Help with 5200 trackball

[T]

I need help.

I just bought a new in the box trackball for the atari 5200

The forward motion does not work at all

In centipede, I can move left and right very nicely but absolutely no
movement forward. It's this way with all the games

Anyone know what I should do to fix it?

[congobongo]

Take it apart and clean the ball and the rollers inside as best you can. After putting it back together, move it a lot in every direction. What game are you testing it with? Missile Command is probably the best to test it with.

[NoahsMyBro]

I had a problem with my 5200 Trak Ball that may or may not be similar to yours:

I took it apart to clean it. After putting everything back together, it would not go SW very well at all. I tried again to clean it thoroughly, again with no success.

Eventually, I figured it out. I was scared of over-tightening the screws when I would reassemble it, considering the parts were plastic, AND 20 years old. Well, the top and bottom covers were not pressing against each other tightly enough to press the ball solidly against the rollers. Once I tightened the screws more than I was comfortable with, the ball worked much better. AND the screw towers held.

[angusjake]

this link has some trakball repair info:

http://www-public.tu-bs.de:8080/~y00...de/trakuse.txt