Microsoft sculpt mouse - left click works intermittently

Question

A little over a year ago I bought a Microsoft Sculpt keyboard + mouse wireless set, and I was very happy with it. However, in the past few months, the mouse has been acting up.

The left click doesn't work properly. Very often I need to left-click two or three times before my computer notices that I even clicked anything. The right click works fine.

This problem isn't consistent: the left click misbehaves for several days, and then suddenly works fine again for several days. Then it starts acting up again for a while, and so on. It doesn't seem to worsen, though.

I tried setting the right button as the primary one, so that typical left-click actions are done with the right button and vice-versa. Result: left-click actions work fine when associated with the right button, right-click actions work badly when associated with the left.

It seems to be a matter of sensitivity. A light touch is enough to trigger the right click. The same touch on the left button amounts to nothing, I have to click much harder on the left button so that my computer will register the click.

The batteries are not the problem. I replaced them with fresh ones. Besides, the mouse LED would flash red if the batteries were dead.

I tried uninstalling, reinstalling, updating the drivers: it didn't help at all.

I opened the mouse and got right to the circuit board, where the actual buttons are. Pressing the actual left button directly seems to work better, however there doesn't seem to be anything broken or out of order inside the mouse.

After opening and putting the mouse back together, it kept working badly just like before. Then, a few days later afterwards, it started working properly for a few days. Now it is malfunctioning again.

I tested it on a different computer with the same operating system (Windows 10). It seems to misbehave in the exact same way.

I tried another mouse on my computer, worked like a charm. This other mouse was a regular, inexpensive mouse. However, I would prefer to use the Sculpt mouse because of the ergonomics.

This seems to suggest that the mouse is somehow faulty, and I did find other people complaining about faulty left click with the Sculpt mouse specifically, but I'm confused because as far as I can tell, for other people the malfunction is persistent, whereas in my case it comes and goes in stretches of several days. I have no idea what might be triggering it.

Any ideas?

Answer 1

It's definitely a hardware issue and you can't do much to fix it.
If it's still under warranty you might give it a try to have it fixed (most probably replaced).

A few years ago I had a Microsoft mouse and I was quite disappointed by the quality, I'd suggest just to try another brand

Answer 2

I'm now on my 3rd sculpt mouse for just this reason, and realising I'm going to need to buy a 4th brought me here.

However I've just found this page, which suggests it could be a dust issue and provides cleaning advice.

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/microsoft-sculpt-ergonomic-mouse-left-click-not/6301bb84-bd1a-4ddf-b9ae-c342da2c598b

Very frustrating, but maybe manageable now.

Answer 3

Similar story with me. And the story mimicks almost exactly my experience with the smaller earlier non-ergo model. On both models: The right mouse button goes...requires harder clicks...and then the left starts to go and also develops has a double click issue on the presses that work. The issue is build quality with the earlier smaller model(the button, not the hammer, literally gets pushed down over time..u can fix by putting small thin paper square over the button the hammer hits), with the ergo sometimes reconnecting and just opening the device manager settings for the mouse will fix everything 'for a few minutes' (indicating connection problem). I'm still really confused cause I get misleading instances of connection vs hardware problem with the ergo..it might be a combination frankly. I'll include a rant of information below, but the clearest solution with the ergo is if you can't return it or do warranty buy another one. If you feel comfy removing the lid you can try putting a tiny square from a post-it note overtop of the button the hammer hits (this might be too thick and u might need thinner paper like graph paper tho).

The posts claiming a dust problem...having used these mice for years I believe this is a lie, and they are making a generality about something they don't know anything about. If you look at how these mechanics and material work...having junk between the hammer and the pin is clearly NOT the problem, if anything having junk between them is going to fix the problem. And having seen what the pin and hammer look like and checking them on the earlier sculpt model...there was never any visible junk there, and in that model it was way easier for junk to fall into that area. Dust isn't going to change anything at all on this mouse other than potentially the tracking sensor, the mechanical mouse presses won't be affected by dust and even dead skin cells. If your key is registering all the time but just sticking and double clicking...maybe something melted or the hammer broke and the plastic is catching on the pin....that's the only thing that could cause it unless u spilt some kind of liquid.

For any kind of hard-usage aka gaming I suggest buying a different mouse cause it'll wear the ergo out easily cause the build quality is bad (esp on the right button, if u click it hard the whole thing cracks and offsets as if u broke it...it's easy to see why the right button even tho its used less breaks first). If I could do it again I'd buy two ergo upfront and a gaming mouse. It's hard to stress the comfort I feel with the ergo compared to the 10 other types of mice I've tested when trying to find a good mouse. It is so comfy, I've never felt pain using it. I tried a bunch of gaming logitech mice, the logitech g305 was the best of the bunch even the more expensive models had so many defects in them it was ridiculous...but the 305 is for SMALL HANDS period, it hurts to use after an hour or two otherwise, I still kept it though cause it was a reliable backup to have and as icky as its scrollwheel might be it was the best out of the 4 other logitech gaming mouse I tried.

The ergo's scroll wheel still works wonderfully. When I bought it though the first model's scroll wheel wasn't working properly...it had a weird skip to it. I returned for another and bought another for safety....and one of the two i bought had a bit of a weird brown tinge it was odd, the other didn't have any issues tho so I kept it and have been using it for over 3 years now without any handpain. Again, the sensor on the mouse is horrible, the build quality is horrible...but the mousewheel and mousebutton and grip/feel are so good compared to anything else on the market that you won't care for anything other than gaming.

Also with the smaller non-ergo sculpt model...I'll note that everything is gone on it. So while I got another 1-2 year out of it by doing the paper thing, everything is gone even the sensor at this point...it's the least functioning mouse imaginable....it doesn't track right anymore...nothing presses right anymore...it's completely unusable, a trackpad is way superior. It's the same underlying build and look as the ergo...probably uses the same components as well, so it's just a sign of things to come with microsoft mice so always buy two and keep one in storage...no they won't release a new model that fixes issues...if anything new models of mice are just getting worse, so always buy two.

On the Ergo sometimes I uninstall it and reboot the computer and reinstall it...and don't move it physically much from the position I reinstalled from and it for some reason works like its brand new...alll buttons work on the firrst press (my right button never works on the first presss anymore I have to whack it a few times for it to start working again).

Answer 4

I had similar issue, left click worked intermittently (8/10), what is interesting is you could clearly hear the click as normal, I removed top cover and with screw driver I could push button with 100% response so what worked for me was to fiddle a bit with rubber piece, I kind of streched it down towards center of the mouse, after reassembling top cover it worked fine, perhaps the rubber piece gets misaligned over time. anyways easy fix, fave fun.

Answer 5

I've had the same issue. It would work if I pressed hard enough, but not otherwise. So I just put a piece of paper on top of the left click button under the cover. It works much better now.

Some people suggest resoldering as well.

Answer 6

I had a real hard time getting this. I was thinking the card was pushing on the latch but thats not it. The card is pulling on the shell which pulls the latch out.

Answer 7

I had this problem with 2 sculpt mice over the life of each one. I love the sculpt and it saved my wrists, but the left click problem was frustrating. Some people have had success DIY modding the plastic connector to make more contact, but I ended up replacing mine with this: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00K05LPIQ

So far my experience is good and it has a similar hand-feel to the sculpt, but I've only been using it a week.