A while ago, my mouse, the G9x, started acting up when left clicking. It would appear to have double clicked, even though I hadn’t removed my finger from the button. Seems like this problem is common with Logitech and Razor mice, the Omron switches just don’t hold up that well or the copper contacts get dirty, and they start to fail.
The problem is extremely annoying due to the function of double clicks on different items in Windows. Occasionally while dragging a window by the titlebar, it would just expand to the maximized view. I also had problems with the Nvidia installer (this was the last straw), where two consecutive times the mouse double clicked the “Next” button on the installer, skipping past the custom install screen.
I had read a few places that the switches were fixable. I thought I would try my hand at repairing the switch and began disassembling the mouse. Between breaking the tabs that hold the switch on, annihilating the copper tension spring and fighting unsuccessfully to try and put the switch back together, I decided that the switches were never made to be repaired. They were built by robots, no mere man could simply “fix” them. I retired to eBay, found the model number (D2FC-F-7N(10M)) and ordered a 4-pack from Taipei, Taiwan.
Armed with a soldering iron, I ventured forth into familiar territory of electronics repair.
First step was disassembly of the mouse. Remove the teflon coated pads on the fore and aft parts of the mouse. There are four screws on the bottom underneath the adhesive pads. Once these are removed, there is a ZIF connector that drives the LED lights and connects the DPI buttons to the main board. The white connector can be coaxed up to release the ribbon wire. BE CAREFUL WITH THIS CONNECTOR AND WIRE. The ribbon cable can be easily damaged causing the DPI buttons and LEDs to stop working. I actually broke the ribbon cable securing clip slider on the one side. I was able to push it back in place to hold the wire, but I won’t be able to easily latch and unlatch the wire anymore, so I’ve just been sliding it in and out with some force.
The USB wire attaches to the right side of the board. Use a pointy object, such as a jeweler’s flat-blade screwdriver to work it loose. Pull it back slightly, out of the way of the board, but it isn’t necessary to remove it.
There are three or four screws (?) on the board that hold the main board to the plastic housing. Remove these with a P00 screwdriver. After those are out there are three screws that hold the wheel assembly together. On at the front of the wheel and one on each side. There are a few small parts (a spring and a small plastic piece) that need to be accounted for as the wheel is removed. At this point the board is free to be removed from the housing and the switch replacement can begin.
The approach I took was to gently cut the switches off the board. I don’t have a good way to remove the solder from all three joints, to remove the switch, so I needed to find a way to get each solder joint alone so they could be removed individually. I broke up the plastic of the switch until the contacts were more or less all that remained. I wish I had some pictures of this to better describe this, but if you chose this route, be very careful not to bend, break, or damage the PCB.
As an aside, prying on the board, between the switch and the PCB, I actually broke one of the solder joints free and pulled the contact right through the hole. I was really lucky I didn’t lift the whole pad with it, which was on the side opposite of the way the contact came out. Please don’t follow my lead on this one.
Once the switch was broken up, I used my soldering iron to remove the contacts from each through-hole and cleaned up the hole for the new switch. The new switches were soldering in place fairly easily and the mouse was reassembled in the same fashion it was disassembled.