Help: Up not working on TrakBall

[Ben Klammer]

I can imagin my first post being a 'it's broken, how fix' kinda thing is a bad first impresion, but these forums do look interesting, and there are many other things I might want to talk about, but here's my issue at the moment. I have a track ball for my Atari 2600/7800. And, simply put, it only works left/right, not up/down. Buttons are ok, too. However, my trackball looks a tad different then most I've seen online. The biggest difference is the two buttons are trapazoid shaped, rather than circles. And the ball is yellow. Otherwise, it looks the same, so I hope that means the internals are the same, too. And yes, I cleaned it. Made the buttons more responsive, but still no up and down. I'm not really able to order any replacement parts, so if I can fix it at home, I will. And I can. Any suggestions on how to fix it are appreciated. Also, I'm not sure of the model number. All it has is a sticker with 'KMO342' and 'Made is U.S.A.' on the plastic.And there's a switch with TB and JS, which I know JS means make it work like a joystick (what I set it to) and TB makes it analog, for compatible games. So again, thanks for any suggestions, and more details will be provided upon request.

 

UPDATE- Found out one of the wires that goes from the circuit board to the main cable (to Atari) fell off. It was just a friction fit, so I slid it back on, and my problem was half fixed. Down workes, but up still dosent. Left, right, and buttons all still work as before. I tried cleaning every one of the connections with water and a cotton swab rubdown, but that had no effect. the next thing I guess would be to check that all the wires work and have no cuts. I'm assuming this means the sensor works?

 

UPDATE TO THE UPDATE- Tested all the wires that go from the controller to the system with a multimeter, all work fine.

 

(Note: This is taken from a thread of mine in the wrong forum with the wrong name. If moderators want to, please delete that one. Sorry for the inconvienience).

Edited January 15, 2012 by Ben Klammer

[so_tough!]

bump, come on 2600 people help ..

Edited January 23, 2012 by so_tough!

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Does it not work in both modes? Joystick and native TrakBall mode (BTW: which is digital too)?

[Ben Klammer]

Does it not work in both modes? Joystick and native TrakBall mode (BTW: which is digital too)?

 

Well, I'm not sure if I have any games compatible with the TB mode. I'll check that out now. ~~~ Actually, apperently, there aren't any games that work with it in TB mode, except a few on the 400 computer. I have that, but the games and cables and the thing itself are buried in boxes. So I can't really test that.

[Rex Dart]

Might just be busted. I have a very similar trackball, does everything but go left. It has two rights instead.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Does it not work in both modes? Joystick and native TrakBall mode (BTW: which is digital too)?

 

Well, I'm not sure if I have any games compatible with the TB mode. I'll check that out now. ~~~ Actually, apperently, there aren't any games that work with it in TB mode, except a few on the 400 computer. I have that, but the games and cables and the thing itself are buried in boxes. So I can't really test that.

Maybe only the converter for the joystick mode is broken. So it still works as a real TrakBall. Too bad we can't test that.

[Ben Klammer]

Bump please? Anyone have the know-how to fix these things? I'd really rather not have to buy another.

[Ben Klammer]

Actually, never mind, I fixed it. The brown and purple wires were swaped, making neither up nor the left button work. I didn't notice earlier because a foam pad was covering the labels on the cicuit board. Happy days. Also, sorry for the dubble bump. I would have edited the last post, but such rights are not provided for non-donators.