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)
thank you. this instruction works for me.
@Davey: Wow, that’s really going at the solution head on. Thanks for the update. Glad it worked so well.
@Neuromancer: Thanks for the additional info on that plastic band being part of the switch/button. I had suspected it but wasn’t sure without opening the mouse completely. From the various replies, it sounds like some people have the switch problem whereas others have the electrical contact problem.
@ Peter. Hi, thanks for the fix. I have Desktop 8000. While this fixed the mouse issue, the Keyboard still keeps blinking red(less than 2 months old)Tried your method as well as replacing batteries, still no go.
Thanks,
This has been driving me nuts.
D.
@Ajaz: Hi, you’re the second person who has encountered this problem with the keyboard. What kind of batteries have you tried so far? Unfortunately, I don’t have one to test with but will see if anyone I know has one. If you have any more info, do let me know.
For what i heard and it seems to work here, is that you have to recharge the battery more often. When it blinks red, just get it off and place it again (mostly when it was empty). When you’ve done this like 10 times its charges up.
Recharge earlies to not get this problem.
@DG: Thanks for the info!
@Ajaz: Give DG’s suggestion a try and let us know how it works for your case.
Paper method didn’t work but inserting suitably-sized washers at the spring end of the battery compartment did.
It seems that the extra pressure improves the contact.
Both mouse and keyboard had red blinking light problem. Both now solved.
@Kevin: Lots of creativity brewing here 🙂
@ Peter/DG
The existing batteries just dont recharge through the Keyboard charger no matter what I do. I went and bought a regular NiMh Electrical Charger and 4 new NiMH 2000 batteries. The new batteries dont have the red LED blinking issue now when I insert and connect through the Keyboard Charger, probably because they are fully charged. I recharged the earlier batteries in the electric charger and they recharged and inserted them again. This time though they work, if I connect the charger, again after a few seconds the RED blinking LEDs are back.
Thanks for the tip! I now know where to look.
Awesome! It actually worked, thank you so much!
I wrapped the paper snuggly around the battery. Working now.
Thanks.
Thanks a lot, now I understand why it flashed red.
Can anybody say, how long it should be charged?
Thank you! Fixed my problem…
Depends how dead it is. Just let it charge until the throbbing green LED becomes a solid green one.
Wow thanks for the tip it worked like a charm on my 7000!
Thanks a lot! Paper on top of the battery and a thin piece of metal between the + pole and contact sorted it out.
Hi all,
I must have an issue with my battery as none of the solutions work. What battery do I need to buy to replace the current one?
It should say on the battery. Mine is a nickel metal-hydride (NiMH), size AAA.
Thanks Peter – So any rechargeable battery will do as long as it is the same kind as the one it came with originally?
@Dmitri: Yes, any one will do as long as it’s a AAA NiMH. Of course, higher mAh rating will last longer. Also, so-called “pre-charged” rechargeable batteries hold their charge longer.
I lost the instructions for my Microsoft Laser Mouse 7000. How do I open it to replace the battery? This is not the rechargeable model.
Thanks
Henry Richards
I’ve never seen a Microsoft Laser Mouse 7000 that wasn’t rechargeable. If it’s got a battery in it, there should be a battery compartment door on the bottom of the mouse.