blh@csvax.seas.smu.edu (blh) (05/25/90)
I have a friend who is having some wierd problems with the mouse on his Mac IIcx. The mouse just "jumps" around when you are moving it. It is strange. The mouse is just a plain ole Apple mouse. The machine has 4 megs of RAM, and is running a varied selection of inits. My friend is a heavy user of Adobe Illustrator, and this problem is driving him nuts in try to align things. I seem to recall some discussion several weeks (months?) ago on comp.sys.mac regarding similar problems, but for the life of me I cannot remember what the cause was (hardware, software, virus, or evil spirits..). Please reply via email - when I find the solution I will summarize to the net. blh@csvax.seas.smu.edu
bskendig@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Brian Kendig) (05/29/90)
In article <16316@smunews.UUCP> blh@.seas.smu.edu (blh) writes: >I have a friend who is having some wierd problems with the mouse on his >Mac IIcx. The mouse just "jumps" around when you are moving it. It is >strange. The mouse is just a plain ole Apple mouse. The machine has >4 megs of RAM, and is running a varied selection of inits. >I seem to recall some discussion several weeks (months?) ago on >comp.sys.mac regarding similar problems, but for the life of me I >cannot remember what the cause was (hardware, software, virus, or >evil spirits..). ... dirt? (Although the evil spirits bit sounds awfully good to me.) If you haven't already, try cleaning out the inside of the mouse. The ball is held in by a ring; turning this ring counterclockwise a little bit should allow you to take it off and tip the ball out. (Don't drop the ball -- you'll never find it again!) Then, with your fingernail or with a Q-tip or knife if you're squeamish, scrape the residue off the metal or white plastic rollers (there are three). Carefully put the ball back in, and remember to twist the ring until it snaps back into place... This should have your mouse running smoothly again. If this was indeed the problem, you might want to invest in a mousepad -- they're great for this sort of thing. << Brian >> -- | Brian S. Kendig \ Macintosh | Engineering, | bskendig | | Computer Engineering |\ Thought | USS Enterprise | @phoenix.Princeton.EDU | Princeton University |_\ Police | -= NCC-1701-D =- | @PUCC.BITNET | ... s l o w l y, s l o w l y, w i t h t h e v e l o c i t y o f l o v e.
johnt@seila.UUCP (john grant) (05/30/90)
I, too, have a mouse that jumps around, but the cause of mine is more obvious; heat, when the mouse is cold, it jumps - when it's warm it moves properly, a can of freezer spray confirms this theory on my mouse anyway. I have one of the earliest "light ball" mice and yes, these mice are easy to carry, but useless as a pointing device, the ball never really makes decent contact with the mat or the rollers, despite my having what must be one of the cleanest mice anywhere.