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Author Topic: Amiga 500 Joystick problem  (Read 3457 times)

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Offline NerfherderTopic starter

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Amiga 500 Joystick problem
« on: March 14, 2007, 02:28:56 AM »
Hello all!
    Just wondering if anyone has run into this little problem before? I have an Amiga 500 that Joystick port #1 will only let the mouse move in two directions. Down and to the right. Other then that everything else works fine with the machine and I would really like to fix it. I tried swapping the CIA chips but nothing changed.
Any help with this would be greatly appreciated!

Howard
 

Offline James

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Re: Amiga 500 Joystick problem
« Reply #1 on: March 14, 2007, 02:33:52 AM »
Might sound stupid but....Did you make sure it's the amiga and not the mouse that is acting up?
 

Offline motrucker

Re: Amiga 500 Joystick problem
« Reply #2 on: March 14, 2007, 01:26:05 PM »
sounds more like the joystick than the computer......
A2000 GVP 40MHz \'030, 21Mb RAM SD/FF, 2 floppies, internal CD-ROM drive, micromys v3 w/laser mouse
A1000 Microbotics Starboard II w/2Mb 1080, & external floppy (AIRdrive)
C-128 w/1571, 1750, & Final Cartridge III+
 

Offline Tomas

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Re: Amiga 500 Joystick problem
« Reply #3 on: March 14, 2007, 02:10:17 PM »
I guess you have already tried another joystick?
 

Offline NerfherderTopic starter

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Re: Amiga 500 Joystick problem
« Reply #4 on: March 14, 2007, 04:26:11 PM »
Sorry about that! I should have mentioned that I did try another mouse. I wish it was that simple.
I also checked the board over real good in that area for anything unusual but it looks fine. I'm thinking it's a chip but which one?
 

Offline Ideal

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Re: Amiga 500 Joystick problem
« Reply #5 on: March 14, 2007, 04:42:58 PM »
Try cleaning out the port.
I had a similar problem, could not move forward on the joystick, cleaning out the port fixed it.
Spray some solvent into the port, and use a toothbrush.

If not, it is possible that there are some pins broken off (it's enough that just one pin is snapped) from the actual port, just where it connects onto the board, from when people have twisted the port around when inserting joy/mouse. I have successfully replaced a port on one of these boards once, all you do is buy a generic angled port for pcb mounting. They are readily available. Then, the easiest thing to do is just snap/cut off the old connectors pins, and then afterwards desolder them one by one, and then slab the new one in there. It's timeconsuming work but you'll get there easily enough in the end with a little patience.

By the way, greetings to Maine. I was in Maine on an exchange thing in 1994. Bass Harbour.
I remember there was a guy there named Jason who ran a BBS, which we'd log onto all the time to play tradewars. Don't remember the name of the bbs tho  :crazy:
 

Offline banzai

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Re: Amiga 500 Joystick problem
« Reply #6 on: March 14, 2007, 06:52:33 PM »
You should've titled this "Mouse Problem"...

Actually, the mouse is connected to Denise. Try re-seating her and see if that helps. If not, then check the 74HCT157 (U15) that buffers the signals from the mouse.

Amiga mouse basics:

The Amiga mouse works by pulsing the movements in what's known as "quadrature mode". Essentially, there are four lines (one pair for each axis of movement) that are monitored. If Denise sees pulses coming in on any of them, it compares them to each other. If the pulses on the data line precede the quadrature (Xd before Xq), then it knows the mouse is moving down. If the pulses are lagging (Xd after Xq), then it's going up. Ditto for the Y axis (Yd <> Yq).

Once we know that, we can do some quick diagnosis:

Power is good, since the mouse generates the pulses using IR/LEDs, and if the mouse is sending data, even in only one direction, then its got power.

There's a possibility that the "Q" signals aren't being sent, but the data is (i.e., Q is always lagging D). This requires a logic probe (about $20 at Radio Shack) to check. Best bet is to check at inputs and outputs of the 74HCT157 (U15). This will verify both the mouse and chip.

After that, it's all Denise. If power and signals check good, then swap out Denise (8362/U4).

The only other alternative if none of these work are the little ferrite EMI filters along the back of the port. If these open up (or short to ground), then this type of behavior could happen.

banzai
 

Offline NerfherderTopic starter

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Re: Amiga 500 Joystick problem
« Reply #7 on: March 15, 2007, 12:15:46 AM »
IDEAL,

Thank you very much for the information. I had a few minutes to look at it tonight and I tried cleaning the port like you suggested but no luck. I will check the connection of the port to the board but I think I did that originaly when I first recieved the computer. Can't remember!
I am taking another stab at fixing this and I am so glad I found this forum because the information has been terrific!

My wife and I spent a week on the Windjammer Steven Tabor out of Rockland and we dropped anchor in Bass Harbor for one evening. Probably the best vacation I ever took was sailing around the coast. It's a wonderful place the State of Maine.


 

Offline NerfherderTopic starter

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Re: Amiga 500 Joystick problem
« Reply #8 on: March 15, 2007, 12:24:26 AM »
banzai,

WOW what great information. I am going to go and get the Logic Probe because I tried reseating Denise and that did not work. I will let you know what I find as I dig deeper into this. Again Thank you for the help, I really feel that this problem is fixable and this machine can be something other then spare parts!