New Trackball from Happ Controls...HELP!!!

[Kevinem82]

I'm new to this site and have gotten tons of great info and tips from members on here.

Ok so my question is, got a USB Trackball from Happ Controls, plug it in to my PC thinking the trackball will become the mouse...nuh uh. You know know when you plug in a usb cable you get a sound notification, well I'm not getting that, so I'm not sure if there is a driver or what I'm not doing.

All I want to do with the trackball is play games. I don't need left click, right click or center click....or do I. Does it have to be grounded....what am I doing wrong, I thought it was just plug it in and it acts as a mouse

[mgb]

In windows the trackball should just automatically work.
To get it working in Mame, you have to go into your mame.ini and enable the mouse with a 1.

if you don't see a mame.ini file in your mame folder, you will need to create it by running the mame command line on command prompt and typing
mame -cc

[BobA]

You should get a device notification from windows when you plug in a USB trackball.  The USB plug provides the power, ground and all the signals.  If windows does not recognize it u may have a problem.  Check that the USB cable connection at the board is good. If it is try it in another USB port and even a port on another computer.

[mgb]

Yes trying a different usb port makes good sense too.
I was just working with an older PC the other day, I plugged a usb mouse into one of the rear ports and it didn't work.
I plugged it into the front port and it worked.

also if you can, verify that the little plugs are in tight at the trackball.

[Kevinem82]

yeah I got this from tornado terrys on ebay, I tried on my old vista every usb port...no luck. Then tried it on a brand new windows 8....no luck 

[Desdinova]

I had a similar issue with one of these on an older PC. Wouldn't register at all same as you described. Using a powered usb hub (one that uses a power brick that plugs into the wall type) got it going as well as a host of other USB controllers running nice and reliably.   

[Kevinem82]

I just noticed a pinch in my usb line....hopefully problem solved

[PL1]

Does it have to be grounded

If the TB has a metal frame, you should connect a ground wire from the TB frame (there should already be one) to the cabinet frame ground to bleed off any static charge that the TB might generate.

Otherwise, this might happen.   


Scott

[mgb]

I wonder if a wire may be open then.
You may wanna try pinning it out with a meter

[kahlid74]

As others have stated, I've also seen this with either a bent/not fully connected USB cord or an older computer whose USB ports weren't "up to snuff".  In all of my cases I've made sure all USB cords were good to go and tried a powered USB hub and was then 100% good to go.