Newbie Help?

[garye]

Yep, I’m a Newbie to RC and nearly computer illiterate - but I really want to do this...
Previously, I had an older version of FMS that I ran using the computer keyboard for flight control. It
worked great, but I would like to take the next step and use my brand new Futaba 6EXA that I just
purchased, along with the interface cable from Toms RC(tti).
I’m not having any luck getting the radio controls to work, but finally did get the keyboard controls to
work. And I’m sure that my lack of computer expertise is contributing to the problem.
Here’s where I think(hope) I am with this:
The computer runs windows 98, and the FMS is Version 2.0; Beta 7, downloaded from Toms RC CD.
I successfully un-installed the older version of FMS, and even figured out how to run RegEdit to delete
the entire FMS from the registry.
Then I successfully installed FMS and the Driver to USBc, COM3 - just like the instructions say to do.
I was even successful in doing the mapping(?) so the radio channels match the channels on the computer
screen.
When I open FMS, everything looks good, it’s all there, and I can choose whatever plane I want. The
sound even works.
If I do nothing, the plane eventually begins to roll, and roll, and roll, until it disappears over the hill.
It makes no difference which control mapping set-up I use, there is no flight control effect at all. At first
I thought the radio or cable was at fault, so I set up the keyboard flight controls, which do work. I still
suspect that I’ve got something amiss with the way I set it up...remember, I’m a Newbie.
I’ve re-installed FMS too many times to count and each time everything appears to be correct. The only
problem is that there is no control. To make it even more frustrating, I’ve tried just about every ‘fix’ that
I can find online.
Eventually I discovered that.....With the FMS screen open, controls/analog control/serial
PIC-interface/COM 3, etc all looks correct. But in the computer system/ control panel/ system
properties/ device manager, I can see COM 1 and Com 2, but I can’t find COM 3.

Further down the Device Manager ‘list’ is the USB Root Hub/ Cypress USB-HID-> Com device. There
is an icon there that looks like the Com 1 & Com 2 icons, but this one has a large black ‘!’ on a yellow
field in front of the icon. Could that be part of the problem?

I have tried re-installing the driver many times, and each time a screen appears that tells me it installed
properlery, but I can never find COM 3 in the Device Manager.
OK, I’m a desperate Newbie. Please, do you have any ideas on how to get some flight control here?
Thank You Very Much,
Garye