When I first opened the mouse, it was much easier to snap open, leading me to believe there is no “glued seal” holding the ring in place. If you look closely you can see tiny clips that snap the ring into place, not glue.

Otherwise, thanks for the tips on opening the mouse up. I REPEAT: DO NOT use glue. lol.

Usefully, the little black wheels on mine were magnetic and so stuck to my mini-screw driver – allowing me to lift each out individually, clean them with an alcohol pen and replace quite simply.

Thinking about starting a business fixing them for people… LOL

but i’m so hungry i feel faint and if i had some salt the keyboard would be beyond repair by now.

I can’t figure out why my side buttons don’t click anymore.

Anyway, the trackball works great.

DO NOT!

Whiskey, alcohol, anything on the ball will ingress into the circuitry and permanently kill the mouse. Trust me, I’ve been down that route.

(see below)

# Paula Says:
March 28th, 2009 at 10:09 pm

HI, The directions are perfect. I opened the mouse and cleaned. But when I closed it, and connected, it made a noise, and the ball doesnt work. The rest is perfect, but what can be the mistake? (the noise is a permanent bzzzz)

# Graham Says:
September 2nd, 2009 at 3:34 pm

Paula, I had the same problem.
Before you click it all back in to place, but with the ribbons attached inside, plug it in to your mac. If yours was like mine the buzzing started straight away. Hold the two shells apart and rotate them slowly and the buzzing should stop. Gently clip the back lugs in and then click the front lugs in to place. Hopefully you will now have a buzz free mouse. Reading up on it it is something to do with the copper shielding in the top of the mouse. Good luck.

I’m pleased to say the approach above worked where Apple’s suggestion didn’t!!

Thank you, I can now scroll down again. I am not surprised it didn’t work, it was manky in there!

The most common reason for the mouse not working seems to be that the metal tag on the inside of the battery cover gets bent too flat to operate the switch. Simply bend it back out far enough and all should be well. There is no reason to open the mouse to fix this – unless you are just curious!

Personally I recommend the Bluetake BT500 series – far smaller, much lighter… The latest one even has a usb recharge facility

The most common cause of mouse failure following dropping is the metal tag on the battery cover gets bent too flat to push in the plastic switch lever. Simply bend it back out with a screwdriver and it should be fine.

My mouse works greta now.

Thanks!!!

At first the right click didn’t work, but after repairing everything worked like it should.

Plastic model glue is just perfect for this job.

Thanks again.

kind regards darren

Thanks again.

I bought second mouse after the first one stopped working, then I’ve found this tutorial and fixed the first one which is now waiting in a drawer
Now second one stopped working and I’ve tried Raj’s trick and it worked! So, try this first:

“# raj Says:
July 6th, 2008 at 8:12 am

I used to clean mighty mouse: Upside down mouse, put little water on your finger tip, rub scroll button gently with wet finger, scroll button in all directions, repeat this action, after rub, scroll the ball throw yellow stick paper or any kind of water absorbing paper.”

At the end I have to say I’m really pissed at Apple for making a product they can’t fix without “breaking”. Stupid…

there was so much crud build up, now going to make people wash there hands before using the Mac from now on.

You saved me from buying a new mouse

Cheers
Reuben

I had very little room to get the screwdriver in there and snap, one of the ribbons broke. Mighty Mouse RIP.

Now I need to decide to buy a new MM, wired or wireless. Very expensive… Or use an old Logitech Bluetooth Mouse for an old DiNovo.

Or buy a cheaper new MS Mouse or Logitech…

For now… who knows… And now browsing th Apple Store site has got me looking at a Bose or other docking station for cranking up my iPhone or MacBook Air volume at work…

Oh well… Que sera sera.

Before breaking out the knife and screwdriver I read the whole thread and tried raj’s wet finger solution. It worked… For now, in fact it seems to be working better than it has for a few months but something tells me i’ll be following the full instructions soon…

Now I’ve left some vinegar in a saucepan to see if it cleans the metal. I once swallowed a foreign coin on a holiday in Spain (don’t ask) and a day later it came painfully out t’other end brand spanking clean and shiny from all the somach acids so perhaps that’s how vinegar works.

I was a bit cheesed with Apple for making this such an awkward operation; it used to be so easy to clean the original Apple mice. A Mighty Mouse is a great piece of kit but it’s obviously going to need periodic cleaning. I guess they figured most folks would just toss them away and buy a new one. Or maybe they figured we would be crazy/determined/smart enough to figure out how to clean it ourselves!

Thanks for the help.
John Paul

One more tip, when you take the ball housing apart, make sure you are close to the table. Mine “exploded” and luckily I was able to get all the rollers back into position and not scattered all over the floor.

Worked for me just fine.

Thanks a lot!

Adrian B

It’s a well built product, but just flawed when used in the real world. The replacement must surely use a laptop style touch pad for a scrolling device.

Thanks a lot for your help.

Be sure that your fingers are entirely free of any superglue residue. Otherwise you’ll damage the shiny white surface.

i was afraid when prying open the mouse skirting cause really it sounded it was gonna break anytime man. hahahhah! but after that, it all went gooooood! ((: thanks a mil!

any ideas? any suggestions? I will try everything before I buy a new one…

I was just to point a couple of hints for others:

It’s easier to open the mouse if you use a set of tiny clock screwdrivers. (you’ll need’em to unscrew the rollerball housing, anyway). Use the smallest one to push the tabs on figure 2.

When you are ready to put everything back in place, if you forget to mark the white retainer piece (figure 8), just note the retainer’s sides ain’t equal. The one which must face the connector ribbon it’s the only one larger. If you keep this in mind, you don’t need to place all 4 rollers and ball in the white retainer. You can do it directly in the black housing piece. It’s easier ’cause the black piece has lager sides and you have more control when assembling the unit. The rollers are magnetic. In the white retainer they have the nasty tendency to stick with each other. In the black one, you have more room to distribute them.

And finally, when you glue back the external ring, keep in mind you’ll need to open again the mouse next time it’s dirty. Keep the glue at a minimum.

I just want to point a couple of hints for others:
You can use a common set of clock screwdrivers to open the mouse. (actually, you’ll need’em to remove the tracking ball housing anyway). Use the smallest one to pull off the mouse’s bottom.

For figure 8, if you forgot to mark the white retainer, just note only three sides of it have the same size. The fourth one is larger. The largest side must be placed facing the ribbon. There’s no other way to make it fit in place. If you keep this in mind, it’s a lot easier to place the rollers again in their slots directly inside the black housing and then simply push the white holder over.

The only part I’m afraid of is, since the mouse is glued, every time you want to clean it, you gotta slice through the glue to separate the bottom ring, clean, glue again and wait until next time needs to be cleaned again… How many times you have to glue back this thing? Apple should think about it.

__________

Daan en Paul

Knowing just where to break into the skirt gave me the courage I needed. I followed your careful instructions and all went well. except the tweezers I used to put back the little rollers made placing the magnetic rollers back into their home spot caused a bit of a second look. I abandoned them in favor of a nice sharp wooden toothpick to arrange them in their saddles.

Thanks for helping me out!

For anyone wondering, this guide also works with a wireless mighty mouse! I followed the steps word for word and experienced nothing different at all (except there is no USB cord to worry about )

Just kidding. I just wanted to thank you for being this first to put their mouse under the knife. I knew there was glue SOMEWHERE but wasn’t about to start prying and breaking off tabs willy nilly. Your instructions, along with the promise of replacing anyones mice if they break it while following your instructions, eliminated any fears I had. So out came the tools, on went the Pantera, and lo and behold….

My extremely overpriced luverly MM is now scrolling down for the first time 5 months!!!

Thanks!