Mighty Mouse Malfunction

[Denny Crane]

One of my iMac wired mice is starting to act up. It is about 1-2 years old. Clicking sometimes does nothing, the cursor zooms around the screen unpredictably, holding down the mouse and scrolling creates a box rather than moving the selected icon, etc.

Apple Support suggests that it might be a software problem, but I figure that I had simply better get another mouse.

I've cleaned the window, replaced the mouse pad underneath it, etc. My question: Is this fairly common? 

Thanks, Norm

[Col]

One of my iMac wired mice is starting to act up. It is about 1-2 years old. Clicking sometimes does nothing, the cursor zooms around the screen unpredictably, holding down the mouse and scrolling creates a box rather than moving the selected icon, etc.

Apple Support suggests that it might be a software problem, but I figure that I had simply better get another mouse.

I've cleaned the window, replaced the mouse pad underneath it, etc. My question: Is this fairly common? 

Thanks, Norm

Problems with mighty mice are very common, but usually have different symptoms to yours. Usually the little ball on top will scroll up, but not down. This is caused by lint and/or finger grease in the mechanism, but the problem with your mouse is likely something software-related.

I think the com.apple.driver.AppleHIDMouse.plist  file is where Mighty Mouse preferences are stored (at least in OS 10.4 Tiger) and there is a high probability that this file is corrupt on your computer.  The file path is Home, Library, Preferences, com.apple.driver.AppleHIDMouse.plist   Try trashing it.

If that makes no difference, try the other mouse and see if you get the same symptoms.

The cursor jumping around can be caused by a mousing surface that reflects too much light or is partly transparent. Try mousing on a book with a uniformly dark cover as a test.

It would not hurt to clean the again mouse either. The procedure Apple support told Mark from KMUG:

A. unplug the mouse.
B. Lay it upside down on a lint free cloth.
C. Slowly move the mouse around with the scroll ball being the main part of the mouse that touches the cloth.
   I was asked to do this for about ten seconds.


HTH,

Colin

[Denny Crane]

My goodness, I never would have expected it, but trashing the preference as you indicated did the trick!

I will clean the roller ball too, just to be safe, but the mouse is fully functional again. Thanks.

Norm

Problems with mighty mice are very common, but usually have different symptoms to yours. Usually the little ball on top will scroll up, but not down. This is caused by lint and/or finger grease in the mechanism, but the problem with your mouse is likely something software-related.

I think the com.apple.driver.AppleHIDMouse.plist  file is where Mighty Mouse preferences are stored (at least in OS 10.4 Tiger) and there is a high probability that this file is corrupt on your computer.  The file path is Home, Library, Preferences, com.apple.driver.AppleHIDMouse.plist   Try trashing it.

HTH,

Colin

[Col]

My goodness, I never would have expected it, but trashing the preference as you indicated did the trick!

I will clean the roller ball too, just to be safe, but the mouse is fully functional again. Thanks.

Norm

The tipoff was the information that you gave about the mouse performing a different action to what you had set. These options are set in System Preferences and the preference files are as easily corrupted as in OS 9 - just more opaquely named and harder to find.

Glad it works,

Colin

[Denny Crane]

My goodness, I never would have expected it, but trashing the preference as you indicated did the trick!

I will clean the roller ball too, just to be safe, but the mouse is fully functional again. Thanks.

Norm

The tipoff was the information that you gave about the mouse performing a different action to what you had set. These options are set in System Preferences and the preference files are as easily corrupted as in OS 9 - just more opaquely named and harder to find.

Glad it works,

Colin

Regrettably, the problem persists. I upgraded my OS to Leopard 10.5.5 from Tiger, thinking that might be a way to clean up the preferences, but it did not change matters. I have also repeatedly deleted the AppleHIDMouse preference. It just may be that I have a hardware problem. I will try switching mice to check that.