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#1
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optical mouse malfunction
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? Thank you! Jo-Anne |
#2
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optical mouse malfunction
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? Thank you! Jo-Anne As a "broken wire specialist" :-) I would remove the screws from the mouse, and examine the condition of the wires where they connect to the mouse PCB. Sometimes the broken wire, is in an insulated section of the wire (like where the wire passes through the mouse casing). To repair broken wires, you undo the "knot" in the wire, which functions as strain relief, cut about three inches of wire off the end, strip and prep the wire ends and connect them to the mouse PCB. This procedure can be repeated until the wire is quite short. Replace the knot as well, so the mouse continues to have strain relief. Some mice have plastic posts, and a torturous path the wire feeds through, which performs the same function as a knot in the wire. The strain relief, prevents exterior stress, from getting to pull the wires away from the PCB. (This is almost as much fun, as fixing the wiring in a Weed Wacker. Which I have also done.) Take note of the wire colors, and make a diagram of wire color versus which hole in the PCB they go into. Occasionally, an optical mouse has a failure in the optical sensor. I have no idea how you diagnose things at that level of detail. As I'm a "broken wire specialist". The sensor is actually more complicated than you'd think. I think it has a matrix of detection elements. And the sensor chip may do some kind of analysis to determine movement. It's more than a simple photodetector. When you look inside, you'll see a plastic lens assembly, over top of the sensor chip. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_mouse "Optical mice capture one thousand successive images or more per second. Depending on how fast the mouse is moving, each image will be offset from the previous one by a fraction of a pixel or as many as several pixels. Optical mice mathematically process these images using cross correlation to calculate how much each successive image is offset from the previous one. An optical mouse might use an image sensor having an 18 × 18 pixel array of monochromatic pixels. Its sensor would normally share the same ASIC as that used for storing and processing the images. One refinement would be accelerating the correlation process by using information from previous motions, and another refinement would be preventing deadbands when moving slowly by adding interpolation or frame-skipping." It can probably still function, with dirt on the lens. But a completely dead sensor, is a completely dead sensor. Check your wires first. Using an ohmmeter, you can buzz from USB connector to the pad on the PCB, and prove each wire on the mouse is intact. It can be difficult to detect a wire which is intermittent, and get it to open circuit at the same time as you're measuring it. The idea is, if you're lucky, removing the screws and doing a visual inspection, tells you all you need to know. If you're really lucky, the wire will visually tell you, the break is inside a certain section. But sometimes, you just have to "give it a trim" and snip off the three inches of wire and re-terminate. And it's pretty hard to repair something like this, without tools such as your "trusty" soldering iron. The burn mark on my finger is just about healed now. I only lost a little bit of nerve sensitivity. HTH, Paul |
#3
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optical mouse malfunction
"Paul" 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? Thank you! Jo-Anne As a "broken wire specialist" :-) I would remove the screws from the mouse, and examine the condition of the wires where they connect to the mouse PCB. Sometimes the broken wire, is in an insulated section of the wire (like where the wire passes through the mouse casing). To repair broken wires, you undo the "knot" in the wire, which functions as strain relief, cut about three inches of wire off the end, strip and prep the wire ends and connect them to the mouse PCB. This procedure can be repeated until the wire is quite short. Replace the knot as well, so the mouse continues to have strain relief. Some mice have plastic posts, and a torturous path the wire feeds through, which performs the same function as a knot in the wire. The strain relief, prevents exterior stress, from getting to pull the wires away from the PCB. (This is almost as much fun, as fixing the wiring in a Weed Wacker. Which I have also done.) Take note of the wire colors, and make a diagram of wire color versus which hole in the PCB they go into. Occasionally, an optical mouse has a failure in the optical sensor. I have no idea how you diagnose things at that level of detail. As I'm a "broken wire specialist". The sensor is actually more complicated than you'd think. I think it has a matrix of detection elements. And the sensor chip may do some kind of analysis to determine movement. It's more than a simple photodetector. When you look inside, you'll see a plastic lens assembly, over top of the sensor chip. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_mouse "Optical mice capture one thousand successive images or more per second. Depending on how fast the mouse is moving, each image will be offset from the previous one by a fraction of a pixel or as many as several pixels. Optical mice mathematically process these images using cross correlation to calculate how much each successive image is offset from the previous one. An optical mouse might use an image sensor having an 18 × 18 pixel array of monochromatic pixels. Its sensor would normally share the same ASIC as that used for storing and processing the images. One refinement would be accelerating the correlation process by using information from previous motions, and another refinement would be preventing deadbands when moving slowly by adding interpolation or frame-skipping." It can probably still function, with dirt on the lens. But a completely dead sensor, is a completely dead sensor. Check your wires first. Using an ohmmeter, you can buzz from USB connector to the pad on the PCB, and prove each wire on the mouse is intact. It can be difficult to detect a wire which is intermittent, and get it to open circuit at the same time as you're measuring it. The idea is, if you're lucky, removing the screws and doing a visual inspection, tells you all you need to know. If you're really lucky, the wire will visually tell you, the break is inside a certain section. But sometimes, you just have to "give it a trim" and snip off the three inches of wire and re-terminate. And it's pretty hard to repair something like this, without tools such as your "trusty" soldering iron. The burn mark on my finger is just about healed now. I only lost a little bit of nerve sensitivity. HTH, Paul Thank you, Paul! My husband is the wire repairperson in our household. He managed to fix our old hair dryer when one wire broke, and now he's about to fix the other wire. So I'll definitely give him this post. Jo-Anne |
#4
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optical mouse malfunction
"Paul" 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? Thank you! Jo-Anne As a "broken wire specialist" :-) I would remove the screws from the mouse, and examine the condition of the wires where they connect to the mouse PCB. Sometimes the broken wire, is in an insulated section of the wire (like where the wire passes through the mouse casing). To repair broken wires, you undo the "knot" in the wire, which functions as strain relief, cut about three inches of wire off the end, strip and prep the wire ends and connect them to the mouse PCB. This procedure can be repeated until the wire is quite short. Replace the knot as well, so the mouse continues to have strain relief. Some mice have plastic posts, and a torturous path the wire feeds through, which performs the same function as a knot in the wire. The strain relief, prevents exterior stress, from getting to pull the wires away from the PCB. (This is almost as much fun, as fixing the wiring in a Weed Wacker. Which I have also done.) Take note of the wire colors, and make a diagram of wire color versus which hole in the PCB they go into. Occasionally, an optical mouse has a failure in the optical sensor. I have no idea how you diagnose things at that level of detail. As I'm a "broken wire specialist". The sensor is actually more complicated than you'd think. I think it has a matrix of detection elements. And the sensor chip may do some kind of analysis to determine movement. It's more than a simple photodetector. When you look inside, you'll see a plastic lens assembly, over top of the sensor chip. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_mouse "Optical mice capture one thousand successive images or more per second. Depending on how fast the mouse is moving, each image will be offset from the previous one by a fraction of a pixel or as many as several pixels. Optical mice mathematically process these images using cross correlation to calculate how much each successive image is offset from the previous one. An optical mouse might use an image sensor having an 18 × 18 pixel array of monochromatic pixels. Its sensor would normally share the same ASIC as that used for storing and processing the images. One refinement would be accelerating the correlation process by using information from previous motions, and another refinement would be preventing deadbands when moving slowly by adding interpolation or frame-skipping." It can probably still function, with dirt on the lens. But a completely dead sensor, is a completely dead sensor. Check your wires first. Using an ohmmeter, you can buzz from USB connector to the pad on the PCB, and prove each wire on the mouse is intact. It can be difficult to detect a wire which is intermittent, and get it to open circuit at the same time as you're measuring it. The idea is, if you're lucky, removing the screws and doing a visual inspection, tells you all you need to know. If you're really lucky, the wire will visually tell you, the break is inside a certain section. But sometimes, you just have to "give it a trim" and snip off the three inches of wire and re-terminate. And it's pretty hard to repair something like this, without tools such as your "trusty" soldering iron. The burn mark on my finger is just about healed now. I only lost a little bit of nerve sensitivity. HTH, Paul You were right, Paul--it's a broken wire. Unfortunately, the mouse may be TOO well made. There are five wires in a cord or sleeve (not sure what to call it); and at the mouse end, besides their being taped together and to the sleeve, each wire is crimped into a separate hole in a plastic piece. I suspect they'd all have to be carefully taken out of that piece, cut far enough back to get past the break in the one wire, wherever it is, and then recrimped (assuming the plastic piece survives). Moreover, there's a plastic "buffering" piece on the outside of the sleeve at the entryway to the mouse, and it doesn't come off. I'm very tempted to write to the company to ask if it can sell me another cord... Jo-Anne |
#5
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optical mouse malfunction
Jo-Anne wrote:
"Paul" 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? Thank you! Jo-Anne As a "broken wire specialist" :-) I would remove the screws from the mouse, and examine the condition of the wires where they connect to the mouse PCB. Sometimes the broken wire, is in an insulated section of the wire (like where the wire passes through the mouse casing). To repair broken wires, you undo the "knot" in the wire, which functions as strain relief, cut about three inches of wire off the end, strip and prep the wire ends and connect them to the mouse PCB. This procedure can be repeated until the wire is quite short. Replace the knot as well, so the mouse continues to have strain relief. Some mice have plastic posts, and a torturous path the wire feeds through, which performs the same function as a knot in the wire. The strain relief, prevents exterior stress, from getting to pull the wires away from the PCB. (This is almost as much fun, as fixing the wiring in a Weed Wacker. Which I have also done.) Take note of the wire colors, and make a diagram of wire color versus which hole in the PCB they go into. Occasionally, an optical mouse has a failure in the optical sensor. I have no idea how you diagnose things at that level of detail. As I'm a "broken wire specialist". The sensor is actually more complicated than you'd think. I think it has a matrix of detection elements. And the sensor chip may do some kind of analysis to determine movement. It's more than a simple photodetector. When you look inside, you'll see a plastic lens assembly, over top of the sensor chip. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_mouse "Optical mice capture one thousand successive images or more per second. Depending on how fast the mouse is moving, each image will be offset from the previous one by a fraction of a pixel or as many as several pixels. Optical mice mathematically process these images using cross correlation to calculate how much each successive image is offset from the previous one. An optical mouse might use an image sensor having an 18 × 18 pixel array of monochromatic pixels. Its sensor would normally share the same ASIC as that used for storing and processing the images. One refinement would be accelerating the correlation process by using information from previous motions, and another refinement would be preventing deadbands when moving slowly by adding interpolation or frame-skipping." It can probably still function, with dirt on the lens. But a completely dead sensor, is a completely dead sensor. Check your wires first. Using an ohmmeter, you can buzz from USB connector to the pad on the PCB, and prove each wire on the mouse is intact. It can be difficult to detect a wire which is intermittent, and get it to open circuit at the same time as you're measuring it. The idea is, if you're lucky, removing the screws and doing a visual inspection, tells you all you need to know. If you're really lucky, the wire will visually tell you, the break is inside a certain section. But sometimes, you just have to "give it a trim" and snip off the three inches of wire and re-terminate. And it's pretty hard to repair something like this, without tools such as your "trusty" soldering iron. The burn mark on my finger is just about healed now. I only lost a little bit of nerve sensitivity. HTH, Paul You were right, Paul--it's a broken wire. Unfortunately, the mouse may be TOO well made. There are five wires in a cord or sleeve (not sure what to call it); and at the mouse end, besides their being taped together and to the sleeve, each wire is crimped into a separate hole in a plastic piece. I suspect they'd all have to be carefully taken out of that piece, cut far enough back to get past the break in the one wire, wherever it is, and then recrimped (assuming the plastic piece survives). Moreover, there's a plastic "buffering" piece on the outside of the sleeve at the entryway to the mouse, and it doesn't come off. I'm very tempted to write to the company to ask if it can sell me another cord... Jo-Anne A picture posted online somewhere and given a link here would better help for others to know what you're trying to describe. |
#6
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optical mouse malfunction
"VanguardLH" wrote in message ... snip You were right, Paul--it's a broken wire. Unfortunately, the mouse may be TOO well made. There are five wires in a cord or sleeve (not sure what to call it); and at the mouse end, besides their being taped together and to the sleeve, each wire is crimped into a separate hole in a plastic piece. I suspect they'd all have to be carefully taken out of that piece, cut far enough back to get past the break in the one wire, wherever it is, and then recrimped (assuming the plastic piece survives). Moreover, there's a plastic "buffering" piece on the outside of the sleeve at the entryway to the mouse, and it doesn't come off. I'm very tempted to write to the company to ask if it can sell me another cord... Jo-Anne A picture posted online somewhere and given a link here would better help for others to know what you're trying to describe. I had a hard time getting close enough with my camera to do a clear shot, but I tried. The result is he http://tinypic.com/r/v418ph/6 Jo-Anne |
#7
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optical mouse malfunction
Jo-Anne wrote:
"VanguardLH" wrote in message ... snip You were right, Paul--it's a broken wire. Unfortunately, the mouse may be TOO well made. There are five wires in a cord or sleeve (not sure what to call it); and at the mouse end, besides their being taped together and to the sleeve, each wire is crimped into a separate hole in a plastic piece. I suspect they'd all have to be carefully taken out of that piece, cut far enough back to get past the break in the one wire, wherever it is, and then recrimped (assuming the plastic piece survives). Moreover, there's a plastic "buffering" piece on the outside of the sleeve at the entryway to the mouse, and it doesn't come off. I'm very tempted to write to the company to ask if it can sell me another cord... Jo-Anne A picture posted online somewhere and given a link here would better help for others to know what you're trying to describe. I had a hard time getting close enough with my camera to do a clear shot, but I tried. The result is he http://tinypic.com/r/v418ph/6 Jo-Anne http://oi45.tinypic.com/v418ph.jpg Does the plastic grommet on the left, split into two pieces ? Sometimes, items like that consist of two parts. They squash the wire to prevent it from moving through the grommet. As for the thing on the right, that's not going to be a lot of fun. Four of the connections would be ordinary wires. The fifth is "shield", and could be made from twisted braid off the shield. I can't really tell what kind of connector that is on the end. If the pins could be backed out of the shell, that would solve one part of the puzzle. Some shells have a "tab per pin", and releasing the tab with a hobby knife, allows the wire and pin to be extracted. The pin will have a "spike" on the side of it, which catches in the tab, to hold it secure. Things like that are intended to be "one way" insert. If the thing the pin lodges in, can be released, then the pin can be backed out. Once the pin is out, the pin itself probably can't be recycled. As you say, a "crimp" of the pin onto the wire, tends to bend the crimp hooks all to bits. Opening the hooks and closing them again, just isn't practical (they snap off). And then, finding replacement crimp pins, is the challenge. There are a ton of different crimp pins out there, so matching what you've got, would not be trivial. You can unsolder the mating connector from the Contour PCB. Then solder the wire, right to the PCB. That may be the most practical solution. It really depends, on what you envisage as the assembly order, and whether the cable arrangement can be set up, before the soldering begins. But the first step remains, whether that grommet splits in two or not. If it does, you pry it apart, move it up the wire several inches, and it will "reclamp" itself when it's forced through the hole in the casing. I think my electric kettle may use something like that, to clamp the wire. This picture is not the same as yours. It's intended to show what a two part strain relief looks like. The two halves close around the wire. The device "clamps" as it is forced through a too-small hole in a chassis. The wire is forced to go through a path which isn't straight, which prevents it from moving. It applies enough force, that the wire underneath probably cannot be "clamped" a second time, and fresh wire should be pulled into position where it will "clamp". http://www.atmgurus.com/estore/image...2617-00031.jpg All in all, a challenging project. Working with strain reliefs, does involve a bit of cursing and swearing. Tools tend to slide off them. You also have the option, of starting with a USB cable, chopping an end off it, then solder the wires to the mouse PCB. And then doing your best, to make your own strain relief solution. I've never been 100% successful at making home strain reliefs. They've all resulted in wire breakage later. ******* A cheesy kind of repair, is to move the grommet/strain relief up the cable a bit, and bring the broken wire *inside* the mouse casing. Then, fiddle with the wire, such that the broken parts touch, when the mouse is reassembled. As long as the strain relief is *really good* at preventing tugging, the broken wire bits may stay in close proximity to one another. Obviously, this isn't a proper repair, but it's an intermediate solution to dealing with the connector and wire dress problem. This would be the kind of solution, someone adverse to soldering might try. (Someone whose burnt finger is just about healed.) Paul |
#8
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optical mouse malfunction
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). |
#9
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optical mouse malfunction
"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 |
#10
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optical mouse malfunction
Jo-Anne wrote:
my husband is going to try to take the mouse apart (tricky, since there are no obvious screws). They're under the slider feet. Once you peel them off, you'll need something to glue them back on. I have seen the teflon mouse feet for sale but you'll probably have to trim them to fit the recess in the mouse base. Some mouse shells snap together - and aren't designed to snap apart. that is, when you flex the upper shell trying to dislodge it from the fingers in the lower shell, you could break the fingers so the shell halves won't snap together again. That's when hot-melt glue or epoxy comes in. Many times you can't figure out how the shell halves snap together until you break it apart and then it's too late. If it's a wireless mouse, sometimes the retaining screw is in the battery compartment. Remove the batteries and check. If it's there, after removing the screw, the shell halves should slide together at a slight angle out of the retaining grooves. Although you said it is a USB mouse, that doesn't say if it is wired or wireless. You have already tried putting fresh batteries in to the mouse case, right? So when the hubby figures he can't find any obvious loose or broken chips, wires, or other mechanical defect, you won't be barking at him for breaking your mouse beyond expert repair, right? |
#11
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optical mouse malfunction
VanguardLH wrote:
Although you said it is a USB mouse, that doesn't say if it is wired or wireless. You have already tried putting fresh batteries in to the mouse case, right? Um, by the way, if it's a wireless mouse, you did check the on/off switch under the mouse or in the battery compartment or wherever it is is in the ON position, right? For wireless mice, check the batteries are good and check the mouse is switched on. Some mice have an on/off switch to conserve on power when they're not used for awhile and the low-power state still consumes power. |
#12
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optical mouse malfunction
"VanguardLH" wrote in message
... Jo-Anne wrote: my husband is going to try to take the mouse apart (tricky, since there are no obvious screws). They're under the slider feet. Once you peel them off, you'll need something to glue them back on. I have seen the teflon mouse feet for sale but you'll probably have to trim them to fit the recess in the mouse base. Some mouse shells snap together - and aren't designed to snap apart. that is, when you flex the upper shell trying to dislodge it from the fingers in the lower shell, you could break the fingers so the shell halves won't snap together again. That's when hot-melt glue or epoxy comes in. Many times you can't figure out how the shell halves snap together until you break it apart and then it's too late. If it's a wireless mouse, sometimes the retaining screw is in the battery compartment. Remove the batteries and check. If it's there, after removing the screw, the shell halves should slide together at a slight angle out of the retaining grooves. Although you said it is a USB mouse, that doesn't say if it is wired or wireless. You have already tried putting fresh batteries in to the mouse case, right? So when the hubby figures he can't find any obvious loose or broken chips, wires, or other mechanical defect, you won't be barking at him for breaking your mouse beyond expert repair, right? Thank you again, Vanguard! It's a wired mouse, so no batteries. I certainly won't complain if it can't be fixed, but it should be interesting to try...or at least to see what's inside. Jo-Anne |
#13
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optical mouse malfunction
"VanguardLH" wrote in message
... Jo-Anne wrote: my husband is going to try to take the mouse apart (tricky, since there are no obvious screws). They're under the slider feet. Once you peel them off, you'll need something to glue them back on. I have seen the teflon mouse feet for sale but you'll probably have to trim them to fit the recess in the mouse base. They (three of them) were indeed under the slider feet, Vanguard. Thank you! As I just posted to Paul, one of five wires is broken, but given the setup of the cord or sleeve it might be impossible to fix it. Jo-Anne |
#14
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optical mouse malfunction
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 |
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optical mouse malfunction
"Paul" wrote in message
... 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 Thank you again, Paul! I'll report back on what, if anything, worked. Jo-Anne |
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