Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!rice!uw-beaver!cornell!vax8530!iojj
From: iojj@vax5.cit.cornell.edu
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Re: Need help with mouse problem :-( -- :-) solved
Message-ID: <4575.269c45a7@vax5.cit.cornell.edu>
Date: 12 Jul 90 13:40:55 GMT
References: <4529.2699075f@vax5.cit.cornell.edu>
Distribution: comp
Lines: 51

In article <4529.2699075f@vax5.cit.cornell.edu>, iojj@vax5.cit.cornell.edu writes:
> 	I have a little problem with my 1040ST which I just
> bought used:  the mouse  doesn't work in the horizontal direction.
> It's very strange, but no matter which way I move it, the cursor
> moves to the right.  The vertical axis is OK.  If I move the mouse
> really fast to the left, it may move in that direction, though.
> Anyone, have any ideas about what may be wrong?  I would especially 
> appreciate anyone in the Ithaca area who can give me a call, or
> email.
> Thanks in advance :-).
> 
> David Chin
> IOJJ@CORNELLA
> (607)272-6766 [>7pm]
> (607)255-5732 [work] 

    Thanks to everyone who replied.  I got some helpful info
which showed me the right place to look.  I fiddled around
with the thing last night, and managed to repair it.
     So, here's what went wrong.  Firstly, the mouse was
cleaned off, but to no avail.  Then, I looked at some other
suggestions.  The one that struck me the most likely was
that it something to do with the opto-thingamajig.  And it
was.  The rollers are on an "axle", and they have to be parallel
to the plane of the mouse base, i.e. they must not jiggle up
and down or left and right.  The axle in my mouse was jiggling 
vertically.  If you look carefully at both the axles, you can 
see that the ends are held down by plastic things (very sorry
I don't know the technical names :-)).  The end with the
slotted wheel is held down by a plastic rod, which you can see
if you look down parallel to the axle through the hole in the
plastic post in which the axle end is held.  Turns out that
that was loose on my mouse:  I found that out by comparing it
with the vertical axis axle. Just put a small screwdriver into
the hole at the top (looking vertically down) of the plastic
post, you can push the plastic rod back down onto the axle to
hold it in place.
    Now, about the screws.  Those just hold the whole assembly,
circuit board and all, down to the mouse case.  The reason that
fiddling with those screws works is that if you loosen them, you
make clearance for the mouse ball to jiggle vertically, and that
prevents the axle from jiggling.
   Well, that's it.  Thanks again for all the helpful replies.
:-)   :-)

David Chin
IOJJ@CORNELLA.CIT.CORNELL.EDU
IOJJ@VAX5.CIT.CORNELL.EDU

Disclaimer:  the usual, I guess
"The sun in Ithaca shines mainly outdoors ..."