Alienware TactX Mouse Repair for button problem

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Alienware TactX Mouse Repair for button problem

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I have been a pretty satisfied owner of the Alienware TactX Mouse for about 2 years now but recently I had some problems with the left mouse button on registering with a continued hold. It seems to activate repeatedly with a hold down. This would manifest as losing a window during a resize, or multiple clicks in games. I first tried blowing some compressed air into the front of the mouse where the button lies. This seemed to help somewhat but did not alleviate the issue. I did some hunting on the Internet and it seems like other people have had similar problems. I decided to take the mouse apart and give it a good cleaning. It's difficult to know where to open it up as the screws are not readily visible. After doing this it seems to have solved the problem. I took some pictures so hopefully this will help others who may be having the same issue.

Items needed:

Small Phillips screwdriver
X-acto knife or razor blade.
Compressed air can (I used "Falcon - Dust Off" brand "Electronics Duster").

Instructions:
mouse isometric view
mouse isometric view
mouseA.jpg (120.02 KiB) Viewed 3800 times
First, flip the mouse upside down. You will notice 4 slip pads. These are glued on and there will be a total of 5 screws under 3 of the largest pads (top, bottom and right in the picture below). It is difficult to peel them off with your fingers so I used an X-acto knife to get under the corner of the pad so as to lift them off enough for me to grab easily with my fingers. Just give them a good pull, they will come off. Try not to get the adhesive side dirty as you will need to stick these back on at the end.
mouse underside
mouse underside
mouseB.jpg (120.92 KiB) Viewed 3800 times
Here is the mouse with the stickers off:
screws exposed
screws exposed
mouse1.jpg (147.41 KiB) Viewed 3800 times
After unscrewing the 5 screws you can pull the body apart without any difficult. Below is a picture of the inside of the top cover. Good time to do a general blowout of the inside to clear dust and fuzz.
top cover inside
top cover inside
mouse2.jpg (182.14 KiB) Viewed 3800 times
The next picture is of the top portion with the scroll wheel and button assembly. This is the area that will require the most cleaning. Give it a good couple of blasts with the compressed air and you may need to manually pull and dirt or dust of these areas if they remain.
mouse top inside
mouse top inside
mouse3.jpg (148.18 KiB) Viewed 3800 times
Here is another picture showing both left and right mouse button sensors and scroll wheel.
mouse top inside 2
mouse top inside 2
mouse4.jpg (156.72 KiB) Viewed 3800 times
Once it's all cleaned out go ahead and put it all back together with the 5 screws. Carefully put back the adhesive strips into their proper places and apply some pressure. The adhesive they used seems to be pretty good so they should not be loose.

Overall this is a very comfortable mouse and it's a shame to throw away if this 5 minute cleaning process adds some more life to the product. Hope this helped someone.
-admin
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Main stereo: ART Amplifier and ET7s2. 2nd stereo: PV-14L and MV-55. Previously Owned: PF2 preamp, Evolution 2000 Amp, PV-12AL preamp, D/A-2b Vacuum-Tube Digital Processor.
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