Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!ncis.llnl.gov!helios.ee.lbl.gov!pasteur!ucbvax!AECLCR.BITNET!01659
From: 01659@AECLCR.BITNET (Greg Csullog)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Mice problems
Message-ID: <8903011657.AA25654@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU>
Date: 1 Mar 89 14:59:00 GMT
Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Organization: The Internet
Lines: 17

Our company has had a rash of mouse failures. The situation was
puzzling because not one home user had a similar failure and there
are more mice (mouses) off site than on site.

We believe we know the problem. There are load resistors used in
conjunction with the phototransistors. They typically have values
of 600-800 ohms. With extended hours of operation (7-8 hours per
day computers are on at work, typically <1 hour at home) there
appears to be some deterioration in the load capacity that is
followed by transistor drift.

If all resistors are changed to 1K ohm, voila the problems go
away (except that labour costs make it more expensive to replace
the resistors than to buy new mice).

Is Atari aware of this problem and has it been addressed properly?
Or are there bound-to-fail mice out there in production lines?