Simple question: Anyone ever open their MS Optical mouse?

[Mugsy]

Simple question: Anyone ever open their Microsoft 5-button Optical mouse?

I need to know if the USB cable simply plugs in inside or if it is soldered to the circuit board.

I have a Microsoft 5-button Optical TRACKBALL that needs repair. One of my kittens bit clean through the wire, splitting it in two. The cable is too complex to simply splice together. I tried. Four wires around a copper core with aluminum shielding. I'm a tech with 25 years experience. If I can't fix it, no one can.

For some inexplicable reason, Microsoft stopped making their excellent trackballs. The few that are left sell for two-three times as much on eBay as I paid for mine years ago. I bought a Logitech wireless trackball as a replacement, but I hate it. The buttons are badly placed, I keep accidentally bumping the ball whenever I try to Right-click something, and the batteries only last two weeks before I must recharge them (I use my computer a lot).

Opening the MS trackball up, I found that the cable simply ends in a plastic socket that simply plugs into the circuit board. You can no longer find parts for the trackball, but MS still makes their mouse. If the cable inside their mouse is a match, I can simply buy one for $10 and cannibalize it for the cable.

But I'd like to know before I waste the $10. So:

Anyone here ever open their Microsoft 5-button Optical mouse and can confirm whether or not the cable inside just plugs in?

Thanks.

 

[halo71]

Geezzz...I think people here have tried to answer your question the best they can. Apparently this is not enough. Buy the dang cable, if is doesnt work take it back! You are talking about $10! Its not like you are spending a $1000 to try something that may or may not work. Hell PM me with your address, I'll send you $10 if it will end this string or ridculous posts you keep making about the SAME issue! And Howard, who IS a mod, has already asked you to stop making post after post about this, and yet you still do it. Maybe I am missing something here, but it seems really clear what your options are. 1) eBay, 2) buy a cable..... There done! This thread should be closed!

 

[AlbertLionheart]

charmed I'm sure - the sentiments I was about to express myself. Honestly, I don't think anyone knows the answer. I dismembered a MS mouse to see if there was a stock connection and it was hard wired - not helpful to you so I left it at that.
Give us a break and go forth and micturate; be a good chap!

 

[Mugsy]

An answer?

I dismembered a MS mouse to see if there was a stock connection and it was hard wired - not helpful to you so I left it at that.

Not helpful? That's all I wanted to know. Why is that so freakin' hard for everyone to understand?

 

[Julio Franco]

I have opened a few mice over the past few years... in fact I used to have those trackballs as well and opened them up (can't remember why, it was so many years ago). There might be some other devices using the same cable you mention but I would look for input products that are not new, but rather devices that were released by MS around the same year.

Another option is looking for a generic USB cable, perhaps the connector (the end that goes into the PCB) is not proprietary?

PS: As for halo71 comments, I deleted the last one that was a bit too much like personal flamming, perhaps he wasn't too polite about the matter but he was trying to say you are not supposed to open multiple threads regarding the same topic.

 

[halo71]

Julio, I was the one trying to say that you should not open multiple posts regarding the same topic, not him. I thought I was being rather civil with my comments, especially seeing how the PM he sent me was really a flame. But all is well.

and is telling me to piss of in his above thread not slightly a small flame?!?

 

[Mugsy]

Thanks Julio. That's the first helpful thing anyone has tried to say in the week I've been asking this simple question.

So far, I haven't found another USB cable with a 5-wire plug on the other end (some parts are nearly imposible to find. Very frustrating. That's why I'm wondering if I can simply cannibalize a similar product.)

Thanks also on dealing with Mr. "Halo". It was only because of replies from people like him I felt the need to restart the thread over and over.

 

[Julio Franco]

Well, thing is no matter what kind of responses you get, you must still abide by our forum rules.

Forgot to include in my above comment...
Even if you were to fix the trackball, it's a dead end in the longer run.
I have heard Kensington makes good trackballs, so try taking those a look.