ZSNES not loading because of a USB device

[jreberry]

Here's a doosey for anyone willing to help me out.

Essentially, a few days ago I installed ZSNES (because if rave recommendations) and I discovered that it wouldn’t start. When I double clicked on the icon a black box would flash open then flash shut, and nothing else. Hmmmm. After digging around on my computer I noticed that another computer game was doing the exact same thing. I dug through the ZSNES forums and found several postings where other people were having the same problem. It turns out they both discovered if they uninstalled (or disabled) a particular USB device it fixed the problem. Ta Dah! So, I went through all of my USB devices (13 external devices in all) and isolated the problem. Sure enough, if I disabled a particular USB device ZSNES would start perfect. Now here’s where the REAL problem starts...

For the other people it was simply joysticks that caused their problems so they just exchanged the joysticks for a different model. The USB device that is causing my problems is a PowerLinc USB X-10 controller that controls every single light inside/outside my house, several appliances, and 15 motion detectors. If I disable this I don't have any automated light control. OUCH! There aren't many other USB X-10 options out there, so essentially I need to figure out a way to get ZSNES to work without disabling all of the lights inside/outside my house.

Before anyone asks, yes I’ve contacted the manufacturer of the PowerLinc USB. However, I haven’t heard back yet. I thought I would post here to see if anyone knows of a work around. My guess is that most of the blame lies with bad drivers/firmware for the PowerLinc USB, but it seems that at least part of the blame lies with ZSNES because all of my other games (with the exception of 1 other) work just fine with the USB device plugged in. Regardless of where the blame lies, when a particular USB device is plugged in ZSNES won’t load, when it is disabled ZSNES works just fine. CRAZY! Any ideas?

A few details that might be useful…
I’m running XP SP2 with current updates
Direct X is up to date
The PowerLinc USB is not plugged into a hub
It doesn’t help if I remove other USB devices
The PowerLincUSB shows up as a Human Interface Device in Device Manager

thanks for any help anyone has,
--Jon

[kieran_]

Wait... maybe I missed something, but in which thread did plugging out a usb device solve the black screen problem? Can you provide a link?
The usual solution to the black screen problem is to presst ALT+ENTER.
If you look in the readme/Faq, then you can find other solutions.

[deathtok]

1) What version of ZSNES are you using?

2) Go to your device manager and update the USB drivers, you may need to figure out what your motherboard's chipset is, etc, etc. I just reinstalled XP the other day and I needed to manually install my USB drivers after installing SP2.

3) Don't use the device that is broken! Go to radioshack with $10.49 + applicable tax, buy an adapter called "PSX to USB" and plug a Playstation 2 controller in. Windows will do the drivers automatically. It's a great adapter.

4) Don't listen to bad music. People will think you have general poor taste.

5) Good luck.

[grinvader]

3) Don't use the device that is broken! Go to radioshack with $10.49 + applicable tax, buy an adapter called "PSX to USB" and plug a Playstation 2 controller in. Windows will do the drivers automatically. It's a great adapter.

You should read his post before spewing bad advice.

His troubles do not come from a PAD, but from his domotic central unit.

1- "I have seen 2k1 space odyssey" -> never give a computer more power than 'switch yourself on when I move my mouse'.
2- "I have read Asimov" -> never give computers who can rule your house the opportunity to do it.
3- "I know Murphy's law" -> never expect your computer to control things correctly.

3 good reasons not to use domotic stuff.

[snkcube]

3) Don't use the device that is broken! Go to radioshack with $10.49 + applicable tax, buy an adapter called "PSX to USB" and plug a Playstation 2 controller in. Windows will do the drivers automatically. It's a great adapter.

I heard those aren't so good.

[deathtok]

You should read his post before spewing bad advice.

His troubles do not come from a PAD, but from his domotic central unit.

Guilty. I read the post too fast and misunderstood it. I read the whole USB thing and related it to the controller he mentioned. Sorry.

I heard those aren't so good.

Mine has worked fine for everything I needed it in. I've even used two in combination and it worked well. I heard Constantine wasn't good but I liked it

[jreberry]

Kieran –
“As long as there's, you know, sex and drugs, I can do without the rock and roll.“ Here’s a link to a thread with two different people having the exact same problem I’m having…

http://board.zsnes.com/phpBB2/viewtopic ... controller

…and here is a thread with a similar (but not identical) problem…

http://board.zsnes.com/phpBB2/viewtopic ... =black+box

deathtok –
1)1.42 for Win32
2) Good idea. I hadn’t yet tried updating my motherboard’s USB drivers. However, I just checked the manufacturer’s page and I already have the most recent updates. Doh!
3) When I want a PS2 controller I will do this.
4) No one listens to bad music… only other people think it’s bad, and they’re wrong.
5) Thanks

grinvader –
kinda funny you mention 2k1. The computer can greet us when we come home and then inform us if the house is currently occupied or not (I don’t always have this function active though). That’s about at “Space Odyssey’ish” as you can get. I just need to find a replica HAL to put in the main room.

An update: I heard back from the manufacturer today. They very nicely thanked me for the inquiry and recommended that I buy a more expensive product from them to replace the PowerLinc USB. If they had actually read my e-mail they would have realized that the product they recommended doesn’t even apply to my situation. Typical tech support response. I’ve sent them another e-mail. Once again an online community of users/techies/whoever is more willing to help than the actual company.

Also I wanted to mention that I’ve used ZSNES a bit in the last few days with the USB device disabled, and ZSNES works great. It seems to be a great product!

[kieran_]

jreberry: Just remember my philosophy: HAVE A GOOD TIME, ALL OF THE TIME. thats my philosophy, marty. As for your problem, though, what was the other program that didn't work?

[AspiringSquire]

His troubles do not come from a PAD, but from his domotic central unit.

I usually don't ask what a word means, but I have never seen "domotic" anywhere else, and the dictionary sources I searched have nothing about it. I can infer meaning, but what is domotic, and why isn't it in regular dictionaries?

thats my philosophy, marty.

Did you mean to say "party"?

4) No one listens to bad music… only other people think it’s bad, and they’re wrong.

Excellent sentiment. What music are you specifically talking about, though? It's related to your username, right?

[deathtok]

AspiringSquire, I know you weren't talking to me but I just want to clarify that the music comment I made was an attempt at humor. You know make a list of things to do but one of them is unrelated. So if the user name "jreberry" is related to music that's not what I was talking about.

[AspiringSquire]

AspiringSquire, I know you weren't talking to me but I just want to clarify that the music comment I made was an attempt at humor. You know make a list of things to do but one of them is unrelated. So if the user name "jreberry" is related to music that's not what I was talking about.

Ah, okay. It just seemed too coincidental that his nickname was something-"Berry", and then Kieran mentions "Marty"... I started taking it as a possible Back to the Future reference.

[grinvader]

His troubles do not come from a PAD, but from his domotic central unit.

I usually don't ask what a word means, but I have never seen "domotic" anywhere else, and the dictionary sources I searched have nothing about it. I can infer meaning, but what is domotic, and why isn't it in regular dictionaries?

Shorter word based on latin languages (french, spanish and co.) for 'home automation'.
'robotique' -> robotics.
'domotique' -> domotics.

I like keeping my vocabulary logic and clean, even if I end up making words out of my ass.

[jreberry]

Kieran – The other game that doesn’t work is “ Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude”. All of my other games work with no problems.

AspiringSquire – I’m not sure how music came up. That was just my seemingly random response to a seemingly random statement from deathtok. It wasn’t’ deep and meaningful or anything, just a bit of mild humor in an otherwise bland post. Also, Kieran’s “marty” quote was from Spinal Tap. I noticed that his avatar was from Spinal Tap and put a quote in my e-mail response to him. He responded with another quote. Nothing happened regarding Back to the Future… although that is a great movie too. (Except for the 3rd,, it was only ok)

An update: I’ve got someone from a USB forum (that seems like a smart guy) to help me out. He’s provided me with some software that I’ll run on my computer tomorrow to help diagnose the problem with the USB device. Hopefully he can figure out more specifics about the problem, and then I’ll send the info to Smart Home to see if they can fix it. Regarding what might be causing the problem he said… “I think these devices show up as several USB devices. Especially devices from the HID subclass (where mices, keyboards, gamepads etc are in). Some manufacturers disguise their devices as mouse or gamepad because they are not familiar with USB. Windows (especially DirectX for games) tries to access mice, gamepads, joysticks etc for the game and then gets confused by the strange data the device sends.” So, tomorrow I’ll run the diagnostic stuff and send it him and then wait to see what he can figure out. Possibly nothing, possibly something.

Although I do think the blame lies with Smart Home, I still wonder if something couldn’t be updated in ZSNES so that it will open like the rest of my games. Fixing that would probably fix the Soyo controller problem too from the link I posted above.

--Jon

[adventure_of_link]

3) Don't use the device that is broken! Go to radioshack with $10.49 + applicable tax, buy an adapter called "PSX to USB" and plug a Playstation 2 controller in. Windows will do the drivers automatically. It's a great adapter.

I heard those aren't so good.

I can second what snkcube said, from personal experience with this adapter.

[Cebu]

3) Don't use the device that is broken! Go to radioshack with $10.49 + applicable tax, buy an adapter called "PSX to USB" and plug a Playstation 2 controller in. Windows will do the drivers automatically. It's a great adapter.

I heard those aren't so good.

I can second what snkcube said, from personal experience with this adapter.

As a third input on them, if it's the one that I'm thinking of, they also don't work with DDR pads (they can't send both left/right or top/down signals at once)