Q: My magic trackpad has become unstable, sticking, and selecting items at random.  I can't find any help on this!

I was afraid you'd come back here saying something like that

I'm theorizing now the batts are probably swelling and causing tension on the trackpad.

So much for that stupid Sling Blade! LOL

The only batteries I have ever seen swell up, ended up exploding. If they are swelling, I would get rid of them fast.

The batts in apple notebooks can't explode. They've been engineered that way on purpose.

The problem, is that on rare occasions they can swell so large that they crack the casing.

I was all set to type a response, but being new here, I wasn't sure it would be allowed. Suffice it to say that it's a well-known phrase used by Michael Scott from The Office.

I'm having the same problem: my MacBook Air is a bit more than a year old and all of a sudden, the track pad is selecting everything and not wanting to deselect, and basically being a complete nuisance. I've cleaned it, Time Machine isn't on, I don't know what to do aside from plugging in an actual mouse, which kind of defeats the usefulness of having a computer so small that it can fit in an envelope.

I know of someone who had this problem, too, and they said they used Magic Prefs for managing their trackpad. It solved their problem, but if it doesn't for you, you can uninstall it easily and no harm done. It's a free app.

Dear Blue Topaz....My Bluetooth Keyboard did the same....Check battery level in Bluetoot in Menu Bar.

New batteries did the trick...give it a try.

The problem with changing batteries, is getting false positives. Often it's the result of turning the device off/on that does the trick and not the actual batteries.

Hack, by "does the trick" did you mean solve the problem of the unstable trackpad? Because in the first post, it was already stated that he tried doing that to no avail. (Not that it hurts to have a reminder of this technique.)

Topaz, I'm talking about IN GENERAL.

BTW, when are you ever going to crawl out of Level 1 mate?

Oh, in general! Thank you for clearing that up, Hackie.

Not that I feel a need to defend myself, but if you really need to know, I didn't join the forums to try to "level up". I really don't care if I get any points or not. Advice and suggestions are taken for what they're worth. I understand why there are points, so people asking questions can feel like they are getting advice from somebody with experience. If people don't like my "level 1" comments, they are free to disregard them. But, thank you for asking.

Even though I am a lowly newbie, I do have a good suggestion for you: Let us keep comments on the forums restricted to the subject of the threads and refrain from off-topic banter and chit-chat.

You said you been using it for about a year. Well, your basic warranty lasts for a year anyway, so maybe they weren't doing you any favours

BTW, if you had AppleCare, your warranty extends to 3 years from DoP.

Glad to hear you got the situation solved by getting a new one. From what I've observed, there must be many similar or exact  issues with the device and I'll bet the reps in the stores are instructed to just take the faulty devices back and give out new ones. Now let's hope the new one doesn't have the same issues!