replace laptop mouse buttons?

[keef247]

dell inspiron 6400... the left mouse button is utterly gone.have to hold it down REALLY hard and to drag and drop is a nightmare.
at the moment i'm purely using the touchpad to tap and select stuff...
any ideas on fixing it? is it a squashed spring or something simple or would i need a whole new button etc etc?
any ideas/links?
cheers

[GoNz0]

its a surface mount button, easy enough to solder a new one if you can find it in the RS/Maplins book.

Maplin > Tactile Switches

[peterb]

You need to dismantle it and see what sort of switch it is. Some use microswiches, some use the little surface mounted switches.

[GoNz0]

im 99% sure dells to tight to use a microswitch, its the cheap ass option tactile jobbies

never seen a microswitch yet in the dell range, never worked on a the XPS tho, they might have?

[Pob255]

I take it it's out of warranty? Although knowing what dell are like they'll claim "ware and tear" so not covered by warranty.

[keef247]

yeah way outta warranty but ill check the buttons later.