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Trackball Booster Kit from GGG and other trackball sensitivity questions

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Xiaou2:
The question is... does this have the same issue in windows?

 Check the roller shafts for any damages or foreign debris.  Might even use a caliper to measure both ends to make sure they are the same thickness.

 Make sure all bearings are seated to the utmost bottom of their mounts.

 Make sure each bearing, when spun between the fingers, has no sticky spots, nor any visible wobble of any kind.

 Turn off any windows mouse acceleration.
 Unplug any other analog joysticks, drawing tablets, mice..etc.. to make sure there are no other input conflicts.

 Delete any nvram and config files from mame.  Older files can cause issues with new mame versions.

 Make sure the ball is not scraping the mounting plate or anything else.

 Try the trackball on another port, and another pc.  Try using a different encoder.
If you hacked mouse optics, rather than using official optos, poor positioning could cause tracking issues.

markronz:
I'll give some of those a shot, thanks for the suggestion.  I'll post more details later.   But first, I just had a quick question.  Is this the method you'd recommend to disable the mouse acceleration?
http://kaioa.com/node/68

Or is there some other way you'd do it?

markronz:
OK, to answer some of your questions...

Does it have the same issue in Windows?   No, everything appears to move fine in Windows.  No strange movements or anything, besides the drifting towards the end of a spin.

Everything looks good with the bearings.  They are clean, the right thickness, and when in the case, are seated tight in their mounts.   Man that sounds dirty.  :)   

Anyway, the bearings are all brand new, and I have 6 replacement ones, so I chose the best six from the 12 to use.   So they spin pretty well, no wobbling or sticky spots or anything like that.

I have no other mice or anything else strange connected.  Only my KeyWiz.  So I don't think there are any input conflicts happening.

I've only had one version of mame.  128, and I've never upgraded.  So I shouldn't have any older config or nvram files.  But just in case I did delete these files for golden tee games, and all those types of games.  It didn't seem to help.

The ball spins pretty freely, no scraping or anything.

I have two trackballs.  I brought over the other one, put the bearings and ball into it and it did the same thing.   So I can at least say it's not the sensor or anything.   I tried a different ball again too, and that seemed the same.

I didn't hack a mouse or anything, I have a normal betson style trackball.

So for my next steps, this is what I'm doing:
1.  I have my bearings hooked up to a drill setup that spins the bearings for me automatically.   I can just leave it run and it spins the bearings nice and evenly.  I plan on leaving them in there for at least an hour or two.  Just in case this isn't a software thing, I thought this might help.
2.  Then I've ordered the booster kit from Groovy Game Gear.  What the heck, it can't hurt.
3.  Right now, I have the mouse hooked up to the PS2 port.  I plan to hook it up to the USB port to see if that makes any difference.
4.  I plan to turn off all windows mouse acceleration. 

So I guess my last question for the moment is the proper way to disable the windows mouse acceleration.  Just wondering if this was the best way:
http://kaioa.com/node/68

If anyone has any guesses, let me know!

Savannan:
if i were you i would ....

take that damn trackball assembly controller off and connect it to another computer

does it act up?  yes = bad trackball/circuitry on trackball      no=software/other hardware issue (redo system)

when trouble shooting... start where the problem lies...

other than the control panel/mouse options i dunno....  you have some kind of program like tweakxp installed?  check those settings..if not...nevermind :D



Xiaou2:

 You have to be more specific.

 If you have two trackball units...

 Do both trackball units do the exact same thing?
(or are you saying you just have two balls, and not two entire assemblies?)

 Have you swapped not only the bearings... but the SHAFTS that the ball sits on???
As said, if someone machined the shaft wrong, where as there is a slope to the shaft... it could cause problems.

 If your trackball housing was molded poorly, and the bearings are seated at different depths, that could also create a problem.

 If you have not tested the thing on another PC... then do so.  Your PC software or hardware could be the problem.  Weather virus or corrupted driver... or corrupted files from a failing Harddrive.

 Try a new and or newly installed version of the same mame.

 
 Spinning bearings on a drill for an hour isnt a smart thing to do IMOP.  In fact, it could do more harm than good.  If your drill is not perfectly centered, and puts side pressure on the bearings... it will cause wear.   Also, and hour of constant spinning is a lot of useage wear for no good reason. 

 If you cant feel any defects in the bearing when spinning it by fingers, then its highly doubtful there is any.  You can feel the slightest grain of sand if it gets caught in a bearing.

 To clean my bearings, I use radioshacks electronics cleaner.  A small bit sprayed on top, let sink in for 30 seconds.  Spin the bearings by hand for 60 seconds... then repeat on the other side.  Repeat the process 2x.  (so thats 4 reps total)   It removes all traces of the factory grease/oils.  I prefer not to use any additional oil, however, you can then leak some 3-in-1 oil into the bearing side if you are worried about the need for lubrication.  Thick oil will slow down a bearings action considerably.

 Also, Its not impossible that your controller has gone bad.

 Draw a half-line on the ball, make the line centered and vertical. Spin the ball, note any change in direction of the balls line towards the end of a spin.  Use the same electronics cleaner to remove the line you drew on the ball.

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