Sunday, January 6, 2008

Mighty Mouse scroll ball stopped working?

apple mighty mouse trackball
It happened to me once and I thought it was broken, but suddenly I found a simple solution:
-> Pick up a clean blank sheet of paper
-> Put the Apple Mighty Mouse upside down
-> Rool the trackball on the paper till it starts to work

59 comments:

Unknown said...

You are a freakin' genius!! I've been messing with this thing for 10 minutes to no avail and your tip working in 10 seconds! First "clean your trackball" tip I've found that actually works. You rock!

Tim McKnight said...

I too must say thanks for that fix. Although it may go down as the oddest technique i have ever used to fix something it did indeed work. Thanks.

jpf55 said...

Just one word THANKS

Unknown said...

I'm impressed. Is this some new ball cleaning technology?

What's the theory as to why this works? Is it a calibration thing or really "cleaning the ball"?

Darin said...

Beautimus!

Ned_Ludd said...

my scroll ball will scroll up, but not down (ball turns, screen does not move. Have I altered a setting or is this mechanical trouble? How do I fix this? Thanks

mikey said...

Thank you so much! I had this problem for a while, and i though its time to fix it!! Thanks again!!!

Unknown said...

You are a genius.
But mind to share how u found out this solution?

Unknown said...

WOW! I've had my trackball stop working before... My USB wired Mighty Mouse is over a year old so it is no longer under warranty. It stopped working about a month ago and i thought it had finally bit the bullet. I did all the usual things that I've done to try to fix my trackball but none helped this time.

This one did though! All i have to say is wow. Pure Genius

justagirl said...

HI
I have an old mouse (not wireless) and it will NOT scroll. It is driving me mental. I have checked system preferences and have it set to 360 degree scrolling!
Can someone help

Jeffrey said...

hi i tried this method and it resolved my problem of scrolling.
but the ball is too depressed now and the 3rd button can't work now. i press down on the ball and its supposed to activate whatever i program it to be on systems preferences, but it doesnt work. it becomes a left click or a right click instead!

any idea how to solve it? or have i rubbed the ball down on the paper too hard and caused permanent irreversible damage?

fandjango said...

Yippeee it works...GENIUS

Unknown said...

Amazing! Thanks so much!

Unknown said...

I just watched the video of how to completely take (cut) apart and clean the mighty mouse. And I'm thinking "OK, I guess I have to buy a new one." But then.................I found your tip and WOW it really worked! Thanks so much!

déo said...

This is pure genius, thank you very much! :-)

Unknown said...

Perfect! It seems we will never reach the paperless office :-).

pinto said...

Thanks, a million! Works like a charm. =)

Unknown said...

While I had AppleCare on the phone trying to figure out what the problem was I found this posting. I tried it and it worked great! My mouse would only scroll down but not up.

I told the AppleCare guy how I fixed it.

Kaan Sözer said...

you did it problem solved thnx

Windy Tree said...

NO WAY thats amazing!!!! worked in seconds. Ive been looking round preferences and al sorts trying to make the stupid ball work again.
thanks :)

Unknown said...

Mine stopped scrolling up - Applied the fix and sure enough its has started working again.

Top man thanx

Anonymous said...

Amazing. I had tried cleaning with alcohol and tried blowing compressed air and followed Apple's directions for cleaning and nothing was working. I tried this trick and it worked in about 30 seconds.

... said...

flippin perfect

it worked as soon as i set it down on the paper

madalla said...

Whaaat! That will never work. wait... Cool! it worked.

Thanks, I was on my way to buy a new one, old one would not scroll down. Works fine now.

Will Benham said...

Absolutely Brilliant!

Unknown said...

Amazing.

liwanag said...

Good! Brilliant! Excellent!

Kid A said...

Absolutely brilliant! I was lamenting the hassle taking my mouse into an Apple Store was going to be, but low and behold! IT WORKS AGAIN! Thank you so much.

Anonymous said...

I have a wired mouse...about 12 months and 11 days old. It would scroll up but not down. Apple store told me to try some strong clear packing tape on the scroll button to remove anything that might be hindering it...tried that...didn't help. I was just about to drive ALL THE WAY TO THE APPLE STORE to buy a new mouse when I saw this link. I thought everyone was talking about a wireless mouse and didn't think this applied to mine...but I tried anyway...and after about 2 minutes of rubbing the scroll button (upside down obviously) on a white envelope, I saw my screen move up and down vertically!!! Eurika!!! It worked. Thanks ever so much!!!

Unknown said...

The paper thing sure does work...Thank.

Anonymous said...

Didn't work for me

Unknown said...

Amazing. I just had this happen. The reverse scroll quit. Followed your instructions and it worked! So KOOL! Thanks!

Graeme said...

You rock

Angel the Atheist said...

i love you!

Unknown said...

Thank you! I was going to the store to complain...

Unknown said...

I just love the web, you ask it a question and lovely people like you have a solution - my wired mouse would scroll down but not up and your idea worked a treat, now it is zooming about as new ! Many thanks :)

danm said...

Thank you so much! I've had my wired Mighty Mouse for about a month when it stopped scrolling down. I had been very impressed with its performance up to then, but was worried if these tiny balls were inherently faulty. Took a chance searching for others with the problem, and came across your solution. Bravo. It took about 2 minutes before it started working again.

Unknown said...

Yup...weirdest thing I've ever done with a mouse...

If anyone finds that it doesn't work, just keep going. I think I had to do it for quite a while to make it work.

beats the price of a new mouse though!

Thanks much!!!

Elder Madison Seawell said...

Thank you!!! This has been driving me crazy for about a month now... not now!

timthumb said...

sure worked for me.top tip thanks

iQuack said...

YES! First used some alcohol on a piece of paper towel which helped a bit, but rubbing the ball upside down on clean paper did the trick.
My mouse is happy now!
All mice should be happy mice!

Goshawk said...

In common with so many others, I too had issues with the scroll function of my Apple mouse. I tried the white paper sheet remedy and was truly amazed that it worked rapidly and very effectively,many thanks to the originator of this remedy.

N said...

Ha! Thanks! Just found this old post and it worked for me! Took about 2 full minutes.

Unknown said...

Didn't work for me. I was rolling that thing around on and off for a long time. It still will not scroll down!

Jen's Wonderblog said...

AWEESOMEEEE

Cory Nelson said...

You're the coolest.

sph said...

amazing ... thank you sooooooo much!!

SAL said...

Awesome. Really does work and what a godsend!

Matt said...

this was driving me nuts all week. (i need to stop eating at my desk!)
but i did this trick and it worked! i will advise that i had to press down onto the scroll ball and thats what got it working. not sure if i was supposed to all along but it didnt work just lightly moving it around, i had to press down. so glad it worked!!!
thanks!

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Silvs said...

genius

Unknown said...

Thank you so much. This worked very nicely.

Unknown said...

Wow. I thought for sure I was going to need to replace my mouse. Guess I won't be getting a Magic Mouse as soon as I thought :-).

McJames said...

Didn't work at first. Then I really pushed hard and rolled it around for about 2 minutes. Works great now. For those who say it doesn't work and are about to buy another one, I would suggest trying REALLY hard first. Don't be gentle with it. Worked for me.

G-Unit said...

Thank you so much for the paper trick. I was nearly driven mad!!

prismarts said...

WHAT A BRILLIANT TRICK!

THANK YOU VERY MUCH....

a big thanks for you .

;)

Tru said...

scroll ball moves well in all directions, but scrolling up does not work.. tried your tip, but doesnt work for me.. any other solution??

Unknown said...

Fan-freaking-tastic.

Tandem-Captain said...

Truly, truly so simple and thank you thank you. Now working Up Down Left Right - 360 degree. WOW