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)
@Yasen: Crepe tape is a great idea. Thanks for sharing!
Just fixed two of these (8000 series) by wrapping the sticky strip from a post-it note round the battery.
Note: on the 8000 you have to position the note carefully so that it helps to depress the curved metal spring (battery present sensor) under the middle of the battery. If you place the note too far back towards the -ve end of the battery, it will hit the plastic shelf that the -ve end sits on – this will prevent the battery from depressing the sensor, which will fail to correct the problem.
Thanks for the solution!
Works great! Thank you very very much!
my post 191
i have had the same problem, again tried most of the above solutions but to no avail. what worked this time was i removed the battery and exchanged it with a rechargable battery out of my house phone for 10 days. that allowed the original battery to go through a few good charging cycles. swopped them back all is now back to normal.
WoW! Thanks so much for this information. The paper trick worked for me. 🙂
For the wireless laser mouse 8000, the metal band inside the battery compartment is not the problem, nor is the terminal length. the positive terminal firmly connects to the battery terminal without anything blocking it. The metal clip that pushes down with the battery has a thermal sensor behind it that senses when the battery gets too hot.
I have discovered that with the 8000 mouse, the problem doesn’t lie in the mouse itself, but in the charging cradel. try elevating the front of the mouse a 1/4″ and magically it will start charging again! think corrosion builds up on the terminals between the cradel and mouse, or they just dont push down enough to make firm contact in its natural position.
@Ken: That’s a new twist. Thanks for the feedback. Different people encounter different issues, so it’s great to have new potential solutions to try.
Thanks for the tip. Mine had this problem out of the box. After trimming the extra wrapping from around the positive lead and implementing the paper trick, I finally got rid of that stupid blinking light.
Why is this not working for me? I started with three times thick post-its and i’m up to 5 thick and its still giving me the red blinking light of death 🙁
Another reason for this issue is rust that gets on the two charger metal plates that come into touch with the mouse. I used a cotton stick to clean them and voila its working again!
@Crystal: The metal contacts inside the battery compartment, in the bottom of the mouse or the charging station, might need cleaning or the battery could need replacing.
Hi – excellent diagnosis and rectfication on that type of mouse. I have a Microsoft Natural Wireless Laser Mouse 7000. It is slightly different to the one described in this thread, but there is not a discussion/thread specific to the issue I have.
The Keyboard and Mouse are paired to a USB dongle. They use regular AAA batteries.
I can click the reset button underneath the mouse, the green light on top comes on for a few seconds and then fades off. This is how it should be.
The mouse is not working. The receiving USB stick has a tiny led that flickers when either the keyboard or mouse is operated. It’s a tiny light and you have to look carefully to see it.
It flickers for the keyboard but not for the mouse anymore.
I have tried all the trouble shooter guide steps and everything MS recommends: Put the stick in other USB sockets, reinstall, etc.
Nothing. The mouse throbs the green light when it moves, which I’m pretty sure it didn’t do before hand.
So, good batteries, good keyboard, non-functioning mouse.
Thanks.
@Jim: Hmm. I don’t have one of these, but it does sound like the problem is with the mouse. Do you know anyone else with the same keyboard and mouse combo? If so, you can try pairing your mouse with their USB dongle and vice versa to determine if the problem is the mouse or the dongle.
Interesting thread I had the same trouble with a 7000 years ago. I contacted Microsoft about it and they sent me a new set and did not ask for the old one to be returned. I now have 2 working for the price of one, every now and then I win.
nothing works for mine. I bought this one because I broke my ms 6000, wich had two non rechargeable batteries and it was lasting mor than a year! My solution for the 7000 is to use rechargeable batteries in a universal charger and throw the 7000 craddle in the garbage!
Problem:
——–
Microsoft Wireless Mobile Mouse 8000 with flashing red LED.
Reason:
——-
The problem is caused by the Rechargeable battery provided by Microsoft. It`s slightly longer than normal rechargeable ones and pushes the +voltage plate, forcing it to loose contact with the PCB.
Solution:
———
Replace the battery with other rechargeable one (make sure its no more than 1000mAh and it will be charged normally).
I used Duracell Rechargeable 1000mAh battery, works like a charm.
I prefer to use different battery and not to modified the mice, because the battery may loose the contact with the pads when it’s in charging process.
Ni-MH batteries doesn’t like to be charged partly, they need full charge and full discharge. The logic inside the Mice is engineered to stop the charging process when it needs (Full Charged) and to start it when the battery voltage is not lower than 0.9V (Full Discharged). Otherwise they suffer from memory effect and they loses the charge holding abilities.
Microsoft Wireless Mobile Mouse 8000 LED status / states:
———————————————————
Red Solid: Internal PCB or Logic error.
Red Flashing: Alert state – No battery detected, mice working on USB cable charge lead.
Green Flashing: Charging state – Battery charging / Working on USB cable charge lead.
Green Solid: Normal State – Battery full charged / operating on Battery.
Kind Regards
Gyunay Anach
IT-Solve Technician
Dood :3 you’re just awesome for this!! Thanks a lot!
had this problem for a while, then finally google’d a solution and found your site. not surprisingly MSFT doesn’t have this level of support on their site. added the paper and it appear to be now charging. thanks!
i had same problem with the 8000 and found that the battery type and contact was the problem. the so called switch in the 8000 is not a switch but a temp sensor to tell the charge circuit if the battery gets too hot.duracell and sanyo enerloop seem to work best, sanyo enerloop last a lot longer. contact with positive is the main prob i have had, but all three of mine are ok. just have to clean the positive now n then,also have gently tweaked the positive to get better contact.
Wow, NOTHING worked for me on my brand new Laser Mouse 7000 (flashing red when placed on the charging pad) until I replaced the NiMH AAA battery that came in the package with a Panasonic NiMH AAA battery. I might expect this from some cheap knock-off brand, but really disappointed in Microsoft!
Hey. I need your advice. I bot MS 8000 wireless on market but without special batteries or Bluetooth thing. I am asking , would it work with ordinary batteries and another bluetooth adaptor. I would be glad hearing from u.
Thanks to @ll!
Got same fail with MS WIRELESS LASER MOUSE 7000.
Doesn´t work with paper, tweaked/cleaned contacts etc. …
I resoldered all power concerning spots on circuit board.
For a few days it works.
But sometimes it falls back to the f*****g flashing red light while charging.
I´m thinking about replacing the original rechargeable battery by a Duracell/VARTA/Sanyo or what ever is better than original MS rubbish 😉
With regards from Germany
Reiner
@Nazar: It will work with ordinary batteries, but you will have to get a bluetooth adaptor that’s specifically for a Laser Mouse 8000.
Brilliant!!! It really works!
Hi all,
have been to this thread around a year ago and was happy to implement what is suggested here.
This seemed to work, but not as good as i would wish it did. Now i am still struggling with the damn mouse each time the battery needs recharging. it flashes green at once, but within a minute or so it suddenly starts flashing red and does this forever, without actually charging. The funny thing is that i actually like using the mouse and also the keyboard, so far the best input i have owned (i had several types of logitech, one of them is the one i am falling back to when the damn mouse gives me the red flash). actually this is what motivates me when i am not putting all my force when smashing the damn thing for it to start charging properly.
So my point here is that the problem doesn’t seem to be the electrical contact one. strange that this solves the issue for so many people, but for me this solution is not enough. i still makes it charge eventually, so i am repeating all of the actions below in an endless loop of rage:
– check the battery and the push down system (paper and some other material to absorb vibration)
– turn off/on
– say dirty words
– hit it hard on the top
– press firmly to the charging pad
– cry and please the goddess of all mouses
– tie to the charging pad with an elastic string
– go do smth else for a while
– plug in another mouse and put it right next to the M$ one
at some point, something of the above makes the mouse continue flashing green and then the best thing i can do is leave it alone and not even look at it.