Hey guys. I received a "dead" Thrustmaster T500RS. I installed drivers, plugged wheel into the back usb 2.0 when the drivers told me to, finished the install and nothing. I also tried Thrustmaster's reset thing where you held down L3 and R3 for 5 seconds, then unplug the USB while still holding them down, then replug the USB back in while still holding the buttons down for a second or so, and nothing. I also tried different USB ports, nothing. I also tried all this with only the wheel hooked up, no pedals in order to eliminate them out of the equation. Thrustmaster even says themselves that pedals are not required for driver/firmware install. The power brick seems fine as the blue light on the brick itself lights up, but no lights on the wheel itself ("Mode" button) light up at all. You can't even call Thrustmaster anymore to actually talk do them, that's completely ridiculous. I tried calling their Canada, U.S. and long distance France number, all telling me to go to the website. What a joke. So I emailed them Thursday and still no reply. I don't mind opening the thing up, sometimes a $5 fix is all that's needed, and I know many people have fixed their own wheels. Can anyone help me?
If you emailed them Thursday assuming they have a lot of emails in a queue, i think you should wait till at least Tuesday. It's the weekend, nobody is going to check emails.
Do you have a laptop? If so, try the firmware install from it. I read somewhere that some people with USB 3 motherboards were having this problem, even if they weren't plugged into a 3 port. But one guy said he tried again from his USB 2 only laptop, and it worked. (If I remember correctly) Edit to add: Listen closely for any irregular fan noise. I just got mine 2 weeks ago, and on the 3rd day of use, a cloud of smoke sploded from the top. Turns out the fan melted apart. The failure was preceded by some funky fan noise, so if you hear any sound out of the fan, immediately contact Thrustmaster and tell them, to get the new one in the mail before the old one melts; less downtime.
Theres no fan noise that I can hear, but then again nothing seema to be on/working. Just seems completely dead apart from the power brick. Could be the power not going from the power brick to the wheel, or probably something in the wheel itself broken/burnt out. The wheel and pedals are both V.2. Im a little impatient with the emails because every product issue ive dealt with in my entite life had the option to call them directy rather than only having the option to email, wait a few days, get reply, send reply, wait a few days, etc etc. Its a joke. Ill try on my other old computer with Win XP, which is only USB 2.0 capable from the motherboard. I used one of my USB 2.0 ONLY inputs but ill try your suggestion ccjcc81, just in case its a USB 3.0 capable motherboard issue.
I think you received a refurbished wheel. I bought my T500 about a year and a half ago and it is version v.5. If you order from a solid company like bhphotovideo they'll take care of you but I'm guessing you maybe went newegg or amazon to save a few bucks and got a refurb. The v.5 has updated pedals as well. BTW - I have mine plugged into a USB 3.0 port on the back of a z87 board and it works without issue.
I don't have a T500, but yet, I wonder about your USB ports. I believe 3.0 ports are compatible with 2.0 devices but a 3.0 device in a 2.0 port may not work. If your ports are 2.0 and your version of the T500 is a 3.0 device, then your 2.0 ports may not provide enough juice to sufficiently power the wheel.
Try another usb port and also try a powered usb hub, that did the trick for me. I've had this problem after a software update. I started the update on the usb post it usually is on and than when the old software is ereased from the unit is stops. I tried everything Trustmaster says to get to recovery modes but nothing worked. Since nothing was working I tried a powered usb hub, altho is says not to use one. And it worked. After the update I plugged it back in the normal usb port and its fine.
Hey sorry forgot to update this thread. So the end of the power supply works fine asu tested it on some speaker wire and speaker. I tried the bootloader on multiple PCs, one was Win XP with USB 2.0 only from the motherboard, still nothing. Thrustmaster is sending me a new PCB, should get it in around a week. I opened the wheel since I'm going to be changing the PCB as per Thrustmaster's official warranty/repair instructions, the PCB looked fine, no loose or damaged wires, everything connected via soldering. However I was told that the PCB could be damaged but look fine visually so it could very well still be a problem with the PCB. I REALLY hope this works so that I can go ahead and buy the F1 rim, the 458GT rim, the 35 kg John Bodin Load Cell brake mod, and the TH8RS shifter (or Fanatec Clubsport shifter).
