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geekhack Community => Input Devices => Topic started by: Thaxll'ssillyia on Wed, 19 August 2009, 08:26:09

Title: CST2545W with tracking issues
Post by: Thaxll'ssillyia on Wed, 19 August 2009, 08:26:09

I recently got a CST2545W trackball and it doesn't properly track fast ball movement, the cursor stops or moves unpredictably. This is especially pronounced at the 1600 DPI setting and occurs only on horizontal cursor movement. Can anyone who has this trackball reproduce this issue or is it a single faulty unit?

Thank you for your time.

Title: CST2545W with tracking issues
Post by: xyzzy on Wed, 19 August 2009, 08:37:22

I have the same trackball and am unable to reproduce that behavior. It seems to work just fine if I spin the ball as fast as I can, be in 400, 800 or 1600 DPI settings.

Title: CST2545W with tracking issues
Post by: Thaxll'ssillyia on Wed, 19 August 2009, 12:33:46

Thanks for the replies.

By the way i have already returned it, but for a refund (got a little nervous after discovering this behaviour). Now i'm thinking about ordering another one...

Title: CST2545W with tracking issues
Post by: xyzzy on Wed, 19 August 2009, 13:27:02

I bought this trackball after it got a few positive reviews on here and absolutely love it.

I got it from ComputerWare in the UK: http://www.cw2.co.uk/ - they provided an excellent service.

Title: CST2545W with tracking issues
Post by: microsoft windows on Mon, 24 August 2009, 12:02:46

Just get an old mouse. They work fine and are much cheaper if they aren't free.

Title: CST2545W with tracking issues
Post by: Thaxll'ssillyia on Mon, 24 August 2009, 13:33:50

Just to let you know, i ordered another one. We'll see.

Title: CST2545W with tracking issues
Post by: Thaxll'ssillyia on Thu, 27 August 2009, 08:23:08

Got the trackball today, same problem.

Title: CST2545W with tracking issues
Post by: Rajagra on Thu, 27 August 2009, 09:01:11

Sounds like you are exceeding the limits of some aspect of your system.

With my ancient Logitech Trackman Marble FX, if I flick the ball really fast the sensor can't track it, so the screen pointer stays still while the ball is spinning. Eventually the ball slows down and operation resumes as normal.

It's worth noting that it is easier to spin the ball at high speed in a horizontal direction than vertically.

In my case the Trackman sensor is the limiting factor. But in your case the specs of the CST2545W are very impressive, the speeds it can cope with are better than most gaming mice. Either you are spinning the ball insanely fast or some other part of your setup is creating a bottleneck.

Have you tried increasing the USB polling rate? Is it plugged straight into a motherboard port?

Title: CST2545W with tracking issues
Post by: Thaxll'ssillyia on Thu, 27 August 2009, 09:14:35

I tested it a while and i don't think it is my system because this only occurs at horizontal cursor movement, vertical movement works fine at any speed.

Btw. i just checked the polling rate with dx_mouse_timer_dialog and it is runnig at 1000hz by default (OS is Vista HP, all drivers are up to date and did not modify the USB settings)

Title: CST2545W with tracking issues
Post by: Thaxll'ssillyia on Thu, 27 August 2009, 10:00:02

I've informed to the distributor and he'll talk with the manufacturer.

Out of interest: When was yours manufactured (sticker at the bottom)?

Title: CST2545W with tracking issues
Post by: Thaxll'ssillyia on Thu, 27 August 2009, 10:11:17

Thanks. The two i got are newer (2009/07/21 and 2009/08/12), but this is just speculation. I'll see what the manufacturer says.

Title: CST2545W with tracking issues
Post by: xyzzy on Thu, 27 August 2009, 10:35:07

Mine is one week younger than ripster's: 2009-02-25. Do you notice the problem with all three DPI settings?

Title: CST2545W with tracking issues
Post by: Thaxll'ssillyia on Thu, 27 August 2009, 12:02:12

On the 1600DPI setting in occurs during normal usage, on the 800DPI setting it is also reproducible but if have to spin the ball pretty fast.

Update: Tried the 400DPI setting and i can reproduce it too, but i have to spin the ball really fast. (Again: Occurs only at horizontal movement, not vertical.)

Title: CST2545W with tracking issues
Post by: keyb_gr on Thu, 27 August 2009, 13:52:13

What kind of OS are you using? I faintly remember some problem with Windows' mouse acceleration when using high-resolution pointing devices, there even was a MSKB article. The only workaround provided was disabling pointer acceleration.

Title: CST2545W with tracking issues
Post by: ch_123 on Wed, 04 November 2009, 13:53:17

Any updates on this?

Title: CST2545W with tracking issues
Post by: Thaxll'ssillyia on Wed, 04 November 2009, 17:31:00

It was a firware issue, which they should have fixed it by now. I can't say for sure as i returned the trackball before i got the message.

Title: CST2545W with tracking issues
Post by: ch_123 on Wed, 04 November 2009, 17:34:03

Cool stuff, Im thinking of getting one of these at some point...

What did you think about it asides from the aforementioned issues?

Title: CST2545W with tracking issues
Post by: Thaxll'ssillyia on Wed, 04 November 2009, 17:50:44

Apart from the tracking issue i noticed it is a nice trackball. If the firmware issues are really fixed it would certainly be worth it.

Title: CST2545W with tracking issues
Post by: Thaxll'ssillyia on Thu, 05 November 2009, 02:43:57

The distributor (Computerware in the UK), they told me that this was the diagnosis from CST.

Title: CST2545W with tracking issues
Post by: MsKeyboard on Thu, 05 November 2009, 10:46:35

CST products have been consistently high quality, and our customers have not been complaining about any issues.  Most often input device problems exist from not clearing out old drivers before installing new equipment.

Later........

Title: CST2545W with tracking issues
Post by: Thaxll'ssillyia on Fri, 06 November 2009, 16:02:46

No, i didn't try it on other computers, but i reformatted between the two deliveries. And i never used any drivers other than the default drivers from windows. Otherwise i don't know, but no other pointingdevices if have show any problems.