boylan@dicome.UUCP (06/17/87)
My brand new SE beeps randomly several times a minute while
the mouse is sitting idle on the desktop. This vaguely reminds
me of a reported problem with random mouse clicks from several
weeks back.
Is there a connection with whatever that random click problem
turned out to be?
What's wrong with my mac?
Thanks,
--
Chris Boylan
{mgnetp | ihnp4 | uwvax}!dicomed!boylanjlc@atux01.UUCP (J. Collymore) (06/17/87)
In article <1220@dicome.UUCP>, boylan@dicome.UUCP (Chris Boylan) writes: > My brand new SE beeps randomly several times a minute while > the mouse is sitting idle on the desktop. This vaguely reminds > me of a reported problem with random mouse clicks from several > weeks back. > > Is there a connection with whatever that random click problem > turned out to be? > > What's wrong with my mac? > > Thanks, > -- > Chris Boylan Chris: I was the poster of that first "mouse-double-click" problem. Here is a re-post of my original article. I am posting it, as well as the suggestions I received from other netters on fixing the problem, in the hopes that it may be of use and interest to you and others. I have removed the names of the posters to protect the innocent. If any of you guys from Apple can offer any new suggestions, please let me know. Jim Collymore p.s. I did exchange the mouse for a new one at a local Apple dealer last month when I started getting double-clicks increasingly on the desktop level as well as in the game "Wizardry". The problem seemed to disappear (at the desktop level) after that however, I also installed the new Finder and System files that recently became available so I can't be sure which was the "cure." However, I should also add that I am still having the problem in Wizardry, and I thought I noticed it last week when I used my "WriteNow" package, and have not tried it recently in "Professional Composer." Do I have a sick Mac SE?! +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ (THE ORIGINAL POSTING/PROBLEM) Subject: Mouse Double-Clicking Problem on MAC SE Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac Keywords: Double-clicks when it shouldn't! I have run into a problem that is becoming a considerable hinderance in using, and enjoying, some of my software and my MAC SE (dual-floppy). Last thursday I got Wizardry by Sir Tech. I noticed when moving through the maze it would often respond with TWO clicks when I had only clicked on the mouse ONCE! Causing me a lot of back-tracking and generally diluting my enjoyment of the game. I switched to using the keyboard for movement and had NO double-click problems as I had with the mouse. I was getting a double-click ~20% of the time. I thought that it might be because of my installing the newest System files from the SE into the Wizardry backup disk, but upon putting the original older System Files back into my back-up I still had the same problem, so I don't believe it's with the System files. I did call Sir Tech yesterday and asked them if it could be a bug in the software and they said they'd look into it. Then, last night, I was using Professional Composer and trying to create a new score, and things started going crazy with erroneous double-clicking! Two notes were appearing when I had only cliked for one (forcing me to waste a LOT of time deleting notes). Whole measures would sometimes become highlighted when I had only meant to click on a single note! This was the first time I'd tried using Composer in a week, and it is the first time since I got Wizardry and began having this problem that it's shown up in Composer. I have not dropped, nor otherwise mishandled the mouse, but I'm really concerned with what's wrong. I don't like spending thousands of dollars on computer hardware and software and then not have it function properly when I've had it LESS than three weeks! Could someone out there please offer some suggestions on fixing this problem! Thanks. Jim Collymore ******************************************************************************* (THE RESPONSES FROM THE NET) Subject: Re: MAC SE Mouse Double-clicking problem in "Composer" Newsgroups: rec.music.synth Organization: California Institute of Technology Sounds to me like the mouse button switch is bouncing, which is weird as it *must* be debounced, probably in hardware. Try to see if the spurious second click is occuring when the button is released, or if you get two when it's pressed. If you're feeling intrepid, you might try opening up your mouse and replacing the switch (probably a standard microswitch under the button cover). If not, get it repaired or buy a new mouse ... (I'm sure it's not the software, as applications never see the button at such a low-level; double-clicks are recognized in the system software, which I'm sure is also not at fault. Good luck! -- Subject: Re: MAC SE Mouse Double-clicking problem in "Composer" Newsgroups: rec.music.synth Organization: U. of Waterloo, Ontario Cc: If you can get at the button in question (ie. operate on the mouse), try some contact-cleaner spray such as Radio Shack's "color TV tuner cleaner". --- Subject: Re: Mouse Double-Clicking Problem on MAC SE Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac Organization: Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH Have the mouse fixed. ---- Subject: Re: Mouse Double-Clicking Problem on MAC SE Organization: Apple Computer Inc., Cupertino, USA Lines: 32 Keywords: Double-clicks when it shouldn't! A followup to Jim Collymore about Macintosh SE double clicking: A couple of things to check: 1. Check your control panel setting for double clicking. Try making the reponse time longer. 2. If double clicking continues, have the mouse looked at by a dealer. It might be defective. As a general note: The Macintosh SE had extensive testing for compatability (I know, I used to work in Software Quality Assurance) and the pattern of behaviour that you described is so bltant that it would have been spotted. Also, while we are trying for zero defects in manufacturing (we are around 99% I believe), defects still creep into things. That is why we place a warranty on our product. If it is trully defective, please take it to a dealer and have it replaced! -- Subject: Re: Mouse Double-Clicking Problem on MAC SE Organization: TRW Inc., Redondo Beach, CA Lines: 19 Summary: Dirty contacts? I also had a problem with extraneous double-clicking with the mouse on my SE. In fact, at one time I could hold the button right on the threshold of being down with the mouse in the menu bar and watch the menus flicker on and off. This problem has since gone away, but I thought it must be from dirty contacts in the button microswitch. Maybe some contact cleaner would help? By the way, other people have suggested changing the click speed setting in the control panel, but I don't see how this could help. When switches bounce, the extra button ups and downs are coming very close together -- much faster than anyone could normally double click. Unless I'm missing something and the debouncing software also uses the control panel setting to determine the time threshold for debouncing? -- Subject: Re: Double-Click Problem on SE mouse: An Update Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac Organization: RIACS, Moffett Field, CA I can get the new Apple mouse to tell the Mac it's being clicked by simply dropping it from about an inch onto the mousepad. Sometimes it sends one click, sometimes two. I didn't bother dropping it onto a hard surface, figuring that its reliability has already been demonstrated. --