# Reviving an Apple Mighty Mouse Trackball **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 2, 2010, 9:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reviving-an-apple-mighty-mouse-trackball/545287 "2010-07-02T09:40:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![tumbleddown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@tumbleddown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tumbleddown)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2010, 9:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reviving-an-apple-mighty-mouse-trackball/545287/1 "2010-07-02T09:40:35Z")
There’s no one answer to this, so IMHO not GQ… I have a wired Mighty Mouse, not the new Magic Mouse but the kind with the little rubber trackball on top. My first mouse, the one that came with my iMac, stopped scrolling downward, and was replaced under AppleCare. I’m no longer under AppleCare, and I’ve had this mouse half as long as the first one, and in the last 36 hours or so, my trackball is pulling the same “scroll down? Pfft!” thing. Generally I just run my fingernail around the edge and blow out any obvious debris that I can dislodge. But that only gets whatever shmutz is accessible with my fingernail. That hasn’t worked this time. Is there anything in particular that might restore the function, a way of cleaning under the trackball where the sensors are that perhaps I’ve not thought of? I’m trying to avoid replacing it, as I’m about to have to replace my MacBook battery, just bought an iPad, it seems like all my discretionary cash is mainlined directly to Cupertino these days. :o ---
**Author:** ![Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5fc32e/32.png) [@Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bad_News_Baboon)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2010, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reviving-an-apple-mighty-mouse-trackball/545287/2 "2010-07-02T12:10:23Z")
Mine did this until I found a fix on YouTube. Take a piece of paper, turn mouse over and run the ball on the paper. Do it for a minute or so. You’ll see the paper begin to get dirty. This helped my problem. ---
**Author:** ![tumbleddown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@tumbleddown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tumbleddown)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2010, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reviving-an-apple-mighty-mouse-trackball/545287/3 "2010-07-02T12:14:31Z")
That’s brilliant, Bad News Baboon. I will do that as soon as I can find a sheet of clean paper! ---
**Author:** ![Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5fc32e/32.png) [@Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bad_News_Baboon)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2010, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reviving-an-apple-mighty-mouse-trackball/545287/4 "2010-07-02T12:21:15Z")
I was on the verge of throwing mine out. My daughter and I were youtubing Mermaids or something and I saw the video on the side bar. It was a Eureka! moment. ---
**Author:** ![Cornelius\_Tuggerson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Cornelius\_Tuggerson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cornelius_Tuggerson)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2010, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reviving-an-apple-mighty-mouse-trackball/545287/5 "2010-07-02T15:33:13Z")
If the piece of paper sounds like too much effort just push down on the scrollball with your thumb and scroll it in different directions for a bit, you should be able to see some gunk come out from underneath, that does the trick for me. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2010, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reviving-an-apple-mighty-mouse-trackball/545287/6 "2010-07-02T16:35:39Z")
Guides to disassembly and cleaning > **[Macworld](https://www.macworld.com)** > > Macworld is your ultimate guide to Apple's product universe, explaining what's new, what's best and how to make the most out of the products you love. > **[Mighty Mouse - Gallery - AppleMatters](http://www.applematters.com/index.php/gallery/category/C4/)** > > AppleMatters is a serious yet irreverent look at all things Apple ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2010, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reviving-an-apple-mighty-mouse-trackball/545287/7 "2010-07-02T16:41:45Z")
Trackball cleaning [http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1262339&tstart=30](http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1262339&tstart=30) ---
**Author:** ![tumbleddown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@tumbleddown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tumbleddown)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2010, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reviving-an-apple-mighty-mouse-trackball/545287/8 "2010-07-04T06:29:06Z")
**Astro** , thanks for the links to those non-Apple Mac forums, they’re treasure troves of info! ---
**Author:** ![QuercusMax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/8baadc/32.png) [@QuercusMax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuercusMax)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2010, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reviving-an-apple-mighty-mouse-trackball/545287/9 "2010-07-05T02:47:26Z")
Here’s what I do: Take a soft cloth (like for cleaning screens or glasses). Turn your mouse upside down and rub the ball vigorously on the cloth. If that doesn’t work, I find banging it upside down on my desk helps. It’s therapeutic if nothing else. Pro tip: don’t eat oreos or cheetos with your mouse hand. 🙂 I learned that the hard way. ---
**Author:** ![Amblydoper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/fbc32d/32.png) [@Amblydoper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amblydoper)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2010, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reviving-an-apple-mighty-mouse-trackball/545287/10 "2010-07-05T02:55:42Z")
A bit of a warning if you decide to disassemble the mighty mouse: The second “ring” is very hard to remove without damaging it. The tiny plastic clips that hold it in place are not designed to be re-inserted into their holes. There is a good chance that your mouse will never be the same. One interesting thing I noticed when I took mine apart, is that the wheel is just a miniture version of the wheel that was inside every mouse several years ago before IR mice were standard. As such, is is prone to the same gunking-up that old mice suffered from. ---
**Author:** ![chicken\_wire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a88e4f/32.png) [@chicken\_wire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chicken_wire)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2010, 8:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reviving-an-apple-mighty-mouse-trackball/545287/11 "2010-07-05T08:35:56Z")
Here’s what I did: Try cleaning the thing every time it clags up until you’re ready to throw it at the wall. Throw it at the wall, nice and hard. Get a Logitech with a scroll wheel and be happy. I didn’t really throw it, but I wanted to. I though it was a nice bit of kit while it was working properly, maybe a bit on the heavy side, loved the trackball. The Logitech I ended up with (M-RCQ142) is lighter, a better fit for my hand, and the scroll wheel hasn’t done me wrong yet. It was a bit tricky to find a bluetooth model, most seem to need a USB reciever, which takes up a port, which is bad when you only have two on your MacBook. Apple have a newer model mouse since the one I gave up on, and it might be better again. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2010, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reviving-an-apple-mighty-mouse-trackball/545287/12 "2010-07-05T15:21:00Z")
> [@astro](#): > > Trackball cleaning > > [http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1262339&tstart=30](http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1262339&tstart=30) Is it just me? When I click on that link, for some reason, on my Macintosh, it tries to open up the iTunes store. I got the link to work by removing the last parameter in the link [http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1262339](http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1262339) The first time my Mighty Mouse got stuck, I brought it to the Apple store. The employee who cleaned it for me did what is suggested in this thread: turn the mouse upside down and rub it with a cloth (he used a screen-cleaning cloth.) He also put some kind of alcohol cleaner on the cloth. I’ve since done it myself using just the cloth but without the alcohol. The new [Magic Mouse](http://www.apple.com/magicmouse/) doesn’t have a trackball at all, you just slide your finger over the top to scroll up or down. This looks like a great improvement over the old trackball method.