Much to my surprise, removing the black plastic rails allows my Apple Magic Mouse to properly track motion when I slide it around. The black plastic rails have been problematic for years, as they kept falling off. These rails are not really necessary, as long as you use the mouse on top of a cloth mouse pad (otherwise you’ll hear annoying scratching sounds as your mouse slides over your table top.
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Much to my surprise, ***removing the black plastic rails*** allows my Apple Magic Mouse to properly track motion when I slide it around. The black plastic rails have been problematic for years, as they kept falling off. These rails are not really necessary, as long as you use the mouse on top of a cloth mouse pad (otherwise you’ll hear annoying scratching sounds as your mouse slides over your table top.
I am not certain why removing the rails is beneficial, but I have two guesses:
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# The optical tracking system may have become myopic, to the point where the Magic Mouse can no longer detect motion unless it is slightly closer to the desk surface.
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# The optical tracking system may have become myopic in its old age, to the point where the Magic Mouse can no longer detect motion unless it is slightly closer to the desk surface.
# After falling off of the mouse and being put back on again for many years, the black plastic rails have become warped and now hold the Magic Mouse too high above the table top so that the mouse can no longer detect motion.
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In any event, removing the black plastic rails solves the problem. I am delighted to once again have a working Magic Mouse.
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In any event, removing the black plastic rails solves the problem. I am delighted to once again have a working Magic Mouse.
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***Update:***
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After my Magic Mouse (deliberately) went off the rails as described above, it worked fine for a while but then had trouble tracking movement. It still responded to gestures such as scrolling. Eventually I discovered that when operating the mouse without the black plastic rails, the optical sensor is more prone to pick up lint that interferes with motion detection. Blowing the lint out restored my mouse to normal operation.
I found a simple fix that works great for me.
Much to my surprise, removing the black plastic rails allows my Apple Magic Mouse to properly track motion when I slide it around. The black plastic rails have been problematic for years, as they kept falling off. These rails are not really necessary, as long as you use the mouse on top of a cloth mouse pad (otherwise you’ll hear annoying scratching sounds as your mouse slides over your table top.
I am not certain why removing the rails is beneficial, but I have two guesses:
# The optical tracking system may have become myopic, to the point where the Magic Mouse can no longer detect motion unless it is slightly closer to the desk surface.
# After falling off of the mouse and being put back on again for many years, the black plastic rails have become warped and now hold the Magic Mouse too high above the table top so that the mouse can no longer detect motion.
In any event, removing the black plastic rails solves the problem. I am delighted to once again have a working Magic Mouse.