Griffin Powermate Review

**djtecthreat** · 12-01-2007, 10:19 PM

Just got 2 in. E-Bay.. I paid $17(shipped) for one and $21(shipped) for the other.

It's pretty handy. I wish i could change the cord placement to the bottom, as I want to mount these in the truck whenever I get the system setup.

Anyone know of any other controllers like the powermate? I knew there was maybe an "Explorer" one. Looking at whatever is available, even though I do like the Powermate.

**Lithoss** · 12-17-2007, 07:40 PM

What version drivers are you guys using? i cannot get this thing to work for the life of me. xp, and it just keeps seeing it as a HID compliant mouse and refuses to let me change the driver.

**Megalomaniac** · 12-17-2007, 07:55 PM

Originally Posted by Lithoss

What version drivers are you guys using? i cannot get this thing to work for the life of me. xp, and it just keeps seeing it as a HID compliant mouse and refuses to let me change the driver.

the cd that came with the powermat didnt work for me. I had to download the drivers/software from griffins site...latest one

**pokki** · 12-17-2007, 08:00 PM

And if you are looking for the old drivers that seem realy hard to find I have them hosted here:

http://gooki.orcon.net.nz/car_audio/...ate_1-5-3D.exe

**chris350** · 01-13-2010, 07:14 PM

Wow, digging this tread out thats been buried since 2007....anyways. powermates are not 19 bucks any more. I just got one for 40.00 with shipping.....this thread was so far buried it was in china...lol

**popi79** · 01-13-2010, 07:23 PM

Griffin Powermate

**DaveDog** · 01-13-2010, 07:59 PM

I cannot get the Powermate to work with Windows 7 unless the Powermate application is the active window. Probably going to gut the internals and substitute them with a mouse wheel.

**chris350** · 01-13-2010, 08:16 PM

stick to XP when it comes down to CarPC's. Vista is crap and windows 7 is still new.

**AreYouKidding** · 05-22-2011, 08:57 PM

Hi all,

I thought I'd share my tale of getting a Griffin PowerMate working under Windows Vista, since it was a very non-obvious way to go about it...

I was considering buying a Griffin PowerMate to run under Linux, actually, so a friend with a couple spare loaned me one to try out. Keen to try it at work, under Windows Vista, I did the obvious thing and downloaded the PowerMate 2.0.1 "drivers" from the Griffin site (http://www.griffintechnology.com/sit...e_v2.0.1PC.zip) via the PowerMate Support page (http://www.griffintechnology.com/support/powermate).

I installed the software, went to Start / All Programs / Griffin Technology / PowerMate, clicked the PowerMate and was greeted with the following:
************** Exception Text **************
System.ComponentModel.Win32Exception: Access is denied
at Griffin.Devices.Device.Open(String devicePath, FileAccess access)
at Griffin.Devices.Device..ctor(String devicePath, FileAccess access)
at Griffin.PowerMate.Device.HIDPowerMate.InitializeHI D(String devicePath)
at Griffin.PowerMate.Device.HIDPowerMate.GetAll()
at Griffin.PowerMate.App.PowerMateApp.FindPowerMates( )
at Griffin.PowerMate.App.PowerMateApp.Main(String[] args)

The management application was trying to open the PowerMate USB device directly, but was getting this exception because Windows Vista already had it open as a HID-compliant mouse. That explains why the mouse cursor would move left and right when I turned the PowerMate and clicked the left mouse button when I pressed the device.

After more digging around I discovered that the PowerMate 2.0.1 "drivers" don't even come with device drivers! It's just a Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 application to manage the devices and invoke Windows events on their behalf. Griffin probably assumes that you have had a previous PowerMate application installed (with drivers) and so don't even include drivers in the 2.0.1 package. Plugging a PowerMate into a virgin Vista machine will result in two devices appearing in the Device Manager (devmgmt.msc) with Vista's own default drivers:
1. Human Interface Devices / USB Human Interface Device
2. Mice and other pointing devices / HID-compliant mouse

I eventually got the PowerMate working with the following convoluted procedure:

I located the older version 1.5.3 management software and drivers (PowerMate_1-5-3D.exe)
I started the installer but did not let it progress beyond the first page.
In Windows Explorer I went to my Temp folder (%LOCALAPPDATA%\Temp) and found the folder the installer had extracted all of its files in to (_is3D40 in my case, but this is probably random) and copied the "PowerMate Driver 1.5.3.msi" file out to my regular Install folder.
I cancelled the installer.

Now, I right-clicked on the PowerMate Driver 1.5.3.msi file and using 7-zip extracted it to a folder "PowerMate Driver 1.5.3". This folder contains the needed PowrMate.inf file and a series of PowrMate.sys files (including two groups of identical files - go figure). In the Windows Device Manager (devmgmt.msc):

NOTE: this procedure does not work on the "HID-compliant mouse" device.
I double-clicked on the appropriate "USB Human Interface" device (look for VendorID 077D and ProductID 0410 in the Details / Hardware Ids property)
On the Driver tab I clicked Update Driver...
Click Browse my computer for driver software
Click Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer
Click Have Disk... and open the PowrMate.inf file you extracted above.
Windows will give you a security warning because the driver isn't signed - install it anyway.

If all has worked well so far, in Device Manager you should see a "Griffin PowerMate" device under the Universal serial bus controllers category.

Run the PowerMate application again and you should finally have control of your PowerMate!

NOTE: If you don't see the PowerMate icon in the task tray you'll need to find the PowerMate.exe process in Windows Task Manager, End Process it, and start it again.