>The ADB mouse on my SE/30 stopped working on Christmas day :-( It no longer clicks :-( Now I am stuck with my old Plus doing all my work (I know I can use Easy Access, but it's just too awkward). Anyway, if anyone knows how to fix this problem, please email me at SHL1@CORNELL.EDU soon! I am a poor college freshman and really don't have the extra budget to get a new mouse :(
>Oh, BTW, my mouse is made by Apple, originally came with the SE/30. Thanks a bunch!!
>Steven Lee
>SHL1@CORNELL.EDU
Assuming you're out of warranty... How brave are you? Doesn't matter, you've
got nothing to lose:
First test. Try your "dead" mouse on another Mac. This will probably
prove that it's your mouse that's dead. If not, you have a dead ADB
chip (which is REALLY bad news). This probably means going to Apple
and getting it fixed. "Oh, the 50c ADB chip is dead. I'll swap
motherboards. $500 please." Let's hope this test is negative.
Next test. Try straightening out the cable, especially near the mouse-end,
and clicking. Try "bunching it up" (sort of push it into the mouse) and
try clicking. If this fixes anything, then the cable that connects your
mouse to your mac is stuffed. If the problem is near the mouse end, you
can crop the cable and reconnect the shortened cable to the appropriate
bits of your mouse's interior. (Warning: this will require soldering.)
Didn't get anywhere?
Open up your mouse (leave it hooked to your computer, but don't boot the
computer 'til the mouse has been opened up).
I don't feel like explaining the workings in detail, but the question now
is:
Note: the fact that our last test didn't prove anything doesn't mean the
cable ISN'T the problem, so...
1) Is the cable good? If you close the button circuit (this is a component
(generally a grey, black, or white box) under the external button) and
this doesn't work, then there's a break in the cable. If you can isolate
this problem (it's probably near the mouse-end of the cable, and if so
you can crop the cable and reattach it; which is messy, since you have
to cut off the rubbery thing that holds it in place and glue it on to
the new "end"...) you can save your mouse.
2) Is it the button? If the cable is okay, the button is presumably stuffed.
If you can get a replacement component button (Tandy?), then that's
easier to fix than the cable (but less likely).
The mouse is really pretty simple, and button problems are simpler than
tracking problems.
Tonio Loewald
--
Tonio Loewald | tal691@huxley.anu.edu.au | Life is short. Be nice.
"You can lie/You can cry/For all the good it'll do you, you can
die/But when it's done/And the police come/And they lay you down
for dead/Just remember what I said" (Paul Simon-not the senator)
