[comp.sys.mac.system] Mouse problem

ericf@zurich.ai.mit.edu (Eric Feigenson) (08/30/90)

I'm having a peculiar problem on my Mac IIcx.  All of a sudden, when I
move my mouse, the cursor tends to jump around on the screen.  It
doesn't jump very far, but it does sometimes jump towards the top of
the screen when I move the mouse so that the cursor should be moving
to the *bottom* of the screen.  I first suspected a virus, and I have
Gatekeeper and Gatekeeper Aid loaded, so I thought I was safe (I have
the latest versions of both except that I have GA 1.0.1 because I
suddenly suffered several system crashes with 1.0.2).  To be sure, I
ran Disinfectant 2.1, which found nothing.  I rebuilt the desktop, and
even rebooted from a locked floppy.  In all cases, I have the same
problem.  I'm fairly certain that it's not a virus, and that leaves a
"hardware problem".  Has anyone else encountered this problem before?
Is my mouse on its last legs (it's only a year old!).

Any help, suggestions, condolences will be appreciated.  Please
respond via email.

Thanks!

-Eric Feigenson
ericf@zurich.ai.mit.edu

murat@farcomp.UUCP (Murat Konar) (09/01/90)

In article <ERICF.90Aug29192220@montreux.ai.mit.edu> ericf@zurich.ai.mit.edu writes:
>I'm having a peculiar problem on my Mac IIcx.  All of a sudden, when I
>move my mouse, the cursor tends to jump around on the screen.  It
>doesn't jump very far, but it does sometimes jump towards the top of

My brother experienced this in his 2 month old SE/30.  It was fixed by
replacing the mouse.


-- 
____________________________________________________________________
Have a day. :^|             
Murat N. Konar	
murat@farcomp.UUCP             -or-          farcomp!murat@apple.com

pip@pro-freedom.cts.com (David Pipgras) (09/01/90)

In-Reply-To: message from ericf@zurich.ai.mit.edu

Take your mouse apart and clean it really good!  I had much the same problem
with a MacPlus Mouse. I was gonna tek it to be fixed, and before I cleaned it
from head to tail (pun intended) It now works great!

Dave


UUCP: .. !crash!pro-freedom!pip
ARPA: crash!pro-freedom!pip@nosc.mil
INET: pip@pro-freedom.cts.com

joe@cbnews.att.com (Joseph Judge) (09/02/90)

	How much does it jump around. Mine started jumping a little.
	I took the mouseball out and found goobers on whatever-you-call-them
	silver things that the mouse rotates against. I guess it made a bumpy
	surface to rotate against.

	Joseph Judge		joe@cblpf.att.com


(Eric Feigenson) writes:
> I'm having a peculiar problem on my Mac IIcx.  All of a sudden, when I
> move my mouse, the cursor tends to jump around on the screen.  It
> doesn't jump very far, but it does sometimes jump towards the top of
> the screen when I move the mouse so that the cursor should be moving
> to the *bottom* of the screen.  I first suspected a virus, and I have
	...
> problem.  I'm fairly certain that it's not a virus, and that leaves a
> "hardware problem".  Has anyone else encountered this problem before?

pip@pro-freedom.cts.com (David Pipgras) (09/04/90)

In-Reply-To: message from joe@cbnews.att.com


(Eric Feigenson) writes:
> I'm having a peculiar problem on my Mac IIcx.  All of a sudden, when I
> move my mouse, the cursor tends to jump around on the screen.  It
> doesn't jump very far, but it does sometimes jump towards the top of
> the screen when I move the mouse so that the cursor should be moving
> to the *bottom* of the screen.  I first suspected a virus, and I have
        ...
> problem.  I'm fairly certain that it's not a virus, and that leaves a
> "hardware problem".  Has anyone else encountered this problem before?



I have had much the saem problem, and I took the mouse off, opened it up and
cleaned it from head to tail (pun intended). When my mouse did what you
describe, I merely cleaned the litttle rollers where the ball was, and that
had some, but very little effect on it. When I opened the whole case, I found
that somehow I had small threads of stuff, like fibers, or lint wrapped around
the little roller bars! I took a twizer and cleaned it all out, washed the
ball with a cleaning solution (they get dirty too!) used for VHS tapes, and
did the same for the rollers. I also cleaned it with a damp cloth from head to
tail (pun again) and  made sure the connections on both the cord and my mac
were also clean.

The result is that I have not had a single problem (probably speaking too
soon!) with it since then. And that was about 4 months ago....


Dave

UUCP: .. !crash!pro-freedom!pip
ARPA: crash!pro-freedom!pip@nosc.mil
INET: pip@pro-freedom.cts.com

denbeste@bgsuvax.UUCP (William C. DenBesten) (09/05/90)

In article <ERICF.90Aug29192220@montreux.ai.mit.edu> ericf@zurich.ai.mit.edu writes:
>I'm having a peculiar problem on my Mac IIcx.  All of a sudden, when I
>move my mouse, the cursor tends to jump around on the screen.  It
>doesn't jump very far, but it does sometimes jump towards the top of

A common cause of this is that the rollers inside your mouse have a
coating of wax on them.  If you remove the ball, there are three
rollers.  They should have a smooth surface and be of a uniform color.
If they are not, remove the buildup by scraping it off with your
fingernail.  Be sure to turn the rollers to clean the whole things.

You can also purchase a product, Mouse Cleaner 360 by Ergotron that
makes cleaning easier.

I find that using a mouse pad prevents wax buildup.

-- 
William C. DenBesten   is   denbeste@bgsu.edu  or   denbesten@bgsuopie.bitnet