Over sensitive side buttons on wired Mighty Mouse?

Question

Over sensitive side buttons on wired Mighty Mouse?

Hi folks

I recently bought one of the previous-generation iMacs that came with a wired mighty mouse, and from the word go I have experienced glitches with the mouse. When I first started using it, I would trigger Expose accidentally all the time and I figured perhaps I was holding the mouse too firmly, so I tried to ease off a little but it still kept triggering. In the end, I switched the side buttons off because I simply could not control triggering them. I thought this was a shame because expose via the squeeze of a mouse seemed like a neat feature.

Now, as I use the mouse, I am hearing the a constant ticking or clicking which I am guessing is the side button clicks being registered, but I am handling this thing so lightly that I cannot imagine that it is my fault any more.

I am still within the three-month Apple Care period - should I call Apple and have them replace my mouse or is this normal with the mighty mouse? I've never had one before - maybe they're just ultra-sensitive by design?!

Thanks

Steve

iMac (early 2009) 20" / 2.66Mhz Core2Duo / 2GB RAM / 320GB HD / nVidia 9600, Mac OS X (10.6.2)

Posted on Dec 3, 2009 4:24 PM

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Answer 1

Dec 3, 2009 4:36 PM in response to stevelawrencechch

It's not normal. You can get it replace under the one-year warranty or AppleCare, if it is defective.

I turn the side buttons off too. If they are off, there should be no clicking sound. I use the Center Click (clicking on the scroll ball) as Exposé on all windows.

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Answer 2

Dec 9, 2009 6:29 PM in response to stevelawrencechch

I think I'm having a similar problem. Lately, my side buttons have been activating seemingly on their own. I hear multiple clicking sounds. I know I can turn off the button, but I use USB Overdrive to activate page back in browsers and the Finder, so I can be surfing and be brought back several pages at once. Very irritating. It doesn't seem to be consistent either. I bought my latest iMac in June, so I the warranty should be in place, but I'm an hour and half from the nearest Apple store, making it somewhat inconvenient to have the mouse looked at.

Heh, right when I was about to post this message, it went back several pages.

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Answer 3

Dec 9, 2009 6:32 PM in response to Karl Snyder

If you are using a third-party device driver, such as USB OverDrive, you may want to disable or uninstall it to see if there is any difference (or check the developer's web site to see if there is an update). It may be causing conflict with the built-in mouse driver.

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Answer 4

Dec 9, 2009 6:39 PM in response to Kenichi Watanabe

It is the latest version. It's that the mouse seems to click on its own. I will look at disabling the driver, but the whole reason I purchased USB Overdrive was to get the side buttons to go back in browsers and the Finder. 😟

Message was edited by: Karl Snyder

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Answer 5

Dec 9, 2009 6:40 PM in response to Karl Snyder

Right. Even if it's the latest version, you should still try disabling it or uninstalling it, as a test. Someone else just reported that his problem with the Magic Mouse (different mouse I know) was resolved, and the cause was having USB OverDrive installed.

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Answer 6

Dec 9, 2009 6:50 PM in response to Kenichi Watanabe

Will try. But possibly dumb question. If I disable/delete the driver, how will I know if that solves the problem? What exactly do the side buttons do in the stock configuration? Looking at my System Preferences, it reads Button 4.

Oh, thanks for your quick responses.

Message was edited by: Karl Snyder

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Answer 7

Dec 9, 2009 7:30 PM in response to Karl Snyder

I haven't used USB Overdrive, but there may be a way to disable it without uninstalling it. If you have to uninstall it, there may be an uninstaller program that came with the download, or the installer program may have uninstall option.

What exactly do the side buttons do in the stock configuration?

If you go to System Preferences Mouse pane, you can set the +side button squeeze+ to do any number of functions. Exposé, Dashboard, Switch Application, Spaces, etc.

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Answer 8

Dec 9, 2009 7:46 PM in response to Kenichi Watanabe

Disabled it and still hear the clicking sound. I guess it's time for a new mouse.

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Answer 9

Dec 9, 2009 8:09 PM in response to Karl Snyder

If you start up from your Mac OS X installation disc (insert disc and restart with C key held down), and use the mouse, do you still hear this clicking sound? If you do, then I seems fairly certain that there is a physical problem with the mouse.

If that mouse came with your iMac, and that iMac is still covered by warranty or AppleCare, you can get it replaced.

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Answer 10

Dec 9, 2009 8:25 PM in response to Kenichi Watanabe

I will try the installation disc thing. Yes, this is the stock mouse that came with my 24" iMac I bought in June this year.

Like many computer problems, it's not constant.

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Answer 11

Feb 22, 2010 1:15 PM in response to stevelawrencechch

Apple replaced my mouse after seeing the behaviour for themselves. The new mouse works great, although I have since replaced it with a Magic Mouse which is just a dream!

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Answer 12

anon37

Level 1

0 points

May 7, 2010 8:18 PM in response to stevelawrencechch

I had this same issue and apple replaced the mouse...got the new one home and the same problem persists with the new one. Is this a product issue? Now I have to go back and get replaced again. Very annoying apple, please fix this.

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Answer 13

May 10, 2010 4:47 PM in response to stevelawrencechch

IF it's too much of an annoyance and you begin having more issues, say with the scroll ball.

Get Something else

I got a $9 Black Logitech Optical Full Size Mouse @ Walmart over 2 years ago which has ran flawlessly. It's ugly as heck but it works.

I got fed up with my Mighty Mouse. When the Mighty Mouse works, they work beautifully. I had my share of issues with mine. Scroll Ball repeatedly got filled with crud. Always had to clean it but it reached the point where it warped out andI could keep it together anymore.

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