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Troubleshooting
Quick-reference for common problems. Each section links to the relevant wiki page for full context.
- Confirm the PoE switch provides 802.3at power. AIM boards require 802.3at. They are not compatible with 802.3af-only switches.
- Check the switch link light for the port the board is plugged into. No link light = cable or port issue.
- Confirm the PC's cockpit network adapter has the correct static IP (
10.24.6.1). Use the manager's Fix it for me button on the Network page if the adapter isn't configured yet. See Set Up the Cockpit Network. - If your PC has Hyper-V, WSL, VMware, or VirtualBox installed, a virtual network adapter may have taken over the cockpit's addresses; see the next section.
- Power-cycle the board. Hold until the link light returns, then wait 10-15 seconds for the board to boot and announce itself.
If Hyper-V, WSL, or a VM hypervisor is installed, its virtual switch (vEthernet / VMnet adapters in ipconfig) claims its own subnet, and Hyper-V's Default Switch picks a new random subnet at every boot. When it lands on 10.24.6.x, two interfaces claim the cockpit subnet and Windows can route board traffic into the virtual switch instead of the cockpit NIC. Your configuration still looks correct, 10.24.6.1 bound, manager Listening, but boards don't appear.
Check: ipconfig. Any vEthernet or VMnet adapter holding a 10.24.6.x address is the conflict. Fixes (subnet reservation, re-homing the switch, or disabling the adapter) are in the Virtual adapters section of Set Up the Cockpit Network. From manager v1.5.0, the Network page flags this automatically, and running Fix installs a permanent subnet reservation that prevents it entirely.
The board booted but hasn't been set up yet, or a previous save didn't complete. Click the board row to open the setup wizard. See Add Your First Board.
The board reboots to apply its new configuration. Wait 15-20 seconds. It will reappear with a green dot. If it doesn't come back, check the PoE switch link light and try power-cycling.
Switch states are visible in the Avionics → Panels view. The manager reflects the state of your physical panels directly. It is not synced to the sim. When you operate a switch on the panel, the corresponding control in the Panels view should toggle. When you click a switch in the manager, it can trigger an action in the sim.
If a switch doesn't respond when physically operated:
- Confirm the control is assigned to a GPIO pin. Without a pin assignment the board doesn't know which input to listen to. See Assign Controls to Pins.
- Check your wiring: one switch leg to the GPIO pin, the other to GND. Polarity doesn't matter.
- The board must be saved and rebooted after any pin assignment change.
- Try a different GPIO pin. A damaged pin won't respond even with correct wiring.
- If the pot is not yet wired, right-click it in the live view and select Mute. Unwired pots float and show noise.
- Confirm the supply wire goes to 3.3V, not 5V. Using 5V on a pot channel can damage the board.
- Run calibration: right-click the pot → Calibrate, sweep full range several times, then Save. See Test and Calibrate.
- Keep wiring runs under 1 meter. Long unshielded runs pick up noise.
- Confirm the DCS integration is installed (green "Installed" on the DCS Integration card on the home page). See Set Up DCS.
- Confirm DCS is running and you are loaded into a mission with an F-16C. The integration is aircraft-specific.
- Hover the control in the manager. If the tooltip says the control is not modeled in DCS, DCS doesn't simulate that function.
- Confirm the correct sim is selected in the manager (DCS, not BMS).
Two controls are sharing the same pin. Open the pin assignment view. Conflicts are highlighted in red. Reassign one control to a free pin. See Assign Controls to Pins.
- Confirm the DCS integration is installed and up to date.
- Ensure you are in the cockpit with engines running. Some indicators only change when aircraft systems are active.
- If a specific display (UHF, DED) is blank, check that the relevant DCS module exports are working. Some third-party module versions have broken export hooks.
- Confirm the AIM Ghost Joystick driver is installed and shows the correct device count ([N] of [N] devices ready). See Install the Virtual-Joystick Driver.
- Confirm the keyfile is loaded in BMS and current: BMS KEYFILE card on the home page should show Installed, not Update available. See Load the Keyfile.
- Confirm BMS was launched with "Launch without applying overrides" ticked. Launching with overrides applied regenerates the keyfile and wipes your bindings.
Your catalog has changed since the last export (a manager update added new bindings, or you changed pin assignments). Open Setup BMS keyfile and click Run export. Then reload the keyfile in BMS. See Set Up Falcon BMS.
The TLC59281 daisy-chain bit order is reversed from what the catalog expects. Swap the physical order of the two TLC59281 ICs in the chain. See Indicator and Caution Lights.
- Confirm firmware is v2.2.0 or newer. Check the Firmware page. See Update Board Firmware.
- For UHF: the MAX7219 requires a 5V supply and 74AHCT125 level shifter on the SPI lines. 3.3V is not sufficient.
- Confirm the SPI channel in Step 2 of the board wizard matches the physical wiring.
- Confirm DCS integration is installed and you're in a cockpit. Displays update from DCS string exports.
- Check the PoE switch link light during the transfer. A momentary dropout aborts the upload.
- If the board shows "firmware may be too old to update over the network," flash once over USB to get a current build onto the board. See Update Board Firmware.
- Confirm internet access is available. The manager reaches
api.github.com. - If you see "GitHub returned HTTP 403," the API rate limit was hit. Wait a few minutes and try again via Settings → CHECK NOW.
See also: Get Support, FAQ, Set Up the Cockpit Network, Add Your First Board
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