Mighty Mouse scroll problem... [Archive]

amacgenius

Dec 18, 2005, 04:11 PM

Recently my Mighty Mouse has had a tendency to only scroll up, the ball will move down but the page or website, etc I'm in won't scroll down, I've tried restarting, unplugging and plugging in, nothing. Anybody have any idea what's wrong?

Thanks.

ravenvii

Dec 18, 2005, 04:37 PM

Probably dust. Thrash the ball around a bit and see what happens.

amacgenius

Dec 18, 2005, 04:41 PM

Probably dust. Thrash the ball around a bit and see what happens.

Well it now scrolls down again, thanks!

http://media.amacgenius.com/forums/lock.gif

hob

Dec 18, 2005, 06:58 PM

Mine did the same, I gave it a good clean but to no avail. I had to get it swapped out. It did it again, and a clean did sort it out - so to anyone else suffering a similar problem, try taking a damp cloth and running it over your rollerball a few times!

SolidSnake

Dec 19, 2005, 10:00 AM

i have one and i hope this doesn't happen to me because i have no idea how to take that thing out.

shdwsclan

Dec 19, 2005, 12:33 PM

Easy solution -> Get an MS Intellimouse Explorer

Megatron

Dec 19, 2005, 10:04 PM

Easy solution -> Get an MS Intellimouse Explorer

I second this idea. My MS optical mouse works flawlessly.

keyshawn

Dec 26, 2005, 09:02 AM

bah,

I have this same problem right now, I'll let you know how this goes, trying to fix it.

regards,
will.

DinoAdventure

Dec 26, 2005, 01:09 PM

I have had the same problem on and off for a few weeks. I couldn't get it to scroll down for about a week, and then one day it just decided to start working again. But yesterday it decided to stop. It kinda feels like it has some gunk in there, but i cant seem to get any of it out.

iMeowbot

Dec 26, 2005, 01:50 PM

For those with scroll-down problems, make sure that your mouse cursor doesn't happen to be sitting on top of a bit of Flash (an ad or whatever). Especially in Safari, scroll wheels under OS X tend to get stuck on those (you can go up but not down unless you move the cursor away from the ad). It's not specific to the Mighty Mouse.

JesterJJZ

Dec 27, 2005, 01:17 AM

I just starting having this problem a couple days ago. It's annoying. I wish you could take the ball out and clean it. :mad:

mcmillan

Dec 27, 2005, 12:29 PM

Same happened to me. A soft cloth with a bit of moisture solved the problem. Just clean the ball a few times and it should work. No need to open the mouse like some sites suggest.

JesterJJZ

Dec 28, 2005, 04:04 PM

Tried cleaning. Still doesnt scroll down. Only side to side and sometimes up. :(

CalGrunt

Dec 28, 2005, 04:09 PM

What has worked for me every time this has happened is just to jiggle the USB connector that the mouse is connected to.........For me, the problem is just intermittent contact with the connector....Jiggle it around a bit and all is good.....

drater

Jan 5, 2006, 11:33 PM

anyone know how i can exchange my mighty mouse for a new one since this one won't scroll anymore? i tried contacting apple via the support website but nothing got back to me...

snack

Jan 5, 2006, 11:40 PM

Cleaning method that worked for me:

Turn the mouse upside down and roll the ball around on a bit of white paper.

You'll see the crap rub off and it will scroll again.

2nyRiggz

Jan 5, 2006, 11:42 PM

how long did u have the mouse, it depends on how long you had the mouse. take it to the mac genius bar.

Bless

drater

Jan 6, 2006, 09:00 AM

how long did u have the mouse, it depends on how long you had the mouse. take it to the mac genius bar.

Bless
tried the cleaning methods here on macrumors.com and the ones on the apple website....and i've had the mouse for about 6 months. I'll just go to the genius bar...thanks guys.

mrfrosty

Jan 6, 2006, 09:29 AM

I held mine upside down and rolled it vigerously for a few minutes........perhaps I should try that with my mouse too :)

e²Studios

Jan 6, 2006, 09:40 AM

tried the cleaning methods here on macrumors.com and the ones on the apple website....and i've had the mouse for about 6 months. I'll just go to the genius bar...thanks guys.

Mighty mouse comes with a 1 year warranty from Apple, they will probably just replace it for you if it has been under a year :)

Ed

darkwing

Jan 6, 2006, 10:11 AM

I had this same problem with my slighty louse only yesterday. Pick the mouse up, and push the little wheel button in. Then, blow like crazy into it in the direction that scrolling doesn't work. Then, it should work again when you put the louse back down. The wheel is optical and dust got in the space where the light is supposed to shine through.

This worked for me.

ppnkg

Jan 7, 2006, 05:57 PM

I don't know if this has come up so far... I' m having some problems with my mighty mouse's scroll ball. Suddenly this afternoon I could scroll up (and hear the clicking sound) but I couldn;t scroll down (no clicking sound). I pressed and turned the ball, and it started working again, but the scroll was slower. Then I played with the position of my finger on the ball, which worked. Right now it's working normally.

Anybody had this problem?

This is annoying as I bought it in September. Ok I use the scroll ball quite a lot but it's supposed to be designed for heavy use isn't it?

The funny thing is, I quite like the feeling of the MM, so I wouldn;t like to go back to the standard white microsoft mouse (I used to have one)

kingcrowing

Jan 7, 2006, 08:46 PM

thats interesting, mines fine I hope its ok, will apple replace it if its messed up?

ITASOR

Jan 7, 2006, 10:49 PM

will apple replace it if its messed up?

yeah, they send you a new one if you ask for a replacement rather than a repair

Doctor Q

Jan 8, 2006, 12:14 AM

I just started having a scrolling problem with my Might Mouse. It will always scroll down, left, or right, but will sometimes refuse to scroll up.

I will try blowing air in from below, blowing next to the mouseball, shaking it, and turning it up-side down. Thank you to those who posted these suggestions.

hob

Jan 8, 2006, 08:34 AM

My first mighty mouse went badly wrong and they replaced it in 10 minutes at the genius bar.

My new one started showing problems, but all you have to do is run a damp cloth over the ball as soon as symptoms show! If you leave it, the problem will get worse and un-cleanable!

JesterJJZ

Jan 9, 2006, 04:30 PM

JOY!!! The upsidedown rolling on paper trick did it for me!!!! I CAN SCROLL AGAIN!!!! :D

2nyRiggz

Jan 9, 2006, 04:34 PM

damn my mighty mouse is starting to give me the same problems....im going to stop reading these types of threads.....last time i read a thread like this safari starting to freak out.

Bless

ezekielrage_99

Jan 9, 2006, 11:23 PM

geekboy2000

Jan 23, 2006, 06:50 PM

It looks to be a very common problem (no I'm not suggesting a class action lawsuit). I've had mine for about a month, and just noticed the same thing (scroll up, but not down). Interestingly, I did nothing to the ball, but instead, after trying another mouse to confirm it was the mouse) just un-plugged it and plugged it back in. The posts here all seem to suggest dust/gunk, but it seems odd that so many seem to be affected in only one direction.

Mark

motomullet

Jan 23, 2006, 09:25 PM

I took the long road and took it apart. its was tricky. the scroll wheel is not optical as someone had said. there are 4 tiny bars that it rolls against (one for each direction)

deffinately not a good idea for someone with no patience or big fingers.

fishingfox

Jan 26, 2006, 05:24 PM

Cleaning method that worked for me:

Turn the mouse upside down and roll the ball around on a bit of white paper.

You'll see the crap rub off and it will scroll again.

:eek: amazing! it really works! thank you so much.:)

freebooter

Jan 26, 2006, 06:04 PM

At the risk of sounding like a whiner, the (so-called) "Mighty" mouse is the only Apple product I've owned that sucked. The ball, which is too small, gums up all the time and is not easy clean. Rolling the ball on a damp cloth while the mouse is inverted generally works, but it seems to be getting harder to clean and I grow weary of the waste of time... Also, it does not track as well on my desktop as my $10 Logitech mouse. I have put aside the M.M. and gone back to the Logitech. Frankly, I'm suprised Apple hasn't improved the design.

JesterJJZ

Jan 30, 2006, 02:11 AM

Guys! Rolling Upside Down On Paper Works! Try It!!! :d

chpap

Feb 1, 2006, 06:30 PM

Cleaning the roller bal from the outside didn't work for me at all and cranking the mouse open was my last resort. So I preferred to completely immerse the mouse (of course while it is not connected) in distilled water and roll the ball a few times in the water. Then I left it in a warm place to dry completely for 2 days. It now works like a charm. If you are prepared to take the risk (this procedure may damage the mouse in very rare cases, distilled water does not conduct electricity and in theory it leaves no traces behind when it completely dries) this procedure is much easier than taking the mouse apart and may be much more safe. CAUTION: 1) the basin or bowl you use must be very clean, the water distilled AND you must allow for the mouse to dry COMPLETELY before plugging it in back.

quigleybc

Feb 1, 2006, 07:39 PM

There have been a ton of threads about how the Mighty mouse is bunk.

Including a thread I started a month or two ago called "the mighty mouse can kiss my as#" I was distraught...

At first it didn't scroll down...then it started working fine again....then it stopped scrolling up.....then it started working fine again...now it stopped scrolling down again...

I said I was going to toss the thing off my balcony in a similar thread a few weeks ago, but I'll try the trouble shooting techinques posted above,

stupid question...is distilled water just boiled water?...

either way, maybe drowning it will be a better alternative than tossing it off the balcony...

what a waste of money .......

chpap

Feb 2, 2006, 04:28 AM

No, you can't make distilled water by yourself, at least not easily. It is purified water without calcs and so on. It is used for electrical irons and car batteries and it is sold in supermarkets (It costs about $1 per gallon/1€ per 5 litres in my country)

quigleybc

Feb 2, 2006, 02:43 PM

So,

I tried the above ideas, with no luck.

But, I found that by turnin off the third button, so that i can press down hard on the scroll ball without opening the application switcher, I can get it to scroll down with some effort.

I really have to dig down into the ball to get it to go down, but at least it works now.

Amaj10

Feb 2, 2006, 05:12 PM

I had the same no down scroll issue, did the upside down, roll hard on paper, and all good now, thanks

elifad

Feb 20, 2006, 12:12 AM

I had the same scroll problem today. My MightyMouse stopped scrolling down. I've tried to clean the ball with a damp cloth but no luck. So I decided to clean it with alcohol (well substitute it with after-shave since I didn't have alcohol). It finally worked after spending some time. It smells good too!:)

BlueT

Feb 20, 2006, 12:27 AM

I'm not sure about the long term affects of using alcohol, but I just tried it out and it works as good as new now.

Antares

May 24, 2006, 03:02 PM

I'm not sure about the long term affects of using alcohol, but I just tried it out and it works as good as new now.

Well, alcohol would be a great option. If you drink enough, you would think that the scroll ball was working. :) The long term affects of using alcohol may include the loss of brain cells and potential alcoholism....

But seriously, alcohol is commonly used to clean metal surfaces and electrical connections. Rubbing alcohol should completely evaporate and leave no trace...but I'm also not too sure if repeated use could damage the rubber wheels and ball.

As a side note, I also sometimes have the issue of not being able to scroll down. I just bang the MM upside down on my desk. Afterward, it works fine.

iHateGates

May 24, 2006, 04:44 PM

I was just having the same problem and came here for the solution. I hit it with one of those aerosol cans for dusting your keyboard. (Well, I didn't hit it, I sprayed it.) Seems fine now, but I guess it's a common problem. I bet it's on the drawing board to be updated soon.

stephen jobs

May 27, 2006, 11:27 PM

me and my roommates have a total of 4 mighty mice
3 have had this problem, the other one is brand new so has yet to exhibit this problem
we took them all to the genius bar, the genius pulled out an alcohol wipe similar to one you would find in a first aid kit. gave it a very hard rubbing.
went back to working
now two of them are back at it again. i repeated the alcohol method and they work fine again
its just a pain in the butt

paulwthompson

Apr 27, 2008, 04:40 AM

:)
this worked for me - small amount of mr muscle glass cleaner on a clean tissue - then rubbed the rubber ball with damp tissue up and down side to side - now scrolls fine again:apple:

Kebabselector

Apr 27, 2008, 05:02 AM

I found this (http://www.linklink.co.uk/apple-computers/cleaning-inside-and-dismantling-the-apple-mighty-mouse/) method to be good. In fact if you don't put back the bottom skirt then you can easily take it apart in a few months time when it goes again.

ryetka

Feb 27, 2009, 12:08 AM

I know that a lot of people are getting results with the cleaning method (I also had this kind of trouble early on) but lately my mouse wasn't scrolling down no matter how hard I scrubbed.
Then, my macbook started giving me all kinds of other trouble with slowdowns, so I doctored it a bit. In addition to debugging the rest of my issues, the disk utilities ended up fixing my scroll with no additional cleaning, so if you're in a bind, give that a try.

TenFour

Feb 27, 2009, 12:17 PM

Apple really missed the boat on this one. Its a great concept, but it is very poorly executed. The wire makes all kinds of noise as it slides across my wooden desk, and it leaves a fine white powder everywhere. I had to deactivate the two side buttons because I kept clicking them inadvertently... and even now that they are deactivated, they constantly make little clicking noises when I work. The scroll wheel can be fixed the first few times it jams, but eventually it WILL jam for good. Mine has been sitting around (broken) for months while I use a 5 year old Microsoft mouse that I purchased for $12.00... it works just fine. Yesterday I tried to get the Mighty Mouse up and running again... its now in pieces and I'm pretty ticked off to say the least. It broke apart like a cheap kids toy, and now I have to go after Apple for some form of compensation. Apple owes their high-end professional users better than this. If you doubt how cheesy this mouse is, just look at the number of pages dedicated to complaining about this sub-par product on this website. No mouse I'm aware of has ever been the subject of so much global dissatisfaction and disdain.