I’ve today posted an update to the original 03 July 2007 article about the demise of the venerable Microsoft Trackball Explorer pointing device. Check out the original article, the update (following the original article), and the countless comments the post has received over the past year. What’s the matter with Microsoft?!
microsoft, microsoft trackball explorer, tbe, trackball
This entry was posted on 23 September 2008, 19:26 and is filed under Rants, Technical. You can follow any responses to this entry through RSS 2.0. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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#1 by oozbob on 02 November 2008 - 05:15
hi all you ballers,if like me,after years of use you have warn flats on your three bearings. i have fixed the problem,hears how disassemble your explorer drill holes in casing behind the barrings carefully.then press balls out from the other side and reinsert after rotating the bearings and spot with superglue on the side from which you drilled.this is very tricky for the average bod good luck.email me if you need help. [chris.j.smith@talktalk.net]
#2 by brent on 24 March 2009 - 11:55
I’m curious if anybody has tried using the TBE with Windows 7. Any problems? I’m still using my original TBE that’s over 7 years old. I’m currently running XP Pro SP3 but want to give Win 7 a try, but not without my TBE.
#3 by RedBarchetta on 23 April 2009 - 11:54
Hiya guys.
Just thought I’d add my experience.
My first TBE was bought around 2000 for the standard retail price – I think it was about £35 GBP.
This lasted me years, but finally gave up the fight with flattened ball bearings and dodgy buttons, so it’s been packed away since about 2006. I sourced a 2nd hand one on eBay UK for about the same price ( I was lucky!) and when it arrived it was like new. This is the one I’m currently using to date. Realising the rising price and rarity of these, I ’saved’ my search on eBay and got daily or weekly (as appropriate) emails from eBay telling me of new auctions. One appeared and I was fortunate enough to get in touch with the guy moments after it the auction appeared. There was little description but it was in a box, so I just went ahead and offered him £50 GBP to sell it me there and then – he agreed, stating he wasn’t concerned about the prices they went for, he needed fast cash to go visit friends, so I bank transferred the money and the trackball was sent. When it arrived I was shocked to see it was absolutely brand new. It’s now my VERY last resort back up!
Now, after Googling about I see an Asian guy on YouTube drilling out the three bearings on his TBE and replacing them. I also read about people ‘turning’ the bearings. So today, I thought what the hell. My fist TBE needs attention. I have two more, so I’ll give it a go.
This is EASY guys. I didn’t even take the TBE apart, I just used a tiny penknife to ‘pop’ the bearings out, turned them, and popped them back in. Lo and behold, the ball spins perfectly and works like a dream. Some attention to the intermittent micro switches and this will be a fully working TBE. Anyone with any doubts, don’t be afraid. They just pop out with a little persuasion. The ball isn’t ‘held’ in place any more like it used to be. It still falls out when the TBE is turned over, so I suspected there was maybe wear on the ball itself, but popping a brand new ball in made no difference.. Perhaps there’s wear elsewhere, or I have put the ball-bearings back in too far? I don’t know about that yet. I measured the bearings whilst out, and they appear to be 1.5mm in diameter. A local company do bags of ten of these bearings for literally pennies, so I’m thinking of replacing them as well as fixing the switches, and I’ll hopefully tackle the ball falling out issue along the way.
Interesting to note, the guy on YouTube seems to drill three new holes in the red casing and insert three (maybe four?) new ball bearings. This seems to me to be a great idea.
As a footnote (and as well as the ’save search’ tip on eBay) I posted on a forum I use to ask if by any chance anyone had one of these knocking about that I could buy for repair. Within moments a pleasant chap that I have already dealt with replies that he has one, and that is now on it’s way to me too! So now, I have 4 of these TBE’s. They ARE out there. They must be for the eBay guys to be able to offer spares and repair services, so keep looking.
Here are some pics:
First, the repaired TBE with the bearings turned, which took me all of 5 minutes.
http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/3112/img2682b.jpg
And secondly, just to be smart, my brand new one.
http://img179.imageshack.us/img179/703/img2683.jpg
http://img294.imageshack.us/img294/3739/img2686.jpg
Hope that’s helped anyone who’s thinking of attempting a repair. Go ahead, it’s a breeze.
P.S. Works no prob with Windows 7. I *think* I may have used XP compatibility mode on the install for the Intellipoint software, though I may just have used the MS Vista drivers, not sure. But it works exactly as it should on Win7.
#4 by RedBarchetta on 23 April 2009 - 14:15
Update:
Had the first TBE in bits and the switches were fine.
The one piece grey plastic that is the left and right click assembly had actually snapped inside (???) which was causing the intermittent clicks. A bit of superglue and some tape for rigidity and all’s working well again. Not bad for a 9 year old much used mouse.
And for a word of encouragement – the innards of these are very easy to work with. All bits could be replaced or re-fabricated (read botched even!). My biggest (albeit, slight) hindrance was the many screws of differing lengths. Mark these as you take them out and your re-assembly will go without a hitch. This 9 year old TBE is now my main mouse and is working alongside me as I speak.
#5 by minnickup on 04 July 2009 - 17:14
Greeting,
I used my.galagzee.com forum to get information for that i had in my class. This is an excellent site for this information
#6 by Ville Walveranta on 05 July 2009 - 18:41
Hi Minnickup! Thanks.. and I’m glad you’ve found the information here helpful!
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All: Had some server downtime week before last, but things should be back to normal again.
#7 by mattbrown on 20 November 2009 - 19:18
hi
your advice looks good, my one is playing up, so i have taken it apart, broke a couplf fittins for the small board on the base, but some sticky back foam holds it on place, and i do see for the 1st time i have looked, that the balsl are flat, will explain quite a lot, of what was wrong with this, and also i clean the wheel, as that has started to make webapges and the like move on their own accord, no to put the thing back together, ive not found a better mouse, and dont want ot have ot buy something else