Might Mouse Scroll Ball Problem

I have a wireless mighty mouse, and the ball sometimes the scroll ball stops working. Either I can't scroll down, or I can't scroll up. It seems to me there is gunk in the wheel, just like inside an old mouse with a mouse ball on the bottom.
Naturally, I want to clean out the gunk, but I can't figure out how to open then mouse to clean it. Is there some way to take out the ball, or open up the mouse to get the dirt and gunk off the wheels?
Thanks.

Actually, my mouse is still under warranty. I'm near Toronto, Canada, so we might have different warranty coverage up here. I believe mine's for a year. I just wanted to try to fix it on my own before taking it to the mac store (a half hour drive away) before giving up and returning the mouse to Apple.
I also watched the little video, and my mouse still was not performing to my satisfaction. After a few days, though, it seems to be fixing itself. It's still not perfect, but it's certainly better than it was. I guess having enough dirt free of the sensors lets the scroll ball dislodge any remaining debris. At the moment it seems to be almost totally back to normal.
Perhaps I just need to clean it regularly. I'm still a little frustrated that nobody seems to know how to take it apart. To me, the ability to open (and fix) a product just makes sense. I'll perform a simple cleaning/repair like that any day rather than bother taking it to the store.
MacBook   Mac OS X (10.4.7)  

Similar Messages

  • Might mouse scroll ball issue

    I got my Might Mouse just about a year ago. I'm having issues with the scroll ball. It works scrolling up with no problem, but scrolling down it does not work. To be clear, it can scroll but it doesn't make the page on Safari scroll down with it.
    Anyone else have this issue? Any way to clean it?

    Hi djm027: Does this Apple article help?
    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1537
    Happy cleaning
    Stedman

  • Mighty Mouse scroll ball problems

    I wondered if anyone could help me with a scrolling issue with the mighty mouse. Some days scrolling works vertically up and down and other times just one direction. I dont believe it is due to dirt in the mouse - it seems software related and is sporadic in its operation. Any advise you could give would be welcome
    Thanks
    Nick

    DP, that is what worked best for me in the past.
    After months of problems with the scrolling ball, and after trying all the suggestions found on the web, this method of using a white sheet of paper was an excellent one: my MM was again clean and working as if it was new!
    However, be careful about it: don't push too much when running the MM upside down. Eventually, yes, the gunk will come out, but the ball would go down-inside the case if pressed too hard for too long. It happened to me when using this method for a second time, and I was in the need to disassemble the device in order to correct this, and I think that's exactly what I was trying to avoid in the first place.
    Hope it helps.
    JJ

  • Mighty Mouse scroll ball problem

    I have had this Mighty Mouse for about a year and a half and the only problem has been the scroll ball. Every once in a while it won't scroll down. I was told to hold it upside down and rub the ball good with a wool cloth. Basically every time it did the trick. Now it won't scroll down anymore (it scrolls everywhere else though). Is there something broken inside? Is there anyway to take it apart? Not being able to scroll down is quite annoying and I'd love to be able to do it again.
    Scrolling down, the ball moves but doesn't make the little clicking like sound like it does in any other direction. Any advice?

    Hi. Sometimes using a clear spirit such as denatured alcohol (or vodka...) instead of the water suggested here
    http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=302417
    helps - but I've had one that wouldn't be fixed, and was replaced. Good Luck.

  • Another Mighty Mouse Scroll-Ball Problem

    Hi,
    I bought my bluetooth mighty mouse around October of last year, and ever since I've had it the scroll ball will get choppy and then stop working.
    I use a cloth to scrub the ball so it'll at least move, and that seemed to work okay.
    But today, I scrubbed the mouse and it made the ball get pushed down into the mouse.
    It'll still scroll, but I can't middle click. Plus, there's room all around the ball for more dirt to get in.
    What should I do?

    Do I just call AppleCare to fix this (like I would if I had a problem with my iMac)?
    I'm not familiar with Apple's warranty stuff when it comes to keyboards, mice, and other non-computer hardware.
    Thank you

  • Mouse scroll ball problem

    I've had my Mac Pro since Feb of 2009. For Christmas I got the Snow Leopard upgrade and installed in a few days ago. Since then the scroll button on top of the mouse will only allow scrolling down. Previously it allow up and down scrolling.
    Is this possibly some setting that I have missed or could it be that the mouse needs some kind of maintenance. I've been an Apple user since the days of the Apple II and all the mice I've ever used eventually built up a lot of internal crud. This mouse, being optical, does not seem to have any way for the user to open it for cleaning purposes.
    Thanks to anyone who can offer some hints or tips.
    Richard

    I'm replying to my own question.
    Right after posting my question I explored the download section of Apple's web site and as I did my mouse suddenly started to scroll properly again.
    Not sure what had made the difference but it is quite nice to be able to use that button again. It's one of those things you find you really miss when it goes away.
    Richard

  • Might Mouse scroll wheel indesign

    (oops I thought this category was "other" hardware products. Why isn't there a category for keyboards and mice??)
    I want to thank Apple for being forward looking in all aspects of design, formost the input devises. The new keyboard is amazing. Thanks. The Mighty Mouse is the first decent Apple mouse since pre-G3 days. In fact it is a very nice mouse – for 2 months.
    My Mighty Mouse stopped scrolling after 2 months of heavy use. I took it to the Genius Bar, they told me it was dirty and sprayed air into it. It worked great again for another 4 days. That was April. I've just learned to live without it since then – occasionally trying to spray air into it to no avail.
    I found this:
    http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1243940
    which gives us a simple how-to on cleaning the mouse. I can figure that out myself.
    Does anybody know how to break open the mighty mouse so I can actually clean it?
    I am a very clean person. If it takes two months for me to clog up the scroll wheel, somebody else has got to have a solution? I fear any professionals who use a Mac day in and day out must be using a third party mouse. I've not had any problems with a third party optical mouse ever – after many years of use. My Mighty Mouse's scroll wheel is really terrible.
    My questions are:
    A) How do I open up the mighty mouse so I can clean it?
    B) Is there a third party mouse that scrolls left and right and connects via bluetooth?
    C) Is apple reinventing the wheel again? Seriously.
    Okay, I had to vent. Better than throwing this thing against the wall.
    Message was edited by: Ahab the Eskimo

    A) How do I open up the mighty mouse so I can clean it?
    You can't without breaking it.
    B) Is there a third party mouse that scrolls left and right and connects via bluetooth?
    There are other scroll-ball mice (the only ones I know of that have dual-axis scroll), but they'll have the same problem though some might be easier to clean. As a possible help for the problem with your current mouse, perhaps this will help:
    http://theappleblog.com/2008/09/27/revive-your-mighty-mouse-scroll-ball/
    C) Is apple reinventing the wheel again?
    Constantly. Apple has applied for a patent on a mouse with a touchpad rather than a mechanical ball, but whether such a product will ever make it to market is unknown.

  • Mighty Mouse Scroll Ball always breaks

    Hi, I have a 2 month old iMac, and This has been a problem for about 6 weeks, but I haven't gotten around to posting it. My mighty mouse scroll ball breaks repeatedly and I have been fixing it, but it is a real pain. Don't suggest not using my mighty mouse, because I love and hate it, I love how it has multiple buttons, but hate how the scroll ball breaks all the time, can someone help me?

    It just needs cleaning. Use a damp cotton rag and vigorously move it across the mouse ball. Do this for about 30 seconds. BTW, there are instructions in your owners manual about this. This is from page 63 of your Users Guide:
    *Cleaning Your Mighty Mouse*
    You may need to clean your mouse from time to time to remove dirt and dust that has
    accumulated in the scroll ball area. Hold the mouse upside-down and roll the scroll ball
    vigorously with the cloth that came with your iMac, or another clean, soft, lint-free
    cloth, to help dislodge any particles that may interfere with proper scrolling.

  • Mouse scroll ball not working

    How can you clean the mouse scroll ball to make it scroll again?

    Hello:
    Turn the mouse upside down and run it (vigorously) over a piece of paper.  Better yet, run it upside down over a micro-fiber cloth.
    Barry

  • My mouse scroll ball will not scroll down.

    My mouse scroll ball will not scroll down.

    Unfortunately the Mighty Mouse is known to have issues when scrolling if it gets dirty. The best you can do is hold it upside down and roll the ball back and forth in every direction for a minute or so, this should help clean it any it may start working again. My school's multimedia lab has 20 workstations that all have that mouse and about half of them work! I'd recommend moving to the magic mouse or another brand's mouse if cleaning does not fix it.

  • Strange problem with Mighty Mouse scroll ball

    Hi,
    yesterday suddenly my Mighty Mouse start to have a strange mood. Using scroll ball to go down in a page I haven't problem, but trying to go up don't happened nothing! The problem seems to be software, because the hardware seems to be good.
    What can I do?
    Bye

    http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=302417 How to clean your Mighty Mouse
    Take a piece of bright white paper, turn the mouse upside down on it, press down on the ball, and run the mouse quickly in circles over the paper. This will remove all the gunk that's building up on the ball
    TIP: To get to the gook inside the scroll nipple use a plastic toothpick.
    "Other Options:" Wear latex disposable gloves. A box of same can be purchased from your local Dollar Store or Pharmacy.
    Some cell phone leather cases actually fit right over the Mighty Mouse.
    Clean/wipe the Mighty Mouse off with a damp cloth/rag prior to going to bed each evening.
    Some users have found using the small alcohol pads quite successful. These can be obtained from any drug/pharmacy or Dollar Store.

  • Mighty Mouse scroll ball has issues

    I've had my Mighty Mouse for about a month of standard use, but suddenly the scroll ball will no longer scroll down (up and side-to-side are fine). I've carefully cleaned the ball, to no avail. I understand that some others have had issues, but that their issues remain unsolvable (they contacted Apple Support for an exchange).
    1) Can any one tell me the number to call Apple (from the USA)? I haven't been able to find it on the site map (all the support numbers are associated with AppleCare).
    2) I only noticed the problem after the upgrade to X.4.4. Could that possibly have anything to do with the problem?

    Hi Jessica,
    It could be a software or a hardware problem, I had the same problem with my MM but made the mistake of disassembling it.
    Take the mouse to another Mac and see if it works, then you'll know it's a MM problem.
    When you roll the ball do you hear a slight clicking noise? This would mean the ball is making contact with the rollers.
    Maybe the ball needs to dry or be cleaned with rubbing alcohol (as it evaporates)
    You would call the AppleCare number, and yes they might give you a headache about AppleCare, but tell them you have a hardware related warranty call.
    If you find it works on another recent Mac (with MM software installed) it might be a OS problem of some sort.
    What's good to do occassionally is to clone your boot drive, this way you can boot off a slightly older version of the OS to sort through bugs like this.
    It also makes a good backup method.
    http://homepage.mac.com/hogfish/Personal11.html

  • Mighty mouse scroll ball behavior

    Less than a week ago, I bought a Wireless Mighty Mouse. I thought that it was having trouble scrolling right, so I took it back for a replacement. This one seems to have the same problem.
    The problem seems to be that the mouse has a hard time scrolling right. To scroll up, down, or left, I only need to put the slightest pressure on the scroll ball. To scroll right, I need to press the ball about halfway down. It's not that it's a problem per se, but the user experience is just off enough to be frustrating. As a small note, the mouse makes different noises when scrolling up, down, and left, versus scrolling right. For scrolling UDL, it makes a small clicking noise. Scrolling right makes a sliding noise. When I push the ball in further and scroll right, I get the clicking noise.
    As I said, I've gone through 2 mice in less than a week. I thought the first might have been a fluke. Not that I've run into two with the same "problem", (and from two different stores), I wonder what's going on. It seems like it could either be a manufacturing defect that affected a whole batch, or perhaps this is the expected behavior. I can't imagine that my fingers are so oily that they would have gummed up the ball instantly. And yes, I have tried just about every cleaning method.
    So the questions are: how does your scroll ball work? How much pressure do you need? And has anybody had problems only with scrolling right?

    bytecrafter - I did some searching and found out a few tips that solved the problem for me.
    First, I blew compressed air into the scroll ball. I pushed down on it with my fingernail so that the air could get into the crack.
    Then I used a damp, lint-free cloth to rigorously clean the scroll ball, while the mouse was upside down. Apple has a video (and instructions) of this here:
    http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=302417
    Hope that helps.

  • Mouse scroll intermittent problem

    Sometimes my mouse scroll button will not work properly and it is diffucult and annoying when trying to scroll down a page or website. I went into system preferences and adjusted the scroll button back and forth, then left it in the centre. My mouse seems to have improved but there is still a slight internittent problem with the scroll ball. I thought that I might need a new mouse but suspect that the problem may be software related and not hardware. Can anyone help with this?

    Yipeeee! Thanks guys I tried the white paper method and pressed quite hard rolling that track ball on the paper there was quite a bit of unseen dirt on there. I then wiped it over again with a clean damp cloth and my mouse is now fully functional.... good tips!

  • Mighty Mouse, Scroll Ball Still Malfunctioning?

    Hi,
    I love my Intel iMac and I LOVE my mighty mouse...but the scroll ball is constantly quitting on me.
    I clean it just like the apple video, I blow into it, I clean and clean and clean it and then it works for a day or two and then again, it stops.
    I'm the most meticulous clean person when it comes to hardware, I even manage Mac labs at a big university - so I have lots of experience with these mighty mouse. They are ALL having the same problem.
    Is this karma? Does anyone else have this problem? I'm not sure what to do (both with mine and the one's at work!).
    Any suggestions would be apreciated. Thanks!

    I am also pretty clean with my Mac. I found that cleaning as recommended by Apple was sufficient, until about two weeks ago, nothing I did to clean it, short of the misadvice to stick a needle into the ball socket, was successful. I found a website that shows how to disassemble the mouse carefully with an Exacto knife and did so. I was amazed at how dirty the rollerbars, especially the one to scroll down, were, in spite of my faithful cleaning routine. When I reassembled the MM I just used a couple strategic drops of super glue to secure the one ring that is glued in place. It will be much easier to disassemble the next time!
    The link;
    http://web.mac.com/karelgil/iWeb/MacWebSite/MightyMEng.html

Maybe you are looking for