[Thready]

I have the Microsoft Sidewinder X4. Every time I turn on my PC, it makes the hardware failure sound and it says something to the effect of a USB device has failed. My keyboard's backlight lights up then goes dark for a second then comes back on. Then after all of this is over, the keyboard is up and running fine, macros are working fine, media keys are fine, everything works and no problems. all other USB devices are running fine. I have a USB card reader with an SD card I just leave in there and I have a flash drive and USB wifi adapter I leave in my USB desktop hub. My keyboard, mouse, and nostromo are plugged in directly to the usb ports on the motherboard.

Today I get a Windows update for my keyboard which is odd because keyboards shouldn't need this many updates (already installed 2 in the last week). I always check it to download and install and every time it does, it says installation failed this time and it never said that before.

So what in the world is going on here? My keyboard is great and works like a charm, but for some reason the drivers are not recognized. I have the "if it ain't broke" philosophy with computers so if I have to really do anything to my PC then I am just going to let this go and learn to live with it. I'm not going to uninstall a driver or anything because I think that's unnecessary.

I also have a Razer Nostromo and Razer Naga if that helps at all. Both of which have a bunch of buttons and keys on them.

 

[Paranoid]

Well.. I don't think there's anything wrong with your KB. I'm not sure about "the hardware failure sound and it says something to the effect of a USB device has failed" part - but the fact that the back light blinks immediately after boot - that's because your motherboard/BIOS it's initializing all your peripherals (including USB ports, and everything connected to them). My X4 does the same, and it did so with about 4 different setups (motherboards) that I used it with.

About the software updates - the keyboard by itself works just fine without any special software. But you probably have the MS IntelliType (or something like that) application that allows you to customize the macro keys and so on - and that is what you see being updated.

So, I think your KB is just fine

Cheers

 

[Thready]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paranoid

Well.. I don't think there's anything wrong with your KB. I'm not sure about "the hardware failure sound and it says something to the effect of a USB device has failed" part - but the fact that the back light blinks immediately after boot - that's because your motherboard/BIOS it's initializing all your peripherals (including USB ports, and everything connected to them). My X4 does the same, and it did so with about 4 different setups (motherboards) that I used it with.

About the software updates - the keyboard by itself works just fine without any special software. But you probably have the MS IntelliType (or something like that) application that allows you to customize the macro keys and so on - and that is what you see being updated.

So, I think your KB is just fine

Cheers

thanks. I installed the disc that came with it and it is good. I don't use the macros much because I have a Razer Nostromo that I use for action games so I am not able to get to my keyboard fast enough to use the macros.