How to get the Razer Sabertooth to work properly on your PC

The Razer Sabertooth game controller is based on the Xbox 360 gamepad, and is supposed to work out of the box as if it were a standard Xbox 360 gamepad. It doesn't always do this though. If Device Manager fails to recognise your Razer Sabertooth, follow the below steps. I'm using Windows 7 64bit. I'm not sure if this works on Windows 8 or other versions.

• First, make sure you've downloaded and installed the Xbox 360 controller for Windows software
• Plug the Sabertooth in
• Press the Windows key, type Device Manager and press enter
• Find the Razer Sabertooth Elite icon with the yellow exclamation mark (see pic above), and double-click it
• • If the Sabertooth doesn't appear at all, make sure it's plugged into a USB port at the back of your PC, rather than the front of your case, in a USB hub, or via an extension cable.
• click the Driver tab
• Choose Update Driver
• Choose Browse my computer for driver
• Choose Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer
• If there is a category called Windows Common Controller for Windows Class, choose that. Otherwise, choose Show All Devices
• In the Manufacturer column, choose Microsoft
• In the Model column, choose Xbox Controller for Windows (if there's more than one version, try the latest one first)
• Hit next, and hit Yes on the Update Driver Warning popup
• If all went well, a system tray balloon will now tell you that your device was installed, and the Sabertooth will light up. Done!

The next step is optional but recommended.

Getting rid of XboxStat.exe

The official Xbox driver package installs a program called Xboxstat.exe, which launches itself at bootup and runs in the background. But unlike most background programs, this one consumes a lot of resources. On my system, it frequently hogged 13% of the CPU resources (and not just in idle, either). Others have reported it consuming 50% or even 90% of theirs.

Xboxstat.exe isn't required for the controller to work. I don't know exactly what it does - I believe it collects statistical information about your games for Microsoft. Whatever it is, I highly doubt it's important enough to warrant slowing down our PCs. Get rid of it using the method below. 

• Press the windows key, type msconfig.exe and press enter
• Click the startup tab
• Scroll down until you find Microsoft Xbox 360 Accessories (in the Command column it will be something like C:\Program Files\Microsoft Xbox 360 Accessories\Xboxstat.exe), then uncheck its box
• Click ok
• If a popup notifies you that you made changes, tell it not to remind you again, unless you want that annoying popup each time you boot up
• After you next restart, Xboxstat.exe won't clog up your resources any more.

Dave Bleja

Dave is a graphics professional and longtime PC power-user. He spends more on his gaming rig than a reasonable person should. He founded the indie game studio Volnaiskra, and is the creative force behind Spryke.

---