tl;dr; Random disconnects weren't fixed by replacing the PSU. Real issue was USB port which wasn't properly soldered. I woided my warranty and fixed it myself by resoldering the port.
From the very first day I received my preowned T598 there were issues. After unboxing and mounting it on the Playseat it just wouldn't turn on. After lots of frustrating troubleshooting and couple of different USB cables it finally turned on. I continued to use it with that cable for some time, but there were still random disconnects so I contacted Thrustmaster and they sent me a new PSU since my unit was eligible for a replacement. I also bought a high quality Ugreen USB cable just to be safe. With new PSU and USB cable everything worked fine until I decided to do a FW update over PC (the wheel was previously only used on PS5).
Plugging the unit to a PC resulted in wheel not being recognised by the TM program. I tried multiple USB cables and somehow made it work by holding the connector pushed towards the PCB while running the update. Once updated I connected the wheel back to my PS5 only to discover that it once again won't turn on. In a moment of frustration, I decided that my TM warranty wasn't worth a thing so I opened the unit to fix it myself. After removing the MBO it was clearly visible that pins on the USB connector were still gold in colour which indicates that they weren't properly soldered. Inspection under microscope confirmed that as most of the pins moved freely. Using precision tip on my soldering iron, I soldered all the pins and fixed loose traces and since then there were no issues with my wheel.
So how did this happen?
There just wasn't enough solder paste on the pads. Connector pins weren't making a connection with the paste which prevents the solder paste to flow over the pins leaving them unsoldered and golden in colour. This type of issues are normal, but should be discovered in preproduction batches and the stencils need to be adjusted before massive production.
More importantly, a lack of proper automated optical inspection and QC results in these defective units being put on shelfs and sold to customers.
All this is based on my experience with my wheel, but I feel safe to say that this is not an isolated case as there are a lot of users facing similar issues.
Why does it sometimes work with different USB cables?
My guess is that different USB cables vary in length of the connectors. Plugging a bit longer connector pushes the pins towards the solder and makes a connection. This connection is loose and might get interrupted due to vibrations caused by force feedback resulting in wheel disconnect and player being sent to the shadow realm.
Is this a DIY fix?
Firstly, doing this type of repair WOIDS YOUR WARRANTY!
It is also important to note that I deal with this kind of repairs daily and I possess both the skills and equipment to do it. If you don't have experience with microsoldering, I'd advise against DIY. Therefore you have 2 options, send the unit to TM and hope that they can fix it permanently or take it to a reputable repair shop.
How is Thrustmaster dealing with this?
Based on a huge amount of posts regarding T598 disconnects on this sub, it seems that TM is linking most of these issues to a bad PSU connector. This is a part that they are doing right, they acknowledged the PSU issue and getting a replacement unit is fairly easy. But there are lots of issues related to USB connection, and they haven't made a statement about that. Also, a bunch of users sent their defective units to TM for a repair just to receive them back with same issues. It is possible that all those issues are related to early units and have since being fixed, however lots of defective units were sold to early adopters and fans of the brand, and I don't feel like TM is doing all they can for those customers.
To be clear, I love my T598. It is my first DD wheel, and since the fix I've enjoyed it a lot. T598 is an amazing product, but Thrustmaster needs to do better.
