Mouse moves randomly

this happened when i was on my macbook white before. and now, same thing in my 3 weeks old, fresh macbook pro.

is this a mac os x bug? its annoying and sometimes causes problems cause there are times when i tried to click on something, the cursor jumped onto a dashboard icon or the close button or a link, etc.

btw, im using the trackpad. no mouse or any external input device.

hmm.. so i guess no one really knows why this is happening uh?

10.6.4 is even worse. Mouse pointer frequently jumping to other positions when I move the mouse. This drives me nuts. iMac 27" dual display, PR resetted, bought an expensive mouse-pad. Happenes even before login in the user/password dialog.

More often than not, erratic mouse movement is neither a hardware nor a driver problem.

Normally, erratic mouse movement is caused by some combination of 5 things:

1. dirty mouse/dirty mouse pad
2. highly reflective surface under the mouse (glass), or high contrast (zebra stripe, heavy wood grain, for example)
3. vibration of the desk (external drive, CPU fans, the vacuum cleaner)
4. slightly sloped surface
5. multiple pointing devices (mouse, tablet, touchpad) on the same machine

Reflective surfaces can cause the mouse to fail to move at all, as the laser is reflected off at the wrong angle for the pickup to sense it. zebra or heavy gran wood (like my desk at home) - when the beam transitions from light to dark, its almost like the dark 'absorbs' the beam, and the mouse stops tracking for a second, then leaps across the screen.

Vibration from external drives or the computer itself can cause the mouse to slowly move across the screen, especially if the desk is not level.

Non-level surface is self-explanatory

multiple pointing devices - tablets with a puck or pen resting on them.
The system senses movement on one of the other devices, and that device temporarily takes over.
The system still knows where the cursor was the last time that device was used; the cursor will jump back to that location, then back to where the active device is moving.

Trackpads on laptops can be even more annoying - I tend to brush them with my thumb, moving the mouse and clicking at the same time.

since i only have a trackpad in my new mbp, multiple or dirty input devices can be ruled out.

lets say im trying to click somewhere about 2 inches from the top of the screen. just as i click, the mouse pointer somehow 'teleported' to one of the app icon in the dock, at the bottom of the screen, and its like i click that icon instead. this happens a few times every hour. sometimes it nicely teleported to the close app icon and closes my browser or something i was viewing. it was like someone hacked in and hijacked the pointer, even though i was offline.

i havent upgraded to 10.6.4 yet. since this problem really gets on my nerves, ill be re-installing a fresh system, and re-install my apps 1 by 1 and see whether this is caused by any softwares im using, or is mac os x issue.

I bought my iMac around 18 months ago and I have had this randomly jumping pointer since day 1. Leopard was on the computer when I bought it and I upgraded to SL when it came out but nothing has changed. I am convinced that this is a software problem as my Wife has a MacBook and her's suffers from exactly the same problem!

Does Apple ever read these forums - if they do then why haven't they fixed this as it appears to have been going on for years???????? Just for the record - never had this happen when I had a PC with Windows - mind you, I had 10 times more other problems with Windows than I have had with Mac but, even so, that doesn't excuse the fact that Apple don't seem to have a clue as to how to fix this!

ive been having the same problem with the previous macbook and current macbook pro.

yesterday i reformatted my hdd and reinstall snow leopard using the dvd that comes with my mbp. this mbp is only less than 2 mnths old. just after the 1st reboot after the install, it happened right away, on this freshly installed system.

few other people i knew in a local mac forum are also having same problem. it does seemed that the guys at apple also have no ideas of this.

im gonna do an update later and see if it stop.

I'm having the same issue myself in Snow Leopard. As a graphic designer, this is unacceptable. Interestingly, my coworkers have older iMacs and have no problems. This problem cropped up after purchasing a new 27in iMac and installing Snow Leopard. The problem would seem to be a hardware issue with my new 27in iMac. I've tried using both wired and wireless mice with the same result. This is very, very annoying!!!

Add me to the list. It's not a problem of a mouse or surfaces.

I have a brand new macbook pro unibody (2009) that I bought during the end of life sale less than 6 months ago and I immediately noticed that the trackpad wasn't working properly. I would almost have to use three or four fingers to even move the pointer just a little. This problem seemed to fade, but only for a while.

Recently, the mouse pointer issues has escalated to occurring consistently throughout the week. Probably averaging about 20 times a week. What happens now is that the mouse pointer will become "possessed" and start moving sporadically, clicking, secondary clicking, etc. Basically just spazzing out like crazy. This happens whether I am using the trackpad or my bluetooth mighty mouse, although it seems to be less frequent when using the mouse and not the trackpad.

The only solution I have found for this is shutting my macbook, waiting for a minute, then reopening the macbook. But this is obviously just a temporary fix. I need to fix this ASAP as it was seriously affecting my work today.

Does anyone have a solution or am I going to be stuck going in and leaving it at an Apple Store?

LIVE UPDATE: As I was typing this message, my mouse freaked out again! I hate this! Please someone help!!!

Yesterday I asked my coworkers if they were experiencing any problems and the answer was no. I discovered that the difference was that I was utilizing Bluetooth. I disconnected my wireless keyboard and mouse, replaced it with my old wired setup and shutdown Bluetooth. Problem solved!
The problem seems to stem from Bluetooth interference or from constant status polling by Bluetooth.
This may be technically incorrect but ultimately, Bluetooth is the culprit.
If there's anyway to get along without Bluetooth, your problems may be solved. Give it a try!
This is on my Graphics workstation at my workplace. At home, I use a Microsoft Arc wireless keyboard and mouse (non-Bluetooth) and have no problems. This would seem to confirm that Bluetooth connection is the root of the problem. How about it Apple? Any comments?

robert peden wrote:
The problem seems to stem from Bluetooth interference or from constant status polling by Bluetooth.
This may be technically incorrect but ultimately, Bluetooth is the culprit.

Robert-
Thank you for the response, however, I tried going without bluetooth today and the problem persisted. In fact, as I was downloading and installing iPhone OS 4.0 it was the worst I had seen. The mouse pointer was completely possessed, scrolling from side to side mainly (I'm not even sure if it ever moved vertically), clicking, secondary clicking, enlarging and shrinking text (when on a webpage) and enlarging and shrinking desktop icons (when on the desktop) <-- this was a new one! I basically just watched for 5 minutes as my mouse pointer had a mind of its own!

Anyway, I'm thinking now that it might have something to do with iTunes and/or an iTunes application I downloaded because as I am writing this post, iTunes is actually still in the process of updating my iPhone library. The mouse pointer was going crazy when it was restoring my applications, but now, as it is restoring my music and videos, the mouse pointer seems fine. Hmmm...interesting. Please note thought that this problem has occurred regardless of whether iTunes was open or not.

In any case, I think I'll try uninstalling and reinstalling iTunes and report back.

Bottom line, for me anyway, is that Bluetooth is NOT the culprit.

Good luck everyone with this problem as it is probably the most frustrating one I've experienced so far.

Further to my previous post, for the last three days I have been using a plain piece of white paper as a mouse mat, instead of my usual multi-coloured one and, up to now, the problem hasn't re-occurred!! How long this will last I don't know but, at least, it's a start!!

You're absolutely right...my mouse is still jumping, too. I suppose it was wishful thinking on my part to hope the issue was as simple as Bluetooth. The crazy thing is that my coworkers are on iMacs that are 2 years older than mine and have Snow Leopard installed as well with no problems to report relative to the mouse. The problem is really exasperating for me though since I work as a Graphic Designer. I guess the next step for me will be to try a pen tablet and see if the problem persists.
If the good folks at Apple are monitoring this discussion please know that this is a GIGANTIC problem for graphic arts professionals.
Thanks for keeping me up to date on your progressTj. It's appreciated!

I've been using a plain piece of white paper as a mouse mat for around 9 days now and the problem has not yet re-occurred!! Perhaps this might be the way to go permanently, although it still doesn't answer the question: what is the basic problem that causes this in the first instance??