Restoring function to Mighty Mouse

I once found a post here to temporarily restore vertical scrolling function to a Mighty Mouse by cleaning the scroll ball with a paper towel moistened with rubbing alcohol.
That worked for a while, but after 6 month of just working, it went to needing periodic cleaning to lately needing daily cleaning to a point where that doesn't seem to be doing the trick any more.
Anybody have a suggestion as to how to deep clean this thing? I seem to recall there once being some sort of stuff in a spray can that cleaned the potentiometer in an old analogue volume knob to fix the dead spots that would come in over time. Is there something like that available for a Mighty Mouse scroll ball?
That scroll ball can be a real spoiler, but that makes the apparent death of the function seem more frustrating and even infuriating.

Hi, I sympathize with your trouble, I had two MM's and both lost the use of their trackball's. I decided to crack them open and see what could be done. It's not so difficult to do, requires only a bit of courage, steady hands and a stanley blade. There is a good website giving full instructions but it seems to have gone, some pix though...http://www.flickr.com/photos/shirster/sets/1447737/
But basically, using a razor blade or stanley blade, the white rim can be gently prised off, from there it's a careful dismantle. The trackball is set in a small white plastic case, that can be popped open very easy. You will find the rollers are miniscule and it's no wonder they clog up. This not a very clever design, it just attracts far too much muck from our fingers. A far, far better design is to use four laser/LED's and a reflective ball, never gets clogged and works just as good. Having said that, the whole principle is right on, just not executed that good. Maybe v2 will improve things.
i wrote a full essay on cracking an MM in MacinTouch website.

Similar Messages

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    i installed XP with bootcamp, and my mighty mouse worked the install of windows and everything, until i actuallly got into windows... any ideas?

    It works fine. After setup (use 0000 as pas code) the bluetooth device, you can use it. Upon logging in to the XP, just click once using mouse and then mouse will start working.
    However, not all the functions for mighty mouse (like horizontal scrolling, side button etc) works in WinXp side.

  • Problems w/ Mighty Mouse

    So I started using one today w/ my MBP. I set the scroll ball to dashboard and the squeeze to Expose. Neither of them work. I swapped and no luck.
    I can't get any functionaality out of either. I loaded the s/w from the CD and rebooted. Same issue. Ideas?

    Check out Troubleshooting the Mighty Mouse here.
    http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=302063
    Troubleshooting Mighty Mouse
    Mac OS X 10.4.2 or later
    The Mouse tab of the Keyboard & Mouse preference pane will not appear in System Preferences unless your Mighty Mouse is plugged in. If Mighty Mouse-specific information does not appear in the Mouse tab of the Keyboard & Mouse preference pane when your Mighty Mouse is connected, the computer does not detect the mouse on the USB bus. Try unplugging the mouse and plugging it back in. If it still does not appear, try the steps listed in article 58033, "USB Device Troubleshooting." Also check if another mouse is plugged into the computer—sometimes another mouse may interfere with the functionality of Mighty Mouse.

  • Mighty mouse has lost functions!!

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    ok, i went into the apple store and they did replace my mouse with the newer non grey buttons on the side.. they are now white.. But it still didnt fix it.. Leopard was messed up, i did a fresh install of leopard and everything works fine.. I still wonder though... what got corrupted??

  • Mighty Mouse Functionality in Bootcamp?

    Hi,
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    I checked the Device Manager. It thinks the mouse is an Apple Mouse. The mouse properties are just like regular mice. I'll try using the intellipoint mouse driver sometime.

  • Wireless Mighty Mouse Looses Right Click Functionality

    I am using a new Wireless Mighty Mouse (about one month old) With new batteries.
    Since I started using it, the (secondary) right click would stop function after repeated use. After many frustrating trouble shooting attempts, I discovered that the Right Click will work again if the mouse is left idle for about 15 - 20 minutes.
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    Any input would be very much appreciated
    Mac G5. 2ghz DP   Mac OS X (10.4.8)  
    Mac G5. 2ghz DP   Mac OS X (10.4.6)  

    Unfortunately my experience suggests no. I'm on my 5th (or is it 6th?) wireless Mighty Mouse now, and they've all behaved just as you described. The latest replacement was only a week ago. I suspect the only point in replacing it further times would be to demonstrate that you've tried all you can. As far as I can tell, my only recourse at this point is convincing Apple to refund me, which is a shame because I like the scroll ball design.
    I should note that I'm in Australia, in case stock has been slower to update here, but it shouldn't make a difference...
    I've noticed that the problem seems to occur a lot more frequently under hot conditions - room heater on, hot hands etc. Could it still think the left button is being touched because it's warm and/or sweatier than usual?

  • Mighty Mouse (Bluetooth) NOT Fully Functional

    After installing Mac OS X 10.7 (Lion), the Might Mouse BT used with a MacBook 2.26 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo only functions as a pointer but it cannot select with a click .Battery power is okay. The Mighty Mouse was fully functinal with Mac OS 10.6.8 on the same MacBook.

    Replaced the batteries with fully charged rechargable batteries. The Might Mouse and now it is fully functional.
    My Theory
    Rechargable batteries can be a problem with a Mighty Mouse.
    Although the battery level was at 40%, the Mighty Mouse started to loose some of its functionality. If you choose to use rechargable batteries, as I encourage you to do, replace them before the battery level drops below 50%.

  • Lost function of button 3 and 4 on Mighty Mouse

    For the last few months, I've used a Logitech trackball on my iMac. Recently, I needed to plug the Mighty Mouse back. Buttons 3 and 4 (dashboard, and expose all windows) don't work. I've tried:
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    2) double checking the keyboard/mouse settings
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    and nothing works. Any idea what could be causing this?

    Hello,
    This seems to be a frequent complaint from people who have installed the drivers for 3rd-party mice.
    See if there is a method to uninstall the driver that came with your other mouse.
    Unfortunately, there may not be a way to remove those drivers and revert to the standard built-in drivers.
    As a means of experimenting, I would try downloading the latest version of the OS 10.4.x "Combo" update for your computer.
    For the Intel computers, this would be:
    http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/macosxupdate1047combointel.html
    For the PowerPC computers, this would be:
    http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/macosxupdate1047comboppc.html
    It is entirely possible that if you have the mighty mouse installed and connected when you re-install these updates, that it may over-write the 3rd-party drivers and re-enable the factory drivers (which is what you need).
    There is a method to revert to the factory supplied driver. The questionable, and technical, route:
    You'll find the directions in the last post at:
    http://forums.macnn.com/archive/index.php/t-267713.html
    If none of that works, then about all I could suggest is re-installing OS X and avoiding the Installation of any mouse drivers (including those that come with the Mighty Mouse - they are unnecessary and add problems).
    I hope this helps.
    Let us know if you have other questions.
    P.S., if you'd like, go ahead and click the "Helpful" or "Solved" buttons on any of the posts / replies above if you feel they were helpful or adequately answered your question.

  • Mighty Mouse function change

    How do I change my right Mighty Mouse button to a "double click"?

    I don't think that you are able to make the the become a double click mouse... just able to adjust the speed of the double click....
    But there may be a way to make the icons respond to a single click...I'm still trying to figure that one out.
    Cheers

  • Mighty mouse not functioning properly

    Originally i had the scroll ball button assigned to expose and the side buttons to spotlight. These worked fine for months until now neither of these work. Instead once the scroll ball button is pressed it allows you to scroll by moving the mouse backwards and forwards. The side buttons dont do anything at all. They're both still assigned as expose and spotlight in the prefrences, yet they dont work. I've tried reinstalling the mighty mouse software but that didnt solve it. I've figured maybe i've installed a plugin, but i dont remember as this problem started months ago.
    Does anyone know what seemes to be the problem, and how i can get it to work properly?

    And if none of the above suggestions work, then see if repairing permissions & restarting your computer works.

  • Does anyone here have a defective mighty mouse?

    I got one, and called apple couple of times not only for the issue, but also for the investigation, they ask me create a new acct, restore the whole system.... finally they replaced it for me... but after couple of days using, just found this one is also not good.... dont know if they give a new one? or just the mighty mouse born w/ bugs....
    ok... here is my problem..
    i really think to put two grey buttons on the two sides of the mouse is innovative and handy, but the problem is those two buttons just "too smart"... whenever I move the mouse, it's "Expose - all windows"... really annonying... right now I have to disable the functions for those 2 buttons.. I do have applecare, but just dont know if I can call apple to replace this one again? or maybe after the replacement, the same problem? Anyone met the same problem? Is this a general defect for mighty mouse? sigh...

    I'm left-handed. Would you please pubish a photo to show how you use the mouse? I wanna know if I hold the mouse in a wrong way...
    I'm right handed, Miky, but as the mouse is symetrical, I guess the idea is pretty similar.
    Like this:
    Not this:
    Cheers
    Rod

  • Mighty Mouse causing keyboard problems?

    I just recently bought a wireless Mighty Mouse, and, after having installed it, all of my F buttons (dim screen, brighten screen, expose, dashboard, etc.) on my MacBook's keyboard are incorrect. My forward one track button is now the expose, and my volume up button is the dashboard. Aside from those and one or two others, the rest don't even do anything when pressed. I tried going to my keyboard/mouse preferences and restoring everything to it's default setting, but that did nothing. I also tried moving said F keys back to their original settings/keys, which I did succeed in, partially, but my volume up, volume down, mute, track forward, pause/play, track backward, keyboard brighten, keyboard dim, screen brighten, and screen dim keys still do nothing.
    You could probably guess that this is extremely annoying, so, all answers are greatly appreciated.

    System Prefs > Keyboard & Mouse
    deselect the box "Use all F1 F2 etc keys as standard function keys"

  • Problems with mighty mouse clicking

    Hi everybody, happy New Year first of all!
    Then my problem: I bought an Intel iMac about 1 year ago, and have been using the supplied wired mighty mouse since then. I set it up with left+right top buttons.
    I didn't have a single problem until a few weeks ago.
    First, the "typycal dirty scrolling ball" which seems to be solved by rubbing the ball on a piece of papere with the mouse up side down.
    Second, and most annoying, *the click functions seems to perform worse than before*. I mean, it looks like *I need more pressure now to have the mouse click* (either left or right) on links, icons, etc.
    Result: about half of the times, clicking the mouse (using the pressure I was used to) has no effort, I need to re-click with more intensity.
    Did anybody of you experience the same problem? I cannot understand if it is kind of software problem (say, something that can be solved by some restore function) or a physical one (dirt? But the mighty mouse cannot be unassembled...).
    TIA to all,
    Giopad65

    Hello and Welcome to Apple Discussions ...
    Fist, here are the instructions to clean a Might Mouse: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1537
    and here: http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20060210115417864&lsrc=osxh
    Second, go to System Preferences/Keyboard&Mouse/Mouse and make sure your Tracking/Scrolling and Double Clicking is set to your liking. (The System Preferences panel is located in your Applications folder)
    Carolyn
    Message was edited by: Carolyn Samit

  • Lazy Mighty Mouse

    Hi, I've heard they go wrong after a while so I'm not too surprised - my Mighty Mouse track ball now only allows me to scroll down not up. Anyone have experience of cleaning them and restoring functionality?
    cheers
    Simon

    I've had my Mighty Mouse for probably 15 months or more and it still works fine. When the ball gets to the point where it refuses to scroll, I put a little alcohol on a clean rag and rub the ball quickly several times fore and aft. This seems to correct any problem I have with scrolling until the ball gets clogged up again.
    Give this a try before giving up on a good Mighty Mouse. Works for other optical mice as well.

  • Where can I find Mighty Mouse drivers/prerferences

    Does anyone know where the default settings are located for the Mighty Mouse or the easiest way to restore them?
    I installed Controller Mate and Steermouse for a bit before uninstalling them but now I can't reconfigure my Mighty Mouse. (I want to disable the right click). I'd like to use Time Machine to restore the Mighty Mouse drivers/preferences.
    Please help!
    Message was edited by: Silvine

    My mouse system preferences are still there and I can customise most of the Mighty Mouse functions except it won't let me disable the secondary click for some reason i.e. I make the change in preferences but the context menu still appears when I right click.
    I have uninstalled the 3rd party drivers using AppZapper.

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