windows drivers vs 3rd party... help getting back to windows

[blakerwry]

Just wondering something. Sometimes when you install a new piece of hardwaqre Windows will automatically install drivers for it... usually the manuf. drivers are better so you isntall those instead.


I installed a game pad(AxisPad FX) and windowsXP recognized it as a Gemini Gamepad.. to get the rumblepack/vibration i installed the manufacturer's drivers for 2k/XP. The pad is now recognized as a Gemini Vibration Gampad.

Come to find out, the vibration function doesn't work in the game I'm playing anyway... The windows drivers let me calibrate the analog joysticks of the gamepad, but the manuf. drivers don't. I notice a loss in precision because of this...

I've tried reinstalling the MS drivers, but they are no where to be found during the hardware installation wizard. I've also searched the net, but can't get any other drivers to install.

What can I do to get the MS drivers back?

thanks.

 

[Groltz]

Unplug the game pad.

Uninstall all instances of it from your device manager, both 3rd party and Windows. (You will probably have to use the "DEVMGR_SHOW_NONPRESENT_DEVICES = 1" enviroment variable to enable seeing the ghost devices within device manager)

Plug it back in and let Windows assign it the built-in driver again.

This is, of course, assuming your gamepad is USB.

 

[blakerwry]

ahh, forgot about phantom devices... will try.

 

[blakerwry]

I removed all phantom devices etc from device manager and apon plugging in the game pad it is still recognized as the uncalibratable gemini vibration gamepad... I thought I had this problem licked because I purchased a new controller and it seemed to be doing better than the last, but after awhile these things just seem to need software calibration to work correctly.

So now I'm stuck without decent drivers for this gamepad... is there anyway to get back to the windows built-in drivers? (tried to roll-back drivers but device manager said there was no driver information to roll back to)

thanks,
-Blake

 

[Jan Kivar]

I removed all phantom devices etc from device manager and apon plugging in the game pad it is still recognized as the uncalibratable gemini vibration gamepad... I thought I had this problem licked because I purchased a new controller and it seemed to be doing better than the last, but after awhile these things just seem to need software calibration to work correctly.

So now I'm stuck without decent drivers for this gamepad... is there anyway to get back to the windows built-in drivers? (tried to roll-back drivers but device manager said there was no driver information to roll back to)

thanks,
-Blake

Go to \windows\inf and locate the manufacturer's .inf-file (use search, containing text -field) and remove it (and maybe all files with the same filename, but different extension... just removing the .inf should do it). Uninstall the device, reboot and see if the controller uses the Windows' drivers after that.

Cheers,

Jan

 

[blakerwry]

Thanks for that tidbit of info


I figured that calibration would be all I needed, to test this out I plugged the gamepad into a winME computer... using the stock windows drivers and calibrating the controller did make it better, but it still was not perfect, I guess the controllers are just made too cheaply to be reliable.

The controller was bought at Walmart for ~$19 and was sold under the name "AxisPad FX" It looks almost identical to a Playstation dual shock controller.