NickelPlate Posted March 29, 2008 Share Posted March 29, 2008 (edited) Hey Everyone, I have a 5200 trak-ball that is somewhat non-responsive and jitters around at slow speeds. It seems okay if I spin the ball fast. It's a brand new unit from Best Electronics (new old stock, still in the shrink wrap). I emailed them and they said the roller bearings sometimes need breaking in. I opened up the unit and the rollers are spinning just fine (no slip). It makes precision control pretty much impossible and I'm not too happy with it for the price paid. I don't have any jittering or issues with my analog joysticks. Could it be something else? Any suggestions? Regards, NP Edited March 29, 2008 by NickelPlate Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prodos8 Posted March 29, 2008 Share Posted March 29, 2008 Try lubricating each of the bearings (you should have five total) with a small drop of 3in1 oil (or other household oil) and clean the rollers with alcohol. Also try working the rollers w/o the ball and see if you still get jittery movement if you do then it could be something electronics problem. Good luck! Hope you get it working as its one of the best home trak-balls ever made imo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickelPlate Posted March 29, 2008 Author Share Posted March 29, 2008 Thanks for the tip. I think it's an electronics problem because it does it even if I take the ball out and rotate the rollers by hand. I downloaded a copy of the 5200 service manual and read the section on troubleshooting the trak-ball. Most of the troubleshooting flowcharts end up telling you to replace one of the five logic ICs on the PCB. I went ahead and ordered replacement chips and am going to try that first, (I know, that's a shotgun approach) but the chips are pennies. It could still be something on the 5200 side I suppose I just don't know what since my joysticks work okay. He said he tested it before he sent it out but honestly it looked like it was never removed from box. NP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atari5200 Posted March 29, 2008 Share Posted March 29, 2008 what game are you trying it out with? Your trackball will do exactly as you describe with games not designed for it, it will move really slow and jitter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickelPlate Posted March 29, 2008 Author Share Posted March 29, 2008 what game are you trying it out with? Your trackball will do exactly as you describe with games not designed for it, it will move really slow and jitter. Just Missile Command and Centipede. I tried Defender as it's listed as a supported game on the box, but Defender sucks with a trak-ball . NP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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