No less than 33 responses in a flash! sun-managers is (are) amazing!
The vast majority of responses tell me that this is a very
well known problem. Seems the mice have faltering LEDs. Some
of you suggested the mouse pad was 90 degrees off, or the wrong
pad (like one from a Sun3). Well, no such luck. I've made those
mistakes before, though...
Here are some interesting response tid-bits:
>...check your serial number. If the serial number begins with a
>DM, DN, or DO, then I recommend you contact your field engineer.
>
>Paul R. Bennett
>bennett@reef.cis.ufl.edu
>There was a batch of bad mice. The problem is the red LED getting progressively
>weaker (due to a design/specification flaw). I didn't have any luck getting
>Sun to replace ours (for free, that is -- they want $200 (Canadian) for each)
>so I went and bought some high-brightness LEDs at a local electronics store
>and fixed them myself (for 50 cents each). I posted a fairly detailed
>description to the alt.sys.sun newsgroup some time ago. I can email it to you
>if you like.
>
>Roland Schneider
>University of Manitoba
><sch@ee.umanitoba.ca>
> I have been experiencing the same thing at our site. Our problem was
>that the red LED was dim or burnt out. I found inexpensive replacements
>at Radio Shack and soldered the new ones in myself. It takes about two
>minutes/mouse and is a lot easier than messing with Sun Support.
>
> BTW, the red LED is clear-colored when not lit, so don't be alarmed
>when Mr. Radio Shack hands you a clear LED. I believe they call these
>"Jumbo" LED's or something.
>
>Dave Spott
> One of our senior techs here has found that the
>very common failure of the Mouse Systems M4 (used in Suns
>and SGIs) to track horizontally is caused by failure of
>the visible - wavelength LED. He has submitted samples to
>an LED manufacturer for failure analysis, but no word yet.
> Check it against a good one with a light meter:
>a drop in output of about 2 photographic EV values (f-stops
>worth) confirms failure.
> He recommends using a replacement with an output
>of at least 500 mcd (millicandela). Radio Shack part
>number 276-066A at $1.19 works fine (500 mcd), as does the
>276-087 (2000 mcd, $1.69). Watch out for the bright one -
>it can really dazzle a user's eyes if they turn the mouse
>over to check it.
>
>kevin
> Mouse Systems got a bad batch of leds from their supplier
>that will suddenly drop in output intensity. Contact your Sun
>rep. about the problem. If they are not cooperative, try calling
>Renay Rylander at Mouse Systems at 415-656-1117. Mouse Systems
>gives Sun a 1 1/2 year guaranty, but Sun only passes on 90 days
>to the customer.
>
> Lew Doll
> Purdue University Computing Center
>
>p.s. The same problem exist with Visual Technology mice, but
> Visual is much more cooperative.
The tip on the Radio Shack LED was just in time. I have barely been
able to finish this email off as it is.
Thanks to all of you:
acenet.auburn.edu!jdavis
cs.arizona.edu!ric
uludag.ESD.3Com.COM!trc
coraki.Stanford.EDU!pratt
no2sun.cray.com!vrieze
yosemite.ATMOS.Ucla.EDU!fabrice
sunrise.Stanford.EDU!aldrich
iis.ethz.ch!prl
att!picard!bill
math30.sma.usna.navy.mil!pjw
wbst845e.xerox.com!matt
pdn!cougar!bbryan
From: Paul Evan Matz
erasmus.gatech.edu!richd
pcs.cnc.edu!bford
neon.mitre.org!mitchell
ica.philips.nl!geertj
vest.sdata.no!birger
cs.st-andrews.ac.uk!colin
phyast.nhn.uoknor.edu!feldt
opus.cs.mcgill.ca!bajan
water.ca.gov!rfinch
etnibsd!vsh
tnt!bice
sirius.UVic.CA!mmcintos
reef.cis.ufl.edu!bennett
eeserv.ee.umanitoba.ca!sch
ssi!ssiwest!spott
zabriskie.berkeley.edu!kwz
mentor.cc.purdue.edu!led
Regards,
____________________________________________________________
| Paul E. Matz, Principal Engineer, PPG Biomedial Systems |
| PO Box 15955, 16505 W. 113 Street, Lenexa, Kansas 66215 |
| Phone: 913-894-7500 x7179 Fax: 913-894-7600 |
| (in NY:) |
| RR 2, Box 55, 26 Lewis Road, Pound Ridge, NY, 10576 |
| Phone: 914-234-0745, or 914-234-0661 |
| email: {...}!uunet!bmskc!paul or paul@bmskc.ppg.com |
|____________________________________________________________|
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