A little while ago it appeared that my Logitech MX Revolution had stopped charging. It didn't seem to recognize that it was placed on the charger. After almost giving up it occurred to me to check the contacts were clear on the underside of the mouse. I just scrapped them with my finger nail which seemed to shine them up a bit. It actually only seemed that the one on the right needed any cleaning, possibly something to do with it being positive or negative.
Anyway, this fixed the problem and it now charges fine. I wouldn't have considered writing about this except for the fact that a friend of mine was also complaining about a Logitech mouse not charging and this fixed the problem for him too.
Update: It looks like all the commenters below have discovered a strange alternative way to get the mouse to start charging - give it a bit of a slam! Obviously at your own risk!
Update 2: 'John M' in the comments below (14th May 2012) has found another very interesting solution if the charging issue appears to be reluctant/intermittent. Pry the stand on the charger forward slightly and wedge a bit of paper in-between the stand and the stand base/back. This presumably adjusts the pressure/angle of the mouse enough to make a stronger contact when the mouse is placed in the dock. Charging now works every time on mine.
17 Dec 07
136 COMMENTS
Tags:
logitech
mouse
mx revolution
not charging
I did some research and found out the are more people having the same problem. There are even multiple videos on YouTube an Google Video about this problem. I tried cleaning first....... didn't seam to work, than I rocked and quickly put it in and out of its cradle and that fixed it! So its just a simple case of smudged contacts which I apparently clean by rubbing the contacts against each other! To everyone with the same problem:............. Clean the contacts with alcohol and/or scraping the dirt of. http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=owZ7cJIA57I
25 Dec 07 1:13 Mr. 47(NL)
Nice work. Anyhow, i would like to have a fix for the mouse since it really wierd sometimes. Feels like its not reading the surface as it's supposed to. Know a fix for this? I really wish that some good programmer could make a 3rd party application so you would'nt have to use that shitty SetPoint...
23 Mar 08 9:09 Filip
heh. big problems usually do have silly causes, like this one XDAnd incredilate reply to filip, but bad reading could be due to improper surface or the mouse being next to a source of intense RF activity (a laptop transferring at full speed through wifi can interfere with (any) mouse signal)
29 Nov 08 3:37 OsoMarron
Good to know I am not the only one having problems with this awesome device... Mine has seemed to gradually lose its ability to charge over the past 3 months. My first concern was the contacts, i clean them, safely, all the time just to be sure, but that's not what it is for mine. Once I determined it wasn't the contacts, and could find nothing else, I simply slammed the mouse (bottom side down) on my desk, and WOW does it work like brand new again. I DO NOT ADVISE ANYONE "SLAMMING" theirs down, but it worked for me. (Symptoms: not charging, blinking red battery light, random green lights.)
12 Dec 08 1:55 Chris
Chris:Thanks a lot mate! That cure seemes to have done the trick! :)I also cleaned the contacts without any improvement, but your SLAM treatment worked like a charm! Now i can use that money for better things then a new mouse.
14 Dec 08 16:05 Kalle Sandberg
That's bloody weird, but the SLAM treatment and a quick wipe of the contacts has worked for me, too!Doesn't really fill me with confidence about the build quality of my MX though. :-(
24 Dec 08 10:48 StuPC
yup, slamming worked for me too :) amazing!
16 Jan 09 23:41 Wojtek
Its amazing,I was about to buy a new one and you know what?THE SLAMING IS GOOOOOOOOD, it worked!!!!!!!!you are a genius!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
20 Jan 09 3:28 sergiodongala
I too found the slamming trick to work. I read somewhere someone removed and replaced the battery with good success. Slamming would in effect move the battery around.
24 Jan 09 0:18 ComputerNerd
BANG! MAN :) is onto some think ,after trying contacts for over halve an hour i gave mine a small love slap at the same time switching mode on and off before and after little love slap(LITTLE TAP) mines charging now ty guys little fiddle and it comes back to life :-)
7 Feb 09 9:27 ROBERT HURL
Cool, it worked for me to.
14 Feb 09 18:47 RPD
The banging it on your desk was an interesting idea but being an electronics engineer I decided that the open it and see what was wrong was a better idea seeing as my warranty had expired anyway! After removing the feet carefully I removed the 4 screws holding it together. Actually, your idea of banging it upside down works because the battery itself is only held in place by a plastic clip and there is 3 metal spring contacts making the electrical contact to the battery. In doing so, you likely caused a slight shift and a better contact from the resulting wiping of the contacts. I removed the battery from the holder and cleaned the contacts with a non abrasive cleaner. Re-inserted it and now the battery state was showing 2 bars whereas before I opened it was on RED. It now also charges fine too.I would put this all down to a design fault but no one which you would see as a design engineer but a good lesson for me too. Something I will be on the lookout for any future battery powered equipent that is fixed with no user access.
16 Feb 09 9:05 Dave McLaughlin
Wow, this post is amazing, the love tap actually worked for me too. Thanks for the advice. :)
17 Feb 09 9:20 Betty Bundoc
wow, yeah ^^ .. typical Donald Duck fix.. AND IT WORKS :Dslam slam, thank you mam :D:D
19 Feb 09 21:29 The_Dragon_No1
1 on the slam. Works better than when I first got it.
19 Feb 09 21:48 Slammy
I'm trying the "slam" technique. Several times I've "slammed" it (each time successively more aggressive in the slamming action). When put into the charger, it starts out looking like it's charging (blinking green lights), but after a while I'm back to blinking green followed by flashing red. The latest slam seems to be holding (for now), but time will tell. I'll post an update as soon as I know. If it fails, I'll open it up and perform Dave's "surgery" to see what happens. Stand by...
27 Feb 09 14:36 Scott Sutherland
UPDATE: the slams continued to fail, so I performed Dave's "surgery". In extracting the battery inside the mouse, I snapped off on of the little plastic bits that helps to hold the battery in place. But I did the cleaning
27 Feb 09 18:28 Scott Sutherland
Hmmm... last response got truncated. To resume...I did the cleaning, reassembled the "patient", put it back into the charging stand and watched anxiously as my green lights blinked. No red lights, and not long afterward, Set Point said my batteries were fully charged!! Woo-Hoo!! Thnaks to all, and especially to Dave!!
27 Feb 09 18:31 Scott Sutherland
I can't believe that 'Slam' technique actually worked for my mouse! My mouse is now back to it's fully recharged state!I did try opening the mouse, but the battery seemed to be totally locked into place, and I didn't want to break any of the plastic pieces holding the battery in place, so I just put it back together and slammed the mouse. The rest as they say, is history...
7 Mar 09 15:52 Geoff
3 words.. Slamming does work
16 Mar 09 5:20 Mark
i add a bit of water to the gold contact points on the bottom of the mouse to increase the conductivity. it works well.
22 Mar 09 23:50 haphazard
Worked, for now. i'm not sure if this will hold.
4 Apr 09 2:59 woot
Slamming does work! Thanks Chris from Russia.
Stupid Technical Support Logitech for CIS countries via Poland (
16 Apr 09 13:38 Igor
I was skeptical about slamming, but having cleaned contacts several times figured nothing to lose. Slammed it a few times and no change. Decided, after reading all posts, to slam harder. Did that several times and now appears to be charging as it should. Amazing
27 Apr 09 16:09 Ron
I tried scraping it with my fingernail.. slamming it.. didn't work. But then I got some alcohol and rubbed it on the mouse's 2 plates, and now it works fine.
27 Apr 09 19:30 Josh
Awesome Awesome Awesome, I did what Dave said, and Voila, my mouse is working like a charm!! Thank you so much!!!
18 May 09 19:15 Angie
Thanks Dave, taking the mouse apart and cleaning the battery contacts worked!
31 May 09 21:16 Kev
For nearly 6 months i have been frustrated with a barely charged mouse, when i read this article i was lyk pow!
I slammed my £60 MX on the desk and hey presto it is charging! Cheers Guys!!
10 Jun 09 21:57 Rory Kinsella
I too was experiencing the alternating green charging leds and red blinking led. Did some googling, and the first hit was some guy describing a solution where you had to build a resistor in the mouse. I'm not feeling confident doing that. Then I hit this blog. I slammed my mouse.... and it worked! It's almost comical :P
Thanks y'all!
15 Jun 09 19:02 Daniel
unbelievable - I thought you were all perpetrators of a scheme to destroy everyone's MX revolution. But holy cow if slamming into the ground (fairly hard) didn't fix it. I tried 8 other slams of varying degrees. The Final throw into the ground fixed it. Thanks guys.
28 Jun 09 23:15 Todd
It's been a problem with earlier Logitech wireless mice as well; I've got an older MX1000 that's suffered with too soft overly coatings on the power contacts that have worn down over time, exposing the underlying metal to oxidation and/or dirt buildup. I've used electrical contact cleaner for the past two or three years to get the mouse charging; it seems to last better than an alcohol cleaning, but I still have to do this about every 3-4 weeks.
5 Jul 09 19:31 monoblocks
Slam worked for me too!
7 Jul 09 22:49 Socalsmith
The "banging it on the desk" trick worked for a few weeks for me, then I started to get the red light again. I have some experience in electronics repair and thought that the problem might be a bad solder joint. So I opened it up and looked closely where the contacts are soldered to the board. It turns out that the solder had cracked on one. So I got out the soldering iron and remelted the solder connections. Now it works fine.
11 Jul 09 4:10 Charles
You can now get a replacement battery for the LOGITECH MX Revolution (a lithium battery 600mAh) here Logitech MX Revolution battery
12 Aug 09 18:45 West
Slamming it on the desk few times (each time harder and harder) did the trick. Now my mouse is charging normally!
16 Aug 09 15:05 Sergios
Holy sh1t! Slamming did it for me too! Progressively harder until it registered did the trick! Thx guys!
19 Aug 09 9:23 Jon
Comment number 12 is the most sensible and reliable way to fix this issue.
Banging your mouse just slightly moves the internal battery to circuit connections and any dust or dirt between the connections. So you might get a quick fix or just bash your mouse and break something else.
It's best to take the mouse apart and clean the three contacts on the battery, and the three spring loaded contact points with a mild solvent like isopropyl alcohol which will evaporate and not cause a short when you re-assemble.
Also take note that when you take apart the mouse there is a ribbon that connects to the upper half of the mouse to the base. At the back of the top part of the mouse is a small contact point that completes a circuit by touching one of the charging contacts on the inside of the lower portion of the mouse.
This is where a lot of dust and dirt easily accumulates and might be the most common root of the charging problem because it isn't spring loaded and not a very large contact surface.
I did this simple cleaning and after turning back on my mouse noticed a jump from one bar to two when I turned it back on. Letting me know power flow was less impeded by any resistance. Then I put it on the charger and went through a full charging cycle.
So this is a tested and proven method. Only thing difficult is remounting the silicon feet. If you were very careful in removing them you should still have the double sided adhesive.
If not a good double sided adhesive sheet or most likely basic tape from 3m and a thin spacing material like craft paper or stiff fiber board will work great after you clean up the feet and their recesses.
21 Aug 09 13:12 Luke
Slam is working! thanks from italy
17 Sep 09 7:06 Tiziano from italy
Slam not working for me!:(
When I have disassembled the mouse have found out that the battery is on a place. I have cleaned all contacts and have checked up solder. All is normal, but the mouse still doesn't work: (
Think it's necessary to me to buy the new battery?
18 Sep 09 17:44 flash
i tried everything.. i even opened up the charging unit and put it back together.. not knowing how it would help i just wanted to make my mouse work.. i decided to give up and as i was about to put it away i slammed it against the wall and shoved it into the charger just to make sure it deffinately wasnt charging.. and much to my suprise it started charging again!!
SLAMMING WORKS !
26 Sep 09 19:58 happy with his mouse
WOW...I didn't thought it would work. But a nice little tick on the desk and it was good to go. Weird though that it stopped working
29 Sep 09 20:38 Leooow
Cleaning and slamming did NOT work for mine, but the mouse is very easily opened up. You remove the top wide plastic foot, and the lower two of the 3 small plastic foot pads. You unscrew 4 screws, and viola, it opens up and you have easy access to the battery. I carefully pulled the battery out and seated it back in, and PRESTO it charges again. Very quick and very easy. If you're smart and do it with a good knife, you won't ruin your plastic feet like I did, but those are CHEAPLY replaced and with better quality feet too!
9 Oct 09 1:39 Andy Calnan
OMG i was ready all these comments on slamming and giving it a love tap....i said how stupid, then i took my MX Revolution mouse and slap it against the palm of my hand and put it in the cradle and its working OMG, they just need to fix thise problem or not lol i still cant believe it after all this time.
10 Oct 09 22:57 Renwick Hurst
Well all i had to do was switch the mouse off and charge it while it was not on ! and it worked! :D
17 Oct 09 12:08 vicmpen
THE SLAMMING TRICK WORKED FOR ME THE SIMPLEST IDEAS ARE ALWAYS THE BEST
5 Nov 09 11:03 MIKE
I came across this site, slammed the mouse on my thigh a few times and bam! No more flashing red light. Brilliant!
6 Nov 09 14:11 Matt Cheney
I had the same problem, turned the mouse up and banged the bottom of it slightly against my desk and it WORKED! I can't believe it. The mouse is charging now without issue. Surprising.
6 Nov 09 18:49 John
same problem and fixed it by cleaning the contacts. Thanks guys
7 Nov 09 12:48 Brian
Rediculous!!! I am a true believer Mr. Jones.... I found this post, smacked my BIA#*H up and low and behold... well I'll be.
9 Nov 09 1:49 Adam
If you look at my previous post about taking it apart and cleaning that worked well for about 6 months. Eventually the problem started coming back and was fixed easily enough by using it and draining the batter a bit more, but it was clear the battery was just going out. Charge times seemed to fast and should have held a charge longer.
Luckily Logitech sells the exact Lion battery you need . It's the same replacement battery you find for the G7 cordless mouse and it's identical to the one found in the MX Revolution. You can find it under support replacement parts for the G7 on the Logitech site.
For in total and some time I should get years more use out of this mouse. Good as new.
16 Nov 09 21:28 Luke
I've had this mouse sitting in a dusty cupboard for ages. Finally got bothered enough about it not working to try and fix it.
Fitted a 30 ohm resistor into the charger (no effect), and then out of desperation, took the mouse apart, took the battery out, cleaned the contacts and reinserted it.
The mouse has been charging happily for a couple of hours and is now 60% charged. Woo!
22 Nov 09 19:39 Andy
Ok, the slaming worked for a while, but then the problem would still persist after slamming. Also from time to time the mouse would refuse to work at all. (Keyboard ok) After a few seconds the cursor would again be controllable. So I opened the mouse up (4 screws under rubber pads) and took a look a the battery. My battery is connected to the curcuitry with a small 4 pin connector. It was obviously not pushed into the socket far enough. I pulled it out and then reconnected it, pushing it in all the way. THREE weeks now and charging and mouse operation as been flawless!
27 Dec 09 21:24 Mike Papa
I've had another problem with the MX. I used to have the charging problem but cleaning the contacts and things like that have worked, but now it suffers from a different problem.
Now the left mouse button won't stay depressed when I push it. I have to admit that this mouse has served me well for quite a while now and with heavy gaming use but now it's quite annoying that my £60 mouse won't "drag" anything, instead it does a double click when I try. I can "sometimes" get it to drag but rarely.
Anyone else experienced this at all, or anyone know a solution?
30 Dec 09 0:47 Taylor
Hey, i was afraid cleaning & slamming wouldn't work for me but it did! Thank goodness! I really need this mouse.
My problem was similar to Chris'. While charging, the green lights would go up gradually but fall back on to a blinking red light. And then start again at green. At first I thought my battery was so depleted that it was taking 2 hours to get out of the red, which happens with my blackberry curve. But after that time i started googling and found this blog. As usual the comments are more useful than the blog itself.
So conclusion: cleaning and moderate flat desk-slam worked perfectly. My lights turned green and don't go back to red.
30 Dec 09 23:50 nythomas1
I tried taking it apart by peeling off the feet first to get access to the 4 screws. Once the screws were off it was quite easy to take it apart. I cleaned the battery contacts on the inside with an eraser and then put it all back together. Now it's charging like normal in the cradle, with no flash red battery.
2 Jan 10 8:36 Peter
Slamming Works!!
I cannot just go out and buy a new mouse, sending out for service would take a month so I tried the slam, you don’t have to do a full rage slam, just a frustrated flat slam or three did the trick.
Note: You might want to wait until everyone else is out of the office or announce your intentions beforehand.
13 Jan 10 5:33 Marc
Thanks guys! I thought it was BS too, until I tried it. Just for the record, i only had to give mine a light tap , not really a "slam", and it's working again.
Thanks to the guys who gave the advice in number 12 and 37 too!
Awesome. I was really about to get PO'd of having to buy another 0 mouse and/or having to bitch at Logitech. lol. Now I can just get back to work.
Cheers!
Jay
16 Jan 10 3:48 Jay
wow thanks guys.. i slammed it gradually harder and harder against the floor until it started charging and now it has green lights only.. i was just about to order a new performance mouse mx but it seems that this one has risen from the dead
17 Jan 10 1:27 marek
I've had this mouse for 3 years now. The slamming seemed to work for a while, then it was back to red blinking again and no amount of slamming would help. So I took it apart, took the battery out, cleaned the contacts and put it back together. The battery contacts seemed clean and the battery was held in place quite well... but in any case taking it out and cleaning seemed to work. Hopefully it will keep working for a while :)
22 Jan 10 19:24 jaro
Bugger off... Had my MX Revolution in the trash and I was looking for an appropriate replacement. Came across this post and "slammed" my mouse. BINGO!
23 Jan 10 20:31 Rich V
I had "slammed" mine months ago, because of anger, and it worked. I just now found this forum because it seems to be temporary. It started again, and I slammed it again. No luck.
I opened it up per comment 12, and I just took out the battery connection, gave it a little swipe with some alcohol, and put it back in. Works perfect again.
BUT
I was not very gentle in taking off the mouse "feet"/"skates" and they were ruined, which basically made the mouse not very usable for gaming.
So, if you do this, Logi won't sell you replacement feet. I found these,
ttp://www.corepad.com/index.php?pagina=artikel&id=44
and
http://www.slicksurf.com/
Might help.
25 Jan 10 1:14 HK
thank you man.it ts work for me too.amaizing
13 Feb 10 14:05 Stefan
The MX Revolution main board inside mouse has a + and - connection to charge battery. The board to charging contacts are not hardwired. It is a contact point between the board and charge pads. Mine was not getting voltage past this point so I soldered in wires from board to gold charge pads. Problem fixed!
14 Mar 10 1:03 Chuck
hey guys i tell u what if this guys has the updated verison of the charging dock the cleaing method will work but
for all the people that couldnt fix with the slaming or cleaing listen up...
•Philips Head Screw Driver
•Wire Strippers/Cutters
•3 10 Ohm Resistors (or one 30 Ohm would work)
•Solder and Soldering Iron
•Shrink Tubing/Electrical Tape
1. grab ur dock (unplug it off course)
2. find the x marked spots underneth the cradle
3. open it up (Philips Head Screw Driver)
4. there should be two little Philips screws holding the curcit board in place
5. now listen carefully there are two version of this dock
. two black cabels stright from the adapter
. a little connection attching the two wires comming from the Adpater
carefuly deattch the postive side and add the 30omhs resistor (although 25 omhs will work but a much slower rate)
6. solder the resistor and the positive wire togeather (tape up the exposed metal****** MAKE SURE U DO) or u can twist the wires together although i do not recommed it
7. screw the screws back into place (if u do not wanna to get in a mess then email me abhi_the_man@hotmail.com)
8. I do not take any reponsiblity for damage this process may cause (in saying so i have had no problems listed from pervisous people using this method)
9. if u do not understand read the voltage rating on the adapters wire and on the back of the mouse.
guys i am more then willing to help email me for more questions
25 Mar 10 3:55 Abs for no abs
Lol... THe slam trick worked for me as well. Thanks guys.
31 Mar 10 14:34 flavio
You don't need to open the base to fix using the resistor trick. You can get the power plugs at an electronics supplier and make a "pigtail" with the resistors in one of the leads to your charging base.
30 Ohms did not work for me. It gave the red flashing light then the charge bars and repeated. I increased to 63 Ohms and it did work. Now there is no red light when charging.
Just charging it now so in a day's time I'll know more.
14 Apr 10 3:24 triggle
holy crap!! My MX has always had issues charging. Sometimes it would work but most of the time it would just blink red (from day 10). I was too lazy to deal with taking it back and would just wait for it to eventually charge.
Slamming WORKED! i love you.
24 Apr 10 14:18 seth
I completely laughed my ass off slamming down the mouse, putting it in the charger and watching it work again. If at first you don't succeed, resort to violence. Thanks for the help.
2 Jul 10 21:08 Remi
I quite firmly placed the mouse in and out of the cradle approx 10 times, now she charges!
Great because I have loads of work to do :)
10 Jul 10 19:39 Wayne Hodkinson
Well my mouse was doing the same thing. Though no chance that this will work. Well blow me... it only started charging. Old school bang fixes it! :D
14 Jul 10 9:59 Larry Eeles
I have just successfully got my mouse charging again after over a year of it being finicky on the charge base and terrible battery life in general - it appeared the mouse was never charging properly. Like most people here the charging lights would escalate upward a few times, then the red flashing light of death would blink, then it would go back to green, etc. Except this last time the mouse never managed to charge at all so I decided to crack the thing open.
I had a different fix to others because I seem to have the very latest version of this mouse. There are no contact points for the battery - it's now hardwired to a 3-pin socket on a red/yellow/black twisted cable, connected to the main board, so of course the "slamming" trick would never work for me, as it does for others by reseating the battery on the contacts slightly or knocking loose some dust.
I used a flat-head screwdriver to tease off the lowermost two feet on the bottom of the mouse and the large one at the top. Try to do this evenly and slowly so you don't ruin the feet, as you can easily stick them back on after-ward with some glue. You'll need a 2.4 Phillips screwdriver to remove the four screws.
Once the screws are out you should be able to just lift the mouse apart but BE VERY CAREFUL at this point as there is a thin and fragile RIBBON CABLE connecting the top and bottom half. Ribbon cables are extremely easy to tear and are nearly always impossible to replace. Breaking this cable will kill the mouse (when it's not connected the mouse won't turn on or charge). Carefully lay the top half of the mouse to one side of the bottom half and look where the ribbon is connected to the base. There are two black notches either side of the socket for this cable - carefully tease upward one side and then the other, then the other side etc. in a see-saw manner, prising with a flat-head screwdriver. This black notch thing just secures the cable in place - it doesn't click or swing off or anything.
Once the two halves are seperated, I could only see two fault points with this mouse. One, ensure the power cable for the battery is securely connected. To be extra sure, tease it out with some tweezers or flat-head screwdriver, give it it a dusting with a brush, and reconnect it firmly.
Second, something no-one has mentioned, is I noticed small copper contacts in three places - around centre-left on the base (where the thumbwheel fits), and on the top half's underside, one contact at the bottom and another under the opening for the scroll wheel. I noticed mine were dirty with black crud and dust. I think what these must be are contacts for electrical grounding, so thinking they might be screwing with electrical flow, I gave them a good cleaning and re-assembled the mice.
When re-assembling again BE CAREFUL with the ribbon cable - I can't stress this enough as I've ruined a Logitech G15 and a DV camcorder by accidentally tearing these while trying to fix them. In a position you think is safe to not stress/pull the cable, re-insert the cable with the cable's golden contacts facing you / away from the mouse base, and tease the black securing wedges back down to hold the cable in. Then put the two halves back together and screw up the mouse.
Before bothering to stick back on the feet, whack the charger on the mouse. If yours is like mine you should be happy to see the mouse charging properly again (make sure it's switched off - this mouse should be off when charging), with the green light flashing once, then escalating based on the amount of charge. Mine has been charging happily for about an hour now and has one light constantly lit - so it's working! :)
Give it a few hours and if it's all okay stick back on your feet.
I hope this helps anyone else trying to fix a recent MX Revolution as many of these suggestions are now out of date after Logitech's evident attempts to improve the mouse over the years.
If it helps, here's my model info:
Mouse M/N: M-RBQ124
P/N: 810-000442
PID: LZ847AC
Charger M/N: L-LN13
P/N: 810-000400
PID: LZ829AC
It's interesting to note, whereas my older Revolution charger (which works fine) has a removable power supply, this one is hardwired with a module fitted in the cable, probably a ferrite core (to reduce EMI/interference) or it could contain the resistor some people have built into their chargers.
Purchased in the UK in 2009.
14 Jul 10 19:01 Green Gecko
For those who can't fix their charging my way, there is the resistor fix, described in excellent detail here by CooperBills:
http://www.cooperbills.com/Projects/MXRevolution/
However this requires a significant mod to your charge base, requiring soldering, and I wouldn't recommend trying it - especially on more recent models where Logitech may have made a similar fix already - with trying slamming/cleaning/reconnecting the battery cable first.
14 Jul 10 19:05 Green Gecko
Wow, extremely detailed information Green Gecko - thanks for sharing.
14 Jul 10 19:06 the author
No problem, since this is the 2nd hit on Google for "MX Revolution fix" now (besides the relatively extreme resistor fix) hopefully some other people will find it.
Just thought I would post an update that my MX Rev has since fully charged. Setpoint says so and gives an estimate of 18 days battery life!! I've never seen it that high before. :)
I guess it's possible the dirt even got in there during manufacture and it was never actually working to begin with..
14 Jul 10 23:46 Green Gecko
After reading the 40 or 50 posts saying "Slamming" did the trick, I reluctantly attempted it.... and what do ya' know it works!
Its actually just a frustrated flat tap, not an all out SLAM.
27 Jul 10 18:31 Houston
Hey im having trouble with my mouse, i tried the slam, tried removing the battery and cleaning it, the gold connectors at the bottom of my mouse looks like its been warn down and some of the gold is actually gone, possibly causing it not to connect to the base. Is it possible to fix this?
thank you.
24 Aug 10 0:09 Kevin
Wow! I was afraid to slam it down so I gently shook it, and it did the trick! Thanks!
1 Sep 10 15:20 Tori
I have cleaned them with rubbing alcohol a few times, but recently found that using some silver cleaner worked very well for cleaning all the built up corrosion on the contacts. I simply used a q-tip and kept cleaning them till no more black came up. Works great!
2 Sep 10 14:51 Tom
Whoaaa ! The slam worked for me too! Incredible. I first slam in my hand, didn't work, too soft. Then I slam on the desk and it worked!!
Thank you ;)
5 Sep 10 20:55 Frenchy
Yup, Slamming does the trick - Mine works superbly now (very pleased as this is a SUPERB mouse!)
12 Sep 10 23:48 Simon
THANX. the slamming worked for me also. the mouse is 2 years old but only charged once before, i was ready to destroy it but I decided to do one more search. Again, thank you poster nr 4. you saved me 100 euro's.
4 Nov 10 16:40 Durak
I just got mine fully charged for the first time in a month with the slam trick too. It was doing the start-to-charge then the red started blinking. First gentle slam wasn't effective, so I knocked it harder (onto a wood cutting board) and I first thought "uh oh" because the red light came on solid and it seemed to have a single green charge before, but I hooked it into the charger and it's good as new.
31 Dec 10 5:06 medialint
I had the very same issue regarding the Logitech MX Revolution, the annoying blinking red light with random green lights. What I did was to open it and clean the battery cable slot and miracously it worked.
8 Jan 11 20:58 Flavio
Haha Slamming works! thank you so much. It's like hitting TV technique my dad used to do 20 years ago!
3 Mar 11 3:31 Eyo
Right then Lads ... Ithink i have solved it !!! I can omly guess that you have replaced the batterys .. as i did ... then it would not charge ???
if this the case ... there is a tiny Sensor inbetween the batterys ... this Must but Pressed down .. or No charge ! i used a bit of paper wrapped around a few times ... and Hey Presto ... She is charging again!!!!! :D Hope this helps !
22 Mar 11 22:35 Some clever B**stard
Slamming is the way forward!
Thanks Chris / now works great and scrolling actually
feels smoother - could all be in the mind though / saved a few quid / I slammed mine from the top and bottom quite a few times just for the hell of it
27 Apr 11 11:32 eddie
I am now an MX Slammer! Good Times!
28 Apr 11 17:05 Logan Hallfin
The slamming trick worked for me too
19 May 11 13:31 Peter Terporten
Wow, another slammer to the list, that fixed it XD Thanks a lot
23 May 11 19:18 LiquidFer
Hi. i had charging broblem with MX Laser mouse that is identical to revolution.
I opened the mouse and measured between charging foils and circuit. left one didn't lead any eletricity. I pushed the circuit down and soldered it. Now it works. Foil was cut and was off hte circuit.
30 May 11 14:14 Niko
slamming works. i love it when things can be fixed by slamming it, preferably not with a hammer :D i have come very close with throwing this mouse out of frustration to a wall when it was having issues recharging.
9 Jun 11 23:35 Peter Griffindor
Holy shit, the slam fix worked! If you're having a flashing red light issue and are willing to try it, slam it down on a flat hard surface (do it HARD or it won't work). It actually worked! I was ready to buy a new mouse but now it finally works again :D thanks so much chris!
22 Jun 11 11:32 Bob
Slammed it 3 times. (I have anger issues)
It charges now!!!
21 Jul 11 15:44 Derek editor
I have 2 of these mx revolution's and both did the flashing red light thing at one time or another, the slamming does work, but eventually the batteriy will need to be replaced, i've had them about 5 years and now they last about a week on a charge sometimes longer if i'm lucky.
they sell them on e bay for about 8 to 20 bucks if you look around enough, logitech used to sell the g7 replacement battery that fit the mx also for about 6 dollars, but they no longer offer them. these mice have been the best mice i have ever seen or used , replacing the batteries when the time comes wont be a complaint to me, they are worth it.
28 Jul 11 20:56 joHN
I did exactly what DAVE MCLAUGHLIN on 16 FEB 09 9:05 said to do. My mouse, which I love and cannot work without would not charge. I would put it on the charger and the green lights would go like it was charging but then the bottom light would only be on and flash red. It would cycle like that or just flat out flash red. I tried cleaning the contacts on the outside of the mouse and in the charger and that did nothing. I tried slamming it and that did nothing. I tried unplugging it, charging while on/off, charging it sideways, everything. Doing what Dave said, I gently pulled of the sticky feet and removed the screws so I could get inside of it to clean the contacts on the actual battery. I also sprayed some compressed gas gently around. it worked!!! It wasn't as scary as it even sounds and I would find it hard to damage even accidentally by doing this. It's like a miracle; my mouse is back!
2 Sep 11 15:43 Meishia
I did exactly what DAVE MCLAUGHLIN on 16 FEB 09 9:05 said to do. My mouse, which I love and cannot work without would not charge. I would put it on the charger and the green lights would go like it was charging but then the bottom light would only be on and flash red. It would cycle like that or just flat out flash red. I tried cleaning the contacts on the outside of the mouse and in the charger and that did nothing. I tried slamming it and that did nothing. I tried unplugging it, charging while on/off, charging it sideways, everything. Doing what Dave said, I gently pulled of the sticky feet and removed the screws so I could get inside of it to clean the contacts on the actual battery. I also sprayed some compressed gas gently around. it worked!!! It wasn't as scary as it even sounds and I would find it hard to damage even accidentally by doing this. It's like a miracle; my mouse is back!
2 Sep 11 15:43 Meishia
Hey guys the banging works cos its a lithium battery. Banging unfreezed the molecules orientated in a specific direction apparently giving more "use". However within 3-12 months you will find the problem reappears and the only solution is to replace the battery.
12 Oct 11 18:35 haveasau
WOW, I HAVE A LOGITECH L-LN13 AND THE SLAMMING WORKED FOR ME AS WELL!!!!!
9 Mar 12 8:51 Jock
i has a MX 1000 and always had to slam it into the charger - not knowing it was the internal battery contacts that were the problem :)
now my MX revolution started this fast red blinking during charging - tried the slamming, then the cleaning - no luck at first - then slammed and cleaned a bit harder -> it works again!
17 Apr 12 11:01 cm
slamming DID NOT work for me. tried replacing the battery to no avail. still looking for a solution.
26 Apr 12 17:20 Amy
A different and very simple fix - at least I can't immediately find it mentioned above.
I'd suffered the mouse not starting to charge when placed in the charger for a couple of years, each time reseating the mouse lots of times until something happened. The slam would work sometimes and obviously the mouse contacts had to be clean.
But, the main fix for me was that the charger's rectangular upright plate, that the mouse rests against, needed to go a little closer to the vertical. Just around 0.5mm forward at the top edge.
To do this, gently pull the resting plate forward and slip some paper behind the plate, between it and the semi-circular piece behind it. A piece of post-it note folder 2 or 3 times, pushed around 8mm down into the gap. (Leave a little hanging out for easy removal!)
Charging now starts first time, every time.
14 May 12 21:40 John M
My solution to the charging problem on my MX1000:
1. Clean contacts on mouse and base with pink eraser.
2. Take base apart and bend contacts to increase pressure between charging base contacts and mouse contacts.
3. Take mouse apart and resolder the connections labeled + and - on the printed circuit board where the mouse contacts connect. Just heat them up until the solder is flowing and maybe apply a dab of fresh solder.
Theory on why this works: It doesn't take much resistance to stop a few volts. The mouse contacts connect to the circuit board through heavy metal strips. Unless enough heat is applied to this connection during production, a cold solder joint can result in increased resistance in the circuit.
The contacts are probably gold flashed so avoid abrasives when cleaning them.
My solution to drag-and-drop problem. (See TAYLOR above.) Disassemble mouse and carefully apply voltage between normally open contacts on OMRON microswitch for left mouse button and click it a few times. This will burn off any accumulated crud on contacts. I used a 9V battery with resistor for current source. n/o contacts are closest to the button on the microswitch.
Disclamer. Attempting these steps can trash your mouse. If your mouse is still under warranty, I believe three years, go that route.
4 Jun 12 21:11 ROY M
Thank you so much for this info. I would never have thought of cleaning the contacts. You've been a great help.
13 Jul 12 9:05 Jane
Paper behind the cradle back-plate working for me so far...
14 Jul 12 5:06 G
I thought you guys were full of crap about the slamming. I tried it and for the first time my mouse started charging. Great posts. thanks, and thanks and thanks!
5 Aug 12 19:21 Matthew
Slamming did not help, cleaning the bottom contacts didn't help.
The paper trick did it. I also had the green light - red light problem.
16 Aug 12 15:05 caps
hi guys ...2012 update my second Mx Revolution developed the same issue of blinking red light ,after taking both of them apart .the first second mouse was a replacement for the faulty one that I was left to keep hold of this has enabled me to discover that the battery contacts are different in both mice ,the old one has 3 prongs directly touching the battery the newer replacement one has a wire comeing out of the battery to a connector on the main board so there you have it the bateery contacts with the 3 prong affair is your slamming example dislodging the battery causes it to possibly come back to life again however what about the wired battery well the reason it went to red was simply it had reached the end of its charging capacity and swapping them over albeit I had to do a bit of soldering and changing of the plastic holders it is now charging again ... ie clean the contacts if its a 3 pronger or replace the battery if its wired voila !
24 Aug 12 9:47 Mike
Hi,
now my mice is 6 years old and original battery still works but it require charging every 2-3 days so I buy new battery L-LL11 (I have first version of battery with contacts not wire with plug).
Just received new battery but it won't charge - flashing red.
I measured on battery 4.2V but also not working when I put it inside mice - no cursor on the screen.
My original battery still charging correctly, so charger is working.
I noticed just slightly less than a 1mm difference between spacing of contacts on original and this new battery.
Any ideas how to resolve this or just to return battery?
Thanks
13 Nov 12 0:22 joedoe
My battery light was flashing red when it was on the cradle... Slam worked for me and it's now charging. Just make sure to slam it on the top side!
24 Jan 13 3:28 Crizzle
I have a different problem...was given a keyboard/mouse combo- mouse dead without any lights. Seems like a connection problem somewhere, has voltage to base contacts of about 8.2 v. Will try a slam or two, otherwise will have to crack it open I guess.
4 Feb 13 14:38 Dudester
My paper behind the cradle trick above worked very well for a few months but sadly the problem returned. The cradle contacts were weaker and just not touching the mouse contacts any more. The springs probably weakened through age and some slamming in the past.
To fix, remove the cradle base plate (3 screws under the label). There are 2 raised ridges on the base plate that press against the cantilever spring contacts. Stick a couple of layers of insulating tape over the ridges and screw the base plate back on. The contacts should now protrude from the crade a little further and slightly higher than they did and will press against the mouse contacts a little harder too. Job done!
You can probably remove those little strips of paper from behind the cradle too ;)
28 Feb 13 12:52 John M
Slamming works like a charm.. :D
5 Mar 13 20:54 Brian
*****The Reason Slamming Might Work****
Lithium batteries are organized in a way that the molecules are in a specific direction. Banging or “slamming” unfreezes the molecules, which gives you more life out of the battery.
This may work, but after a few months ... you will find the problem will come back... if this is the case, then change the battery altogether. Not hard to find instructions on how to take apart the mouse on Youtube... and Radio Shack or whatever decent Electronic Store you have near should have the replacement batteries.
Technology and Non-violence (lol)
Cheers
12 Mar 13 21:01 Dr. Pete Ross
Amazing! After months of my mouse cursor freezing and the red light going out, it's now working perfectly after I slammed it firmly on to my desk. My mouse is wired, not wireless, and I slammed it base down. Many thanks to the clever person who originally posted this solution.
12 Mar 13 21:16 Archie Westwood
Hi guys and Gals,
I have battled with mine to get it to charge properly for a while and tried most of the tricks listed only to end up with the same flashing red light!!!
I even brought new batteries thinking it would solve the problem. but still a flashing red light after a couple of days...grrr!!!
I pulled it apart to check the battery contacts and noticed some heat marks where the mouses charging terminals join through to the PCB and then noticed the solder had gone grey and dried out with tiny little cracks. (this cause intermittent faults and high current draws)
I CAREFULLY re-soldered the joins and UREKA!!!!
Problem solved.
I can't guarantee that this will solve everyone's issues but my mouse charges like new...
Enjoy...Bret
Hope this works for you
18 May 13 5:06 Bret Martin
My Logitech MX Revolution began the alternating green charging LEDs and the red charging error LEDs symptom. Cleaning the contacts, etc was no help.
Resorted to the "slam" method and it is now charging normally. Unit is old (12/2008) so time will tell. I do love this model mouse so I will keep it going as long as possible.
P.S. As others have pointed out "slam" the mouse topside down. Mine just needed a "firm" slam, nothing too extreme.
Thanks to all!
15 Jun 13 19:35 Muad Dib
Stumbled upon this thread after trying everything a reasonable person would do. Then I slammed my MX. Voila!!!!! Thanks mouse slammers!
7 Aug 13 0:20 GK
OMG... I really can't believe it worked! Slam it and give it a good shove inside the holder and it will stop flashing but instead flash green like it's supposed to. Whoever found this out is a genius. SHAME ON LOGITECH!!!!! BAD ENGINEERS!!!!!!!!!!!! YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF YOUR QUALITY DEPARTMENT.
20 Aug 13 21:49 Michael
True Story/Not a joke: I had the same issues and I've found licking my finger and wetting the contacts on the mouse, then placing the mouse into the charging unit work 100% of the time.
9 Oct 13 16:21 Vinny
I have been repairing my MX revolution for 4 years now. will not buy another make or model and just recently bought a used one from e-bay to make sure I will have one well into the next decade. As for the build quality, if you can find another mouse that stands up to the abuse of your pseudofix of slamming it down instead of opening it and cleaning the contacts for the battery or even re-seating the battery connector which I have done on two occasions, (once for my mouse and for the one I purchased) which is exactly what your slam is accomplishing. So, the quality is not in question, far from it actually. so please, keep slamming it and complaining that your abused mouse still works.. lmao.. Kudos to Logitech for their Diehard Mouse of the century with this build. As far as I am concerned, the only mistake they ever made with this one was when they discontinued its production.
7 Nov 13 22:32 Wayne
Bending the two contacts in the charging bay did the trick for me.
That way, more pressure is applied and a better connection is made between the base and mouse contacts. Charging is faster and the charge lasts longer, again.
In order to do that one needs to:
1) Disconnect the power-cord from the base
2) Unscrew the 3 screws from the bottom of the base (Guarantee will cease)
3) Remove the base plate
4) Unscrew and carefully lift the soldering board out of its position, while pushing the two contacts inwards with your other hand. Remember how the power connector is laying inside the base for later.
5) Bend the two contacts towards their connection direction. I carefully bent them in a 45 degree angle and they didn't break. After releasing them, they positioned themselves at about half of the angle I forced them to. Though, you should carefully decide how much force you'd want to apply. They might break. You have been warned!!!
6) Put the soldering board back into position, taking care of the contacts sliding back into their original position.
7) Put the power connector back in its original position.
8) Put back the bottom plate of the base with the screws.
9) Connect the power cord to the base again.
That should do it. The mouse will now hit a bit more of a resistance while sliding into place when you put it into the charger.
19 Nov 13 16:11 Frank M
Permanent Fix if slam is working takes 10 minuites
I had a similar problem with my 2 year old MX mouse tried the resister but this didn't fix my problem. Tried the slam and this worked but I wasn't happy to belt the crap out of my mouse. Took the mouse apart and with the multimeter followed the charge circuit. I immediately found one of the gold contact had no continuity to the main board on investigation found it had broken at one of the folds in the terminal. As they are held in with melted plastic tabs I slipped an wire offcut from a resister down the side of the terminal then unsoldered the original contact inserting the wire through the now empty hole and re-soldered it. Put the mouse back together and hey presto I have green charge lights.
Now been working fine for a week
15 Jan 14 8:45 Rhys
I'm confused. In Dec 2008, Chris (the commentor who introduced us to the slam technique) said "I simply slammed the mouse bottom side down on my desk"
Then a couple people chimed in saying they did a "flat" slam, which I assume means slamming the flat underside of the mouse onto the table.
But then Crizzle (Jan 2013) and Muad Dib (June 2013) Said specifically to slam it top side down.
Can you guys that have successfully used the slam technique let me know how you did it?
20 May 14 23:27 Anthony
This is too funny. The slam did work :) Thanks a lot !
10 Jul 14 11:43 Paul
July 11, 2014. Another successful "Slam" convert. After having come to adore the MX Revolution and its TWO wheels (still haven't seen another mouse with this configuration) I bought one for work and carried of these full size mice around in my laptop bag. It too, began the Red/Green Christmas light dance of uncertain charging. Since it still worked, perhaps with shortened battery life, and replacements were now on Amazon (listed as new) at the insane price of 0 US, I was loathe to give it up. Multiple emails w/Logitech support discussing "reset" options failed to stop the light show, but a search for a replacement battery lead me to look for dis-assembly instructions which led me here. And, a firm, but not harsh palm slap/clap to the scanning surface with my hand has caused the red light flash (15 times, if I recall the exact count) to cease!! Who knows how long it will hold, but these two mice have performed awesome since around 2009. Mechanically, they will probably last another 5 years if I can ultimately replace the batteries as needed. MAN, I wish they had just put AA battery slots in them like my other fav, the Media Mouse that has AWESOME Blue Light Up buttons! And a large number of them, too.
Anyway, It may involve some minor programming, but I was able to find a solution to the stupid problem NOT addressed (at that time) by Logitech of not being able to program any button to do anything I wanted it to. UberOptions.Net offers a way to get more out of SetPoint than Logitech had been kind enough to offer. I'm not sure if it is still that crippled in their latest versions, but if you haven't got just the right settings on your buttons and SetPoint isn't offering enough options for you, check them out. It's free and it helped me back in the day.
And thank you all, for the tips!
P.S., now days, YouTube and "iFixit" have both video instructions and written instructions with pictures detailing how to disassemble your MX safely. Given that our great mice are now "antiques", a little research before pulling them apart seems prudent.
~~D.M. Gadget~~
11 Jul 14 22:52 DMGadget
I put mouse on charger and it say it is charged .but when I get mouse to turn it on it doesn't
4 Nov 14 20:52 job guel
Pulling the plastic forward worked for me. Tried slamming. and then just bending the plastic a Tiny bit forward and after 2 months of having to force the mouse down to get any charge, a light bed of the plastic backing towards yourself and Voila! Charging Perfectly! :)
4 Aug 15 16:50 Peter
Wow, was a bit reluctant at first and slammed it lightly the first 2 times but then thought there was no hard in slamming it really hard since it wasn't working in any case so the third time I gave it a good whack and lo and behold, works like new. Thanks to all who posted that it worked for them. The fact that MANY people said it worked for them make me more confident to try and this is why I am also posting my success with this method. Try it, what do you have to lose!
3 Sep 15 16:23 Louise Nadon
A little late in the game to be trying to put out another fix, but for what it's worth...
I've been living with this issue for quite some time. Eventually slamming stops working effectively and requires more and more slamming. I tried Cooper Bill's resistor fix for a time. Again, that works for a while, then it's back to slamming.
What I believe is really going on here is that there is a solder connection that was poorly made on the mouse circuit board and it's chronic to all of these mice. My hypothesis is that this is a manufacturing flaw that hit a large number (all?) of these mice. Because the issue is isolated to charging and everything else about the mouse works, I figure it's probably where the charging contacts are soldered to the board or at the voltage regulator that takes the 8V from the charging station down to 5V. If this is the case, the reason the slamming works is that the connection is temporarily recreated and one is able to get a charge out of it. Why lowering the input voltage works for a while I'm less sure about, perhaps a lower voltage is able to traverse the sketchy circuit without sufficient fluctuation to make the mouse cut off the charging, but only until the circuit is so bad that doesn't work anymore either. Using Cooper Bill's resistor or as others have suggested a lower voltage wall wart should in theory make no difference because the voltage from the charging station heads straight through a voltage regulator in the mouse that should normalize whatever voltage > 5V is coming from the charging station.
I made an attempt yesterday to remove the resistor that Cooper Bill originally recommended and resoldered the charging contacts at the bottom edge of the board and the 2 small pins at the voltage regulator. After doing this, I was able to get a charge without slamming or other fiddling. We'll see though, this problem has been elusive and has temporarily gone away for a time after messing with it in some way.
If anyone feels reasonably handy with a soldering iron and wants to give it a go, the connections for the charging pads are easy enough to find, relatively large compared to other solder points in that mouse anyway. The voltage regulator is the little square-ish thing a tiny bit lower than center, a larger metal pad is soldered down to the board at the top of it, then it has three smaller pins at the bottom of it, the center one being clipped. Its markings include the number "7805". Be really careful with a hot iron in that area, there are lots of SMD components that could be easily wiped out!
Good luck all!
12 Jan 16 2:20 Timekiller
A single slam took care of the issue for me. If it repeats, I will follow through with Dave's recommendation. Thank you all for the tips.
26 Feb 16 16:08 Lisa
Had the same problem with the MX 5500 mouse not charging...got a piece of paper, wiped the two pads on the bottom of the mouse until they had a bright shine...placed the mouse in the charger...it began to charge! Wow, I never would have thought that it would work and to be honest, I was REALLY reluctant to try. But it worked! Amazing!
31 Mar 16 17:55 Warren Lands
After seeing the red light I Googled logitec m-rag97 not charging and this was the first hit. Got some Purell on a piece of tissue, scrubbed away at the contacts, which, when closely inspected in the sunlight, had a white residue on the contacts. Wiped the charger's contacts vigorously for good measure and voila, it's charging again. Thanks, Ben :-)!
18 Apr 16 16:14 LD
Thanks. "I rocked and quickly put it in and out of its cradle and that fixed it!" did it for me!
9 Jul 16 1:45 Jer
Omg mine has not been charging for a couple weeks just read online to clean sensors on mouse had to scrape a bit but it worked. I tried just wiping off that didn't work had to scrap just a bit. Mine wasn't showing that it was charging at all. Great now!!
9 Aug 16 23:37 jodie
My MX mouse did not charge when putting him in the cradle. By pressing him down, flat to the backstand the charging started, but releasing the mouse, he was lifted up a little and charging stopped. So trying to find something to fix this, I got on this page. Reading the actions of Frank M on 19 Nov 13 16:11, I decided to unscrew the charger and bended the contact towards the solding plate, but with no result. Once again opening the cradle and took out the solderplate and contacts again, just firmly bend them backwards, so that they vanished more in the backplate when putting it al back together. Do it firmly or they will disappear completely, and then no charge is taken place at all. So after the firm bending, I just put it back together. tested it and now i can easily move the cradle with the mouse and it keeps charging. Thanks a lot for the information. J@pio
25 Sep 16 14:03 J@pio
Came here in 2010 to fix my mouse and it worked. Back again 6 years later. Same fix. LOVE IT ! - take apart and clean battery contacts, worked both times. Cheers !
31 Oct 16 15:33 MrLol