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Odd Intellimouse behaviour

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First post, by mixedjames

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I'm currently assembling a retro PC system and, would you believe it, the mouse is causing me the most trouble. Not what I expected at all...

The Problem
The mouse does not move vertically. (Horizontal works fine, the buttons work fine)

My setup
Microsoft Intellimouse (the original shiny one with a wheel)
Dell PS/2 keyboard via AT adapter
Windows 95 OSR 2
Pentium 166MHz socket 7 in a Zida 5VDX motherboard with 8Mb of EDO SIMM
S3 Trio 64+ graphics

What I've tried so far
(1) Use the mouse in serial mode (the bottom suggests it is a dual protocol device) - doesn't work at all; searching here suggests that these old Intelli mice only worked with the MS 68666 adapter part. These seem to be hard to come by a no-one seems to publish the diagram.

(2) Taking the ball out and moving the rollers by hand - no change.

(3) Trying to use CTmouse - same problem.

(4) Taking the mouse apart and cleaning any adherent crap out. I've also had the pin-wheels (is that what they're called?) out and given the optical sensors a brief clean. I also can't see any obvious loose connectors - no change, and tbh not much crud to clean out anyway.

(5) Installing the Intellimouse drivers (though this seems mostly todo with the wheel) - no change

I had some trouble getting the PS/2 interface working - the 5DVX had a header but didn't come with a port so I had to get one. The pinouts are not standardised it seems so I got that wrong at first and it kept disabling the keyboard for some reason. Anyway, I think I had reversed the clock and data lines as switching these fixed the keyboard and Windows 95 suddenly detected a PS/2 mouse.

My current thoughts
To me this sounds like a problem with the mouse/sensor itself. I can't see why a problem with the port/header/mobo would specifically break vertical movement.

I guess I may just have to get a new PS/2 mouse. This seems like a shame since the Intellimouse was a lovely piece of kit and a lot of other dual mode mice seem to be much less high quality. Does anyone have any ideas of other things I could try before giving up?

Reply 1 of 6, by paradigital

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The pinout was confirmed by member “Snufkin” in my previous thread about the Microsoft 68666 adapter:

Re: Microsoft PS/2 to serial pinout?

Reply 2 of 6, by mixedjames

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Thanks paradigital.

I missed that. I guess I just need to find a full 6 pin adapter or try and cobble something together myself.

I'm not sure that's going to fix the issue though - has anyone else had this problem?

Reply 3 of 6, by chinny22

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You sure it's the mouse and not the PS2 port at fault?
I'd either try another PS2 mouse or test that mouse in a different computer just to be sure

Reply 4 of 6, by mixedjames

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Hi chinny22,

So I did some loft mining and found an old optical Intellimouse (circa 2000 I think) but which was dual protocol PS/2 & USB but missing the USB to PS/2 adapter. By shear good fortune my otherwise uninteresting local PC shop had an original Microsoft one knocking about.

This mouse works perfectly so the issue has to be the other mouse I think.

Anyway with the discovery of the "new" mouse my problem is largely solved. I'd still be interested if anyone's had any luck repairing an Intellimouse as I'd love to own a serial-capable mouse for the future. A new ps/2-serial adapter has arrived today so if it's a 7-wire one I'll see if I can try Snufkin's pinout for the 68666.

Reply 5 of 6, by weedeewee

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mixedjames wrote on 2021-07-15, 20:37:
The Problem The mouse does not move vertically. (Horizontal works fine, the buttons work fine) ... […]
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The Problem
The mouse does not move vertically. (Horizontal works fine, the buttons work fine)
...

My current thoughts
To me this sounds like a problem with the mouse/sensor itself. I can't see why a problem with the port/header/mobo would specifically break vertical movement.

if possible, and you have a soldering iron, you could swap the sensor (led & photodiode) for the horizontal movement with the one for the vertical movement.
or just desolder'm and do some continuity test.
best case it's a faulty sensor, worst case it's the sensor input pin of the chip.

Reply 6 of 6, by BitWrangler

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It's not unknown for the emitter or detector to go dead, but it's usually a rare occurrence.

2017: Basement full of ancient PC stuff, starting to go through it. 2021: Still starting, heh, many setbacks. So what's this BitWrangler guy's deal ??? >>> Taming the pile, specs to target?

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