Strange mouse failure

[cameo]

Out of the blue, my old Logitech M-C43 mouse stopped moving the cursor
in horizontal direction. It would only move up and down around the
middle of the screen. Any of you experienced this before? I figure it's
time to buy a new mouse, they are cheap enough, but I still wonder what
might cause this kind of failure.

 

[Ken]

Out of the blue, my old Logitech M-C43 mouse stopped moving the cursor
in horizontal direction. It would only move up and down around the
middle of the screen. Any of you experienced this before? I figure it's
time to buy a new mouse, they are cheap enough, but I still wonder what
might cause this kind of failure.

Have you opened the cover for the ball and cleaned the rollers that
control the horizontal and vertical movement?

 

[Ken Blake]

Have you opened the cover for the ball and cleaned the rollers that
control the horizontal and vertical movement?

I'm not the OP, but I have many times opened and cleaned ball mice.
I've never succeeded in cleaning one well enough that such problems
disappeared and stayed disappeared for any length of time.

That's why I'm so happy that ball mice are essentially gone, and I no
longer have to deal with them.

 

[VanguardLH]

Logitech M-C43

Would help if you identified the type of mouse instead of us having to
find it. After doing a Google image search, found one that shows the
underside so the type of mouse could be determined.

http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/m491/evawarehouse2/sept12/aaaa3325_zps785657db.jpg

So it's a balled mouse. That means there are rollers inside that the
ball will rotate. Could be there is debris around the roller used for
horizontal movement which prevents the roller from rotating. Could be
there is debris further inside around the wheel the roller rotates so
the sensor cannot see the wheel is rotating. Could be debris in front
of the sensor.

While you can remove the ball to clean the rollers and also clean the
mouse ball (isopropyl alcohol), it's likely you need to open the mouse
shell and clean out all the debris that has collected inside.

 

[cameo]

Would help if you identified the type of mouse instead of us having to
find it. After doing a Google image search, found one that shows the
underside so the type of mouse could be determined.

http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/m491/evawarehouse2/sept12/aaaa3325_zps785657db.jpg

So it's a balled mouse. That means there are rollers inside that the
ball will rotate. Could be there is debris around the roller used for
horizontal movement which prevents the roller from rotating. Could be
there is debris further inside around the wheel the roller rotates so
the sensor cannot see the wheel is rotating. Could be debris in front
of the sensor.

While you can remove the ball to clean the rollers and also clean the
mouse ball (isopropyl alcohol), it's likely you need to open the mouse
shell and clean out all the debris that has collected inside.

That's indeed my mouse type. Frankly, I've never opened a mouse before
beyond just removing and cleaning the ball which usually solved sluggish
movements. This time, however, it was not enough, so following Ken's
suggestion I opened the cover to see what I could find under it. Well,
you guys all guessed right about those rollers: one of them was stuck
with a dust balls and after cleaning it out and reassembly, the mouse
works like new again. So thanks to all of you for the help.

 

[Gene Wirchenko]

I'm not the OP, but I have many times opened and cleaned ball mice.
I've never succeeded in cleaning one well enough that such problems
disappeared and stayed disappeared for any length of time.

I have many a time. When my mouse has not then worked fine, it
has been because I missed some of the crud on the rollers. You have
to get it all. And blow out the ball recess of dust; a puff of breath
will do this.

That's why I'm so happy that ball mice are essentially gone, and I no
longer have to deal with them.

A YMMV issue.

I prefer the way a ball mouse tracks. Opticals sometimes get
finicky about the surface that they are used on.

I still have a ball mouse for my system, and cold hands, etc.

Sincerely,

Gene Wirchenko

 

[Desk Rabbit]

That's indeed my mouse type. Frankly, I've never opened a mouse before
beyond just removing and cleaning the ball which usually solved sluggish
movements. This time, however, it was not enough, so following Ken's
suggestion I opened the cover to see what I could find under it. Well,
you guys all guessed right about those rollers: one of them was stuck
with a dust balls and after cleaning it out and reassembly, the mouse
works like new again. So thanks to all of you for the help.

Quick tip on cleaning a mouse ball. The best method I've found is to use
a detergent such as a dish washing liquid. Put the ball in your hand,
squeeze a drop or two of liquid on to it and wash under the tap as you
would wash you hands. Dry with a lint free cloth. The detergent removes
the grease and oil from the ball making the surface grippier.

 

[John Williamson]

Quick tip on cleaning a mouse ball. The best method I've found is to use
a detergent such as a dish washing liquid. Put the ball in your hand,
squeeze a drop or two of liquid on to it and wash under the tap as you
would wash you hands. Dry with a lint free cloth. The detergent removes
the grease and oil from the ball making the surface grippier.

Then you need to clean the rollers, which is nowhere near as easy, and
in my experience, almost always involves dismantling the mouse. I was
very glad when I got rid of my last rollerball mouse and went over to
the optical scanning ones. A quick spray of furniture polish on the base
occasionally to make them slide more easily and clean the clag off the
window and you're done.

 

[Ken Blake]

I have many a time. When my mouse has not then worked fine, it
has been because I missed some of the crud on the rollers. You have
to get it all.

Yes, but I never succeeded in doing so.

And blow out the ball recess of dust; a puff of breath
will do this.

It's been long enough that I can't remember for sure how I cleaned
them, but I *think* I did that.

 

[Gordon]

I'm not the OP, but I have many times opened and cleaned ball mice.
I've never succeeded in cleaning one well enough that such problems
disappeared and stayed disappeared for any length of time.

That's why I'm so happy that ball mice are essentially gone, and I no
longer have to deal with them.

Maybe it would help if you would clean your desktop and get rid of the
dust bunnies that end up inside the ball mouse???? ;-) Gordon

 

[James Silverton]

Yes, but I never succeeded in doing so.



It's been long enough that I can't remember for sure how I cleaned
them, but I *think* I did that.

It may be time to change to a laser mouse. I've used them successfully
for more than three years, on all sorts of surfaces, tho' I do use a
mouse pad because of its wrist support.

 

[Ken Blake]

It may be time to change to a laser mouse. I've used them successfully
for more than three years, on all sorts of surfaces, tho' I do use a
mouse pad because of its wrist support.

I'm not the OP, and I changed the type of mouse a *long* time ago. You
probably missed the sentence is my earlier message in this thread,
"That's why I'm so happy that ball mice are essentially gone, and I no
longer have to deal with them."

 

[Ken Blake]

Maybe it would help if you would clean your desktop and get rid of the
dust bunnies that end up inside the ball mouse???? ;-) Gordon

LOL! As I just said to Jim Silverton, the sentence that you replied to
said " ball mice are essentially gone, and I no longer have to deal
with them." That means that dust bunnies don't end up inside the ball
mouse because I don't have a ball mouse.

 

[Char Jackson]

Then you need to clean the rollers, which is nowhere near as easy, and
in my experience, almost always involves dismantling the mouse.

By 'dismantle', do you mean something beyond removing the ball? You should
remove the ball to clean it, and with it removed, you have easy access to
the rollers. There's nothing hard or tricky about cleaning those old ball
mice, although I suspect very few people have them anymore.

 

[John Williamson]

By 'dismantle', do you mean something beyond removing the ball? You should
remove the ball to clean it, and with it removed, you have easy access to
the rollers. There's nothing hard or tricky about cleaning those old ball
mice, although I suspect very few people have them anymore.

Yes, I normally had to strip them right down to clean the rollers
effectively. Even then, they never seemed to be as precise as they were
when new.

 

[Char Jackson]

Yes, I normally had to strip them right down to clean the rollers
effectively. Even then, they never seemed to be as precise as they were
when new.

Strange, I've never seen a ball mouse that didn't provide plenty of room to
access and clean the rollers simply by removing the ball.

Also, if they didn't feel as precise as they did when new, I suspect there
was too much disassembly and not enough actual cleaning. ;-)

 

[Gordon]

By 'dismantle', do you mean something beyond removing the ball? You should
remove the ball to clean it, and with it removed, you have easy access to
the rollers. There's nothing hard or tricky about cleaning those old ball
mice, although I suspect very few people have them anymore.

We have three desktop computers in our house and we have a Logtitech
Track Ball mouse on each of them. Are you talking about the other type
where the ball is located on the bottom of the mouse?

I like the Logitech Trackball configuration because it allows me to
place a tiny bit of sticky putty each end of the bottom of the mouse
and secure it to the desktop in a chosen position. It is always there
and waiting for me when I reach for it. Gordon

 

[Gordon]

Strange, I've never seen a ball mouse that didn't provide plenty of room to
access and clean the rollers simply by removing the ball.

Also, if they didn't feel as precise as they did when new, I suspect there
was too much disassembly and not enough actual cleaning. ;-)

The problem here may be that some of the lint gets wrapped very
tightly around the roller shaft, near the bearing and may be
overlooked when cleaning the rollers. I have used a fine pointed
tweezers to pick this lint away from the shaft near the bearings.

Gordon

 

[Char Jackson]

We have three desktop computers in our house and we have a Logtitech
Track Ball mouse on each of them. Are you talking about the other type
where the ball is located on the bottom of the mouse?

Yes, a mouse and a track ball are two different animals. There's a mouse,
and a trackball, but no trackball mouse.

With the mouse, the ball is on the bottom. Open a panel on the underside of
the mouse, allow the ball to fall out, and you have plenty of room to see
and clean the rollers. No further disassembly is required.

I like the Logitech Trackball configuration because it allows me to
place a tiny bit of sticky putty each end of the bottom of the mouse
and secure it to the desktop in a chosen position. It is always there
and waiting for me when I reach for it. Gordon

I find trackballs extremely hard to use, but some of my clients seem to
prefer them.

 

[Ken Blake]

I find trackballs extremely hard to use,

Me too.

but some of my clients seem to prefer them.

I also know many people who do. But I think the difference between us
and them is just a matter of what you are used to.