Mighty Mouse Problems
As I said in my post from the NYC Soho Apple Store, I went off to buy an Apple Mighty Mouse, and I’ve been using it for the last week. When I tried it out in the store, I was demonstrating the features to my wife and used it very ‘deliberately’; on reflection, perhaps I should have tried it for longer.
The mouse is beautiful object, and aside from the rollerball in the middle, you would be hard pressed to idenfity this as anything other than a single button mouse in the style of all single button mice before it.
In use, however, I’ve found it less than perfect. I’ve discovered a number of problems, all comparatively minor, but no less annoying, that have made me put the mouse to one side and go back to the Logitech cordless that goes with my keyboard.
First up, it’s got a wire. After 3 years of using a wireless mouse, going back to a wired unit is a bit of shock. For those already using wired mouse, there isn’t going to be a huge amount of difference, but I did find it quite restrictive. Of course, it also means you get a wire trailing across the desk…
The bigger problem though is the ‘buttons’, or lack of them. Theoretically there are four buttons, one left, one right, the ‘application switcher’ (underneath the rolling ball) and the ’side’ buttons – I say buttons because there is one either side (which you can press individually), but really it’s only ‘button’ because you can only configure both buttons to do the same thing.
One of the bigger problems is the left and right buttons – it’s all too easy not to get a right-click (i.e. control-click), even when pressing on the right. Sometimes, even when you click on the left, you still get a right-click if the internal sensors pick up the pressure incorrectly. It doesn’t happen often, and I’m sure it’s more to do with my mouse movements than anything else, but for me it happens frequently enough to make it annoying when it doesn’t (or does) happen.
Even more annoying though is an feature that I can find no reference to and no way of controlling or disabling.
If you ‘click’ and move the rollerball up or down your browser (Firefox, Safari are the only ones I know it happens in) then the mouse takes you forward and back through your history.
This would be a great feature (and one I miss from a MS mouse with side buttons configured this way by default), if the effect wasn’t so damn sensitive that you can do it all to easily while simply scrolling in your browser. Press the ball just too much as you scroll, and suddenly you are flipping back. In most situations not an issue, but when, for example, doing a post in TAB or ComputerWorld, clicking ‘back’ can easily lose the post you were just composing. During a webstore visit it can lose settings or CC details.
That makes it a more major issue; but strangely I haven’t been able to find out any other examples of this happening on any of the boards (but please let me know if you’ve experienced so I can confirm my sanity).
Unfortunately, it’s annoying little things like this that make a product unusable. I love the side buttons, and I think the feel is superb. When it’s not affecting my browser experience, the 360 scrolling ball is superb, especially with photos (in Preview) or Photoshop.
Apple have, unfortunately, produced a product which looks great, but which fails to deliver. While heralded as the first multi-button Apple mouse, it isn’t, because it really doesn’t have multiple buttons. Instead, it’s a fudge, and one which could have so easily been solved if Apple had just swallowed years of tradition and procuded a proper multi-button mouse.
I’ve now gone back to my Logitech multi-button unit. It never gets the clicks wrong, and the scroll wheel, while not 360, doesn’t do anything funky with my browser while I’m using it.
Scott-O-Rama on September 9th, 2005 at 11:02 am
Wow! I was just wondering if anyone else was having the same problems I was having with the mouse. Now I know someone is.
I love the design, but I too find that often times I accidently left click too near the center of the mouse, and it registers as a right click. My right clicks often don’t click at all. I thought maybe the internal sensor had come loose or something.
I haven’t given up on it yet, but I’m looking around.
Vern Daniels on September 9th, 2005 at 12:42 pm
Get your big mitts off from all over the top of the mouse and use your fingertips to control it, like you’re supposed to.
TomS on August 26th, 2009 at 7:06 am
Thanks. That fixed my problem of unpredictable right-click behavior.
James Bailey on September 9th, 2005 at 8:38 pm
This doesn’t happen for me. How do you have the mouse configured? I have button 3 for the scroller button. When I click and scroll I get scrolling as expected. If I middle click on a link I get a new tab again as expected.
Ted on September 9th, 2005 at 10:25 pm
I’ve been using the Mighty Mouse for two week now. I can’t see what the problem is. It really isn’t fair to complain about the wire. Besides the wireless version will be hear soon. Just wait for it. I know I will replace mine with a wireless one when it’s available. But this mouse is just great other than the wire. I do have large hands so I can only speak from my own experience, but this mouse is the best wired mouse I have ever used. It has style and functionality. All the buttons work great for me and the scroll ball is perfect! I don’t use the side buttons much but I never have on any other mouse either.
Martin 'MC' Brown on September 9th, 2005 at 11:07 pm
Vern: It doesn’t make any difference how I hold the mouse, sometimes it simply doesn’t register a click properly.
James: I have the scroll-button configured for ‘Application Switcher’, which works fine if I deliberately click and scroll; it’s the accidental ‘half push’ and movement which causes the browser problem, which is of course all too-easy when all you want to do is scroll.
This happens whatever I configure the scroll-button to do. What really worries me is that this is an undocumented feature, and it’s not clear whether it’s the main Apple Mouse driver causing the problem, or the browsers doing something funky with the extra mouse buttons provided. I’ve only noticed it in Safari/Firefox, it could be it doesn’t happen in the others…
Ted: I didn’t ‘complain’ about the wire, I just mentioned that after 3 years of being wireless, going back to wires made me realize while wireless is so much nicer..
Martin 'MC' Brown on September 9th, 2005 at 11:07 pm
Vern: It doesn’t make any difference how I hold the mouse, sometimes it simply doesn’t register a click properly.
James: I have the scroll-button configured for ‘Application Switcher’, which works fine if I deliberately click and scroll; it’s the accidental ‘half push’ and movement which causes the browser problem, which is of course all too-easy when all you want to do is scroll.
This happens whatever I configure the scroll-button to do. What really worries me is that this is an undocumented feature, and it’s not clear whether it’s the main Apple Mouse driver causing the problem, or the browsers doing something funky with the extra mouse buttons provided. I’ve only noticed it in Safari/Firefox, it could be it doesn’t happen in the others…
Ted: I didn’t ‘complain’ about the wire, I just mentioned that after 3 years of being wireless, going back to wires made me realize while wireless is so much nicer..
Darkside on September 10th, 2005 at 12:30 am
I had the same Back/Forward problems when using SideTrack (horiz and vert scrolling for trackpads). The secret to fix it in Firefox is changing some unexposed preference options found in about:config.
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Firefox_:_FAQs_:_About:config_Entries#Mousewheel..2A
Zoxo on September 10th, 2005 at 12:35 am
Are you sure this happens on Safari? It doesn’t for me.
There is a bug in Firefox that cause exactly what you describe that can be fixed by changing two lines in the pref file.
As far as I know, it cannot happen in Safari because it simply doesn’t include this feature. It’s a Firefox bug, not a mouse driver bug.
I don’t have any problems with right-clicks on my Mighty Mouse. You have to lift your finger off the left part to do a right-click. My right finger usually rests on the scrollball so it’s already ready to do a right click, and when I want to left-click, I simply take my finger of the scrollball and do a left click (you don’t have to lift your right finger for a left click).
Anyway it all sounds complicated, but I find it very natural, it only took me a few minutes to get used to it.
You didn’t complain about the wire, but please explain how a wireless mouse is “so much nicer”. Aside from looking futuristic and cool, I really don’t see how a light mouse cable can affect your mouse movements. Seriously, I cannot feel any restriction on movement coming from the wire. So if you like to go through the pain of changing or charging mice batteries just so it looks cool, go for it, if that’s your thing…
The Mighty Mouse is not for everyone, but it’s far from useless for many people, including me. In 2006, expect to see tons of third-party mice with trackballs to fulfill the demand for a more standard mouse with a scrollball.
Martin 'MC' Brown on September 10th, 2005 at 12:57 am
Zoxo: Actually, I’ll admit, I can’t reproduce in Safari, although I’m sure I’ve experienced it because I first noticed it while away (I use Safari when mobile because I get better access to my webmail services than with Firefox due to another Firefox bug).
The Firefox settings have fixed the problem – yay! – thanks for the tip (and thanks to Darkside for the link).
As for your query: ‘explain how a wireless mouse is “so much nicer”. ‘, OK:
1) I don’t have to worry about the length of the wire; sometimes I’ll sit back in chair (which tilts back) and move an extra 1-2 feet from it’s usual position; with a wired mouse this is a pain.
2) I don’t have to worry about finding a conveniently close USB port or extension cable
3) I don’t have to worry about the cable dragging or catching on the other things on desk
I never, ever, said it affected my movements, but it does place some limits on where you can use it and how it interacts with the other things on your desk, that’s the very reason that wireless mice exist. With a wireless keyboard and mouse I have no wires for the first two feet of my desk space and that makes it much easier to deal with all other things on my desk.
And finally, I never said the Mighty Mouse was useless to everybody, I just said that these issues (the clicking and the odd back behaviour) make it unusable for me.
Now I’ve fixed that behaviour (thanks to you and Darkside) I’ll be trying the Mighty Mouse again (wire and all!).
Martin 'MC' Brown on September 10th, 2005 at 12:57 am
Zoxo: Actually, I’ll admit, I can’t reproduce in Safari, although I’m sure I’ve experienced it because I first noticed it while away (I use Safari when mobile because I get better access to my webmail services than with Firefox due to another Firefox bug).
The Firefox settings have fixed the problem – yay! – thanks for the tip (and thanks to Darkside for the link).
As for your query: ‘explain how a wireless mouse is “so much nicer”. ‘, OK:
1) I don’t have to worry about the length of the wire; sometimes I’ll sit back in chair (which tilts back) and move an extra 1-2 feet from it’s usual position; with a wired mouse this is a pain.
2) I don’t have to worry about finding a conveniently close USB port or extension cable
3) I don’t have to worry about the cable dragging or catching on the other things on desk
I never, ever, said it affected my movements, but it does place some limits on where you can use it and how it interacts with the other things on your desk, that’s the very reason that wireless mice exist. With a wireless keyboard and mouse I have no wires for the first two feet of my desk space and that makes it much easier to deal with all other things on my desk.
And finally, I never said the Mighty Mouse was useless to everybody, I just said that these issues (the clicking and the odd back behaviour) make it unusable for me.
Now I’ve fixed that behaviour (thanks to you and Darkside) I’ll be trying the Mighty Mouse again (wire and all!).
Zoxo on September 10th, 2005 at 12:47 pm
Ok, fair enough about the wirelessness, I was just curious about your reasons :)
I was under the impression that you were saying that the mouse was unusable for everyone… I was wrong I guess.
Anyway, just don’t stress about the right-click, you just have to do a simple association in your brain :) Think of it as a new futuristic mouse gesture. Also, you don’t have to keep your finger up in the air, just lift and click.
The way you have to envision the MM is that it’s like a magic Apple Pro mouse. Imagine that you were “stuck” with a one button Apple pro mouse, and that you discovered that you can magically generate right clicks by lifting your finger from the left part. Same thing for the side buttons, they are “magic”, bonus buttons. The trackball, by itself, can make just about any mouse magic :)
I love being able to do the main click with 2 or 3 fingers at the same time on the top shell, and I’m glad Apple designed the MM this way because nobody else would have done it. And this way, with a mouse that caters to a specific segment, they keep the third-party Mac mice market alive. Just like the original iMac lack of legacy ports gave a big boost to the third-party USB peripheral market, the Mighty Mouse will create demand for Mac compatible mice with like 4-6 “real” buttons and a scrollball.
Also, if you didn’t understand why Apple only had one button mice before, you might have a hard time understanding the Mighty Mouse, because the two concepts are linked.
Anyhow, I hope you get used to it quickly!
Jeff on September 10th, 2005 at 3:26 pm
Couldn’t agree more – beautiful aesthetics, but that’s about all. Sold mine on eBay last week for a net loss of $5 then went back to using my M$ cordless.
pollas on September 11th, 2005 at 5:04 am
I’ve experienced the back-button behaviour as well, which made me put the mighty mouse away too.
But maybe it’s true that it’s only in Firefox… Have to check. But: I’ve tried to simply disable the button which for some reason doesn’t seem to work. Or maybe I’ve misunderstood something – you should be able to jsut simply turn it off, right?
Lard on September 11th, 2005 at 2:58 pm
I have faced the accidental right-click, but on lloking when it happened it was when i was using my sausage like fingers to close to the middle as opposed to left or right, i have’nt had any issues with the scroll though
MazzaK on September 15th, 2005 at 12:21 pm
I have been using the MM for the last week and have had complete button failure happen on several occassions. It happens when I am moving quickly between windows and accidentally hit the scroll ball. I am left with a mouse which moves the cursor, but cannot open, close or select anything. I end up having to Force Quit all the running programs as it seems to affect the keyboard commands (Apple-Q) as well. This makes the MM, with all the other comments included, totally unuseable. I am taking it back to the dealer tomorrow!
binkibootstrap on September 30th, 2005 at 8:01 am
Exact same symptoms as MazzaK – does anyone have a cure for this?
elmoid on October 6th, 2005 at 8:51 am
It took a few days to get used to but now I love it EXCEPT that every so often I run into the same problem as MazzaK and binkibootstrap. I’ve been close to going back to my old mouse but I really love that scrollball too much………..
Because I have big hands I found disabling the click function on the scrollball made for less mistakes.
isabelle nicolas on October 10th, 2005 at 1:35 pm
same as mazzak & binkibootstrap. driving me nuts. Strange thing is that my wireless logitech mouse is behaving the same way now.
binkibootstrap on October 11th, 2005 at 12:54 am
Look – I don’t know if this is an answer but I reinstalled the MM and so far the total button failure symptom has not reoccurred (10 days now…)
binkibootstrap on October 11th, 2005 at 1:07 am
scrap the above – within 10 minutes of submitting what I thought would help, I got complete button failure again!
It seems to originate from either the side buttons use or the scroll button?
Help please!
seb on October 11th, 2005 at 6:25 am
I bought the mouse the first day that it was available in the gravis shop in germany Model Nr A1152
serial:ky5330kwsu3ma
and now the scroll ball only allows me to scroll up, not to the side and not down, since yesterday it only scrols up.
That is the first mouse that fucked up, i never bevor fucked up any mouse.
:/
tommy on October 19th, 2005 at 8:00 am
I completely agree with you: the mouse is amazing, in theory. However, using the scroll ball in any form forces you to go back and forth through your history. it is enough to make me consider losing the mouse all together – hopefully they create a fix soon
hei yu on October 25th, 2005 at 2:10 am
I have an intermittent problem with the scroll ball.
Most of the time it works OK however occassionly it wil scroll up but not down and at other times it doesn’t scroll at all. Has anybody else experienced this?
regards
Geffy on October 26th, 2005 at 11:06 am
My mighty mouse now doesnt seem to want to scroll down sometimes, however if I just unplug it and plug it back in it then seems fine.
hei yu on October 26th, 2005 at 5:33 pm
Thanks Geffy,
I’ll give it a try
bill on November 11th, 2005 at 1:56 am
ok had my mighty mouse for just shy of 30 days now. the last 6 times my scroll ball died the only solution was to press down hard on the ball and roll it in the direction it wasnt working in a few times, then it would come back to life. now down is just gone. doesnt matter if i unplug it or not. wow, thats great… because who would want to scroll down anyway… broken in less than 30 days…. thanks. you shouldve seen my girlfriends face when i told her that the gift she gave me a month ago no longer works. and i dont beat on it. (however with regards to the “right click” it took me 2 weeks to realize i must remove any contact except a finger tip for right click (STUPID) but since then i havent had any misclicks.)
Lex on November 12th, 2005 at 8:53 pm
I also have intermittent problems with the scroll ball, sometimes it doesn’t respond to scrolling down. Pushing slightly harder on the scroll ball helps mostly. Also, cleaning the ball with a soft cloth seems to help. I suspect there must be some build-up of dirt inside the mechanism for the scroll ball.
binkibootstrap on November 12th, 2005 at 11:37 pm
OK another attempt at fix… I reinstalled and then decided to disable the side buttons and have not had a failure for close on a month now… even the scroll ball is behaving! Mind you I am so conscious of a failure that I tend to be really gentle with the mouse now – great theory apple – though poor application :(
hei yu on November 13th, 2005 at 12:27 am
I think my problem is dirt buildup under the mouseball. It sometimes feels “gritty”. The question is..how do you get rid of the grit under the ball ?
Rgds/hy
Al McCarley on November 18th, 2005 at 5:14 am
This is my second Mighty Mouse. The first one arrive DOA. The scroll wheel doesn’t scroll down and I am accidentally clicking the right button when trying to click the left.
I use a mac every day as a graphic designer and this just isn’t on.
This should be a great mouse but I’m afraid it isn’t – Apple have really F**ked up here. Don’t buy one, there’s far too many peeps with bad experiences – just read the comments on this page.
People who are desperately trying to like it are either die-hard Apple fans, lucky or just don’t live in the real world I’m afraid to say.
Al McCarley on November 18th, 2005 at 5:20 am
Btw on a related issue – am I just very unlucky or has anyone else experienced problems with the most of the various mac products they’ve bought over the years? I have to use them for work and as much as love using Apple stuff – I also get loads of problems.
Is anyone brave enough to admit that although Apple appear to be ‘cool’, they consistantly get things wrong? I never hear of my colleages getting problems with their pc’s – they just work.
Al McCarley on November 18th, 2005 at 5:23 am
Can someone find me Steve Jobs email?!? Or shall I just ring up Apple HQ and ask for him!!??!!??
Al McCarley on November 18th, 2005 at 5:25 am
btw, I’ve sort of resolved the scrolling issue – I think it’s a build up of dirt – I firmly pushed the wheel in to the casing and rolled it around – I just hope I don’t have to do this too often!
Can someone find me Steve Jobs email?!? Or shall I just ring up Apple HQ and ask for him!!??!!??
Bill on November 18th, 2005 at 10:36 am
OK, i think i pretty much figured out the scroll ball problem…. when it fails (about every two weeks) i unplug it, take it to the bathroom, and break out the alcohol and cotton swaps.. soak a swap and keep rolling it around on the ball and rolling the ball until all the filth comes off (i usually end up going through a few swabs before all the crap comes off) it definetly is a mechanical problem of dirt/small hairs/fibers getting stuck under the ball and making it not work. After i use the alcohol, i hold the mouse up to my mouth and “kiss” it by the scroll ball and blow real hard a few times. wait for the alcohol to evaporate and hook it back up…. kind of a pain in the ass, but 5 minutes maintenance every 2 weeks isnt too too bad…
my 2 cents (and follow up)
shirster on November 26th, 2005 at 12:10 pm
For me, the left and right clickings were never a problem (maybe I got small fingers?), but the most annoying thing is the scroll ball getting stuck… I had to crack open the whole thing to clean it out.
See pix here -
http://shirster.multiply.com/journal/item/194
Weave on November 26th, 2005 at 5:25 pm
I have exactly the same problem with the left/right button issue. Doesn’t matter how deliberately I use them nor how careful I am about “fingertips” or where I push on the damned thing. And I am getting it in Safari as well. I’ll left-click on the Back button in Safari and get a popup to customize the toolbar, including “Remove Item” which, if I’m in a hurry, will get pressed.
I haven’t brought myself to dump it (it was $50 for f**k’s sake) but it’s WAY annoying and surprising coming from Apple.
rorshach on November 27th, 2005 at 6:57 am
Sorry Guys, mine’s been working perfectly since the day it was released. It’s a joy to use – every day – I miss it when I’m at work because that’s just an Apple Pro, it’s surprising how intuitive it has become – I couln’t use anything else!!!
Brian on November 28th, 2005 at 9:55 pm
I love my Mighty Mouse. I have found that if I put it on a multicolored mouse pad it tends to jump around a bit, but as long as I have it on a solid colored pad it works fine. I love it. The 4 buttons and the scroll ball is so handy. I highly recommend.
jason on December 4th, 2005 at 8:30 pm
fix the scroll and many other stuff….
jason on December 4th, 2005 at 8:31 pm
oops, forgot the link…you may have already found this solution.
http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20050821141856688
klava on December 27th, 2005 at 9:51 pm
hey guys, i’ve been reading all of your comments and i feel like i have a problem with the mighty mouse that nobody else has.
it seems like the sensors of the mouse are over-sensitive. meaning that if i program the middle buttons (squeeze) for example to do the expose, this is what happpens. after working with the mouse for a while, the slightest touch of the left side of the mouse with only one finger seems to trigger those buttons and it pretty much does the expose repeatedly and very fast. if i program the same buttons to be off, i can hear a clicking, really fast, repeatedly and very annoying.
does this make sense to anybody ?
i actually returned the mouse, got a new one, same problem.
i’d appreciate any info.
thanks, klava
robert on December 30th, 2005 at 3:19 pm
Thanks Bill and others. My scroll-down had suddenly stopped working — with my week old 20″ iMac — and now a combination of cleaning, pushing down hard and… blowing into the little scroll ball got it working again. I had been using a Logitech previously, but I am glad that Apple is accommodating those of us who like the two-button and scroll thing.
And Jason, great link to macosxhints re Firefox.
Robert
rorshach on December 30th, 2005 at 7:18 pm
omg what are u ppl doing with them to mess them up soo completeley, I haven’t had a single problem with mine since the day I’ve had it (first week of release). what in god’s name are you doing with them. they’re beautiful, functional and ituitive. what have u got fat fingers?
bill on December 30th, 2005 at 8:20 pm
robert, glad your mouse is working again. rorshach… no “fat fingers” nothing is wrong with me or the way i use a mouse…. in fact im one of the most obsessive people that i know in terms of gentle-ness in the use of my things… down to the point of keeping all plastic and twist ties and everything related to the packaging of my electronic products. Anyway, the problem is just that the mouse is pure suck and apple knows it. My status… about 2 and a half maybe 3 weeks ago, the middle button on the scroll ball just finally died… would not work at all. along with repeated failure of the scroll ball itself, now down would no longer function at all. being fed up with this very expensive mouse that my girlfriend gave me as a gift, i called apple to see about what they could do for me since it has a one year warranty, the paper was in my hand that said so. after getting transfereed around no less than twelve times no one at apple would help me. i spent 2 and a half hours on the phone. they offically offer no support for the mouse, when asking about it they demand the serial number of my computer… so, i humored them and gave them the serial number of my mac mini (which my GF put on her credit card and i paid her back for) the first thing that “AppleCare” did was call me a liar… in those exact words, and stated that the Mini was not my computer…. after explaining the situation to him (which is entirely un related to the fact that i am calling about a MOUSE NOT MY COMPUTER!!!) he then stated that my 90 day free phone support for my computer ended some 15 days ago, and that if we were to continue the call any longer so i could try to get help with my MOUSE that i didnt buy with a computer, that i would have to either pay $99.00 to extend the Applecare warranty on my Mac Mini for another 3 years or pay a $50.00 per incident phone support charge for my mouse… WHICH IS STILL WELL UNDER ITS ONE YEAR WARRANTY!!! [all i wanted was a damn RMA# and an address to send it to...] so this was a horrible experience… which ultimeatley ended with the apple “expert” on the phone telling me to bring my mouse (which was purchased online from the apple store) to a store in my town called “The computer Lab” The computer Lab is an independant apple reseller, no way connected with Apple corporate or the online apple store. they have been an independent apple retailer since the Apple II days… So, i did go to the store and explain my situation… the owner of the store (who obviously cant help me… it would be like buying something at walmart, it breaking, and walmart telling you to try to return it at target…) decided she would try to help me, so she called apple. Well, as i lsitened in, her call went the same way mine did the previous day, except that she stated over and over that there was no computer, only a mouse, so NO apple could not have a computer serial number, because we were calling only for a Mouse… she also threatened to stop selling apple computers (after spending the past 20+ years bringing apple to the point where they are today… abusing their own customers…) during all this she put the rest of her business on hold and focused soley on trying to resolve my problem, which she had no obligation to… she is my hero, but we got nowhere. Fast forward to this past tuesday, i finally decide to take the 2 and a half hour drive to my nearest Apple corporate store…. where i am told that if i dont make an appointment at the “genius bar” then no one can even talk to me, but they’ve stopped taking “Genius Bar” appointments for they day, but if i like i can book one now for sometime in the next two days… At this point i looked my “genius” in the eye and told him that if someone doesnt help me today, i will send at least two employees to the hospital. [this is a 50 dollar mouse that they cant even make work right... i know it doesnt cost that much to make it, just replace it for me!!!] so, i ended up going to another corner of the busy store, and i found a non genuis bar employee who was cornered by a customer asking technical questions about a video card, the employee was having a hard time explaining things to his customer, and his customer was a bit confused… i decided to but in to their conversation and i helped both the employee and customer understand what the other was talking about… at which point i explained my case to the grateful employee… who disappeared for a second and sent his manager over to me… she looked at the mouse, smiled, told me to hang on, and came back in like 2 minutes with a new mouse (and a new reciept, indicating tuesday as the purchase date, so i can get warranty coverage for another year from that date) I didnt catch her name, but i love her. Why couldnt this problem be resolved like this in the first place? And why does apple care so little aboutt its customers who spend so much for their products? /end rant.
robert on December 31st, 2005 at 7:34 am
Wow Bill, interesting story with a happy ending, showing that such experiences often come down to the good or bad whims of the individual employee, where it should be simply company policy.
Apple Germany is actually located in Ireland, and I have had nothing but delightful experiences talking (on the phone) to the German service people there, which is all ironic because normally German service is terrible, but I attribute the Apple service to the truly therapeutic effect of living among the Irish :)
sbaschn on December 31st, 2005 at 10:20 pm
Yep…..so thatnks everyone. I used rubbing alcohol and a q-tip and it cleaned out my track ball, now it scrolls down again. Thanks.
Terence on January 3rd, 2006 at 10:47 am
Well… i was reading this post because my mouse was not scrolling down! I tired blowing into it and when i reached the last post…Hozzah! It was working again! :) Yay now i can scroll down
Greg Block on January 5th, 2006 at 5:44 am
Boy, that sucked. I, too, couldn’t scroll down.
Fixed now – thanks a ton; it just never struck me that even though the ball didn’t *look* dirty, it would be dirt.
What’s really odd about it is how it seems to be, for all of us, the “down” scroll that breaks.
Chris on January 11th, 2006 at 10:13 pm
Well, i have had the mighty mouse for over a month now, and it has worked absolutely impecably without any problems with anything…UNTIL TODAY, when the laser failed completely, the left and right buttons work, as do the side and middle buttons for dashboard and expose, but the laser is completely dead, not even lighting up! I decided to find the contact number for apple support Australia, when i noticed the online ’support chat’ so i decided to use it, and waited patiently for 40 minutes for a representative, only to have them speak terrible english and have to repeat every second thing they typed and refer me to the american apple support phone team, great job!!! eventually i rang the australian number only to get yet another indian who does not speak english(as this is the new fad with every company in australia to have call centres based in india as it’s cheaper)correctly and refer me to the nearest apple ‘authorised’ repair center, which is one and a half hours drive away!, i then ring them and explain the situation, they place me on hold and 5 minutes later hang up, i ring again and they apologise as they have a bad phone line, and inform me tay’re busy and will ring me back in ten minutes or so, so here i am, 3 days later, still waiting for my call from the dealer, Thanks Apple :(
Loic on January 19th, 2006 at 11:09 pm
Well, the last few lines indicate a problem with down-scrolling. As of yesterday, my 3 month old mighty mouse also has one way scrolling (up). The speaker does not call out the clicks on down-scrolling and I have plugged it into another mac – same result. Blowing didn’t help, neither did cleaning. Apparently the mouse cannot be opened for maintenance, any ideas?
Lex on January 23rd, 2006 at 5:36 pm
Actually I expected these problems with the scroll ball from the first moment I saw the design of the Mighty Mouse. Yet I still bought it. because I assumed that there would be some way to clean it, even though the mouse is not designed to be opened.
I haven’t tried the alcohol method yet, as the ‘kiss&blow’ method + cleaning the ball does the trick, but I guess that the scroll problems will occur much less frequently if I’ll do a more thorough cleaning. By the way, keeping your hands clean helps a lot too ;)
I don’t have any of the other problems. Sometimes I do an unintended right click when I put my left finger too much to the middle of the mouse, but for the rest it works perfectly.
Lex on January 30th, 2006 at 6:35 pm
Update: I finally did some cleaning, with success. It now scrolls like new. I went as far as opening the mouse, but in hindsight this is unnecessary, unless there would really be a lot of gunk stored underneath the shell. Just rubbing the ball a few times with a cloth drenched in alcohol did the trick, and this can be done without opening the mouse.
Anyway, if you need to open it, I followed the instructions on http://shirster.multiply.com/journal/item/194 although my mouse seems to have a slightly different design which is even easier to open. I could pry off the outmost bottom ring with a thin screwdriver, it was attached with some glue. Then I could unhook some hooks at the scrollball-side of the mouse, and open it. To seal it again, I applied some contact glue at the original glue points.
I hope the next version of the MM will have some more dirt-proof mechanism, like a larger scroll ball with a purely optic sensor.
ArtByLisa on February 3rd, 2006 at 10:13 am
klava
I have had exactly the same problem with the squeeze buttons being too sensitive. I had to turn off their function because just simply touching the mouse causes erratic craziness-the expose feature goes on and off repeatedly and I am chasing windows around the screen. I spent some time on the phone with support. They had me go to an apple store and try it out there and it didn’t happen there. I brought it back home and it was happening. They had me do an archive and install and the problem had gone away briefly, probably a fluke, and it was back. Then I took it to the apple store and exchanged it. I have the same problem with the new mouse. I’m thinking that this problem is unfixable and I just have to live with the constant clicking or use a different kind of mouse.
James Wages on March 24th, 2006 at 2:50 am
I had a problem with the scroll ball not scrolling UP — just opposite of what most have reported here. Trying unplugging and re-plugging as one poster suggested, but that did not work. I then found that I had Dashboard assigned to appear when the scroll ball was clicked. I killed that (so nothing happens when scroll ball is clicked) and my problem vanished!
Matt on March 29th, 2006 at 6:26 pm
ArtByLisa and all
I’ve been having some reall crazy behaviour from my MM where the cursor would suddenly jump about or I would invoke expose or dashboard randomly by moving mouse around. The effect would be every now and then, several times an in say ten minutes. It was not caused by miss pressing of buttons and I even turned off features which would still activate. However I have just changed my work surface from a wood effect table to a geniune wood table and the problem at least so far has gone. Perhaps the high frequency gobbleydegook coming from the sensor as it traveled over the wood effects fine dot based pattern caused the mouse to make up or the computer to interpret eronious messages.
Other than this problem I think the MM is great, really comfy and easy to use, and any stickynesss on ball can be fixed by rolling it about a bit. Actualy side buttons are a bit ‘orrible cos ther is no give in them, a very weird effect.
Maybe this will help some of you.
Ciao
World of noise on April 8th, 2006 at 1:29 pm
Srcoll ball not working?Clean it with ALCOHOL(Preferably the 99% stuff, it evaporates faster.)
I have tried all the other methods; damp cloth, unplug/plug, kiss&blow… none work as good as the aforementioned alcohol. I thought I only had a problem with my mouse not scrolling down, when I cleaned it with 99% isopropyl alcohol, not only did the scoll down function get fixed, but all the other directions work better too! I was amazed at all the crap that come out of that little recess.
Thanks to Bill
Rayle on May 6th, 2006 at 5:02 am
Matt, I’ve experienced a very similar problem to yours where the pointer just up and slides rapidly to another spot on my screen (usually one of the corners). At first I suspected that someone was taking control of my Mac (using Remote Desktop – which I don’t have activated btw) but when a friend, who also has an iMac G5 told me he was experiencing the same problem, i started wondering what was up with the MM.
I use Mac’s at work and at home every day. All of the others (eMac, PowerPC, Powerbook, Mac Mini) use a standard one-button Apple mouse (except the Powerbook – I use a Logitech track ball) and in 4 years I’ve never experineced anything like this.
Is this happening to anyone else? Any ideas on how to get it under control? I have a solid slate desktop (no problem with optical mice b4) and I’ve tried various textures of mouse pads with this MM – makes no difference).
gianluca on May 13th, 2006 at 11:27 am
it’s surely the best mouse i’ve ever had…
but today it happened a big problem, the nipple is no more working for going down
help!!!
how can I open it without breaking it??????
help..
Jay Pineapples on May 20th, 2006 at 1:22 pm
I have had problems with the scroll button. First it stops scrolling up then sideways and finally down as well. I have sent one back to Apple and had a replacement which is now doing the same thing. As a recent convert to Macs I am concerned that this indicates sloppy build standards. I will now send this one back but when my guarantee runs out I imagine I will be stuffed.
Rorshach on May 20th, 2006 at 1:42 pm
Ok maybe I spoke to soon – mine stopped scrolling down – up and sideways was fine – but I took one cottonbud, a few drops of isopropyl and gave the scroll ball a wipe around – in all directions – a lot of gunk came out – the ball didn’t immediately work but as soon as it was “dry” and with a little coaxing it now works like a dream! It’s just a fact of life that things get dirty or stop working for some reason – but in essence it does what it’s designed to do very elegantly.
FreelanceWebDesigner.com on May 30th, 2006 at 10:18 am
After installing the Mighty Mouse I’ve notice it’s not behaving exactly as I would have expected. The biggest problem is that I have to click twice now in the Photoshop tools palette now. Single clicking (with left button set to primary button) on a tool spawns the fly-out menu as though I was option-clicking or right-clicking on the tool selection.
Is there a FAQ, extension update, Photoshop hack, incompatibility, or something else I should be looking for? When I do Software Update it says my Macs I’m up to date with OS X 10.4.4 and I’m also running latest CS2 Photoshop 9.0.1. This must have been covered somewhere online but Yahooing and Googling haven’t resulted in any answers.
Chris Barth on June 5th, 2006 at 8:57 pm
I’m generally a fan of Apple’s Mighty Mouse, but after having it since December 2005, I see where there’s probably room for improvement. The whole mouse seems way too sensitive. I was especially having problems with my MM scrollball until I cleaned it (as discussed above) using isopropyl alcohol (I used a 93% variety — and I’d be sure to stick to one above 90%) and now it’s working okay again. But I do wish they made it easier to take apart so I could clean it more thoroughly. That’s never been Apple’s strong suit though — they don’t like us to go poking around inside.
Calgary Photographer on June 7th, 2006 at 11:54 am
I have the same problem as FreelanceWebDesigner. My Photoshop CS2 has done this buggy tool bar thing a couple times. When you click the toolbar the menu flies out and you have to click twice to get to the next friggin tool! Reinstalling only works sometimes.
What gives!?
B. Fulks on July 20th, 2006 at 11:13 am
MM–I also have experienced, albeit only intermittently, random skittering of the cursor.
I’ve tried resetting the PRAM, using a different pad and even the blond wooden surface of my desk, yet nothing seems to resolve this issue.
Any suggestions?
Baf426
Been There, Done That on August 12th, 2006 at 11:21 pm
Here are some tips for cleaning that poorly designed rollerball on the miny mouse.
1) Don’t use alcohol. Do use glass cleaner. Alcohol does not cut grease; glass cleaner includes alcohol, plus ammonia and detergent, all of which together clean out the grease and dirt that come from your fingers. If you use an anti-static glass cleaner, so much the better.
2) Do use a lint free rag, like you would use to wax your car. Cotton swabs, tissues and Q-tips bleed lint, which just make the problem worse. Wash an old t-shirt and cut it up. Or use a product like PhotoWipes (only for the photographers who know about it,) not those wipe things they use on ‘Monk’.
3) Don’t suck on it, you sick little monkeys. And don’t blow it with canned air; the cold air from the CO2 can make the thin wires on the transistors brittle enough to break and ruin the thing.
4) Do: Unplug it. Soak a corner of the rag with glass cleaner, and rub it on the button, push hard, and rotate it in every direction and make sure that the button rotates all the way around in each direction. Take the dry part of the rag and wipe it off. Then go have lunch, or go home, let the thing dry out, but leave it upside-down so the liquid doesn’t seep into the electronics. Repeat often.
5) As a last resort (and I am not a beard for whoever makes this) use a Mr Clean Magic Eraser. I have used this to clean electrostatic dust off of phones and computers and tv’s, and I have no idea how it works, but it cleans off gunk that alcohol, glass cleaner and even Bon-Ami won’t budge. Use it on glass at your own risk, I haven’t tried it on that.
The Stig on August 18th, 2006 at 6:22 pm
Suggestion (4), above is brilliant. Thank you.
Been There, Done That on August 19th, 2006 at 12:40 am
Thanks for the compliment Stig, that does not happen very often in blogs, thumbs up to you.
Now if only someone could tell me how to clean the schmutz out of this transparent keyboard that came with the mouse…
Daniel on September 12th, 2006 at 12:30 am
Well I have been using the mighty mouse for a while and I think the scroll ball is crap, it gets dirty and does exactly zilch then, just like a conventional mouseball. This design feature was a waste of time, if the guys at Mac really wanted to do something revolutionary all they had to do was add a laser sensor at the top of the mouse, to read finger movements, or combine it with a fingerprint scanner! What am I supposed to do now, put the mouse in the dishwasher? How the fuck are you supposed to clean the ball?
World of Noise on September 12th, 2006 at 3:58 pm
Take it apart. Clean. Re-assemble.
baf426 on September 12th, 2006 at 4:40 pm
Not an altogether helpful reply.
For a practical and practicable suggestion, see “Been There, Done That’s” post of 8/12/06, esp. # 4.
Dez on September 19th, 2006 at 1:01 pm
I really regret buying both the mouse and the keyboard. The keyboard was expensive and nothing particularly special. The mouse is a joke. I keep pressing the side buttons by accident and the downscroll has completely packed in after less than one month’s use.
This is really poor design. I don’t even think it looks particularly good. In fact it is such a piece of junk that Apple should announce a recall.
alexandre on October 1st, 2006 at 4:51 pm
HI ALL I GOT AN IMAC AND ALONG CAME MIGHTY MOUSE I SAY THIS MOUSE HAS NO MIGHTY IN IT CAUSE IT IS JUST ANNOYING TO USE DOESNT FIT THE HAND PROPERLY THE BUTTONS FAILS BETWEEN LEFT AND RIGHT CAUSE U HAVE TO BE VERY VERY PRECISE ON THE CLICK AND I THINK IT IS CRAZY BECAUSE HE FROM SECONDS TO SECONDS RUNS FROM ONE END OF THE SCREEN TO ANOTHER.. NOW I ASK IS THIS A 50.00 DOLAR/EURO MOUSE WE ARE WILLING TO PAY ?? I GUESS NOT
Steve on October 2nd, 2006 at 5:05 pm
Hi.
I echo the problems of a few Mac users here who have this sporadic random moving of the mouse cursor. I just bought a new Mac Pro and the keyboard and mouse were packaged within one box. The mouse seems to be fine except the cursor will suddenly move from one end of the 23″ screen to the other. Sometimes it will move along the top of the screen, or the bottom. It can also be annoying when I am just about to click on something, and I discover I clicked on something accidently onthe other side of the screen.
What can be done about this?
I don’t know if this is a widescpread problem or not, but I’ve never had any problems with any past Apple mice I have used.
I’m about to call Apple and see what they have to say, and if they can replace my new mighty mouse. But now I’m wondering if I will have any more problems with another Apple mouse, after reading the other posts & concerns here.
Steve
matt on October 3rd, 2006 at 1:27 am
Thu skitering problem can be addressed by using u mouse matt. stuck balls can usualy be fixed be vigerously rolling ‘em about a bit. Do not pay any attention to munkybrunch, you cannot use scowering cream to clean the ball and bleach only works the first two times. Also dripping coconut oil on the ball only works if you’ve got warm hands and don’t let go.
baf426 on October 3rd, 2006 at 2:29 pm
My iteration of the infamous skittering mouse problem seems(pause to knock on wood) to have been resolved by the purchase (and use) of a solid black mouse pad from Radio Shack. People incomparably more knowledgeable than I have asserted that a multi-colored pad confuses the laser, hence my purchase of the monochromatic pad. A tech at the local Apple Store suggested I simply tape a white sheet of paper over my former mouse pad, which, in theory at least, should also work, but I opted to experiment with another part of the spectrum and have since had no problems. (iterate wood-knocking)
The scroll ball has been problem-free so far, but I have printed out “Been There, Done That’s” suggestions of 8/12/06 in anticipation of possible eventual scroll woes.
Shane Browne on November 1st, 2006 at 2:30 am
Yes indeed the same problems, fairly much but with the new bluetooth version. right click is a nightmare, as a convert from windows I tend to use it a lot particularly in PhotoShop. Generally I love the way that most stuff on the Mac works fairly well, but items like this bug me as there really isn’t any alternative within the Mac world, I fear that I will end up with a mutant half Mac. not sure if the design is flawed or the manufacturing, but it does seem that the mighty mouse is a mighty white elephant
Shorb on November 3rd, 2006 at 11:35 am
Wait about 7 months when the scroll only works horizontally. I finally had it and took the thing apart. There are 4 magnectic rollers for the scoll and all had dirt strung around them (kinda like when you turn the vaccum over) I cleaned all of them put the thing back together and a half hour later it works again. I’ll be damned if I do that every couple of months. Bottom line!!!!
Its a poor design and not worth the price.
Been There, Done That on November 5th, 2006 at 12:42 am
Regarding the ’skittering’ problem, I have seen that in the past, but solved it by using a piece of grey cardboard as a mouse pad. It seems that the optical mouse responds better to a neutral grey surface — not black or white, or with a pattern printed on it.
I use shirt cardboard, or the remains of a note pad. When dirt builds up on it, it skitters, and I replace it and the skittering stops. The dirt interferes with the optical reflection the mouse responds to; a wood grain surface or a textured surface would do the same; a white surface would reflect too much, and a black surface would reflect too little. A cut piece from a kraft paper grocery bag should work as well, since it has an even colored, neutral hue, and does not bleed dust.
A question for the group: Is the light in the Mighty Mouse truly a laser? or is it a fluorescent LED?
Robert Ference on November 10th, 2006 at 1:16 pm
Mighty mouse.
Just bought one, despite “warnings.”
My question: how do I set the “click on track ball” to be secondary (mouse) button with action of showing a menu in context?
Thanks for any help
C Legan on November 12th, 2006 at 6:12 pm
Love the mouse.
To clean the scroll wheel, squirt a little screen cleaner on it and roll it around!
-C
Bill N. on November 18th, 2006 at 9:01 am
The down-scroll on my mouse rollerball also quit suddenly. I tried the suggestion of putting some glass cleaner on a clean towel, and rubbing back and forth across the rollerball. It worked perfectly. Thanks.
CariDLC on November 28th, 2006 at 11:46 am
Just wanted to thank “Been There, Done That” for the great tips on cleaning an UN-Mouse. I haven’t tried it yet, but plan to, as soon as the stickiness becomes unbearable.
Regarding the gunk in your keyboard, I don’t really know how to get it out, but I sure know how to keep it from getting there in the first place! I purchased an iSkin keyboard cover (blue) for my first white keyboard (about 4 years ago) and, while the initial investment seemed steep (at around $35), it turned out to be money well spent. I have the cleanest keyboard in the office (no exaggeration), and have thrown my stupid keyboard q-tips, canned air and cleaning solvent away! To clean, I just wash the iSKin cover with soap and water, then dry completely.
It’s cheap insurance, and will protect your investment ;-) (No, I don’t work for them ;-)
http://www.iskin.com/protouch/xt_features.html
Good luck!
CariDLC on November 28th, 2006 at 11:53 am
P.S. — Regarding the iSkin, in retrospect, I’d definitely purchase the arctic white, instead of the blue, as it can be hard to see the keys beneath the colored skin — Yes, I type by touch, but every once in awhile, I get command-v (paste), command-b (bold) and command-n (new window) confused. Eeek. Thanks for listening.
Paul_B on February 3rd, 2007 at 6:54 am
I’m a graphic designer and I use the Mighty Mouse everyday at work day-in day-out and the only problem that i had was that the scroll button just stopped working one day. To solve this, I just licked my index finger and scraped the scroll ball around in everydirection with my finger nail. It soon got it working again.
I was so impressed with the Mighty Mouse that I bought one for home from ebay. For the first couple of hours it worked fine, but then all of a sudden it just stopped working, so i took it out of the USB port and then plugged it back and it started to work again. I now cuts out all that time and it’s so frustrating I’ve switched back to my old Apple Pro mouse.
Has anyone else had the same problem? if so how did they solve it?
Chas on February 11th, 2007 at 5:55 am
MM executes Back all by itself with any slight movement of the mouse (but especially when it is moved to the left). I have an Imac running XP and MacOS and the MM is doing this in both operating systems. I have read all your suggestions and tried them all, including having Apple replace the MM – and the new one does exactly the same thing. Very Frustrating and so far …. unfixable.
sue on March 6th, 2007 at 3:46 pm
I have been having problems with both my old (Logitech) mouse and the new one: many times day day when I try to left-click it goes into right-click mode and i can’t do anything for a minute or so, then it disappears. This is so frustrating while working. It is no different with either mouse. Thi sonly started when I go a new iMac, it never happende on my old Mac. I will try the cleanin g but anyone else had this issue? Thanks for any help.
melissa on March 20th, 2007 at 4:21 pm
i have had the mighty mouse since christmas and have had nothing but good things to say….until now. for some unknown reason, it is registering my left click as the side buttons uncontrollably. i had to switch to my old mouse just to change the settings. now i turned off the expose (which i LOVED by the way) and now i just here the crazy clicking sound. i really love the scroll, so for now, i’m just dealing with it.
sucks. i’m glad i’m not the only one though. makes me think i should not get a new one.
is the wireless version better?
Marlon on March 21st, 2007 at 9:23 am
I’m having the same problem as Klava and ArtBy Lisa with my wired mighty mouse. Called Apple and they agreed to replace it, and the new mouse behaves no differently–the side-buttons still go off uncontrollably if they’re not turned off in system preferences. The odd thing is that it’s only a problem in the area where I work most often and my laptop is plugged into the house power outlet, or connected to the ethernet cable at the same desk. When I use it in another room (even if it’s plugged into the wall) and airPort is connected instead of ethernet, the mouse works correctly.
The problem also seems to affect the right-click button, which gets blocked by the erratic side-button signals. I suspect this is an issue with electrical grounding, but I don’t know how to fix it at the desk I use most.
Sheryl on March 25th, 2007 at 11:33 pm
Try the alcohol hand gel to clean the ball. You have more control over it then liquid alcohol . less chance of damaging the mouse too1 all I wanted was the plain mouse that came with my emac but they said they no longer make it and sold me this piece of junk :( My original mouse lasted 4 years before the wire just started cracking from years of use. it still works, probably better than this one does! Great idea, big design flaw!
Crispin on April 3rd, 2007 at 12:32 pm
Apple allot of time and resources on ergonomics and studying the way in which humans interact with computers. The result of this research is the Mighty Mouse.
The way you hold and use the mouse IS important, and DOES make a difference to its operation. This mouse is designed to be held with your finger tips. Use the mouse properly, and it will function properly.
If you want to contextual click (right click), you must LIFT your index finger from one side of the mouse, and click down with your middle finger on the other, if you do not lift your index finger, the mouse will detect pressure on both sides of the mouse and register as an ordinary click. Try it.
Apple knows that both right and left handed people will use this mouse, which is why it is configured by default for single click and also why the 2 pressure sensitive buttons on the sides have identical operation.
The symmetrical shape of the mouse makes it very easy for right and left handed users alike to operate one of these buttons with their thumb, it is very difficult however, to use the other pressure sensitive side button with your little finger, rendering it useless, so its function as yet another button is not necessary.
If Apple made it easier to use the side button with you little finger, it would be more difficult to use the other side button on the mouse how it was intended – with your thumb.
If they made it easy to use both, you would end up with a mouse suited only to right or left handed people, and Apple does not discriminate.
It is hard to find fault with the 360 degree scroll ball/3rd button, just don’t be heavy handed. If the cord is a problem for you, purchase the wireless Mighty Mouse. This mouse is not perfect, but it’s one of the best I’ve used.
Mo on April 6th, 2007 at 12:30 pm
I have had two might mouse roller balls stop working on me so far. I was convinced by some website to try and disassemble it and clean, but THAT turned out to be a BIG mistake. The ring around the bottom of the mouse is not meant to be removed and broke apart in several pieces.
Then, upon putting the mouse back together nothing on it worked – except for – get this, the little roller ball. And even that would work only for the rolling function – it ceased to work as a button.
That mouse is now toast. Not mighty at all. :-|
Ramson on April 27th, 2007 at 4:31 am
I am not happy with this mighty mouse as well. Right click happens when I left click and sometimes nothing happens when I click.
Well, but just because of the scrolling I am sticking to it, else I would have switched back to normal apple mouse.
Adrian on May 5th, 2007 at 9:39 pm
I love my Mighty Mouse however at the moment, the scroll ball on the top is a little dirty and I’m dreading trying to fix it. funny, it only wants to go up. and when your at the top of a web page and want to go down it gets a little frustrating. I am hoping to find out more about cleaning the darn thing I don’t really want to pull it apart. I wish Apple worked out a way where this problem could be solved.
David C on May 8th, 2007 at 9:11 pm
I am also having the same problem with my MM as Marlon where I get an iratic clicking noise coming from the mouse itself and the dashboard being activated at the slightest touch. What is weirder is that if I take my iMac downstairs, the MM works fine. the room where my studio is located is the problem. In fact anywhere on the entire second floor results in this weird behavior. What type of signals would be strong enough to mess with the MM? I also believe this is a screw-up result of OS10.4.9 which has given me nothing but headaches….so now I’m using a cheap Altec USB mouse….grrr.
David C on May 8th, 2007 at 11:01 pm
I found out the problem- poor grounding. This explains why the MM works on my Macbook when it’s a/ not plugged in or b/when it’s not using the three pronge extension adapter. There are a couple ways to get past this.
1. Fix the outlet in question. In my case, my fiance’s home is older than mine and obviously the builder didn’t wire any of the 2nd floor outlets with a proper ground connection.
2. Get a cheap adapter that the three pronge plug fits into. this removes the ground and hence the eratic MM behavior.
3, Buy an anti-static mouse pad that discharges the static that you the user are conducting which is explains why the MM will launch expose even when you simply wave your hands above the MM.
MC on May 15th, 2007 at 7:28 pm
My Mighty Mouse does not scroll up in any application, including Apple’s own Safari. I will have to return the mouse and get a new one at the crazy Apple Store. I do love Apple and will never go back to any PC. I run a Mac Mini at home and a MacBook at work. Love Apple ditch the PC. I can’t wait to install Leopard.
kc on June 12th, 2007 at 2:53 am
Regarding the ’skittering’ problem:
Clean the mouse pad (with a normal cloth). It solved the issue for me. And I have a textured pad with lots of colors!
Otherwise, I love the mouse, have it for about a month now and I’m loving it. The right click problem can be solved by lifting the finger from the left button and clicking on the right. I have no problems with that.
The only thing that REALLY bothers me is dragging when you run out of mouse pad – you have to lift the mouse keeping the button pressed (you know the drill… That is difficult to do on the mighty mouse and my only gripe.
russell Jones on June 18th, 2007 at 6:53 pm
Like most of you, I’ve had trouble with the scroll ball too. I don’t have any alcohol so I squirted a tiny bit of silicone spray on it and gave it a work out. Well you should have seen how much gunk came out! It worked erratically for a few minutes until the silicone spray had dried properly but now it feels brand new. This problem was really giving me the s**ts but this has really solved it properly without doing any damage.
Matt on July 1st, 2007 at 6:11 am
Hi,
There are solutions to enable the back or forward button on the Mighty Mouse :
see
Cheers,
Rob on July 10th, 2007 at 10:10 am
I came cursing the no-scroll-down on my cordless MM – like many others it seems. Cursing twice as hard as most, though, because the nearest Mac dealer is several thousand miles from where I live in East Africa. Necessity being the mother of invention, however, I can tell you that rolling the track ball round and round with a finger wrapped in sticky tape seems to have cleaned it and solved the scrolling problem.
german@tahoe on October 13th, 2007 at 6:34 am
Scroll ball dirt?
check on shirster pictures were the dirt get stuck or stick, then… if you get a needle (in the tiny gap) between the rubber ball and the plastic cover, and using the sides of the needle( not the tip ), you should be able to unstick the dirt all around the hole.
So, insert GENTLY the needle in the gap ( like 1/8 deep in) diagonaly, never vertical , like stiring around the ball.
It’s faster and you don’t need to blow!!!
..or unplug the mouse neither,
…nor even open it!!!!
Ricster on November 15th, 2007 at 2:27 pm
I also experienced the dreaded scroll up and not down syndrome with my Apple Mighty Mouse. I first used the cleaning procedure from the Apple website with limited success. I then found another post somewhere that shows picture of a Mighty Mouse autopsy that requires super glue on reassembly. Not wanting to void my warranty, I finally took my Craftsman Heavy Duty, 300 MPH ShopVac/Blower and blasted the little critter. Much to my surprise it works like new now. I also keep a container of hand wipes next to my computer and use them prior to touching the keyboard or mouse. And I wash my hands a lot more now prior to using it. Now if I can convince my girlfriend to do the same.
Tom Harrer on April 28th, 2008 at 10:10 pm
To all that are having a problem with side buttons being activated accidentally… I solved this by cutting little little bits of thin foam with scissors. You can pry each side button slightly more open with your fingernail (but be careful not to pull too hard as it just plastic). This allows you to insert those little bits of foam into the mechanism (tweezers might help here). I managed to get the size exactly right the first time and now the pressure required to activate the side buttons is just right.
Jack Grimes on May 24th, 2008 at 5:01 pm
I have discovered that my mighty mouse needs routine maintenance…
Every several months, it stops scrolling UP. I think this is due to “fuzz” accumulating on the trackball sensors inside. My solution is to fire up my air compressor and blow air into the top where the trackball is while rolling the ball at the same time. This process takes less than a minute. I have done this twice now, and it seems to fix the problem for many months. Don’t know how many times this will work until I need to replace the mouse.
Marlous on August 17th, 2008 at 12:21 pm
Boys & Girls,
I’ve been using a wireless mighty mouse for quite a while now, never had problems until last night; all of a sudden it does not scroll up anymore, only down… It used to scroll 360 degrees.
Any ideas?
Thanks,
Marlous
ME on November 7th, 2008 at 10:29 am
Just blow into it! Works a treat and its free!
Terri on November 23rd, 2008 at 11:17 am
Just bought the Mighty Mouse. Absolutely HATE IT. I could probably put up with the fact that I am constantly triggering the wrong side with my finger touch, maybe. But, this endless annoying clicking, is driving me crazy. This mouse opens everything on its own. I don’t even have to be touching the mouse and just hover over the it with my hand and it clicks excessively. Apple needs to fix this mouse (seriously). I just bought a new mouse after only having this one for a couple of days.
Tim on November 26th, 2008 at 5:25 am
After a year’s use, I’ve finally smashed that damned wireless mighty mouse to the floor!
Although it seemed to work properly at first, pretty soon the non-responsive right click problem started to occur. The last few months had been absolutely horrific: having to click multiple times to get the right click right, just hoping the thing would respond. This is not something you want from a device that’s basically an extension of your body. Never had any problems with any mouse every before, but this just feels like you’re physically disabled. Somehow I never had the problem with the wired version. But both versions also suffer from a scrollbar problem: sometimes it only wants to scroll up.
Apple: it’s time for a nextgen mighty mouse NOW.
Cannabear on December 5th, 2008 at 6:42 am
This mouse is horrible. I bought my first Mac less than three months ago, and the included wired MM is thoroughly haunted. At first it had difficulty distinguishing between right clicks and left clicks. Then the scroll ball completely failed. Then it developed an intermittent problem where it wouldn’t register left clicks. I am now about to go buy a new pointing device because this latest issue is intolerable: for the past day the mouse now frequently thinks it is left clicked when it isn’t. I’ve been unintentionally dragging selection boxes all over the place, and in working with text I’ve been moving paragraphs all over the place. I like the mac, I hate the mouse.
Kit on April 13th, 2009 at 2:44 am
The laser has stopped working on my MM. I bought it at christmas 08′ and now i can’t move the pointer. Its only four months old. All the clicks are functional and are great to use when it’s working. Every piece of apple equipment that we have owned has failed at some point. First the ipod, then the macbook (4 times burnt hard drive my boyfriends 3 and mine once) and now the mouse. I love apple and i like the innovation. I try to not let it bother me but it does. How can you continue supporting a company that is in many ways unreliable???
Kit on April 13th, 2009 at 2:48 am
If anyone knows how to repair the laser or give some suggestions to help get it functioning without dealing with apple that would great.
johnny on November 9th, 2009 at 11:04 pm
where to get anti static mouse pads????? i found one but it has tricloban which is hazardous to health and environment.