Thrustmaster TS-PC Issues

[Warren Dawes]

I'm hoping someone can help me.
I recently purchased a Thrustmaster TS-PC to replace my trusty G27. Unfortunately, it's turning into a frustrating experience.
When I first installed it, all went well and it was detected and calibrated as expected. I tested a few buttons and FFB's and all looked good. I then tried to use it in AC but while assigning the axes and buttons, it suddenly started calibrating again. I hopped out of AC, and disconnected and reconnected the wheel to my PC. After about 5 mins, it switched off, switched on again and calibrated again, without me touching it. After checking all connections, it just kept disconnecting and reconnecting.
So, I installed it to my other PC. Same problem, continually disconnecting all on it's own.

After contacting the distributor, we arranged for the unit to be returned. The distributor raised an RMA with Thrustmaster, who requested that the distributor test the unit. After testing, the distributor claimed it was working ok, and sent it back to me.

I've now received it back, and now things have gotten worse. I can't get any life out of it at all.
The wheel isn't detected after installing the driver. It is not detected in the Control Panel or the Firmware Updater. I've tried installing it to three different PC's (Win 7, Win 8.2, Win 10) but still it shows no sign of life. The power light never lights up at any time.
I've tried numerous actions, different power points, different USB slots, I've tried with newer and older driver software. Tried an alternate USB cable. Tried disconnecting / re-connecting the wheel to the base unit. Even tried the Thrustmaster FAQ option to wake up the wheel / update the firmware by holding the buttons 11 and 12 while connecting the USB.
Nothing I do gets it to show any signs of life.

My dilemma: The Distributor says he tested it as ok, for me it seems dead.

Has anyone here had similar experiences and can suggest what I might be doing wrong?

 

[Full_Ninja]

This is what I'm now thinking too.
Mine is still dead and showing no signs of life anymore. I've since done some Google searching and found 7 other cases of faulty TS-PC Racers and all with very similar symptoms. One was replaced three times (and all faulty), two were replaced twice (also faulty). The sad part for nearly all of these was the consistent responses from Thrustmaster.
I'm still getting good support from the Distributor who is still trying to get me a working wheel. I've now requested either a refund or a different replacement wheel of similar value, but not a Thrustmaster.

That's some real bad luck. Sorry to hear that. I've had mine for about a year and a half with no issues

 

[Denis Betty]

 

[Warren Dawes]

Little update for those still interested:

After numerous correspondence, and the Christmas break, I've now had confirmation from the Distributor (Pagnian Imports) to accept the return of the second faulty Thrustmaster TS-PC Racer. They have agreed to give me store credit towards a new Fanatec wheel (I won't consider another Thrustmaster).
So, the faulty wheel is on it's way back and now I just need to decide which Fanatec wheel to go for. The closest equivalent is the CSL Elite but there are two similar models. Alternatively, maybe I beg my wife for some additional funds and go for the ClubSport 2.5.
Fingers are crossed that I may now be soon driving again.

 

[Denis Betty]

My little mantra, is always spend a bit more than you want to. You'll rarely regret it, whereas......

Good luck Warren.

 

[Gustavo da Silva]

Warren,

Sorry to hear about your Sour holiday gift, i can imagine how you must have felt, thinking about Simracing with a new wheel, nad not being able because its a bunch of crap in shape of a Wheel base because of its reliability.

I was on the fence before getting my CSL Elite (got the PS4 version) or the TS PC, but just on custumer support and reliabilty I opted to take the CSL. You won't be disspapointed my fellow sim racer. I have tried both wheels and the CSL is better in terms of FFB IMO.

Best of luck!!

 

[Fezza458]

Hi Warren, I have the same issue and also purchase from Pagnian

I purchased a race cockpit + the TS-PC before xmas to use over the chrissy break however toll decided to shut up shop over xmas and I only received everything last week..,

Today I received a buttkicker, got it all setup and bam the thrustmaster has died. No power/no detection just wasted 4hrs troubleshooting.

It's now midnight, sending it back will take 8+ days it seems and receiving the replacement will be the same.

Many regrets! I should have bought semi slicks for my M3 instead! Hopefully Pagnian sorts me out quickly, should I go fanatec?

 

[Warren Dawes]

Hi Warren, I have the same issue and also purchase from Pagnian
........
Hopefully Pagnian sorts me out quickly, should I go fanatec?

Sorry to hear this, but relieved to find out I'm not alone.
My biggest frustration has been being told that Thrustmaster have not had this issue before, despite me warning Pagnian that they may have a bigger problem with this wheel. It really looks like a faulty batch.

To be fair, Pagnian have been as helpful as they can, Thrustmaster on the other hand, well ........
I'm hopefully getting close to a resolution, Pagnian have now received my latest faulty unit, and are going to issue me with store credit towards a different wheel. Yes, I'll be changing to Fanatec.

Hopefully you will get prompt service from Pagnian. Based on my experience, there should now be recognition of the issue with that wheel.

Cheers,

Warren

 

[RasmusP]

Damn guys I couldn't resist and just ordered a TS-PC Ferrari 488 on Amazon Germany. Price dropped 50€ to the same of the TS-PC Racer, which is 549€.
Lurking for it for basically since it came out and after reading a lot about the optical position sensor in the CSL Elite base having problems with de-centered wheels mid race etc, I'm going with Thrustmaster.

EU support seems to be a lot better and up until today Amazon had the best warranty service I've ever experienced (2x faulty GPU, 1st I got full money back, 2nd got a replacement before I needed to ship them the faulty one and some other stuff, always got my money back instantly).

I really hope my wheel will come and stay without issues. I'll report back for sure after I got it and will set a reminder in 6 months or something

Good luck with your Fanatec wheel! Seems everything but Logitech and OSW is a hit and miss nowadays...

 

[Fezza458]

I kind of rushed the purchase, would have loved the TS-PC Ferrari 488 instead.

I'm now looking into fanatec, my last wheel was a fanatec GT3 RS V2 with clubsport pedals/shifter and it has last 8 or so years, wanted to treat myself due to buying the cockpit.

 

[Fezza458]

I spent the entire weekend trying EVERYTHING once again as I still haven't heard back about what to do.

Even reinstalled windows, even tried an old PC with USB 2.0 and even contacted Thrustmaster who told me to try the bootloader mode and sitll nothing, the wheel is toast.

I tested the power supply and its fine, guessing corrupt firmware/faulty batch.

Also tempted to guess that my wheel is the same batch as Warrens.

Very frustrated considering I made this purchase dec 9 and its now almost end of Jan 2019 and I have nothing but an empty cockpit in the corner to show for it.

 

[Turvey]

I spent the entire weekend trying EVERYTHING once again as I still haven't heard back about what to do.

Even reinstalled windows, even tried an old PC with USB 2.0 and even contacted Thrustmaster who told me to try the bootloader mode and sitll nothing, the wheel is toast.

I tested the power supply and its fine, guessing corrupt firmware/faulty batch.

Also tempted to guess that my wheel is the same batch as Warrens.

Very frustrated considering I made this purchase dec 9 and its now almost end of Jan 2019 and I have nothing but an empty cockpit in the corner to show for it.

Nothing more frustrating than paying for something that causes nothing but stress,
A few years back i bought a holden captiva for around $20,000 the first 2 years under warranty it was continuously in the work shop, not nagging little problems major problems like just stopping in the middle of a freeway .kept taking it back they kept saying its now fixed up until the warranty ended thats when the real fun started , timing belt went within a week $3500 air con fragged $1500 airbag sensors $600 and it went on and on and on kept thinking it will be ok after the next fix ended up putting what i paid for it back into the piece of rubbish.
I learned a very important and costly lesson ,if something is faulty and not right and under warranty dont stop pushing the point that you want a replacement and its unacceptable be polite but firm but dont let up until you have satisfaction.
Its a wheel and deal world .
I bought a stereo receiver reasonably expensive i plugged it in it fried an caught fire, rang the shop straight away ,i got the we will have to send it off for testing ect.i put my foot down said a few calm words 20 mins later i was returning it that had a replacement ready to go with a bunch of gift cards and a few new hdmi cables and a big apology.

 

[Warren Dawes]

Finally, I now have a firm resolution to my issues.
Pagnian have now provided me with a store credit voucher to use towards the purchase of another wheel. Basically, my RMA has been settled with a refund. I'm still out of pocket for three lots of freight and independent testing but at least now I can move towards buying a working wheel, but with my fingers crossed re reliability.

I'll be getting Fanatec this time, just need to decide between the ClubSport ver 2.5 or the CSL Elite. I didn't really want to spend the considerable extra money on the ClubSport, but after the Thrustmaster experience, I just want to be confident of the reliability. After this experience, even my wife is prepared to approve the extra costs.

Would I be correct in assuming the reliability might be better with the ClubSport wheelbase vs the Elite wheelbase?

 

[RasmusP]

Would I be correct in assuming the reliability might be better with the ClubSport wheelbase vs the Elite wheelbase?

If you'll look for issues you will find a lot for both. One thing that stood out for me though was the optical position sensor of the csl elite which seems to cause decentered wheels quite a lot. Apart from that both a sturdy but can go nuts like every other wheel apparently.
The clubsport seems to be a nice upgrade regarding details and smoothness so if you can afford it I'd go with the clubsport.
Paul Jeffrey, RD news front runner is using it and from what I know he didn't have any real problems yet

 

[RasmusP]

My ts-pc arrived today. It works and it feels awesome coming from the g27.
Hope it stays sturdy for some years, maybe a decade or two
I'll report back in a few months!

 

[RasmusP]

My ts-pc arrived today. It works and it feels awesome coming from the g27.
Hope it stays sturdy for some years, maybe a decade or two
I'll report back in a few months!

Well that was a short adventure. No idea what thrustmaster engineered there but the electronics are sending some really annoying high pitched whine/whirl. As long as the fan is running it's okay but once you take a break with the wheel still plugged in I go nuts the moment the Fan shuts off.
Got a replacement today, thanks to the awesome Amazon service!, and it's even louder .......
So both are on their way back and I've just ordered the fanatec Xbox competition bundle for 699€ including the club sport v2.5 base, p1 Alcantara rim and the csl 2 pedals set.
I feel sad for the awesome functionalities of the Ferrari rim (23 vs 11 Buttons) but the v2.5 seem to be a lot smoother, less constant resistance and 100% metal.

Hopefully that one will be silent (ofc it has a fan though) and keep me happy for a decade or something.

The ts-pc did a good job though. Without it's awesome rim and ffb I wouldn't have ever thought about spending even more!
Not sure if I feel sad or happy about being "forced" to buy something better

 

[Warren Dawes]

Not sure if I feel sad or happy about being "forced" to buy something better

Strange thing Rasmus, I'm feeling exactly the same. I've now decided to pick up the Fanatec ClubSport 2.5, just deciding which wheel to get, but leaning towards the BMW Rim. After my Thrustmaster dramas, even my wife has approved the extra cash on the basis that it is worth paying more for something more likely to be reliable.

 

[RasmusP]

I recorded an audio of it yesterday and just threw it together with a photo in a phone video creator. Just listen to that sound. Fans are not spinning! I wonder how I can't find anything about coil whine on the web for this wheel...
Let's hope fanatec knows how to build electronics...

 

[wajdi]

Sorry to hear all these issues from you guys. I also had some issues with this wheel in the beginning, but it was a firmware problem that I was able to resolve my self.. I have this wheel already 10 months and it works perfectly, but now I decided to upgrade to a DD steering wheel( the AccuForce Pro V2) and I’m selling the TS-PC.

 

[thepharcyde]

I recorded an audio of it yesterday and just threw it together with a photo in a phone video creator. Just listen to that sound. Fans are not spinning! I wonder how I can't find anything about coil whine on the web for this wheel...
Let's hope fanatec knows how to build electronics...

Wow bud - some awesome change in decision, I wish I could justify the Fanatec, but right now using a Playseat Challenge and roof straps to add rigidity to the fold up frame I know the v2.5 would be pushing the integrity of the frame haha!

That and I'm an impulse buyer and knowing the delivery won't be tomorrow unless I purchase at a premium on Amazon get itchy feet haha, I'm currently going through the same dilemma with an Oculus Rift as an upgrade to my trusty DK2!

With that said I've got a TS-PC that I bought second hand, I considered an Elite, but I already purchased a 599x wheel for the T300 I owned at the time.

I watched GamerMuscles review on the F1 CSLE package yesterday and he rates it above the TS-PC

Enjoy your new wheel you lucky thing, the G27 cog system really is such a different kettle of fish compared to belt.

 

[Jens Roos]

I recorded an audio of it yesterday and just threw it together with a photo in a phone video creator. Just listen to that sound

Thats some serius fault with that wheel. I still have my TS-PC (but now on a OSW) and used it for around 1000h without any issue at all (bought it when it was released), was dead silent with fan off.

Seems both fanatek and thrustmaster have their share of bad products, one could get the impression fanatek have a bit more. But they also have a wider range of products, have no idea of their market share as that is an factor as well

Hope OP have no more problem from now on