(Solved) How can I fix my PC mouse?

cmartinez

Joined Jan 17, 2007
8,218
About the only thing you can do is rewire the cable.
That was my point in post #12, but if he wants to rewire the mouse, then I see no harm done, as implied by @djsfantasi.
Anyway, I suggest he starts by checking for continuity in the cables, connecting the mm's probes on the extremes of each wire, while gently jigling and yanking them at the same time, to see if one of them is internally broke.
 

Thread Starter

rambomhtri

Joined Nov 9, 2015
557
Yeah, I've tested in in many other computers, 3 laptops and 2 PC's, and it happened the same error. So the mouse is clearly damaged in some way. I'm pretty sure it's hardware, cause what can cause a mouse to connect or reconnect suddenly?

Now I got to remove the USB female from the PCI. How can I remove it if I dont' have a pump?
 

wayneh

Joined Sep 9, 2010
17,496
It'd be easier to buy a new one than to borrow one off a board. I don't understand why you need the female socket? One trick I've used is to scavenge a female connector from a USB extension cable. These are male on one end and female on the other. You might be able to find one in the junk.
 

cmartinez

Joined Jan 17, 2007
8,218
Yeah, I've tested in in many other computers, 3 laptops and 2 PC's, and it happened the same error. So the mouse is clearly damaged in some way. I'm pretty sure it's hardware, cause what can cause a mouse to connect or reconnect suddenly?

Now I got to remove the USB female from the PCI. How can I remove it if I dont' have a pump?
You don't need to remove the USB female just yet. I suggest you start by checking for internal cable breaks, as I described in my previous post.
 

Thread Starter

rambomhtri

Joined Nov 9, 2015
557
I need a female USB so I can plug the mouse USB cable in and then with the multimeter check for continuity from the mouse's IC to the female pin, and do this with the 4 pins, and check if the cable is OK and if there are any shorts too (may be D- and D+ are shorted?).

I don't have a USB extension cable... Well, I only have one, but I don't want to destroy it, lol. I prefer to use the female USB from my 14 years old PC.

So how do I desolder the female USB from the PCI?
 
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Thread Starter

rambomhtri

Joined Nov 9, 2015
557
Yeah, I know, I ordered that 2 weeks ago, but it still has not arrived, only my soldering station and my solder. Any other way?
 

ian field

Joined Oct 27, 2012
6,536
Most likely lose connection.
The connectors are usually pretty secure, dodgy RoHS solder is always a possibility, the wires can fatigue inside the insulation - usually right where it comes out of the mouse through the strain relief gland.

A worn or dirty USB connector is also possible.
 

Roderick Young

Joined Feb 22, 2015
408
I need a female USB so I can plug the mouse USB cable in and then with the multimeter check for continuity from the mouse's IC to the female pin, and do this with the 4 pins, and check if the cable is OK and if there are any shorts too (may be D- and D+ are shorted?).

I don't have a USB extension cable... Well, I only have one, but I don't want to destroy it, lol. I prefer to use the female USB from my 14 years old PC.

So how do I desolder the female USB from the PCI?
It's not entirely necessary to unsolder the connector to use it for testing. You could plug your mouse into it, while the connector is still soldered into the board, and do your continuity tests that way. Put one probe on the pad under the connector on the board, and one probe at the far end of the mouse cable. Wires are usually either good or bad, so with your ohmmeter, you're looking for basically zero resistance (or maybe less than an ohm) for a good wire. If there is some resistance higher than a few ohms, and you are testing the correct wire, then the wire is open.

If you want to be really fancy about it, you could unsolder the mouse cable from the mouse side, and test it that way. In that case, you should get either less than 1 ohm, and never see any other resistance except infinity.

Additional information, not always true: the part of the cable that usually fails is the part that flexes the most. On a set of earphones, that is near the plug. On a mouse, that's probably going to be at one end of the cable, not in the middle.
 

Thread Starter

rambomhtri

Joined Nov 9, 2015
557
Guys, I'm setting the temperature to 300ºC and the solder in the PCI does not melt. It stays solid. My solder melts easily on the tip, but the solidified solder in the PCI does not become liquid after various seconds of contact to the tip...
 

Thread Starter

rambomhtri

Joined Nov 9, 2015
557
I've turned up the temp to 320ºC and added solder to the tip, and it finally became liquid, but nothing, I can't desolder the female cause the solder stays there... :(

I know I don't need to desolder it in order to test it the mouse, but I was trying to take it out cause I wanna have a female USB tester. When my solder sucker arrives, I'm gonna give it a try again.

So... this is what I get (values in ohm) when I test each pin. I touch with one lead the cable through the solder face in the IC of the mouse, and the other cable through the soldered face in the PCI:
Untitled.png

In the IC of the mouse, I see 4 different cables, but I don't know where each cable goes in the USB plug- But I think we can solve that by looking at the USB female results. In the USB female, colors go like this, If I'm not wrong:
Red: pin1 +5V
White: pin2 D-
Green: pin3 D+
Black: pin4 Ground

I've tried it with the beep mode of the multimeter, but I haven't succeed with the green "D+". May be the green cable is failing from the IC to the USB?

I've tested the green cable soldered area from one side of the IC and the other side of the IC, and it beeps. I've tested 2 different female USB. So what it seems to be is that the green cable "D+" is broken in the middle or the USB contact is not working?
 
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ian field

Joined Oct 27, 2012
6,536
I need a female USB so I can plug the mouse USB cable in and then with the multimeter check for continuity from the mouse's IC to the female pin, and do this with the 4 pins, and check if the cable is OK and if there are any shorts too (may be D- and D+ are shorted?).

I don't have a USB extension cable... Well, I only have one, but I don't want to destroy it, lol. I prefer to use the female USB from my 14 years old PC.

So how do I desolder the female USB from the PCI?
When I salvage stuff like that from scrap boards, I use a pencil blowtorch - but that destroys the board.

To remove a damaged USB socket with (hopefully) minimal damage to the PCB - its generally easiest to carefully dismantle the socket in situ.

If you can unpick the tin-plated steel jacket, the few solder lugs are relatively easier to unsolder. When all is left is the plastic internal header, flowing enough solder on so all the pins can be heated at once, usually allows the pins to be eased out.

On some *REALLY* cheap connectors, you can pry out the pins one by one by melting the solder for each as you go along.
 

Thread Starter

rambomhtri

Joined Nov 9, 2015
557
When I salvage stuff like that from scrap boards, I use a pencil blowtorch - but that destroys the board.

To remove a damaged USB socket with (hopefully) minimal damage to the PCB - its generally easiest to carefully dismantle the socket in situ.

If you can unpick the tin-plated steel jacket, the few solder lugs are relatively easier to unsolder. When all is left is the plastic internal header, flowing enough solder on so all the pins can be heated at once, usually allows the pins to be eased out.

On some *REALLY* cheap connectors, you can pry out the pins one by one by melting the solder for each as you go along.
I've tried it with the soldering iron, but once I melt the solder if one pin, it remains there. I need to suck it with a solder sucker. The one by one method didn't work either.

What about my table and final results?
 

ian field

Joined Oct 27, 2012
6,536
I've tried it with the soldering iron, but once I melt the solder if one pin, it remains there. I need to suck it with a solder sucker. The one by one method didn't work either.

What about my table and final results?
Its very difficult to clean through plated holes with a solder sucker - why I didn't suggest it!

First off the solder sucker has recoil that can knock solder pads off if you're not careful.

It could take a few goes to get even most of the solder out (fresh flux helps) with the possibility of overheating the pad so it comes off. If you leave even a tiny web of old solder in the hole, it can rip the through plating out when you pull the socket - grip each pin with pointed nose pliers and see if it can bee loosened with mild force, make sure all of them move freely before trying to pull the socket.
 

Thread Starter

rambomhtri

Joined Nov 9, 2015
557
Yeah, yeah, the female USB topic is clear. When my solder sucker arrives, I'll give it a try.

What about the real topic, XD, I have a mouse to fix. Since the green cable doesn't seems to make it to the USB plug, should I replace the whole USB cable (fortunately I have an extra USB cable)?

Or do you think it can't only be the green cable?
 

ian field

Joined Oct 27, 2012
6,536
Yeah, yeah, the female USB topic is clear. When my solder sucker arrives, I'll give it a try.

What about the real topic, XD, I have a mouse to fix. Since the green cable doesn't seems to make it to the USB plug, should I replace the whole USB cable (fortunately I have an extra USB cable)?

Or do you think it can't only be the green cable?
Fatigued cables were common when I repaired VGA monitors for a living.

I used a H4 headlamp bulb and a 12V SLA battery to continuity test the signal cables - it was guaranteed to finish off any that were going to fail soon anyway.

Probably don't need that much current for a mouse cable - maybe an indicator bulb.

And isolate the cable from the mouse first!
 
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