Mighty Mouse Scrolling Ball

[Todd Daniel]

I bought my Mighty Mouse a few months ago. It took me a while, but now I am addicted to the little scroll ball on top. It has greatly increased my productivity with page layout programs and I am now addicted.

But now it only scrolls horizontally and not up and down. Have I crippled the little mouse?

I have tried rebooting and checking my settings in Preferences. But no more up and down.

Could this be a mechanical issue? Am I going to have to go into the guts of the little mouse?

Thanks for any help. I have forms to design and a newsletter to layout, and that little ball was oh so wonderful while it lasted (and my gosh, it took Apple long enough to release a mouse like this!).

Thanks,

Todd Daniel

P.S. Now it suddenly started scrolling down but it won't scroll back up. Should I just shake it? Mail it to Iraq? Sacrifice a PC owner to the gods?

[Martha Shannon]

I don't have personal experience with that mouse, however I have had my share of usage with pc mice and I'm going to go out on a limb here and assume you have already tried cleaning it? I would assume that it would get a little gunked up with dead skin cells, sweat and whatnot. Also, the sensors might be dusty - let me know if I'm way off base!

[Todd Daniel]

Thanks for the tip, Martha. Unfortunately, the Mighty Mouse is a little more complicated than a PC mouse because it has no screws, and there's no easy way to open it. There are some articles on how to open it, but it looks very risky. I also picked up some tips on how to try to clean the ball first before going to the extreme of cracking it open.

From searching the web, the death of the little scroll ball seems to be a common problem. It really could be a design flaw. I can just picture Steve Jobs at the Apple headquarters: "Dwiggins, I need to see you in my office. It appears that we have a situation."

Well, I'm ready to go at it with the alcohol pads. If worse comes to worse, I'll end up with an alcoholic mouse. Here is the link for those of you brave enough to crack it open: http://shirs...nal/item/194

As for me, I think I'll take it back to the Apple store before going to this extreme.

Todd Daniel



"I think everyone should own a PC ... they make great door stops."

[Michael Martin]

I dunno -- you might want to look at it closely.

From what I can remember about the MM "ball" is that it's not really a "ball" at all.. It's a nub that can sense  capacative movement (similar in concept to a Powerbook / iBook trackpad or an iPod wheel).  Yes, there's some directional give, but I dont think that it rotates.  So I dont think that there's any "ball" to clean.

(As opposed to Martha's expereince with mouseballs that rotate horizonal and vertical interrupter wheels, and inevitably pick up desk trash and deposit it on the 3 contact axles (H/V/pressure) thus giving us "mouse ball gunk" .. which causes skipping and the herky jerky mouse movement .. one can use good "mouse ball hygiene" and clean it up to be good as new until the next coat of mouse ball gunk comes along -- but that's another story )

That being said, it's very possible that since (I think) that this is an electrical issue, that a sensor for axial movement (one for H one for V) may have blown -- which kinda makes sense if you think of the potential for static electricity discharge. 

Either case, it's a clear issue for the Apple Warranty to kick in and make good.

Now, If I'm REALLY off base here, let me know -- since I have no MM to play with.

Mike

[Todd Daniel]

Thanks, Michael. It's definitely a rubber ball that goes around. After going to Apple's support site and checking with various forums, I fixed it. I just put some drops of alcohol on it, turned it upside down, and pushed down and rolled the ball for a while. Various folks in the forums say that this has to be done regularly. That little track ball is the best thing since the Apple IIgs.

Todd

[Martha Shannon]

wow! Apple IIgs, haven't heard that in a LONG time. Reminds me of my ex and all of our computers...
Thanks for the trip down memory lane and glad you were able to get your ball rolling HA!