When the guitars just won't work

[Liz Danforth]

Some of our branches (including mine) have been having problems with
Guitar Hero guitars simply refusing to work consistently when we try
to play RockBand. Sometimes things work; sometimes -- mostly -- they
don't.

Here is the information and what troubleshooting we've tried; any
suggestions or ideas would be welcomed.

The physical components: We're using PS2s. Yes, the guitars are turned
on -- they're all the wireless kind. We've changed batteries to no
avail. The other components -- the drums, the mic, the RockBand guitar
itself -- all work well and consistently. The oldest guitar works the
most consistently and the two newest ones are those most likely to not
work at all. However, even the old one (notable for having a dragon
sticker on the back of it) will sometimes fail to work. If the Guitar
Hero guitars have a Reset button, none of us can find it, although it
seems like that should be a natural fix.

The human component: At one time/location or another, three different
librarians and two game-savvy teens have tried to troubleshoot these
when they fail. If the setup fails initially, we never manage to get
it "fixed" short of a complete teardown and setup which only fixes it
on fairly random occasions (and we don't know why).

Order of things being turned on: I got fixated on that being the fix
one time, and systematically turned things on (from a cold start) in
different orders. No change.

Blinking lights: The little white wireless receiver device -- we have
several. We try different ones with different guitars. They blink a
red light. The battery light on the back of the guitars blinks. Some
people think the red lights are supposed to be solid red, not
blinking.

More about the receivers: If the receiver device is unplugged, the
screen offering "Join the band" in Multiplayer goes away ...
suggesting that the receiver IS talking to the console. But perhaps
the receiver and the guitars are not communicating?

Ideas, anyone?

Liz
------------------------------
Liz Danforth, MLS
Twitter: LizDanforth
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LinkedIn: Elizabeth (Liz) Danforth
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website under reconstruction: http://www.lizdanforth.com
Games Gamers and Gaming in Library Journal: http://www.libraryjournal.com/blogger/3814.html

[Merideth Jenson-Benjamin]

I have a similar problem with one of my Guitar Hero guitars.  I suspect it is a power problem -- ie The Batteries are not seated correctly, so the guitar isn't communicating properly with the reciever. 

 

The red lights are not supposed to blink.  When the reciever and the guitar are talking to each other, they should both glow solid red.

 

I e-mailed Red Octane about this issue, and got a spectacularly non helpful response that boiled down to "Sounds like you need a new guitar!".

 

Merideth Jenson-Benjamin
Teen Services Librarian II, Glendale Public Library
http://www.myspace.com/teenlibrariansgpl
http://www.librarything.com/catalog.php?view=59Square

[Liz Danforth]

Thanks, Meredith. We have no less than THREE guitars acting up like
this. Red Octane's answer is um, remarkably unhelpful!

I believe the branch with the kit right now is going out to buy name-
brand high power batteries instead of our low-bidder off-brand ones.
Out of their own pockets of course.

Cheers!
Liz

On Jul 6, 7:42 pm, Merideth Jenson-Benjamin

<meridethlibrar...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I have a similar problem with one of my Guitar Hero guitars.  I suspect it
> is a power problem -- ie The Batteries are not seated correctly, so the
> guitar isn't communicating properly with the reciever.
>
> The red lights are not supposed to blink.  When the reciever and the guitar
> are talking to each other, they should both glow solid red.
>
> I e-mailed Red Octane about this issue, and got a spectacularly non helpful
> response that boiled down to "Sounds like you need a new guitar!".
>
> Merideth Jenson-Benjamin

> Teen Services Librarian II, Glendale Public Libraryhttp://www.myspace.com/teenlibrariansgplhttp://www.librarything.com/catalog.php?view=59Square

[John Scalzo]

There's your problem right there. Wireless controllers are not designed to use zinc-carbon or zinc-chloride batteries. You want to use alkaline batteries. Preferrably the rechargables to say "designed for digital and wireless devices" as they won't drain as quickly.

 

You also want to remove the batteries from your guitar if they are going to be sitting for a long time (I'd say a long time is a week or longer). This is because batteries (especially zinc-carbon or zinc-chloride ones) will drain even when the controller is not in use.

Hope that helps.

 

John

--
John Scalzo
Media Librarian - Irondequoit Public Library - Rochester, NY
http://www.videogamelibrarian.com

 

--

[Merideth Jenson-Benjamin]

John,

 

We've tried using several different types of batteries -- same problem. 

 

I suspect it's a power glitch mainly because wacking the battery case a few times will sometimes get it to work.  Not that I'm an advocate of wacking things. :)

 

FWIW - I don't blame Red Octane for this, or at least not a whole lot.  The guitars were fine for about a year, and probably weren't designed for the use they get.  I do wish they had been more helpful when I contacted them for troubleshooting. 

 

Merideth Jenson-Benjamin

Teen Services Librarian II, Glendale Public Library
http://www.myspace.com/teenlibrariansgpl
http://www.librarything.com/catalog.php?view=59Square