Gameport to USB Problem

[ReddMcKnight]

OK, I have this GP to USB Adapter:



And this GP Steering Wheel:



However, when I plug it into my computer, the computer doesn't give me the "USB Device Detected Buzz" Sound, nor does it seem to work on anything I try it with. Any advice? I'd look for drivers for it, but the GP to USB Adapter doesn't seem to be named. Nothing is written on it at all.

[Niode]

What OS are you using? Win7 dropped native support for gameport completely. You would need drivers for it to work. Good luck with that. Might as well just throw them away and get a USB wheel. Less hassle.

[ReddMcKnight]

What OS are you using? Win7 dropped native support for gameport completely. You would need drivers for it to work. Good luck with that. Might as well just throw them away and get a USB wheel. Less hassle.

I'm using Windows XP.

[Niode]

What OS are you using? Win7 dropped native support for gameport completely. You would need drivers for it to work. Good luck with that. Might as well just throw them away and get a USB wheel. Less hassle.

I'm using Windows XP.

Since it's not a USB compliant device you wouldn't get a 'usb hardware found' notification. Have you tried looking in the control panel, specifically in the gamepad calibrator. It may be listed under there. Check hardware and devices to see if the system is recognising the USB to gameport adaptor. It should be listed even if it simply says 'generic serial device'. It would help if you didn't have any other USB devices plugged at this point so as to pin point it easily.

Hell, there's so many variables with gameport it's going to be hard to pin point the exact issue, could be there's not enough power draw through the USB. Your gameport controller could be expecting +5v on two separate pins but the adaptor may not be wired for this. The controller may use multiplexing which requires a proprietary driver and will simply not work at all without it. Due to the analogue nature of gameport, fixing issues like this is like trying to find a needle in a haystack. It's simply not worth it. This is why the entire industry jumped ship as soon as USB arrived.

[deathsled]

What OS are you using? Win7 dropped native support for gameport completely. You would need drivers for it to work. Good luck with that. Might as well just throw them away and get a USB wheel. Less hassle.

that is for a physical gameport like on an old Sound Blaster card. A gameport->USB adapter is detected as a USB device and simply shows up as a USB gamepad once plugged into XP/Vista/7. No drivers necessary.

There's a lot of bad information in this thread already Am I the only person aside from the OP who has a gameport->usb adapter? lol

This adapter looks pretty small. I have one and the gameport is definitely a part of a little box that contains some circuitry to do the conversion process.

The joystick/gamepad always needs to be plugged into the adapter first before plugging it into the PC to be recognized.

If your PC isn't recognizing anything being plugged in I would say you have either a defective adapter or one that isn't designed properly. If it's a straight up gameport pins to USB convertor with no electronics inside then it will never work lol.

for example here is my gameport->usb adapter:



It has a few selectable modes for using gamepads, wheels, or joysticks.

When properly detected it shows up as a game controller in the device manager and in the game controller panel in the CP. It won't show as a "generic serial port" or a gameport or anything. It is essentially converting gameport joysticks/pads/wheels to a USB joystick

[Hobie-wan]

That yellow adapter looks like the one that came with one of my Logitech game pads. I suppose it is also possible that it might do something special and only work with Logitech stuff if that wheel is from a different manufacturer.