Honeycomb Alpha Yoke - Intermittent button press loss, hanging button presses

[Oboe]

Very strange problem popped up for me when I fly P-38 using the Honeycomb Alpha yoke.   The buttons on the yoke handles stop working intermittently after 5 or 10 minutes of flight in Multiplayer.   (Have not tested with single player).   I've verified the buttons are all working correctly using joy.cpl, and they all working correctly for the first 5-10 minutes of flight, but after that they suddenly stop working sporadically.   I use these buttons for zoom view, L & R look using XRNecksafer, and radio PTT with SRS.  All 3 programs (IL-2, XRNeckSafer, and SRS Radio) are affected.   Sometimes, when a misfiring button press correctly works, it sticks "on" for 5-10 secs.   I fly in VR and when this happened once I ducked out of VR and fired up joy.cpl with IL-2 still running, and verified Windows was still detecting the button presses.

When this problem occurs, I still have full control on the yoke's pitch/yaw axes.

 

I just tested and verified I don't have this problem with my Thrustmaster Warthog HOTAS.

 

Any ideas what type of problem this is?   I use Quest 3 for VR, which got a recent update.  I also got a recent update to Win 11, now on:

Version    23H2
Installed on    ‎8/‎25/‎2024
OS build    22631.4602
Experience    Windows Feature Experience Pack 1000.22700.1055.0

 

Also wasn't IL-2 recently updated as well?   The problem started occurring recently; I've used the Honeycomb yoke off and on for at least a couple years without issue.

 

Any ideas for further debugging?   I can try 2D flight with TrackIR and see if it occurs there.    The way it works correctly at first but then starts to fail sporadically after a few minutes flight makes me wonder if it could be memory buffer filling up from repeated use of view keys?  Or could it be a priority problem where its not giving high enough priority to the button presses from the yoke?   Strange that the pitch/yaw axes are unaffected, and that my other controller set doesn't have a problem.

 

I could check to also see if I need to update my drivers for the Yoke?   Though I thought it was just running natively under Windows - I've forgotten if it has special drivers but I'll check for those..

 

Anything else I could check for?

 

Thanks help!
 

[GOA_Karaya_VR]

Hello mate 

 

Did you try yo change your Type C, Usb cable?. 

 

After that, change your usb to another port.

 

Regards. 

[69th_Panp]

Use DiView and load all the programs you normally use during your flight sessions. then look at diview and see if you have something that is spamming the system with key presses or a axis that is spamming the system.

 

i would also check to see if the system is turning off any of your usb ports or joysticks, untick let the system turn off this device in the usb power management tab in the usb properties.

 

Edited December 23, 2024 by 69th_Panp

[Oboe]

Think I got this solved and wanted to update you on my findings/results.   Thanks for your suggestions - first thing I tried was plugging the USB cable into a different USB port but that did not help - same problem of intermittent button malfunctions after 15-20 minutes of playing.   I did another search for this problem with the Honeycomb Yoke, and found this thread, which seems to have solved the problem:

 

https://www.avsim.com/forums/topic/617788-i-repaired-my-alpha-yokes-rj-45-port/

 

The Yoke has a short pigtail connector cable that links the yoke handle to the base of the unit, with RJ-45 connectors at each end.  This cable is stiff and has a tight spiral curl in it like old landline telephones had between the handset and the telephone base.  Apparently the stiffness of the pigtail cable causes stress on the female RJ-45 connector ports, so much that it can cause the solder joints on the underlying PCB to crack and need re-soldering.   Mine apparently hasn't progressed that far, as I have had success in using a 3' Ethernet connector cable from an old cable modem I had.   This cable is high quality with metal sides on the RJ-45 connectors.    

 

Haven't experienced the problem since I switched cables.   If it happens again though, next step is to open up the base and examine the PCB solder joints.

 

Thanks all for the suggestions and help!