Mighty Mouse’s scroll ball
July 28, 2009
Mighty Mouses have a single debilitating flaw. Over time, that little tiny scroll ball, (reminicent of the ball that used to be underneath the mouse) stops working. I don’t know about you, but I might as well pack it up when this happens, because I am not effective without my scroll ball!
It turns out that there’s an easy fix for this, which I just sought out after being crippled with a mouse that wouldn’t scroll down. Here’s what you do:
- Lay a piece of paper on a desk
- Flip your Mighty Mouse upside down
- Press the little ball down firmly on the piece of paper and roll the ball around
- Do this a couple of times, flipping rightside up every so often to blow of the gunk that comes out
It’s that easy!
July 29, 2009 at 1:01 am
Ken you are my hero. Thank you.
July 29, 2009 at 9:45 am
I have same problem with my mighty mouse, it seems mighty mouse is not that mighty for heavy work such as gaming…
I clean it using high pressure blower and spray it with some cleansing agent, then let it dried, seems to be working for me…
July 30, 2009 at 12:22 pm
If I only had this tip one month ago. I followed a youtube video on how to open it to clean it. The result was a broken mighty mouse…
July 31, 2009 at 10:28 pm
Yes, I saw this fix a couple months ago and it worked great for my mighty mouse for a while. Unfortunately, after doing it for several months (maybe I push down on the paper too hard), the mouse actually broke and only recognized secondary clicks. So do this at your own risk, its only a temporary fix for a flawed product.
July 31, 2009 at 11:52 pm
Good to know… thanks Kevin.
August 2, 2009 at 8:43 pm
Ken – you’re the man !
It work flawlessly :)
Thanks
August 4, 2009 at 3:16 pm
Yes, it would be that easy if you only had to do it once every six months or so.
However, it will also stop working if someone has a slight amount of grease on their finger.
It got to the point where I was cleaning it at least once a week (also tried rubbing alcohol which works up to a point) and after a while, even more frequently. It got to a point where it still didn’t work right even after a thorough clean (and at that point the optics were also acting wonky).
So, I went and got myself a Logitech laser mouse. Doesn’t have a neat ball at the top but at least it works without all the frustration.
Apple’s Mighty Mouse is a great example of a good idea in concept but lousy in execution.
August 25, 2009 at 12:35 pm
Here’s another solution:
Lick your finger. Problem solved.
August 30, 2009 at 4:07 am
I think it`s the best mouse in terms of scrolling. But, to bad the same happened to me. Last time, I ended up rubbing it to firmly against the paper and it works really bad as one internal tiny little piece that composes the scrolling wheel broke. The mouse itselft is fine, but it scrolls really bad.