I have what seems to be a dead Cougar HOTAS.

When I plug in the Hotas Flight Stick, Vista 64 actaully sees the Cougar device and "re-installs" the drivers or loads them and indicates a good USB connection with the audible feedback beep and loads it up in Device Manager. The Cougar shows up in the device manager as connected. However, when try to access properties and it send me to the Foxy Utility OR I go to Foxy to try to reflash or anything else there for that matter, I get the Thrustmaster device detection error: "The device is not connected, unrecognized or not installed properly.

This all seemed to happen as a result of a failed midway in-process re-Flash. Any ideas or solutions?. I've tried all the Foxy programs and it just does not recognize the device at all. If nobody has a fix, then maybe someone please recommend where I should best send it off for repair or a contact for someone to offer a basic fix. I need to have all the pots redone anyway.

Love this stick and throttle even though it's a real pain in the ass for some reason almost everytime I use it. Once I get it running it's a blast to use and has served me well foir a long time. Hate to see it go in the trash if there is a way to reair or replace the guts.

I'm not sure if this will help, but you might try downloading the T.A.R.G.E.T. software and see if that helps - it's the current config software from Thrustmaster for it:

http://ts.thrustmaster.com/eng/index.php?pg=view_files&gid=1&fid=3&pid=50&cid=5

Thanks - Tried that early on. Target does not see the Cougar device either. I think it's something in the Cougar that got zapped in the aborted Flash process. Windows sees it as a Game device, but the Thrustmaster drivers (old and new and Foxy and Target) can not interpret the device ID or it is now missing.

I'm pretty sure I've had a couple times that the Cougar wouldn't be recognized at all and I couldn't reflash it out of the blue.

The solution was simply to plug it into a different USB port, then reflash it, and then move it back to the original port used if desired. I don't know why this allowed the flashing utility to work, but it did.

And you have the right files for 64 bit?
Do a complete uninstall and try this guide: http://www.cubpilotshangar.net/page105.html

Will tey it tonight

Yep, nothing has changed since it last worked, so still using the same software/updated drivers as Thrustmaster/Cougar World suggests.

Pretty sure its a tech glitch, either in the way the port is handing the program call as Nameless suggests (and again thanks Nameless - I'll try this for sure tonight) OR the dang thing is just toast and needs a rebuild from the PCB up if there is such a thing.

Any luck with getting your Cougar working again?

Nope. Still dead. Hoping someone would (or could) recommend one of the few remaining Cougar HOTAS refitters I should contact. Thanks for the followup.

Well, isn't this just troublesome?

Since you also happen to live in the same state, maybe we could meet up and figure things out with the help of my own Cougar, which still works.

...I can't believe I forgot to ask this. Do you see any unknown or driverless devices in the Device Manager? I saw some unknowns when my Cougar had an episode of acting up and thought to use a different USB port that way.