Thrustmaster T300RS spinning like crazy at start-up!

[thebackgroundman]

This was working fine for months until just now. Suddenley it won't get past the start up. Instead of the usual gentle couple of auto turns to signify it is detected and good to go, now it spins wildly to the full lock right with such force it seems like it will break if I don't unplug it. It repeats this over and over.
I have uninstalled and reinstalled the drivers several times but no change. The firmware is up to date. Has anybody had this problem and solved it?

[Alien Identity]

Open the Thrustmaster Control Panel program, select the T-300 on the menu list, then click on "Properties".

Check the calibration of the wheel, and check if firmware or driver updates are available.

My T-300 has always started with Auto-Calibration test turning to the left fast till it stops with a thump, then turns right fast till it stops with a thump, then returns to the mid-point.

[Talkie Toaster]

Unfortunately once the wheels start doing this it's usually bad news, there are some tips and tricks to get it working but they are usually temporary.

One of the tricks was to turn the wheel all the way to the left before plugging it in, you can also use this ftp:/ftp.thrustmaster.com/accessories/pc/Utilities/TM_CALIB_103.exe

[thebackgroundman]

Thanks - but what you describe Alien Identity is the regular start-up procedure and that is what used to happen normally. What I explained above is something completely different and much more violent and extreme. It really turns very quickly for about 3 full rotations to the right - then it goes quiet and back to the left for half a rotation then the speedy 3 full rotations to the right and so on repeating...
The wheel shows under properties but it won't calibrate - not of the tests are working. It must be a software glitch of some sort as it doesn't feel or sound or look mechanical?

[thebackgroundman]

Thanks TT - I'll try both and report back shortly...

[n00B]

seems bricked and in need of repair/replacement

[thebackgroundman]

Yes it has gone nuts and refuses to work no matter what I try to do. None of the things suggested above work.

[Alien Identity]

Have you tried running the Thrustmaster Firmware Update tool?

[NIKKI IXX]

My old t500 did this several times. Not suggesting you should try this, but the wheel should, by design, survive it.(not out of normal use) Consider whether it is under warranty, and if it is belt drive or gears.
The only thing that fixed mine was when (out of frustration) I just grabbed it and forced it to stop. It seems like the problem might be in some sort of internal/software wheel weight calibration being off. (Or the ghost of Davey Allison) When I did it, the wheel went limp and I thought I broke it. Then I rebooted pc and it was fixed.

[thebackgroundman]

Nikki - that sounds exactly like the sort of problem and solution I hoped might work. But I have,tried loving it and hating it - I've beaten it and caressed it in equal measure but to no avail - it refuses to go back to how it was.
So I ordered an exact replica new wheel from Amazon and it works just beautifully straight out of the box. My old one is sitting here on the floor like some unwelcome visitor refusing to leave long after they have drunk and eaten their fill of your hospitality.
But I will hang onto it. For who knows, in 2 years time this new wheel will start playing up and out of desperation I will connect up the old and lo and behold, with some new firmware update, it will start working again!
And I have been hammering Asseto for the last couple of hours with this V3 motion platform and Rift CV1 and - man oh man...!
MAN OH MAN!!!

[Antony]

I have the same issue of wild spinning from left to right at the startup of the wheel. The only way to get it calibrating and ready to play was using the calibrating software. It seemed like it was calibrated correctly but after a few minutes of playing the feedback started to fade to almostt zero. Because it was out of warranty I took it apart completely and found someting odd at the center column. There was no sign of wearing on the moving parts. You have to see the core of the main steering column as a big spiral with a moving platic piece going up and down like a nut when you steer left or right. Steering all the way to the right, the plastic 'nut' hits a stopping pieces that is part of the metal core. When steering all the way to the left it hits a plastic stopping piece that is pressed on the shaft but seems to have rotated a bit because there is still a 4mm gap between the stopper and the nut. It won't move any futher because the nut has reached the end of its movement 4mm short of the stopper. I felt a lot of friction the last bit of turning to the right while left felt fine. I managed to turn it back again to a position it should be and after recalibrating it looked like it was ok until 10 minutes of playing. The feedback faded within 10 minutes to zero and I was back to zero again.....

I'm not going to dig any further in this. I'll just buy a new servo base because I want to continue racing with the T300. I played it for 3 years every single day, driving more than 1500 hours with feedback on max. Not that bad I'll say.

[Gilles Hublau]

I've got the exact same thing going on right now with my T300rs. Good to have found someone with the same problem but such a shame this seems to be the end of my T300rs then.. Or is there someone els who has figured out why it's going crazy?

[Finney]

It's SANFU!

[BruceCheE]

Originally posted by thebackgroundman:

Yes it has gone nuts and refuses to work no matter what I try to do. None of the things suggested above work.

https://ts.thrustmaster.com/download/accessories/manuals/t300rs/t300rs_bootloader_method.pdf

[Gilles Hublau]

Originally posted by BruceCheE:

Originally posted by thebackgroundman:

Yes it has gone nuts and refuses to work no matter what I try to do. None of the things suggested above work.

https://ts.thrustmaster.com/download/accessories/manuals/t300rs/t300rs_bootloader_method.pdf

Thx, but it didn't work. It is still spinning like crazy..

[judas * twitch.tv/judas2k]

If you still have problem i can help i think, my did the same and i found a third party program that fixed the problem