the PC recognizes it as a MS Sidewinder FFB 2, but when it tries to apply the driver it can't. And when I try to reload the embedded driver or the driver on the disk it tosses the CDC.
I tried again just now and this is the error I get:
The drivers for this device are not installed. (Code 28)
To reinstall the drivers for this device, click Reinstall Driver.
...and when I click Reinstall Driver, It attempts to reinstall the driver and then gives me the "cannot install this hardware; an error occured installing device; data error (cyclic redundancy check)" error again. Does the same thing if I try to load the driver from the original disk.
OK.. you may not like this.. but a while back I had the weirdest problem.. I had a HD crash and I had to reinstall.. I couldn't get IE to work.. I couldn't get some basic stuff to work in my OS.. I had problems with stuff that I knew was stock.. I installed my OS several times and each time I got different problems... It occurred to me that I could have a bad OD (Actually I don't remember if it occurred to me or if someone suggested it..) I replace my Optical Drive.. and all was well.. and has been well since.. A bad dvd/CD drive can give you fits.. because it may install your OS incompletely.. but enough for you to actually complete the install & lof in.. Just food for thought because that MSFFB driver should be stock on XP..
I ran into a similar problem using XP with my MS Sidewinder Force Feedback Pro stick. It wouldn't load the drivers for it from the disk. XP didn't recognize it and try to load the drivers from there either.
I'll have to get the disk and see what error it gave me.
If I end up doing a reinstall of XP I'll replace the optical drive too. Meanwhile I finally managed to find something in MS support (miracle of miracles) that gives me an idea. The drivers are working fine on my other PC - both are running the same OS. I'm going to copy the Driver cache\I386 folder that is working and transfer it to the Driver cach\I386 folder that is not (backing up the original first, of course) that should overwrite the corrupt (I'm assuming) Driver.cab file and sp3.cab file with the functioning Driver.cab and sp3.cab files. Certainly worth a shot. I'll try it tomorrow... too tired to try it tonight. I'll let you know how it goes. Wish me luck.
Long story short... turns out that the Driver.cab file in my XP install was corrupt. I just copied over the good Driver.cab file from the Windows\Driver cache\i386 folder on my other winXP machine and - Taa Daa! - plug and play paradise with my new MS Sidewinder FFB 2 joystick! Yeah baby!!!
