Spacemouse not working

Questions and answers about 3Dconnexion devices on Windows.

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Rico55
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Joined: Fri Jan 25, 2008 10:19 am

Spacemouse not working

Post by Rico55 »

My spacemouse plus has stopped working, and when I try to start the driver that I just downloaded and installed, it says it cannot locate the device. The device beeps upon startup, like it always did when it worked, but now it seems to be invisible to my computer. Has anyone encountered this problem before? This is a serial device, and the port is working properly. The device worked perfectly until I loaded Quickbooks on my machine and then stopped working. I un-installed Quickbooks and have re-installed the 3dconnexion driver, but still no luck.
Fred
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Post by Fred »

Try the below step change the (com port number )if your using a different port.

Specify com port.


1. Go to Start...Programs...3dxonnexion...3dxware...(right click) on "Start Driver" go to "properties".

2. Edit the "Target" line.

Old Line:
"C:\Program Files\3Dconnexion\3DxWare\3DxSrv.exe" -searchWarnDlg

New line:
"C:\Program Files\3Dconnexion\3DxWare\3DxSrv.exe" -com 1


3. save configuration

4. Start driver.
Rico55
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Joined: Fri Jan 25, 2008 10:19 am

Still not working

Post by Rico55 »

Thanks for the quick reply, Fred.
I changed the target, and am getting a message that "no 3d motion controller could be detected", or "unable to open any device on Com Port 1". I can search for hardware on the Com port, and the mouse will beep several times, but it will not function.
Fred
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Post by Fred »

Try unpluggin the device.
Shutdown the pc.
After it stops restart the pc with the device unplugged.
Wait for the 3d Driver to start it will say device not found or plugged in then plug in the device.

Sometimes windows misidentifies the spacemouse as a mouse.
Rico55
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Post by Rico55 »

It's still not detecting it. Any other ideas?
Fred
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Post by Fred »

Check in the com ports to see what you have as a choice if you have more than one then edit the entry to show the different com port and retry starting the driver.


Also You may want to perform a clean install.
Uninstal the current driver.
Download the windows cleanup tool.
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=290301
After installing the Cleanup tool
'Open the Window install cleanup tool look for
3Dconnection.
remove the entry.
if you find a [] with no information inside remove as well.
Close out of the program.
Next reinstall the 2.8.2 driver.
Apollo123
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Joined: Mon Feb 25, 2008 7:01 am

Post by Apollo123 »

I have the same problem on my workstation. I tried the things listed here, but nothing works :-(
Rico55
Posts: 5
Joined: Fri Jan 25, 2008 10:19 am

Dead Spacemouse

Post by Rico55 »

Good luck Apollo,
I tried everything and just unplugged mine so it would stop beeping at me when I boot up. I am getting used to not using it, but starting to suspect a hardware problem, if you are having the same issues. Does you mouse beep when your machine boots up? This indicates to me that the port is working, as it says in the hardware manager, and that it detects the mouse. What did you do differently to your machine right before it stopped working? this may be a digital Hantivirus.
T_Harvey
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Joined: Fri Feb 22, 2008 11:38 am

Post by T_Harvey »

Hey guys,

I had a similar problem using a Spaceball 300 Serial. It had been working just fine on the PC, we installed SW 2008, and then the 'ball wouldn't work with it. I searched these forums and found the "hack", and tried it. Unfortunately, driver 2.8.2 rejects the Spaceball 3000, but only after it ran the full install. At that point the PC stopped working with the 'ball at all (no UG, no Inventor, no CATIA).

Our IT department had a couple documents about Device Manager Interference and Registry-edits from past troubles.

I followed the instructions and was able to get the Spaceball working again.

The key seemed to be following the "Clean Uninstall" steps.

As follows:

PROBLEM DESCRIPTION
On some NT/2000/XP systems, mouse drivers incorrectly identify the Spaceball as a Ball Point Mouse or similar device on the COM port. This effectively locks the COM port from use by other software applications like the 3dxware driver.

SOLUTION (Windows 2000 / Windows XP )
The solution on Windows 2000/XP systems has the same concept as Windows NT. The difference is in the environment interface.

1. Logon to the system using an account with Administrator privileges.
2. Using the "Start" menu select "Settings" and launch the "Control Panel".
3. From the "Control Panel", launch the "System" window.
4. The "Device Manager" can be displayed from the "Hardware" tab.
5. Under the "Mouse and other pointing devices" category find a "Microsoft Serial BallPoint" or similar device entry.
6. Double-click the entry to load the device's property page.
7. Select the "General" tab.
8. Change the "Device usage:" pull-down box to "Do not use this device in the current hardware profile (disabled)"
9. Select "OK".
10. Note that Windows has placed a red X over the device entry icon.
11. Shutdown (turn OFF) and restart the machine. Note that the power MUST BE completely OFF prior to restarting the machine! A warm reboot may not correct the conflict!
12. Verify the operation of the 3dcontroller using one of the 3dxware demos. It should now work correctly.


Note: It is important not to disable devices critical to the operation of the operating system. We would encourage the machine to be restarted without the 3dcontroller attached prior to the above correction to help pinpoint which device is added when the 3dcontroller is re-attached.

CLEAN UNINSTALL DIRECTIONS:
It can be that a previous installation had some settings which could cause problems in a newer installation. In that case I would recommand to completely remove 3DxSoftware, remove 2 folders ( ...\<username>\Application Data\3Dconnexion and that under %appdata%\3Dconnexion) and 2 registry folders (HKCU\Software\3Dconnexion and HKLM\Software\3Dconnexion). Finally install the most new release of the 3DxSoftware.

After getting the Spaceball going again, I tried just using the original drivers and the SW Add-In from the Spaceball 5000-USB driver and the 3000 now even works with SW '08

Hope this helps.
T_Harvey
mm2009
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Joined: Tue Dec 20, 2016 5:09 am

Re: Spacemouse not working

Post by mm2009 »

Warming up the old topic, as it’s all about the same thing…

Clean install, fresh drivers 10.4.8 and still not working! Running Inventor 2016 on win7 and decent workstation. 3d space navigator works fine until you open some random another model, assy etc.
Then it won’t work at all on any other newly opened, but will work fine on very first model you’ve had opened. Fun part is- it works fine in the same time in autocad.
To get 3d navigator working again you need to restart driver or PC. Closing Inventor doesn’t help.
This was reported at least 6months ago, logs been sent and nothing been done.
If I’d pay £10, it would go to the bin straight away, but I have paid over £100 and expect from this to work properly. I am not an isolated problem, every machine in my office suffer the same and forums are full of the same reports.

Wandering if 3Dconnexion care to fix this issue or they don’t give a f….
jwick
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Re: Spacemouse not working

Post by jwick »

We are actively looking at an issue with Inventor that causes a limit on the number of parts that can be opened.
It comes up after using the driver for quite a while.
You should just need to bounce the driver though, not the machine, to clear it up. That is, if it is what I think it is.
Please install the latest driver to see if it has any positive impact. If nothing else, the latest driver will provide more information in its log for us.
mm2009
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Re: Spacemouse not working

Post by mm2009 »

Hi thanks for reply.
Clean install and fresh drivers of 3Dconnexion web site 30mins before I posted on this forum. What made my post? Navigator was working 5 mins and stopped after I opened a new model... Sorry people it is not working!
Will do some logs when have patience and send to to technical supp.
jwick
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Re: Spacemouse not working

Post by jwick »

Try uninstalling the "3Dconnexion Plug-in for Microsoft Office". Go to the control panel run "Change" on the 3Dconnexion 3DxWare 10 installation and uncheck the box next to this component.

The problem this will fix typically occurs after running the Inventor for several days.
I'm not sure this is your issue.
You should contact tech support. They can walk you through a few things. If they can't help, they will escalate up the chain.
mm2009
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Joined: Tue Dec 20, 2016 5:09 am

Re: Spacemouse not working

Post by mm2009 »

I am not running inventor longer than 7h/day, machine is switched off everyday.
COntacting support??? ahhah
they were fine replying so far, though...
Even contacted me after my first post, to say this is an open issue- NEVER SOLVED!!
Asked me to send compressed log file when problem occurs again...
Unfortunately their address rejected my email...
So on here:
Managed to reproduce, this is also new PC and fresh installation, didn’t have a problem for about 2 months since new, yesterday some windows updates were installed and "works great " again....
Become unresponsive for the new part opened, while another part and assembly still works fine at the same time. Can also use buttons on the part where joystick doesn’t work.
original txt 50MB, RAR IS 1.25MB, SO CANT UPLOAD EVEN ON HERE 256kB allowed WTF are we back in 90's????
Can upload if you send a link to ftp or dropbox otherwise I wont bother trying to send on email etc. waste of my time!
Have video if you want to see, but its 240MB ..
Good luck finding the root of this problem.
jwick
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Re: Spacemouse not working

Post by jwick »

Don't worry about sending a log file/video.
Several users have reported good results vis-a-vis this problem, with the latest release (10.4.9).
If that doesn't fix it, reply back here and we can work out a way of getting a log file/video to me.
Feel free to replay back if it is fixed too.
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