Ran into a situation with a Microsoft Wireless Laser Mouse 7000 that also seems to plague the Wireless Laser Mouse 8000. When placing the Laser Mouse on its charging cradle, the LED on the top of the mouse slowly flashes green for a few seconds, as if it was successfully charging the NiMH battery inside, but then switches to rapidly flashing the LED red.
Taking the rechargeable battery out also results in the flashing red LED. So, the battery is clearly not being recharged. This is further corroborated by the short battery life.
I saw online that some people have found some sort of button underneath the battery and that it’s not being depressed. However, the mouse I was having problems with did not have such a button. There is a small hole under the battery, but no switch or button in the hole.
Upon further investigation, I noticed that the positive metal plate in the battery compartment of the mouse has two plastic rails holding it in place.
When putting the battery inside, the rails tend to press back against the top of the battery such that the battery’s tip doesn’t make good contact with the metal. Since the metal plate is tapered inward, it only makes reliable contact with the battery when the battery is pushed all the way down into the compartment.
As a result of this plastic getting in the way and preventing the battery from making contact with the positive conducting plate, of course it can’t recharge. It also explains why it only charges for a few seconds–just until the battery slips out of position and loses contact. However, the fix for this recharging problem is rather simple.
- Cut a small piece of paper a little shorter than the length of the battery and about twice as wide
- Fold the paper in half to achieve a thickness of two sheets of paper
- Place the battery into the battery compartment
- Put the paper on top of the battery
- Close the battery cover
The cover should go on snugly so that it firmly presses the battery into the compartment. That will enable the positive tip of the Laser Mouse’s battery to stay in contact with the positive conductor plate. If it doesn’t press firmly enough, add one more sheet that’s half the width of the first one (for a thickness of three sheets).
After applying this little fix, the problem mouse’s LED properly throbs green and charges up completely.
(Update: Added photos)
Thanks a lot! My mouse is alive again 🙂
Thank you for posting the solution! I bought this mouse for my husband, who is an avid gamer and has the messiest desk in town.. which makes for difficulty with wires on the desk. He didn’t seem to think the flashing red light while charging was a problem.. but I did. I’m an obsessive worrier.. it’s just what I do. So, I hopped on the ‘net and looked it up… and you were the first post I came to! I used the paper, and it’s been about thirty minutes and still steady throbbing green! Thank you!!! If this fix stops working, I will just spring for a new rechargeable battery; hopefully I won’t have to for a while though!
Thank you SO MUCH for the tip … specially for the pictures that truly express thousands of words.
Thanks again!
WOW! Thank You!!!
Thanks so much, this worked and took me less than 30 seconds to fix! Brilliant! 🙂
You’re welcome, John, Mike, Jenn, Fredy, Lucy and Cindy. Glad to see that the fix is working well.
Good information thanks. Based on your advice I put a blob of solder on the positive terminal of the battery to extend its length, and this did the trick.
Solder blob on the battery tip. Good idea.
I just bought this mouse yesterday after I told myself that unlike their software, Microsoft knows its way with hardware. But when even after a full night of “charging” the mouse refused to work, I started worrying (and looking for a troubleshoot using keyboard only :p).
So thanks a lot Peter for posting this excellent explanation and simple solution. So far it works for me 🙂
You’re welcome, Bezalel. I have a Logitech cordless mouse (don’t remember the model at the moment) at work and it began to intermittently fail to move the cursor. So, I applied this same fix to it and the mouse works fine now. Looks like loose batteries are pretty common in mice these days.
Thank you very much!!
I’ve got my 7000 for over a year and I’ve just basically abandoned it after it suddenly stopped working. I decided to take it out and try fix it, but some reason it wouldn’t charge. I appreciate this a lot! Thank you again.
After trying many of the suggestions above, I replaced the mouse. With the new cradle that came with the new mouse, both the new and old mouse charge properly.
The problem was with the cradle that came with the first mouse.
-JaG-
Just found this site and followed the instructions with my Microsoft 7000 mouse. After some experimenting I can position the battery so that it makes good contact both ends. No need for folded paper (so far). Also turned off the mouse via switch underneath while charging . . though probably not necessary. Thanks! I had that sinking feeling I had bought a dud . .
Such a simple fix, but such a big help! I have the 8000 desktop that I recently purchased new on eBay, was having this issue and figured I had wasted my money. Low and behold, a simple peice of paper fixed my issue. Thank you so mcuh!
Wow, two keyboard & mouse combo’s returned to the store and this was the perfect solution. Thanks for saving me yet another futile trip.
Hi there, the problem I have is that when I place the MS mouse on the charging pad it heats up. It gets very HOT, not sure why so now I just change out the rechargeable battery when it turns red. Also does anyone suffer from lack of connection? I mean when using the mouse it sometimes stops moving and just sits there? Thanks for any input regarding this matter.
Does the charging pad heat up or the mouse? Usually, too much current being drawn because of a short circuit is the cause. If the mouse is getting hot and you still get that with a different battery, there might be a short circuit in the mouse.
The mouse gets HOT you can feel the heat through the top of the mouse and the bottom part is even hotter. So like I said I just keep changing the battery. I personally only use the Sanyo Eneloop, what about the part of it losing connection to the bluetooth doggle? Can you help with that?
That’s not good. I’d return the mouse if it’s relatively new. Otherwise, replace it. It should not get hot like that. The heat may also be related to the problem of the mouse not responding (overheating).
Battery is not charging. The NiMH rechargeable battery that I use is 1mm longer than a non-chargeable battery hence there should not be a bad contact issue at terminal +. Tried the paper method but doesn’t work. I suspect the 2 pins underneath the mouse do not actually contact the 2 recessed points in the charging cradle.
Zaxler, get a couple pieces of wire and try connecting those points between the mouse and the charging cradle. Then, you’ll know if it’s a bad connection. You’ll want to clean off the connections too either with a pencil eraser or fine sand paper (could be tricky getting to the ones on the mouse).
There is no charging indicator blinking so you never know if the battery is being charged…until a few hours later you turn the mouse on and see if the indicator light glows green. I turned the mouse power off doing the re-charge.
Also try cleaning all the contacts, inside the battery compartment, on the outside of the mouse and the charging pad. If they’re oxidized, charging won’t work.
All contacts look shiny and not oxidized. Can’t the charger bring a NiMH battery from dead to alive? Battery doesn’t even show the red glow after blinking red a while – been used only 2 weeks. Not really sure if battery or the charger is dead. Any thoughts?