"Anybody know how to troubleshoot/repair an ADB joystick?" Topic

I've got a jones to play X-Wing and TIE Fighter again on my old PowerComputing Mac clone… but my beloved Gravis Firebird 2 ADB joystick is on the fritz. It keeps treating the cursor as constantly moving in a straight line. Happens whenever the thing is plugged in; doesn't matter whether I'm in the Finder or a game. I'd like to repair the thing, if I could figure out what is going wrong. Heck, it might just need some contacts cleaned. I know how to open the case, but not what to look for. Any old Mac gurus hanging about who can give me pointers, or point me to old Mac gurus who could do the same? These days, it's my only option to firing up these golden not-so-oldies.

It doesn't sound like a Mac/ADB problem (You can eliminate the potential for most ADB problems by plugging something else into the port and seeing if it works or has problems). It sounds like a potentiometer problem inside the joystick.

There are probably about a half dozen things it could be. The easiest one, is if there is dust inside it. Take the cover off and blow it out and try again. If that doesn't help it, one of the pots is probably blown or shorted and needs replaced.

If you don't know how to do that, it would take a couple of months of learning basic electronics to do it yourself. Or a couple of weeks, if you know someone who can teach you, but they would probably just replace it themselves in about a half an hour and probably not even charge you the couple bucks that the part costs.

This also might be an interesting mid-year demo for a vocational high school, if you know of one in your area.

Barring a gratis repair (which isn't guaranteed to fix every problem), it will probably cost you more to get it on a repair table than to Amazon or Ebay a used replacement.

Good luck.

Thanks! I'll give your advice a try. (My e-bay searches for a replacement have turned up to be pricier than I want to pay.)