Ventrilo, Logitech Premium USB Headset 350 and System Preferences

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Ventrilo, Logitech Premium USB Headset 350 and System Preferences

Hi all,
I have some troubles using ventrilo on my G5 (same problems also on a new iMac).

Ventrilo is working, I'm using it with World of Warcraft, and using it with a Logitech Premium USB Headset 350 (but the problem happen also with Logitech 250).

After some times I'm using Ventrilo, this is very random, people in Ventrilo stop hearing me. I noted that opening the System Preferences, checking the Sound panel, the Logitech is selected as sound in, but the visual signal on the panel is blank (if I speak on the microphone no signal is visualized).

What I need to do is to disconnect the Logitech from the USB and reconnect it. I need also to exit from Ventrilo and relaunch it.

Then all is working good again, naturally till this happen again (may be 5 minutes after as 30 minutes).

I've also tried to remove Ventrilo and its preferences and reinstalling it. This assuming that the cause of all this is Ventrilo and not MacOSX. But this happen also on a new iMac...

Thanks for any help!

G5, Mac OS X (10.4)

Posted on Feb 19, 2007 12:37 AM

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Answer 1

May 6, 2007 11:05 AM in response to Croma12

Hi Croma12,

The problem is not Ventrilo - it's Logitech's headsets and the driver software.

I have had both the USB 350 and USB 250 - each have the same problem, that is, not being recognized when freshly connected. It's a trip to the Sound Preferences pane each time to reset. Often we need to toggle the Mute checkbox to make the headset work.

Even worse, 90% of the time when I connect the headset, it freezes my MacBook completely, necessitating a forced restart. Not Cool. 😟

I've combed through the Logitech support library and discussion forums - as a company, their Mac support is very poor, and their forum moderators know very little about Mac hardware.

To make the switching of sound sources a little easier, Google for "soundsource" - it's a menu-bar widget that will sometimes enable the Logitech headset without needing a trip to the Sound Preferences.

M.

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Answer 2

May 6, 2007 6:28 PM in response to Mark Rushton

Yes Mark
I've been advised by my local Apple dealer in Adelaide that Logitech devices are unreliable in the Mac environment. I was looking at headphones to use with Skype and noticed that Logitech don't include Mac OS as a supported system. The local Harvey Norman store wouldn't sell me a (Logitech) headset to use on a Mac either! At the time I asked, the Apple dealer had no recommended headsets available or available for order!

However I do use a Logitech optical mouse on my iBook without significant problem. I haven't tried any other multi-button mouse so don't know if other brands work better.

Neville

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