Hi Folks,

Since there have been several postings regarding "dying" LEDs in sun
type4 optical mice, leading to "hoppy" horizontal movement (yes, I
admit I've been one of these posters ;), you might be interested in
the results of actually trying to repair one:

Actually there are two LEDs that are used to detect mouse movement: A
visible red one, that is used for scanning horizontal movement, and an
invisible infrared one for the vertical movement.

There are roumors around the net claiming that replacing the "dead"
red LED with a fresh one fixes that problem. A "dead" LED still emitts
visible red light and therefore cannot be determined as "dead".

I recently gave it a try and followed the instructions available at

http:/http://sunsite.bcc.bilkent.edu.tr/pub/sun-info/sun-faq/Docs/FixingASunMouse/

Replacing the "dead" red LED with a 1000mcd, 20mA, 1.6V LED from the
German Electronics Store "Conrad Electronic" really had great impact
on the usability of the mouse.

Since I never had the opportunity to use a new type4 mouse, I cannot
tell how close this restores the original behaviour. But it was really
worth the effort, the mouse indeed is usable (within limits, of
course) even for apps like xfig et al.

The LED was about EUR 0.95 (approx. US$ 1.1), the effort mainly
consisted of telling the shopman what I want. Replacing the LED took
about four minutes, including (dis-) assembly of the casing.


cheers,
\end{kryz}

-- 
Q: How is "SunOS" spelled?
A: As one speakes it. With capital "S-O-S".