I’ve noticed my performance at “twitch” computer games has fallen off of late. Rather than blaming my aging eyesight and/or reflexes, I’ve singled out my old Razer 3lue Mazer gaming mouse as the likely culprit.
This mouse (model EMS 601) is about seven years old and, until recently, has given more than satisfactory performance.
Lately I’ve noticed that it tracks erratically and skips around the screen, and sometimes ignores right mouse clicks–catastrophic when right click = “block incoming attack”!
I could’ve switched back to a wired mouse, or even bought a new wireless gaming mouse, but first decided to try and restore this one.
As you can see, it shows the grime and battle scars of heavy use over the years (much like its owner). I decided my best course of action was to take it apart and clean all the switches and contacts.
Unfortunately, I had no idea how.
Removing the batteries exposed one screw, which I promptly removed. No result.
I found two more screws hiding under the rear skid pads, and peeled the Teflon ™ tape back enough to remove them.
I felt the top move as I removed the last screw, then gingerly separated the mouse into its top and bottom assemblies.
After blowing out a couple ounces of dust and cat hair, I found the ribbon that connects the light board in the top of the mouse to the main board partially unplugged.
I don’t think I did that while taking it apart, and in any case I doubt it had anything to do with the issues I’d been having. I reseated it and pressed on.
Since I wanted to clean under the mouse buttons, I removed the light board and light panel from the top of the mouse.
After peering at the top for several minutes, I was able to work out how the buttons were attached to the frame.
The top two arrows in the preceding picture point at the bottom sides of the mouse buttons: these are designed both to activate the little sensors in the bottom half of the mouse AND to hold the buttons on the frame.
The bottom arrows point at two more clips that help hold the buttons on.
I carefully released all four and removed the buttons (actually just a molded plastic shell, shown in red) from the frame.
It wasn’t actually as bad under there as I expected: another ounce or so of cat hair, plus accumulated grease and Doritos (r) grit, etc. Easily dealt with.
I wiped everything down with cotton swabs dipped in rubbing alcohol and carefully pieced it all back together.
I suspected oil and debris in the mouse were the main culprits, but I stacked the odds in my favor by installing fresh batteries and moving the USB receiver from the back of the PC to a spare USB 3.0 port up front.
Time for the moment of truth: I rebooted the computer and gingerly moved the mouse. Everything worked as advertised, with noticeable improvements in tracking precision and response to mouse clicks.
While I didn’t take any formal measurements, given the improved “feel” of the mouse I’m declaring this project a success.
Should be just the thing for those marathon gaming sessions…