Glitch with 4-finger swipe gestures on 13 alu body macbook

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Level 1

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Glitch with 4-finger swipe gestures on 13 alu body macbook

I just recently installed Snow Leopard. It was part of a family pack, and other people have installed it so I don't think its a disk issue. Not only that, but I have seen this issue in other places on the internet.

Sometimes when i use the four finger swipe trackpad gesture on my macbook alu body, up or down it gets stuck and goes crazy. It won't go back to normal without me clicking on something. (e.g. I use 4 finger swipe up to show the desktop, it jitters back and forth and gets stuck in the "minimized" mode. I have to click on an open app to get them to come down again.) Its completely random, also happens with swipe down to do expose. Its VERY irritating. Is this a known bug? is there a fix? Can someone report this bug? Give me something. Thanks.

macbook 13" aluminum body, Mac OS X (10.5.6), macbook

Posted on Sep 12, 2009 12:36 PM

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Answer 1

Ashka

Level 4

3,885 points

Sep 12, 2009 1:15 PM in response to parklife101

Take your fingers off the trackpad between four finger swipes. ie.
Up > off / Down > off / Left to right >off / Right to left > off.
S.

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Answer 2

Mr Lizard

Level 2

256 points

Sep 12, 2009 3:04 PM in response to parklife101

If you, for example, swipe up with 4 fingers to 'show desktop', you will need to release your fingers from the trackpad before swiping again.

If you keep your fingers on the trackpad between swipes, it doesn't work.

A little annoying, and something Apple might fix in a future update. I left some feedback for Apple at http://www.apple.com/feedback/macosx.html

😉

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Answer 3

parklife101 Author

Level 1

0 points

Sep 12, 2009 3:13 PM in response to Mr Lizard

It doesn't help. If the "show desktop" swipe gets stuck, even if you completely take your hands off and try several different ways. The only way to get the application windows to show is to click on an icon. Thanks so much for sending in a bug report, but is this still what you sent? or is it possible for my macbook's trackpad to be messed up? I haven't had this issue in Leopard, and I keep my stuff in excellent condition so i'm not sure.

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Answer 4

Mr Lizard

Level 2

256 points

Sep 12, 2009 3:21 PM in response to parklife101

Ah, in that case you're problem sounds different to the 'bug' that I described.

Just to check I understand your problem correctly, is this what is happening:

- You swipe up with 4 fingers to 'show desktop', and the windows slide out of view
- You then remove your fingers from the trackpad
- Swiping up/down again does not cause the windows to return, and the only way to get them back it to click one of the application icons

Have you:

- Tried turning off 4-finger gestures via system preferences > trackpad, then re-enabling it?
- Updated to the latest version of Snow Leopard (10.6.1)

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Answer 5

parklife101 Author

Level 1

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Sep 12, 2009 3:33 PM in response to Mr Lizard

Yes. That is exactly what is happening, only its the same case for 4-finger expose as well except. The expose activates, and the windows show up, but 4-finger swipe down/up have no effect. The windows move as if they were going to go back to normal, but then get "stuck" and move back. Same case with show desktop swipe. There is motion, but it reverts back. Only way to fix it is to click on an application icon, or in expose's case you click on the darker area.

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Answer 6

parklife101 Author

Level 1

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Sep 12, 2009 3:36 PM in response to Mr Lizard

Here is an example of the glitch. There is a fix apparently, but its still an annoying bug. You have to do the originol motion you did to swipe.

e.g. swipe up to show desktop, you need to swipe up to bring it down. I just tested it, it does work. A bug nevertheless.

http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/171033/snowleopards_old_and_newannoyances.html

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Answer 7

Mr Lizard

Level 2

256 points

Sep 12, 2009 3:39 PM in response to parklife101

Very strange.

Whilst I can't solve your problem, it might be worth finding out if it's limited to your 'user account', by creating a new account and logging in to that.

If it works, then you might decide the easiest workaround is to move the contents of your home folder to the new user account and deleting the old one.

Sorry I couldn't be of more help!

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Answer 8

Mr Lizard

Level 2

256 points

Sep 12, 2009 3:44 PM in response to parklife101

parklife101 wrote:
Here is an example of the glitch. There is a fix apparently, but its still an annoying bug. You have to do the originol motion you did to swipe.

e.g. swipe up to show desktop, you need to swipe up to bring it down. I just tested it, it does work. A bug nevertheless.

http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/171033/snowleopards_old_and_newannoyances.html

Yes, this is a bug, but from your description of the problem I didn't think you had this same problem.

The linked article doesn't say you need to swipe up again a second time, it does however say you need to lift your fingers off the trackpad before swiping again.

In any case, I hope that's resolved the problem for now, at least until Apple provides a fix for this issue.

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