HT203171: If your pointer is jumpy when you use a trackpad, Magic Trackpad, or Magic Mouse

Learn about If your pointer is jumpy when you use a trackpad, Magic Trackpad, or Magic Mouse
Esor Asil

Q: Jumpy erratic cursor/arrow - Moves & Selects without touching

I have a jumpy erratic curso that moves and selects without me touching the trackpad at all. It's driving me crazy. It makes it practically impossible to use my macbook.  The trackpad is clean. I'm literally not touching it when the arrow moves around and selects things. When I try to move the arrow/cursor, it either moves jumpily or selects anything it passes over. Help!

MacBook Pro, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2)

Posted on Mar 11, 2013 8:06 PM

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Q: Jumpy erratic cursor/arrow - Moves & Selects without touching

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  • by Vills,

    Vills Vills Feb 25, 2014 11:24 AM in response to CookieMonstress
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 25, 2014 11:24 AM in response to CookieMonstress

    Came to just over $100.

  • by seventy one,

    seventy one seventy one Feb 25, 2014 11:30 AM in response to Vills
    Level 6 (15,140 points)
    Peripherals
    Feb 25, 2014 11:30 AM in response to Vills

    Ouch!

  • by nbodine,

    nbodine nbodine Jun 30, 2014 4:10 PM in response to Esor Asil
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 30, 2014 4:10 PM in response to Esor Asil

    I had this problem, but when I disconnected my monitor and reconnected it, the problem went away.

  • by JotaPe64,

    JotaPe64 JotaPe64 Sep 23, 2014 11:35 AM in response to Esor Asil
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 23, 2014 11:35 AM in response to Esor Asil

    Saw the solution in another thread and worked for me … My pointer was moving to the right on its own and opening stuff, and it was impossible to move it to the upper left corner.  Press the pad slightly and move it to the right.  Seems it must have gotten out of alignment.

     

    I have a MacBook Pro 15" 2002

  • by cupofjava,

    cupofjava cupofjava Feb 17, 2015 9:55 PM in response to Bensteready
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 17, 2015 9:55 PM in response to Bensteready

    I tried what you suggest and it seemed to fix my problem, for ten minutes, then the cursor began acting erratic again. Weird thing is, prior to trying this I took my Macbook to the Mac store in NY, and they made me run a few tests, including one specifically for the trackpad where I had to touch each part of the trackpad and get a verification that everything was working fine. During the test, the centre of my trackpad, almost a horizontal line of area, was concluded to be not working and I was adviced to change my trackpad. I came back home to mull over it, tried your method and it worked, well at least briefly.

     

    I wonder what the problem is, and how doing the 'disk first aid' fixes it, even if only for ten minutes, and if this is actually a hardware problem if there seems to be some sort of temporary fix.

  • by Bob Jacobson,

    Bob Jacobson Bob Jacobson Mar 21, 2015 1:53 PM in response to Sayuri Inami
    Level 1 (124 points)
    Mar 21, 2015 1:53 PM in response to Sayuri Inami

    Pressing all the corners worked for me, at long last.  I also slowed my tracking speed.  Don't know if this is definitive or temporary, but thanks. 

     

    PS Using a late-2009 MacBook Pro running Yosemite, 10.10.2.

  • by lucaaflore,

    lucaaflore lucaaflore Sep 15, 2015 1:03 PM in response to Esor Asil
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 15, 2015 1:03 PM in response to Esor Asil

    I was having erratic cursor issues in my MacBook pro 2011 10.6.8

    From time to time it was stabilized but becoming more and more apparent I had to find a fix.

    The looming option where I live is to bring it to an authorized apple service center, or a guy good with Macs.

    I tried disk utilities and repair disk permissions, everything was fine.

    I cleaned the trackpad,which seemed to work only twice.

    I the decided it was time to upgrade to Yosemite, which made the situation worse. It started to go between windows.

    So before I brought MB in to be looked at. I decided I was going to go through this enduring process to delete my Safari history, which I proudly say are my dirty movie sites.

    My primary browser, Firefox does not have these sites on it.

    This is what fixed my issue!!! Deleting my Safari history.

    I am so happy,I am writing this simple thing that worked for me.

    I literally was going to delete,shut down,and bring it in for whatever they would say.

    I hope this helps.

  • by rbnfrngpls,

    rbnfrngpls rbnfrngpls Sep 30, 2015 9:58 AM in response to Esor Asil
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 30, 2015 9:58 AM in response to Esor Asil

    I have this issue as well on a Retina Macbook Pro 15-inch from 2014. I reset the SMC controller by pressing left shift + control + option + power button when the computer is turned off. This has fixed the issue for me. Not sure if it will last though. If it gets jumpy and weird all over again, I might have a defective trackpad that needs replacement.

  • by gbmcinephoto,

    gbmcinephoto gbmcinephoto Nov 1, 2015 1:29 PM in response to rbnfrngpls
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 1, 2015 1:29 PM in response to rbnfrngpls

    I've been tearing my hair out about this issue and then i found this:

    http://www.laurivan.com/fix-crazyjumping-cursor-on-a-macbook-pro/

     

    It worked a treat for me.

  • by Bellefdez,

    Bellefdez Bellefdez Mar 8, 2016 5:44 PM in response to Bensteready
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 8, 2016 5:44 PM in response to Bensteready

    I am been having the same problem. This helped me fixed it! Thank you!

  • by Stephen Goddard1,

    Stephen Goddard1 Stephen Goddard1 May 1, 2016 10:58 AM in response to Esor Asil
    Level 1 (4 points)
    May 1, 2016 10:58 AM in response to Esor Asil

    UPDATE, UPDATE, UPDATE.

    This fixed my daughters MacBook touchpad issue.

  • by jancan04,

    jancan04 jancan04 May 5, 2016 3:51 PM in response to Esor Asil
    Level 1 (4 points)
    May 5, 2016 3:51 PM in response to Esor Asil

    Solved this problem by reading more help on Google.....I got a Qtip and cleaned the little blue sensor...and like magic, it works!

  • by Goldbek,

    Goldbek Goldbek Jun 6, 2016 9:44 AM in response to Esor Asil
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Jun 6, 2016 9:44 AM in response to Esor Asil

    Fixed my erratic Trackpad pretty well:

     

    Had to disassemble the MBA and (carefully) cleaned the edges of the trackpad with a toothbrush and glass-cleaner.

     

    Found this great instruction on Youtube and I'm really happy now.

  • by waldbach,

    waldbach waldbach Sep 14, 2016 2:42 PM in response to Esor Asil
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Peripherals
    Sep 14, 2016 2:42 PM in response to Esor Asil

    None of the solutions I found online worked for me, I have tried everything. But what did work for me after a few hours of trying things: Clean the trackpad on the Macbook thoroughly! Click it and hold it down while cleaning the edges too. I think the issue started to happen after i ate fries with mayonaise, the fat of the mayonaise may have caused it. After cleaning the trackpad (and the edges) it all worked again and the cursor behaved normally again.

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