[SanFrancisco]

This morning my trackball stopped working. It would not scroll. When I rotated the ball,the trackball would spin and light up, but the rotation would not move the "cursor."

I then did the battery reset, confident that such procedure would fix the problem. On reboot, problem was still there.

Remembering that multiple resets may be necessary, I pulled the battery again and on reboot, NOTHING.

So then I got a paper towel, sprayed some Windex on it, and rubbed it on the trackball. I rotated the trackball all around with the paper towel, for about 30 seconds.

End result, trackball is working fine now.

I don't know what happened. The trackball went inoperable from last night to this morning, indoors in a clean environment [my residence]. When rotating the trackball I did not feel anything that might have been interfering with the trackball's operation.

But on looking at the ball with a jeweler's loupe I did see microfibers and debris. the kind of junk we cannot see with the naked eye.

So maybe something got lodged inside that upset the optical sensor [assuming that the trackball has an optical sensor and the ball sits on rollers].

So if your trackball stops working, but appears fine, break out the Windex.

[Damager]

Probably a piece of dust or lint caused the problem. I've had this happen once, and the thing I did to fix it was shoot some canned air right on the trackball for several seconds - this fixed the problem right away...

[Marmalade]

This happens with my Apple Mighty mouse trackball also. A quick clean fixes it.

[dg613]

I had a similar problem where it wouldn't scroll up (down and to the sides worked)....what I did was push the trackball down all the way and kept rolling...I could tell something, not sure what, got in there. After a bit of holding down the trackball and rolling at the same time, the problem was resolved

[Pearl]

yeah when i run out of windex i use some .......

[TheBigNewt]

I had it happen too, wouldn't scroll up. I used air and maybe Windex, fixed it fast, no recurrences. Leave it to SF to have a jeweler's loupe laying around, probably in the same box as the myriad gizmo cases he has!
Watch, now Seidio will come out with their version of "Applesauce" (a scratch remover for iPods) to clean the ball.

[AngelJo008]

Originally Posted by Pearl

yeah when i run out of windex i use some............

that just didn't sound right

[griffjnr]

Originally Posted by Pearl

yeah when i run out of windex i use some.........

Yuk, now I feel a little ill.....

[MythmbHurts]

the trackball works on magnet sensors not optical. which RIM thought would not gunk up and "stick" like is has been doing to a few people. I took mine apart several times and there are 4 barrel looking round magnets that spin on very small shafts if something gets inside between the shaft and the magent it will stop spinning and there for not work right. the windex is a good idea since it will break up grease and grime that would stop these rollers from rolling