Beware of Occasional Defect in Wireless Mouse

Thread view:

Enable EMail Alerts

Start New Thread

Thread rating:

Wilson Cheung - 04 Sep 2004 22:32 GMT

I've encountered a defect in some wireless mice that ultimately prevents you
from using the mouse to perform drag and drops. This is a mechanical
defect. It's not in all mice, but when it happens most likely someone from
Apple will tell you it's supposed to be that way. You can tell if you have
this defect by:

1) Holding your mouse as you would normally do if you were going to drag
and click across a table.
2) Lift your mouse off the table and hold in mid air.
3) Try and click and unclick in succession with the mouse in mid air.

In a defective mouse this mechanical action will not work. What this means
is that you can not perform drag and drops easily.

This is being mentioned here because if you try to bring this to Apple for
replacement they will likely look at you funny and claim things like a
wireless mouse is not supposed to be lifted off the table like a normal
wired mouse. Even if they give you replacement, it's quite possible that
the replacement mouse will have the same defect. Only when you insist on
letting you compare to a working wireless mice will they start to agree
there is a problem. However, even in those instances they still might try
to talk you into working with what you have as in some sense you can work
around the problem by avoiding dragging things too far on your screen or
making sure you have a very large and clear desktop.

After 4 phone calls to Apple care (sometimes talking to a support person
based in India with difficulty understanding English) and 2 defective
wireless mice, I was advised to drive to an Apple Store to make my case.
When I got there the salesperson showed me their demo wireless mouse and
when I used it, I was very pleased with it's performance. I could lift the
mouse off the table and click in mid-air, like a normal wired mouse. When I
returned to my mouse I couldn't do that. It was as if squeezing the white
buttons on the side put resistance against the clicking action. When I
asked the salesperson to try initially she had a problem with my mouse. But
then she figured out a technique to work around the problem by making sure
she never touched the white button on the right side of my mouse. So then
she felt that somehow my mousing technique must be wrong. I then insisted
that the user's manual said to hold both sides of the mouse and that I've
never had this problem with any wired mouse. She then turned me over to a
service person that was able to reproduce my experience and then concluded
that maybe the wireless mice were supposed to work this way. I then
insisted that he compare to a working wireless mouse. After several more
demonstrations he finally understood my problem and agreed that my mouse was
not behaving the same as his wireless mouse.

With several brand new wireless mice sitting in the store, he could not
offer me a replacement off the shelf. Instead he could only order a
replacement (meaning a reconditioned and formerly defective) mouse and have
me come back and pick it up. I then ended driving back home and calling
Apple Care and now they are sending me yet another wireless mouse. I'm just
crossing my fingers that the replacement (reconditioned and formerly
defective) mouse doesn't come to me defective as well. I could easily see
my defective mouse being accepted back, a person trying to use it and
concluding it's OK and putting it right back on the shelf to be used as a
replacement mouse.

I highlight this issue just in case anyone else experiences this problem.
Just be clear your wireless mouse should be identical in experience and
functionality as your wired mouse. If you find that this is not happening
you're not insane. This can really happen. If you raise the issue with any
salesperson or service person don't be surprised if they initially don't
believe you. They are trained to diagnose electronic or software problems,
not mechanical problems. The problem with the mice that I have experience
are mechanical problems, and it's not initially obvious that the problem is
strictly mechanical.

It took me an entire month of cursing out my klunky wireless mouse to figure
out that it wasn't supposed to behave klunky. The reason it took me so long
to figure this out was because both a salesperson and an authorized Apple
repair person said that's the way it's supposed to work.

Wilson Cheung
Wilson Cheung

Reply to this Message

Wilson Cheung - 23 Sep 2004 16:47 GMT

After encountering just too many wireless mice with the same problem, it's
quite likely that this problem is pretty widespread. If you buy a new Apple
Wireless mouse and find that you are having difficulty holding the mouse
click down while lifting off the table, then there's probably little that
you can do. If you return the mouse for a replacement, it's likely the
replacement will behave just the same. If the difficulty holding the click
down doesn't bother you than no problems for you. If it does bother you
than here are your choices:

1) Return for a full refund and don't use the Apple Wireless Mouse.
Possibly if you wait a long time the next batch will get better.

2) Or fix one yourself. If you do so you will absolutely void your
warranty on the mouse. Once you start there's no turning back. It's a $69
mouse at steak, but if you are a stickler for perfection from an otherwise
very sleek mouse, then I think you'll find the satisfaction worth the risk.

The challenge to fix an Apple mouse is that they are glued shut and so you
need to actually break some plastic bonds. However, with a pocket knife and
patience you can gradually remove the white plastic ring that locks
everything into place. For some guidance on how to do this you can look at
<http://www.sewardweb.com/applepromouse/> and follow step 3. The only
difference here is that you will not be trying to separate the clear plastic
cover. You will be trying to only separate the white plastic ring. Note
that separating the ring will probably take 1/2 hour to do as you want to BE
CAREFUL not to slip and cut yourself. In some ways it's like trying to cut
a very very hard bagel with a sharp knife; you can do it, but do it
gradually and with plenty of control to protect yourself in case your blade
slips.

You will find that although the wireless mouse looks similar to the Pro
Mouse it's actually much easier to take apart. Once you can work the
plastic ring off you can easily pop out the entire bottom and innards of the
mouse in one piece. It's all one very solid and sturdy base with very
little chance for breaking anything.

You will find that the top white shell has a protruding piece of plastic
that is meant to press down on top of the mouse button that is on the
circuit board on the base of the mouse. This plastic piece is just slightly
too short, or possibly is a bit grooved in the middle. To fix your mouse
you need to add some plastic to the end of this piece to make it just
slightly longer. This can be done by cutting thin strips of tape and having
the tape fold over the end of the plastic piece. The more layers of tape
you add the thicker and longer this plastic piece becomes. I choose a thick
clear packing tape and got success with just 2 layers of tape. When I popped
the base back into the shell, then the click action was flawless.

Now I can lift the mouse in air and click and unclick at will, regardless of
how I hold on the white tabs. I can squeeze them hard, soft, evenly or
unevenly and the click and unclick work effortlessly in mid air.

Wilson Cheung

On 9/4/2004 5:32 PM, in article BD5FACC8.14A60%WilsonCheung@wakundama.com,

> I've encountered a defect in some wireless mice that ultimately prevents you
> from using the mouse to perform drag and drops. This is a mechanical
[quoted text clipped - 69 lines]
> Wilson Cheung
> Wilson Cheung

Reply to this Message

clvrmnky - 23 Sep 2004 17:02 GMT

[...]

> 2) Or fix one yourself. If you do so you will absolutely void your
> warranty on the mouse. Once you start there's no turning back. It's a $69
> mouse at steak, but if you are a stickler for perfection from an otherwise
> very sleek mouse, then I think you'll find the satisfaction worth the risk.

This is totally OT, I know. I'm burning USENET karma like mad.

This paragraph reminded me of a great West Indian diner in Winnipeg (St.
Boniface, really) called "Deen's Diner" which had the motto "Where good
food doesn't mean you're at steak!"

Reply to this Message

Sara Kirk - 24 Sep 2004 02:07 GMT

> [...]
> > 2) Or fix one yourself. If you do so you will absolutely void your
[quoted text clipped - 7 lines]
> Boniface, really) called "Deen's Diner" which had the motto "Where good
> food doesn't mean you're at steak!"

LOL!

Signature

Sara

Reply to this Message

Wilson Cheung - 29 Sep 2004 19:34 GMT

As mentioned in the article with header "More than Occasional Defect in
Wireless Mouse" I talk about how to fix this mechanical problem.

I wanted to add I fixed my second mouse successfully. I wanted to clarify
also that when you are trying to separate the bottom white plastic ring, you
really are just cutting and cracking away plastic. You will not end up with
a clean break, but one that's somewhat ragged. You might have a few strands
of plastic pieces from the cutting action. The effect cosmetically is
actually quite small because you will end up gluing the plastic ring back
into place. The uneven ragged edges just act like a guide for you to
precisely glue back the ring. If you put the ring on the wrong way the
ragged edges won't match up. Once you glue it back on you'd be hard pressed
to notice. In fact unless you regularly look at the bottom of you mouse you
might even leave the ring off so you can always go back and open up the
mouse in the future with ease.

Also, I'd say removing the ring could take up to 1 hour to remove depending
upon your skill and experience. The most important thing is to be very very
patient because you could easily slip and cut your fingers with the knife if
you get impatient and force the cutting to go faster. All it takes is one
good slip to make this repair not worth it.

With some more experience the 2nd time around, I started trying to score the
seam away from me and into a carpet mat, instead of trying to cut the mouse
inside my hand. This seemed to speed things up as well as was safer.

Wilson
On 9/4/2004 5:32 PM, in article BD5FACC8.14A60%WilsonCheung@wakundama.com,

Reply to this Message

Mac Forum / General / Hardware / September 2004

Beware of Occasional Defect in Wireless Mouse