Got the famed 5200 Trak-Ball and another somewhat dead controller.

[HP Atari King of Michigan]

Well I finally got a 5200 Trak-Ball which works great with Centipede (of course), Space Invaders, and somewhat good with Defender, but other games, FORGET ABOUT IT! Also got a controller that was supposed to be refurbished, but while the buttons were working alright (Start button actually starts!!!) the joystick only goes left and up. What would be the issue with that?!

[Charlie_]

Well I finally got a 5200 Trak-Ball which works great with Centipede (of course), Space Invaders, and somewhat good with Defender, but other games, FORGET ABOUT IT! Also got a controller that was supposed to be refurbished, but while the buttons were working alright (Start button actually starts!!!) the joystick only goes left and up. What would be the issue with that?!

 

When you move it around does it feel like its together the right way? (smooth)

It could be the POKEY way out of adjustment. Do you have other sticks that do work?

[HP Atari King of Michigan]

Well I finally got a 5200 Trak-Ball which works great with Centipede (of course), Space Invaders, and somewhat good with Defender, but other games, FORGET ABOUT IT! Also got a controller that was supposed to be refurbished, but while the buttons were working alright (Start button actually starts!!!) the joystick only goes left and up. What would be the issue with that?!

 

When you move it around does it feel like its together the right way? (smooth)

It could be the POKEY way out of adjustment. Do you have other sticks that do work?

 

Yeah it's smooth like nothing is broken. I got maybe one other stick, but the buttons don't work.

[Divya16]

Well I finally got a 5200 Trak-Ball which works great with Centipede (of course), Space Invaders, and somewhat good with Defender, but other games, FORGET ABOUT IT! Also got a controller that was supposed to be refurbished, but while the buttons were working alright (Start button actually starts!!!) the joystick only goes left and up. What would be the issue with that?!

 

If it moves only left and up, it could be that the pots have shifted so that down and right aren't down and right enough.

 

Millipede and Galaxian also work great with Trackball. Never tried it with Defender; seems like a hard thing to get used to-- rolling around a ball when you are trying to avoid so many enemies heading at you.

[Charlie_]

Well I finally got a 5200 Trak-Ball which works great with Centipede (of course), Space Invaders, and somewhat good with Defender, but other games, FORGET ABOUT IT! Also got a controller that was supposed to be refurbished, but while the buttons were working alright (Start button actually starts!!!) the joystick only goes left and up. What would be the issue with that?!

 

When you move it around does it feel like its together the right way? (smooth)

It could be the POKEY way out of adjustment. Do you have other sticks that do work?

 

Yeah it's smooth like nothing is broken. I got maybe one other stick, but the buttons don't work.

 

It could be that the stick was but together wrong after it was serviced. You can open it up and take a look.

Check here for help with opening the stick and closing it up properly.

http://chazbeenhad.tripod.com/5200joy/

[tz101]

Use Missile Command to calibrate the horizontal and vertical pots. Take the "refurbed" controller apart, and the Missile Command on-screen cursor should be visually centered on your TV screen when the vertical pot (top) arm is positioned at the 9 o-clock position and horizontal pot (bottom one) arm is positioned at 6 o-clock. If they are out of the centered positions, play with the plastic pot arms, forcing them to move until you have the 9 o-clock and 6 o'clock positions established with the cursor centered on your TV screen.

 

Now, if the cursor still only moves left and up even when the pots are rotated right and down, then the refurbisher only did a partial job at best. It is possible that they only replaced the flex circuit and buttons, but not the pots.