My scroll wheel hardly works anymore!

April 17, 2007 7:49 AM

My mouse scroll wheel is acting really strange. Can it be fixed?

I have a nice Logitech mouse that I've had for about two years, and up until now it's worked great. Recently, however, the scroll wheel has been acting up. It feels very sluggish when I use it, and sometimes it's extremely hard to turn. Another annoying aspect of it is that I tend to accidentally click the wheel button while I'm trying to scroll it, which immediately stops the scrolling function. So basically, this is a problem that's pretty hard for me to live with.

I'd really like to not replace the mouse if I can help it--it cost $100 new, and I don't really want to spend the money on a new one if I can save this. Mouse is a Logitech MX1000.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

posted by DMan to Computers & Internet (4 answers total)

You're going to want to pop the bottom off the mouse and clean it. There's probably a lot of gunk built up on the wheel that's hampering it's rotating ability.
posted by dazed_one at 8:15 AM on April 17, 2007

Open the case, usually there's a screw on the bottom, maybe covered by a sticker. The mouse wheel is usually a fan-like disk that a light shines through to measure the rotation. I had a mouse wheel that had dust and fuzz stuck in it. Now it works again.
posted by jjj606 at 8:16 AM on April 17, 2007

It actually sounds as if the plastic click/roll portion has worn severely or broken. You'll need to remove the case and visually inspect for damage while actuating the mechanism. It also wouldn't hurt to apply some grease, in case it's dried up or become too contaminated.
posted by IronLizard at 8:56 AM on April 17, 2007

Okay, those are good suggestions, but what you describe has happened to me several times on several different brands of scroll mouse, and in all cases it was the thin rubberized band that fits around the wheel (like a tire on a bike) for finger traction having slipped slightly to one side. This can happen on the bottom side of the wheel, and the narrow slot for the wheel keeps it aligned at the top, so you can't always tell it's slipped off. You can fix it easilly, usually without taking it apart. Just sort of press the wheel side to side while scrolling it until it pops back into place.
posted by Nothing at 11:10 AM on April 17, 2007