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Level 4

1,282 points

Mouse moves randomly

My mouse cursor moves randomly around the screen, usually all the way across and almost always to one of the screen corners, in which I have hot corners enabled. I had this issue occasionally had this issue in Leopard, but now in Snow Leopard it's more common (maybe 5-10 times an hour). Any suggestions/solutions?

iMac 2.66 GHz standard configuration (April 2008), Wired keyboard & Mighty Mouse, Mac OS X (10.6), iPod Touch 1st Generation OS 3.0, D-link DIR-625 router, iLife 09, iWork 09

Posted on Sep 8, 2009 3:50 PM

142 replies

deh2k

Level 4

1,871 points

Oct 2, 2009 3:58 AM in response to musicwind95

It sure sounds to me like you need a new mouse.

Oct 2, 2009 4:04 AM in response to musicwind95

Mine too. And definitely since I upgraded to SL. Please keep me posted on any progress as I'm having no joy this end. Though I have been finding that SL resets some of my preferences such as sound, so I may take another look in the sound panel.

This is not my only major issue with SL by the way!

Oct 2, 2009 4:13 AM in response to Tracey-pet'l

My mouse doesn't wander when I don't use it, but it struggles to recognise double and triple-click since I installed SL. Also, doing selected-area screen grabs is very patchy because it decides when to grab - I don't!

musicwind95 Author

Level 4

1,282 points

Oct 2, 2009 3:32 PM in response to musicwind95

The issue isn't extreme enough that I'd need a new mouse, and seeing that I'm using Apple's mouse, that should mean something. I firmly believe this is software issue. Let's keep this thread going and maybe Apple will start to pay attention.

musicwind95 Author

Level 4

1,282 points

Oct 6, 2009 2:41 PM in response to musicwind95

Update: It appears, at least after resetting the PRAM, that the issue is only really present every other restart or so. That is, I'd shut it down, and the next time it'd be fine. The time after, the mouse would start acting up again.

Oct 6, 2009 8:32 PM in response to musicwind95

A haunted mouse?

musicwind95 Author

Level 4

1,282 points

Oct 7, 2009 11:49 AM in response to Mulderscully

What happened at Apple? :P

TildeBee

Level 7

31,917 points

Oct 7, 2009 11:53 AM in response to musicwind95

music --
Have you tried your mouse on a plain piece of white paper?
If it works there, that would indicate that all you need is a new mouse pad.

musicwind95 Author

Level 4

1,282 points

Oct 7, 2009 3:30 PM in response to TildeBee

I have; every time I change a mouse pad (I've cycled through plain white, gray lined, blue lined, a Dell mousepad, and the cheap wood finishing on my desk) the issue would go away for the first few weeks, but then come back (shall I say with a vengeance?)

Right now, I'm just using the finishing on my desk, which seems to be better than any other mouse pad.

One thing to note is that with the white paper I had a plastic sheet protector, and then a matte plastic film over it because I hate the feeling of the mouse grating over the paper. I also used the mouse on a smoother type of paper, but both gave the same result.

TildeBee

Level 7

31,917 points

Oct 7, 2009 5:53 PM in response to musicwind95

music --

Have you cleaned the mouse?
If you have, maybe it's time for a new one.

(For clarity to others --
When plain white paper is advised, it means just that.
No plastic sheets over it. It will mess up an optical mouse.)

dylw

Level 1

4 points

Oct 8, 2009 6:17 PM in response to musicwind95

I don't think it is a hardware issue at all, I work in a studio of over 40 macs that are less than 12 months old and quite a few of us are having the issue. I thought that it may have been interference with my graphics tablet, but I have unplugged that to no avail. I also thought it may have been the I.T. department accidentally controlling macs from time to time via ARD, but it couldn't be as it is happening too frequently for the odd mistake.

I am desperately keeping an eye out for a solution, someone please help.

musicwind95 Author

Level 4

1,282 points

Oct 9, 2009 4:27 AM in response to TildeBee

I've cleaned the mouse several times. Plus, it's only a bit over a year old. I have a four-year-old Dell mouse that works fine.

Crobex

Level 1

0 points

Oct 9, 2009 6:50 AM in response to musicwind95

I had the same problem on Leopard and I still have it on SL. My iMac is 6 months old and I have this problem since day 1. The mouse just moves randomly, usually to the lower left corner and this happens 3-4 times a day (every day). I tried cleaning the mouse, using another one and it's always the same thing. Like some people said before it must be a software problem.

kisuke3

Level 3

914 points

Oct 9, 2009 6:52 AM in response to musicwind95

do it in safe boot. Does the mouse jump there?

musicwind95 Author

Level 4

1,282 points

Oct 9, 2009 3:08 PM in response to kisuke3

1. How do I get to safe mode?
2. Like I said, the mouse jumps are not predictable. Sometimes I go for a whole week without seeing one, other times I see several an hour. I would have to work exclusively in safe mode for a while to see if it does happen.

However, someone who seems this problem very frequently can try this.

Mouse moves randomly