Jo-Anne wrote:
"VanguardLH" wrote in message
...
Jo-Anne wrote:

Using WinXP and Contour USB optical mouse. Today, several times the
cursor
didn't move when I moved the mouse; then it would start up again.
Finally,
Windows informed me that a USB device was malfunctioning and I should try
another port or another device. I plugged in another mouse, and it's
working
fine. The Contour mouse is expensive to replace (around $110), so it's a
good thing I had an extra one in my office. My question: Are optical mice
fixable, or should I just toss it?
Did you use a penlight and tweezers to clean out the hair, dust, lint,
and other crap that has gotten in front of the LED/laser?

I've had a single hair (so thin I couldn't see it with my naked eye
until I hit it with a light to change the angle of reflection of the
light off the hair) that cause erratic movement of the mouse. The hair
would jitter about, the sensor saw that movement and thought it was the
pad moving, and the mouse cursor would lag, jitter, or suddenly bounce
to somewhere quite a ways from the current position. If enough crap
gets in front of the sensor, it's not going to see that the mouse is
moving (the crap is moving with the mouse).

Thank you, Vanguard! My husband just tried that at your suggestion--but no
luck. Windows won't even recognize the mouse any more. Good thing to check
in the future, though, if I observe any erratic mouse behavior. In the
meantime, my husband is going to try to take the mouse apart (tricky, since
there are no obvious screws).

Jo-Anne

The screw or screws can be cleverly hidden.

My newer mice, tend to be "one screw" designs, where the screw
is underneath a sticker. On some mice, the sticker must be defaced,
to get in. On other mice, the sticker has an "X" shaped cut, so as
soon as you push a Philips head screwdriver in there, the sticker parts
and lets the screwdriver pass. The purpose of the sticker is for
"warranty is void" detection.

You can try sweeping the base of the mouse with a powerful magnet,
but in addition to detecting the screw, you'll also get false
positives from other metal inside. That might give a hint as
to where it's hiding.

There are always electronics out there, completely sealed and
meant to be annoying. When my favorite computer speaker
needed to be repaired, it was glued plastic. I took a hacksaw,
and cut a slot in the top of the speaker. And that gave enough
room, to insert a tool and "pry" the rest of the speaker halves
apart. Speaker amp had a dry solder joint, which was easily
repaired. Speaker looks like hell, but it still works!

Paul